Why Study the Old Testament?

Aren’t we supposed to be New Testament Christians? Why then should we study the Old Testament? Isn’t really violent at times, and really boring at others? Who cares about what happened to a bunch of people thousands of years ago?

These are good questions, and they have an answer from Scriptures. The simple answer is that we are expected to know what the Old Testament says. Consider how Jesus says no fewer than seven times in the Gospel accounts, “Have you not read…?” He clearly expected His people to both know and understand what Scripture says. This blog post examines these questions, uses a scriptural lens to examine them, and then concludes that there are good reasons to study the Old Testament, not just the New Testament.

In a general sense, the answer to this question is “to learn about God’s character.” James explains that God does not change (James 1:17). While the circumstances of the nation of Israel were obviously quite different, we can better learn about God’s primary qualities of everlasting loving kindness and wrath from studying the Old Testament. No one knew that better than Paul—who as Saul, a Pharisee, must have learned the Old Testament scriptures well (Philippians 3:5).

This background no doubt helped Paul after his conversion, and as an advocate for Jesus.  He reasons with Jews in the synagogue in Thessalonica “from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead” (Acts 17:2-3). At the time of both the writing and Paul’s preaching, most of what we call the New Testament had not yet been written. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states that the core of the Gospel is the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus “in accordance with the Scriptures.” The above statement about the New Testament once again holds true. Thus, the “Scriptures” we read about in these passages must include the Old Testament.

In 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul likens our situation as Christians in this world to that of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. The offhand references could easily be missed without the modern convention of cross-referenced Bibles if we are not intimately familiar with the books of Exodus and Numbers. The fact that Paul so casually drops these references in, clearly expecting his (predominately Gentile) audience in Corinth to instantly recognize them and understand the intended application again clearly indicates that we, as Christians, must be familiar with the Old Testament.

This evident in the number of references to Old Testament passages throughout the New Testament. For example, the books of James and Hebrews alone cannot be fully appreciated without understanding the Old Testament. In fact, we have written about just one of those references in a previous post. The New Testament writers regularly call upon the Scriptures of the Old Testament to reinforce the message of the Holy Spirit to New Covenant children of God.

Finally, the words Paul writes to Timothy are instructive: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Remember that the New Testament as such did not completely exist yet, and Paul is writing about all scripture. While Paul is certainly anticipating scripture to come, he is very clearly urging Timothy to study the Old Testament. The Old Testament, in addition to the New Testament, equips us for righteousness. It makes us complete, ready for every good work. If we study only one section of Scripture, we will not be complete. We will not be fully equipped for good works.

Although the Old Testament is indeed no longer binding as Law on Christians, as we are under the New Covenant (Colossians 2:14; Romans 7:4; Ephesians 2:14-16), it provides the contextual background necessary to fully understand the New Testament. Why must the Christ be born from a virgin? Why the town of Bethlehem? Why must He suffer and die on cross? The answers to all these and a lot more questions are found in the Old Testament. Studying the Old Testament help us all understand the New Testament. The Old Testament remains a great source of wisdom for us. If we are to be God’s people, as He would have us to be, we must pay careful attention to all His word.