It’s been a while, but I couldn’t resist a few words about the Old Testament. I’m in the midst of a class on Old Testament Ethics. Some might wonder at the sanity, or point of such a class due to the often incredibly violent nature of the Old Testament text. Is there anything that is worth recovering that isn’t merely clever religious self-deception? Others might point out that we don’t need the Old Testament because we have Jesus (thank God!). And the cynics in the back of the class might snicker at the waste of time so many Christians spend on this task.
There are also those of us who are Christians who don’t have a problem with the Old Testament. For some this calm comes from ignorance of the biblical text, and for others, it comes from wrestling with the text. I want to be of the latter sort, even though it often proves to be difficult, challenging and even horrific.
Here are a few thoughts that are important to take the Old Testament seriously as Christian scripture.
1 Jesus took the Old Testament seriously, so we should as well. Christians have to take a close look at the Old Testament if for no other reason than Jesus took the Old Testament seriously (Luke 24.44). Andrew Wilson has a great book on this topic that is worth pouring over (Unbreakable).
2 We read the Old Testament alongside the New Testament. We don’t merely have a “book,” nor do we have two “books,” nor do we even have a collection of “books” (as fond as some are of saying). The Christian Bible is a collection of books which are collected into two Testaments, which are read alongside each other. A question for another day is how we read Scripture now that we have two testaments when those within Scripture only read one (for the most part)!
3 We read the Old Testament through a Christocentric lens.This is easy to say and difficult to do. Almost every Christian reading of the text attempts to do this in some way.
4 The Old Testament God (Yahweh) is the Father in the New Testament. The one who rescued Israel from Egypt and spoke to Moses at Sinai is the one who raised Jesus from the dead. Derek Rishmawy has a helpful article here.
5 The Old Testament is the Word of God. I often hear the distinction made between Jesus as the “Word of God” and the Scriptures as the “words of God.” The distinction can be helpful because it clarifies that Jesus is the apex of God’s revelatory work. When we read Judges or Genesis we recognize they point towards someone greater than themselves, Jesus. However, any distinction which Jesus Himself seems to deny doesn’t seem overly helpful theologically (John 10.34-46). It is more helpful to recognize that though Word of God is used of Jesus, it is also used of Scripture as a whole, to denote in some sense that it is by this means which God speaks. God speaks in Jesus in a particularly revolutionary way nevertheless the whole of the Scriptures are God’s speech to us (Hebrews 1.1-2).
6 Sitting with tension in Scripture is a good. One of my greatest temptations in Bible Studies is to explain away things within the text, with other parts of the text. Oftentimes I do this with the best of intentions but inevitably I end up not dealing with the text itself but with what I think the text should say. This isn’t to say harmonization is impossible, or theological work can’t get off the ground, but a willingness to take the text seriously involves a recognition of our own humility in front of the text and the hard work that it involves in taking it seriously, both morally and intellectually.
Thoughts 