Questions & Answers
With Dr. Bob Burrelli, Grace Bible Church
This question asked by some Christians is common, but not as common as the firm belief of many others that the Old Testament has been replaced by the New Testament and is not applicable for the church age. And it is commoner still for many more to apply this view without ever really voicing it. The factors that provoke this question and nurture the thinking and practice I just mentioned are many. Not too many pastors preach from the Old Testament because they really don t know how properly to formulate its timeless principles. It is not impossible that churchgoers could hear nothing but the New Testament preached for years and, therefore, never venture into the Old Testament themselves. The often misinterpretation by some of New Testament passages that address the Old Testament, such as Matthew 6:17, certainly doesn t help. The many different genres in the Old Testament, such as poetry, narrative, law, wisdom literature, which usually scares many Bible students away because they are not sure how to handle them.
The honest answer to the question is that the New Testament has not replaced the Old Testament, it has completed it. Christians believe in plenary inspiration, which means that every word of the entire Bible is God-breathed (2 Peter 1:21). It is applicable, therefore, for Christians today and it must be studied, preached and used. The apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth, speaking of the Old Testament record of unrighteous Israel, just how important the Old Testament is: Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction . . . Later, Paul tells young Timothy, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). When Paul wrote this, the New Testament had not yet been written. Jesus used the Old Testament to witness to the two men on the road to Emmaus, at which time he proves to them from this Scripture that the Christ had to die before entering His glory. It was the Bible of the early church and what the apostles used to evangelize. May God see fit to raise more competent people to preach the whole counsel of God.