Articles
Why Is the Old Testament Important to Christians?
Why Is the Old Testament Important to Christians?
Bob Oliver
Perhaps the first passage we should consider is 2 Timothy 2:15, where we are instructed to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” We need to be able to “rightly divide” God’s word. By that I mean we need to understand what God wants “us” to obey. We know we are not to obey the laws of animal sacrifice, for that was not given to us to obey. We need to understand that we are not to obey the Old Testament, for none of it was given to us to obey. First, the Law of Moses was given only to the Jewish people. (Deuteronomy 5:1-3).
This being true, how is the Old Testament important to Christians today? Romans 15:4 answers that question. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” Without an understanding of how God dealt with His people of old, there is much we would not understand in the law of Christ. Jesus spoke of Adam and Noah. If we did not have the Old Testament we would not understand when Jesus spoke about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We would not understand Hebrews 11 where the New Testament refers to many Old Testament people.
This being true, it is extremely important that we study the Old Testament, not to obey it, but to understand more about God and his relationship with man.
