I’ll admit, I’ve not always been the biggest fan of studying the Old Testament. I’m more of a Romans kind of guy. I want flawless logic and hearty theology over stories of failure, weird rituals, and complicated prophecies. But I know the Old Testament is a part of our canon for a reason. It’s God’s Word, no less inspired than the letters of Paul. The Book of Romans actually reminds us of that.
When Paul introduces himself as an apostle set apart for the Gospel of God, he adds a comment on this Gospel: “…which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” Reading this, I was reminded that the Bible for Paul was the Old Testament. So how he understood the redemptive work of Christ was based on this knowledge of the Old Testament. He clearly saw the Old Testament pointing forward to the Gospel, the good news of the redemption Christ would accomplish for His people.
This means for the modern reader of the Bible, we must force ourselves backwards. We will never truly understand the Gospel in all of its beauty and detail apart from seeing God’s redemptive work in the Old Testament that leads up to this Gospel. For instance, how does Christ’s sacrifice relate to the sacrificial system of the Israelites? How does Christ fulfill the prophecies of a coming Messiah (Daniel 9:25)? How does the Spirit promised in Ezekiel give God’s people a new heart of obedience? All these questions can only be properly answered if I reach back into the Old Testament and study them there, see them in their context, and make the connections to what was accomplished in the New Testament.
So instead of letting the Apostle Paul do all the work for me, perhaps I’ll commit myself to a better appreciation and understanding of the Old Testament this year.
