Old vs New Testament

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Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on March 17, 2012 at 4:14am

Bruce, I agree with you. I read and study the New Testament more as well...mainly because we are living under Grace and it was written about God's Grace in sending Christ for our redemption.

I love the Old Testament, but I love reading and studying about the effect of Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection on our lives and what it means to us.

I am currently reading *What on Earth is God Doing* by Renald Showers...where he shows what Satan did to try to upset God's Plan for His people and the moves God made to thwart him. In reading it, I see how desperate Satan is to win this war with God and why He will never win it.

I love Proverbs and Psalms as well.

I love reading Paul's writings about how we are to live, based on God's Grace and our Lord Jesus Christ and about Jesus' teachings about what He would have us to do.

All in all, the Bible is an awesome Book.

Blessings.....

Rita

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Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on March 17, 2012 at 4:44am

I like to read the Old Testament and use the many stories as illistrations for New Testament teachings. We can get a very good understanding about the standards that God requires for His children also.

 Joushua 1:8 

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

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Permalink Reply by Garrett Michaelson on April 5, 2012 at 8:08pm

Your practice doesn't sound that different from historic lectionaries.

In one Book of Common Prayer I've used, in the Daily Office, the Hebrew Scriptures are cycled through once in the course of a year and the Gospel and Epistle readings are cycled through twice.

Daily Office combined with the Sunday lectionary which proceeds through the church calendar, the life of Christ is processed through nine times in the course of the year (2x through 4 Gospels plus another through the Sunday readings).

Historic devotional reading going back through the monastic and patristic traditions has been to see:

- The Old Testament through the New Testament and the 

- New Testament through the Person of Jesus Christ.

This kind of emphasis can be historic, relational, and probably best be contemplated through an orthodox understanding of Christology and the Trinity.  It can vary, I suppose at least a bit, with modern foundationalist epistemology placing the breadth of the Bible at the root, rather than the root of Jesse, son of David, our Advocate and Mediator, Christ Himself.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

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Permalink Reply by RoyW on April 15, 2012 at 5:48pm

Bruce,

They are equally important. It is impossible to understand the New Testament without a good understanding of the Old. The OT will make the New come alive for you. Jesus often quoted from the Old and our Gospel was given us by writers that only had the OT. Their understanding of God came from the Old. Our understanding of God is incomplete without the OT. In fact, most of what we know about God and His creation comes from the OT. It is critical to your faith.

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