Here’s a summary of a Gospel Coalition website article about getting the most out of the Old Testament, reviewing a book that is aimed at seeing —

  • ‘The theological significance and trajectory of the Old Testament, centred on Christ and culminating in his work on the cross. Some Christocentric readings of the Old Testament unintentionally distort the author’s intended meaning by turning all texts into word pictures that somehow foreshadow and predict Jesus’s person and work. In contrast, is a more exegetical approach without allegorical or artificial manipulation: “By Christocentric I mean that our biblical interpretation and application must in some way be tied to the cross for it to be Christian (1 Cor. 2:2). I also mean that we are to interpret Scripture through Christ and for Christ”.
  • Thus, it’s not about looking for appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament, as if every verse must contain a hidden allusion to Christ for it to be Christocentric. Rather, it’s about how the Bible’s message is centred on Jesus. Everything in the Old Testament leads up to Christ’s incarnation; his fulfillment of its law, types, and shadows; and his work of redemption on the cross.
  • The adjective “Christian” should characterize all of Scripture since the Old Testament is about Christ, for Christ, and written for believers in Christ. The way Jesus and the apostles treat the text makes clear that the Old Testament is Christian Scripture.
  • The Mosaic law doesn’t directly bind Christians in a legal manner. However, “we treat all the Old Testament laws as profitable and instructive when we read them through the lens of Christ”. The Law remains both pedagogical and revelatory (it continues to both teach us regarding how to live and reveals God).

As Rod mentioned last Sunday, the Old Testament has 929 of the total 1189 Chapters in the Bible (260 in New Testament). Thus, we need to value and read, study and apply ALL of the Bible. It is all God’s word to us.

The Review is of: ‘Delighting in the Old Testament’ by Jason S. DeRouchie, and is at— https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/delighting-old-testament/

Today we finish our Genesis 1-3 Series. Next Sunday we start our 1 Timothy Series, before some Psalms (& Cameron on Holidays), before we resume 1 Timothy. We will return to Genesis later this year, with Chapters 4-11.

Cameron