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Christians and the Old Testament

Christians and the Old Testament

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How should Christians relate to the Old Testament? Jesus said he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Later, Paul says that in Christ we are no longer under the rules and regulations of the law (Romans 6:14; Ephesians 2:15). So how should Christians understand the commandments of the Mosaic Law such as prohibitions against eating shell fish (Leviticus 18), or the command to observe the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8)?

In this video interview, Dr. Bill Arnold and Dr. Ben Witherington instruct us to retain the Old Testament as God’s word for us, albeit interpreting it through the ethical lens of the New Testament. In the process, they cast doubt on the helpfulness of categories such as ceremonial, moral, and civic laws for appropriating the Old Testament.

If you want to learn more about where Jesus can be found in the Old Testament, get The Fulfillment: Jesus and the Old Testament by Timothy Tennent from our store. By focusing on well known characters such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David, he shows how God used their stories to anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ. If you’re interested in an Bible study that helps Christians enter into the Old Testament story, Epic of Eden: Understanding the Old Testament by Sandy Richter has been well received by small groups and churches.

View the rest of the videos in this series:
What Bible Did Jesus Use?
The Divine-Human Authorship of Scripture
The Bible Must Be Read in Context
Is the Bible Still Relevant?
Where Is Jesus in the Old Testament?

Find all of our resources on Scripture here. Read articles from Dr. Bill Arnold here. Watch more videos from Dr. Ben Witherington here. Explore our OneBook Bible Study resources here.

View all of our video interviews here.

Comments

One Response

  1. I do not think Jesus nor any of his followers as recorded in Scripture abrogated any parts of Torah. If they had done so, Torah itself taught to reject such as false teachers. The (false) accusation that Jesus broke Torah is a repeated theme in the gospels and Jesus responded in each case by showing how he (or his disciples) did not. That is, Jesus was a practicing Jew and was sinless, this has implications as it is the Tanakh that defined sin for a Jew in the 1st century. We also see in the gospels and Acts that all the 12 were practicing Jews, as well as all the disciples in the upper room. Peter, James, and Paul were all practicing Jews for their whole life as far as can be determined from Scripture. Paul claims in Acts 21 that he never taught that Jews were to forsake Torah. All of these items have implications as to how we are to understand the letter in what we call the New Testament.

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