Chapter 02, God's Interaction With Israel, Reciprocal/Holistic Relationship of Knowing Between Christ and the Old Testament

Reciprocal/Holistic Relationship of Knowing Between Christ and the Old Testament

            One might wonder why it is necessary to take so much time to emphasize that Christ is unintelligible apart from the Old Testament witness.  The reason for this is because Christians have often tried to understand the Old Testament on its own and understand the New Testament on its own.  This is reinforced by the modern practice of referring to the Old Testament as the “Hebrew Bible.”  Using this term presupposes that the two Testaments are not intimately and essentially related and that they have nothing to say about how we interpret the other.  However, seeing that Jesus and the apostles consistently interpret Christ in light of the Old Testament and Christ himself insists that the Old Testament bears witness to him (even though the people at the time did not think so), if we allow the Scriptures to guide our interpretation, we must take this inter-Testamental influence seriously.

            What this means is that we cannot truly understand Christ unless we understand the Old Testament and we cannot truly understand the Old Testament unless we understand Christ.  This is not meant to be circular but rather reciprocal and holistic.  Our ability to probe into the truth of both the Incarnation and the Old Testament arise together.  As we gain an insight into one, it shapes the way we understand the other.  Grasping major themes in the Old Testament teaches us to look for them in the New.  As has been said above, our concepts and controlling ideas need to take their definitions and interpretations from the Old Testament narrative.  And yet, at the same time, we can only know what is of enduring importance and what is only of passing significance if we read the Old Testament in light of Christ.  Now, we will shift our attention to two examples of major themes in the Old Testament and how they interact with Christian faith.  The first of these will primarily show how the Old Testament needs to shape our Christian concepts and the second one will illustrate how the revelation of Christ can help us wade through Old Testament material and appropriate it in responsible ways.