August 27, 2017
taught by Ken McGarvey
First Baptist Church of Tellico Village, Tennessee
Context
We do not live, learn, understand, think or relate in a vacuum. Everything in life has context. It is only when we get the context of things that we can understand them, relate to them, respond to them, learn from them. The old saying, “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes,” means you have no real knowledge without the context of what you are judging.
When Bill Clinton was elected President, before the inauguration, he called on Richard Nixon to ask him about conducting foreign policy. The essence of what he learned was this, “Don’t have expectations from other world leaders until you learn what they face at home.” The context of their home situation determines what they can and will do in relation to other countries and the issues facing them.
The entire New Testament is written against the backdrop of the Old Testament. The Pharisees, the Samaritans, the temple, the cities of Palestine, the line of David, the significance of Abraham and Jacob, the name Israel, all form the context of the birth and life of Jesus and his disciples. One cannot possibly understand the New Testament without the context of the Old.
Foundation
The New Testament understanding of God, the theology, is based on the Old Testament. Among the polytheistic nations, God appeared to Abram, Lot, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, David and others with a unique message. They were to call him the LORD (Yahweh, or Jehovah), by which they alone called him. He chose specific people to represent him and carry his name and his message. His people were to be the source of God’s blessings to all the peoples of the earth.
He made covenants with Noah, Abraham and David. He chose the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (whom God renamed Israel) to be his own people, his nation. He promised to give them a land of their own, where thy would serve him forever, and where he would give them his blessings of all kinds.
Progressive revelation
God did not reveal himself to Adam in totality. God has revealed himself to mankind in stages, a little at a time. We call this progressive revelation. He revealed himself through creation, through one-on-one conversations with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and others.
The Old Testament is a record of this revelation until God ultimately became man (the Incarnation) in Jesus Christ. This completed God’s revelation of himself to mankind; but one cannot understand it by beginning there. We must see God’s revelation through the Old Testament.
Creation
Today we hear all kinds of explanations for how we came into existence. The story of creation at the beginning of Genesis is referred to in the New Testament. The assumption is there that it is important to understand in relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
From the creation story we understand that angelic beings, and Satan himself were made before man was created. God’s story of redemption begins early in Genesis, and finds its culmination late in Revelation. The Gospel of John references creation when he declares that the Son was already around when man was created.
Covenants
Often God has related to man through covenants. The Old Testament records these covenants. He made a covenant (an agreement) with Noah that he would never again destroy the world with a flood. He sent the rainbow as a sign of that covenant.
God made a covenant with Abram (renamed Abraham) that his descendants would be the permanent recipients of God’s greatest blessings, and, through them, the rest of the world as well. Since these descendants (the Israelites) often did not live up to their end of the agreement, there were many interruptions in the flow of that covenant.
That covenant was renewed (or replaced, depending on your theology) with a covenant made through Jesus Christ. But to understand the New Covenant, referred to in the New Testament, one must first understand the Abrahamic covenant in the Old Testament.
Law leads us to Christ
Mankind needs and wants laws, even if sometimes only to know when we’re overstepping our bounds. Through Moses God gave the Law. There was the essence of the law, the Ten Commandments, but there were dozens of explanations concerning morality, economics, civil matters, community order, etc. Then, of course, there were the ceremonial laws governing the tabernacle (later, the temple), sacrifices, incense, washings, uncleanliness, diseases, mold and mildew, etc.
When we read in the New Testament of Jesus’ clashes with the Pharisees over the understanding of the Law, we really need some kind of background from the Old Testament to have any idea what he may be talking about. The law was extremely important in Jewish society, and it is only a recognition of this from the Old Testament that enables the Christian to understand what that is all about.
Prophecies
Beginning early in Genesis there are prophecies of a coming Messiah, Savior. They are scattered throughout the Law, the Writings and the Prophets (the three main divisions of the Old Testament). They refer to blessings and judgments, salvation and condemnation. Many of them point to a Redeemer to come, who will bring to fruition all of these prophecies.
Dozens of these prophecies have been shown to have been fulfilled with the coming of Christ; yet even more refer to him, but have not yet been fulfilled. These are reserved for the events surrounding the Second Coming of Christ. It is only when we read and understand the Old Testament that we begin to understand the totality of the work of Christ, and what is yet to come.
Poetic and Wisdom Writings
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon (sometimes called Song of Songs, or Canticles) are mostly poetry, and referred to as Wisdom Writings. Though they have history, they are quite different from the rest of the Old Testament. These contain wisdom about God and his dealings with us, devotional commitment (particularly the Psalms), and principles for everyday living (Proverbs). In Job we learn about faithfulness in suffering. The Song of Solomon is a love story, a romantic description of the lover and his beloved. Many commentators see it as a metaphor for the love of God for his people: Israel in the rabbinical literature, and the church in Christian commentaries.
These books together give background about our relationship with God and with each other that many find essential and vitally important for our relationship with God in the Christian setting.
NT References
Finally, the Old Testament should be essential study for Christians because the writers of the New Testament thought it so. References to and quotations from the Old Testament fill the pages of the New Testament, from Matthew and the other Gospel writers to the characters in the Acts of the Apostles; from the Apostle Paul in his writings to Peter and John in their letters and the book of Revelation.
Only as we study and learn the Old Testament can we realize why it was so important to the writers of the New.
The Problem of Oversimplification
There’s also something else going on. Many people are either incapable or unwilling to pursue ideas deeply. We want simple answers. We want our doctors to be well-educated; but we want to think we are knowledgeable with just a little bit of information from the internet. I have heard dozens of people in my life say that the entire Gospel is in John 3:16. No, it is not. If all we needed was John 3:16 it’s all God would have given us.
The Bible gives us the history of redemption, and we need to learn all we can about it. We need to know about sin and repentance, about forgiveness and adoption. About the new birth and justification. We need to know about Israel and the church, law and grace. We need to know about pride, law, legalism, humility, love and honor. We need to know about forgiving others, the church, spiritual gifts and the Trinity. It’s all the Gospel, the good news of God’s plan to redeem humanity from its sinful state. The Gospel is not about going to heaven when we die; it’s about living in fellowship with God and one another now and in eternity.
In this class about difficult Bible questions, we will not try to oversimplify it. Yes, a child or a person with mental impairment may understand enough to be saved; but that’s not a valid excuse for the rest of us to remain contented in theological ignorance. And I presume you are all in this class because you agree with me. Thanks for coming, and for caring.