The "Old" testament

Recently one of the people I have been studying with commented that things would be a lot better if we simply threw out the old testament and used only the new testament. Even better would be to use smaller portions of the new testament. Then maybe people would not be so daunted by this book, the Bible. Or by the difficulties with all that “old” stuff in the old testament.

Mind you, most people still aren’t even willing to read small sections of the new testament before passing judgement on the whole library (the Bible). But is was Jesus who “began with Mozes and all the prophets and explained to them what was written about him in all the Scriptures.” Jesus said that Mozes talked about him. That the prophets mentioned his suffering. That if his followers had read these writings, they would have known about him (although Jesus himself had to explain it).

Think about it: Paul went always first into the synangogue in a city and proved from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. We take as our example the people of Berea because they were willing to check the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. These Scriptures were what we call the Old Testament. And they spoke of Jesus!

So we have been studying the Scriptures, looking at where we see Jesus who told us that “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44). It is an intriguing study, a challenge for us all. And maybe we will be able to help others also see that they shouldn’t throw out their Old Testament just yet, but instead start reading it with the eyes of Jesus.