How Do Christians Treat The Old Testament?

Christians affirm belief in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. This is important because the New Testament presents Jesus as the incarnate Son of God which died and was resurrected for the sins of the world. Christians who examine the Jewish views of Scripture must [also] question the equal authority assigned to God’s written law and the interpretations and commentaries later added by rabbis. This has resulted in a constantly shifting body of teachings that are based on human traditions. 2 Peter 1:20-21 debunks this Jewish reasoning when it declares: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

The Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlike most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religion and the small embers, which will one day, turn to a flame that is Christianity. The Jewish people view these stories as collected in what they call the Torah, is the collection for what makes up their history and the promise that God gave to them, as well as their laws and what they worship today. For the Christians the Old Testament is still seen as sacred, but most place a stronger importance to the New Testament.

The important sacred text of Christianity is the Bible. The Bible is primary sacred text of Christianity. The Christian Bible is made of two parts: the Old Testament, which is almost identical to the Jewish Bible; and the New Testament, a collection of Christian writings that includes biographies of Jesus and the apostles, letters to new churches, and an apocalyptic work. The Christian Bible is a collection of writings that Christians believe is of divine and human origin. The Bible is accepted by Christians as trustworthy for belief and practice. As well sometimes referred to as 'Scripture ' and 'Holy Scripture '. Christianity views the Bible as the basic source of belief and practice. The Bible is the central sacred text for

One of the major differences that A.J. Jacobs illuminates as major differences between the world of the Old Testament and our recent society is that the hundreds of laws listed on the 5 first books of the Old Testament might no longer apply to our contemporary society. Some of the reasons these laws are irrational is because they were harsh and basically impossible to achieve. However, I disagree with him in picking and choosing the right parts of the Bible. This is a dangerous statement because it opens the door to pick and choose what fits our model; therefore justification to sin might occur as a consequence. Nevertheless, these laws were given to one group of people, the Jews.

The two gospels, The Old Testament and The New Testament provide mirror images of Terrestrial Humans mentality Evolution and the comprehensive overview of the mental developmental trends over a span covering last five millennia. The Old Testament moral norms served in establishing a legal system with base in an absolute, irrevocable right of private ownership. Incontestable proof of continuous process of Evolution in this micro-segment of Spiral is an emergence of ‘The New Testament’, as a herald of a new mental era on the Earth, which naturally succeeds ‘The Old Testament’. Needless to remind, that The Old Testament also inspired adherents to vehemently follow the principle "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth", a total ‘defence of ownership’ “…based on the superstition or the illusion that one was ‘God 's chosen people’ and was superior to all ‘heathens’ ". (Quote from ‘Livets Bog’, Vol IV #1310)

Within the Old Testament, God commanded the use of the death penalty for specific crimes ranging from murder to blasphemy. “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death” (Exodus 21:12, English Standard Version). In contrast, the New Testament shifts the focus of capital punishment towards Jesus and his example

With regards to Christians’ relationship to the Old Testament, there is need to recognize that it is part of the Scriptures. Actually, the Old Testament is part of the written revelation or word of God to an extent that it generates much interest by old and young people. Consequently, the Old Testament is applicable to all Christians or believers since it is part of God’s written law. This is demonstrated in the fact that failure to acknowledge the unity of Scripture contributed to the emergence of false truths by some of the early Bible expositors. False truths emerged because

“(1) Both the New Covenant and the law of Christ stand in contrast to the Mosaic Covenant and its Law in Paul 's writings.(2) Both Jeremiah and Paul emphasized that the two covenants (New and Sinaitic) were different. The fact that one is "New" suggests that it replaces the Old Covenant. (3) Both Ezekiel 36:27 and Paul point to the ministry of the Holy Spirit as being unique. Furthermore, the following syllogism suggests how this may be reasoned. First premise: New Testament believers are under

In the Catholic faith, the Protestant belief of “sola scriptura” or “scripture alone” is to be used along with the Magisterial authority of those in the church such as the Pope and Bishops, which is a long standing belief from the church’s founding in 33 AD. The Protestant Bible and The Catholic Bible both use the same New Testament, which was defined by Athanasius in 367, but use a different Old Testament. The Protestant Old Testament is different than the Catholic Old Testament because of the history of the founding of the Protestant faith. The Protestant Old testament comes from the Hebrew Bible which was decided to have 24 books, with this canon being accepted at the Councils of Jamnia in 90-118 AD. (Coffman)

Approaching the Scriptures from a Jewish viewpoint, as discussed in class, is well supported in Brettler’s book. Through his preparatory teaching on what the Hebrew Bible in itself is, and how one should read it, a ground is laid. Explaining the difference between the “Christian Bible” and “Hebrew Bible” is a vital inclusion. The Christian Bible passages, called the Old Testament, are read with the belief that they lead into the New Testament. The Hebrew Bible does contain a New Testament, so one would not read it within the same frame of reference.

The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, and sometimes also New Covenant which is the literary translation of the Greek language, is the name given to the final portion of the Christian Bible. It was written by various authors after 45 AD and before 140 AD. Its books were collected into one single volume over a long period of several centuries. The New Testament is more or less the root of the Christian religion, which has played a major role in shaping modern Western morality and culture.

Before the gospels and Pauline epistles, early church Christians related to the Old Testament as Scripture and viewed their Christian walk as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel from the Old Testament, which foretold of the coming age of the Messiah. The first New Testament Christians understood the importance of the Old Testament; it was their “Bible” they preached from. Just as in the early church, Christians today need the Old Testament for preaching and in which to reference and understand Christ’s purpose for why he came.

The names “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are inherently theological in nature. Because there is a difference distinctly built into giving them different notations, it implies that there are differences between each the Old Testament and the New Testament, whether it is subtle in nature or obvious in nature. To Christians, the difference means that the Old Testament contains dealings between God and the world and even some of the rules made are made irrelevant by the interactions of Christ Jesus with the world. One of the differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament is the way each of the Testaments describe God and God’s nature. The Old Testament describes an angry God, one who only created the world and was obsessed with laws and rules. The New Testament describes a loving God who redeemed the world. The different ways the Old Testament and New Testament describe God and his nature are very much influenced by their perspective of God. By the rules, actions, and laws God made, the early writers of the Old Testament made their judgements about God and wrote those perspectives into the books of the Old Testament. The writers of the Old Testament did the best they could with the information they had and got some things about God right, but also got things wrong. The writers of the New Testament and therefore, Christian believers understand God better.

Christians see Jesus as continuous with the God of Judaism. A collection of Christian writings was added to the Jewish scriptures known as the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible. The Christian writings, called the New Testament, record the life and teachings of Jesus. They also describe the development of the early church and explain what faith in Jesus means. The Christian Bible includes both the Old and New Testaments. Some Christian groups also accept as part of the Bible a collection of writings called the Apocrypha.

This is because the entire new testament is based on the Jesus of Nazareth as God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim 3:16). According to St. Paul (Ephesians 1:10), the dispensation of the fullness of time might gather together in all things in Christ both which are in heaven and on earth. All that is written in the first four books is about Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore to know Jesus and his salvation one must study the New Testament. This knowledge is highly precious that according to Paul he counts all things as loss for the knowledge of Jesus Christ (Philemon 3: