Understanding The Old Testament & The New Testament

Purpose

Very commonly Christians, when they talk about The Old Testament & The New Testament, tend to not really  differentiate between the two,  but see them as equally valid instructions while at the same time saying they are different. My aim is to provide an accurate perspective of what the Old Testament & The New Testament are in relation to each other and how they can be understood taken together. 

Introduction

The Holy Bible is divided into two main sections or books: The Old Testament & The New Testament. These two books are related. At the same time, they are not the same. Each serve a different but connected purpose in the plan of God for human beings.

What is The Old Testament

Sometime in the course of human history, after people have been on this earth for a few generations, God, the creator of Heaven and Earth, came to Abraham. God spoke to him: “”God had told Abram, “Leave your own country behind you, and your own people, and go to the land I will guide you to. If you do, I will cause you to become the father of a great nation; I will bless you and make your name famous, and you will be a blessing to many others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and the entire world will be blessed because of you.””Genesis 12.1-3

“”But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.””Genesis 17.19. This is the entire basis of The Old Testament. The New Testament is built on this same foundation. 

Moses Brings The Old Testament codes

“”For the law was given through Moses””

John 1.17

“”God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.””

Galatians 3.19

The seed (descendant) of  Abraham in The Old Testament 

 “”The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife”” Galatians 4.22

Actually, Abraham had eight children: ““Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.””

Genesis 25.1-2. Add Ishmael and Isaac and you get eight children. Abraham did re-marry after the death of Sarah. 

However, for the purposes of the two covenants, the scripture only counts Ishmael and Isaac as sons. They were respectively the beneficiaries of The Old Testament and The New Testament.: “”Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now the earthly Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!” And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.””Galatians 4.21-31 

This does not make the rest of the sons less of Abraham’s children but, for the purposes of the covenants of God, only Ishmael and Isaac are mentioned. The sending away of Hagar and Ishmael indicated the Old Testament would not last forever but will end sometime in history. 

Codification of The Old Testament

 “When the Lord finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, written by the finger of God.”Exodus 31.18

Note that the covenant was with Abraham whereas its codification came through Moses. There is a spiritual meaning to this. The covenant with Abraham was based on faith. It was spiritual: “”And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.””James 2.23

This covenant with Abraham was based on faith and was to be established through the promise of Isaac. The Laws handed to Moses, on the other hand, was based on a person’s works. “”But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.””Galatians 3.10. 

The Law was carnal. This Law based covenant would come through Hagar and by Ishmael but would only be temporary and be set aside (correctly, we say fulfilled since it was a prophecy and set up do a specific thing which it did do) upon the arrival of The New Testament: “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Galatians 4.30

The Law and The Promise were given at the same time but The Law was to lead to The Promise (Faith)

“Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised.”

Galatians 3.19

The people of God in The Old Testament

In the Old Testament, the people of God are referred to as the children of Abraham or Jews or Israelites. These were the biological descendants of Abraham. 

However, these children of God also included foreigners who subscribed to the Jewish religion.:  “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will never let me be part of his people.’”

Isaiah 56.3

“I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord, who serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who hold fast to my covenant. I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations. For the Sovereign Lord, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.”

Isaiah 56. 6-7

What is The New Testament

God spoke through his prophet that He, God, would make a New Covenant between himself (God) and the entire world.: ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.””

Jeremiah 31.31-34 

The covenant God was talking about making with Abraham and his descendants was, figuratively, this covenant with the whole world: “”In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.””

Galatians 3.6-9

The Bringer of the New Testament is Jesus Christ

“He (Jesus) took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”

Luke 22.19-20

“And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” Hebrews 9.15-17

The seed (descendant) of  Abraham in The New Testament

Hagar and Ishmael are The Old Testament. These represent the flesh or the non-spiritual covenant with human beings. Sarah and Isaac, on the other hand, are The New Testament. They represent faith, the spiritual covenant God has with human beings.

Codification of the New Testament

The New Testament is not codified in tablets of stone as in the Old Testament but is written in the heart of every human being who is born into this world. It does not matter your nation or tribe or religion or whether you do not adhere to a religion. The New Covenant of God is written in your heart, on tablets of flesh. 

Because of this we can confidently say that every single person on this earth, regardless if they have never heard of God, knows God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost.: “Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.”

Romans 2.14-16

The fact of not giving Abraham the covenant in a stone tablet form like that God gave to Moses means this covenant was by faith; it was a spiritual, not a physical, covenant. It also means that this covenant was going to extend to everyone who believed in God like Abraham did .

The people of God in The New Testament

The people of God in The New Testament are called The Church or Christians and are made up of people from all over the world. 

”He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”

Ephesus 2.17-22

Connecting The Old Testament to The New Testament

“”And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel””(Genesis 3.15) The seed here is Jesus Christ. Jesus is who destroyed the serpent’s head when he died on the cross. 

“You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”

Colossians 2.13-15

The ancestry of Jesus is through Isaac to Abraham. This is how Jesus the Savior is Abraham’s seed through which all people are blessed with God’s salvation. 

What to keep from The Old Testament part of The Bible and what to discard?

To keep things really simple and easy, read and understand the New Testament. It gives you all the information you need to serve God acceptably according to The New Testament. It also references and interprets The Old Testament. You do not have to try to figure out by yourself what changed from The Old Testament and what The New Testament is. It has already been done in the writings in The New Testament. 

Conclusion 

The Old Testament points to this earth (Canaan) but The New Testament points to Heaven:  “”All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.””

Hebrews 11.13-16 

As such, no one should be fighting for a physical domain on this earth thinking that is where God is or was going to be. The place we should be struggling to enter is Heaven. That is where God has prepared a place for us.

Call to believe in Jesus as Savior

“”Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”Acts 2.37-39

Closing Blessing 

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

Revelations 22.21