The spiritual scriptures of the Old and New Testaments have important information regarding the prophecies that were made to ancient Israel and how those prophesies are supposed to be fulfilled in the current world. The relationship between the two is a matter of discussion depending on the position one takes. The link brings one of the thorniest questions that a reader of the Bible can have on how they are related. In the present world, some people argue that the Old Testament does not conform to the modern way of living. This has even made some of the Christians who have this point of reasoning to remove it from their Bibles. It is a common argument that when the New Testament was introduced, it was meant to replace the ancient way of life and rules. However, the earliest Christian believers have to assert that the Old Testament is the word of God for all the times of humanity.
This means that the question should not be whether the two Testaments but how to read them simultaneously. The relationship between the Old and the New Testaments should be demystified from the simple stance on the promise-fulfillment link, which is the common presupposition in the contemporary theology ( Moyise, 2015) . The reason for this is that the Old Testament stands for so many things apart from being just a scripture full of promises. In addition, it is more than simply a chronological account of the events that happened to the children of Israel. This can be thought of the titles “Old” and “New.” It is always thought that the former means an outdated covenant between God and man which is made obsolete by the introduction of the newer version. Alternatively, the relationship between the two is one that is reciprocal and integrative, as there is interdependence between them. Thus, it is likely for a misunderstanding to occur when reading the two in isolation from the other.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The authors suggest three ways in which the relationship between the Old and the New Testaments can be viewed from three viewpoints. To begin with, the Old Testament forms the literary background for the New. Numerous illustrations in the Bible show the quotations in the New Testament that point to the Old. The references are amounting to sheer 295 identified separate explicit references to the Old Testament that are found in some 352 verses in the New. The documentation of the Bible takes the form of themes and genres. The New Testament takes heed from the Old in terms of arranging the works into categories. For instance, the Old Testament is divided into Law, History, Poetry, and Prophetic books ( Moyise, 2015) . On the other hand, the New Testament is categorized into Gospel, Letters, and Revelation books. It is also essential to recognize the techniques used to write the two sections of the Bible. The authors of the New Testament saw the Old as a holy point of reference. Telling the story of Jesus largely relied on the vocabulary and techniques that already existed in the world of the Jews. The language and style of writing the New Testament largely depend on the methods employed in the Old Testament.
The second presupposition is that the New Testament is based on the historical foundation of the Old. History is an important aspect of the Bible as it states the ordeals of the Israelites from the beginning of the creation ( Moyise, 2015) . It is not an understatement to say that the New Testament would not be comprehensible without the facts in the Old. For instance, the readers would not be able to understand the claim that Jesus is the Messiah before first grasping the information on the Israelites and the dynasty of David. If looked at keenly, the lineage of Jesus (who forms the basis of the New Testament) can be traced to Abraham in the Old Testament. This makes the two sections of the scriptures to be continuous and historically. The two makes a complete set of the history of the redemption of man through the offering of the Son of God. The Old Testament deals with the ideas of the Israelites through a long succession time. The deals that God created with man in ancient Israel are passed from one generation to the next until the purpose to bring the lost children to Himself through Jesus ( Moyise, 2015) . The compilation of the books in the New Testament was done in a way that was consonant with the historical situations in which the Israelites lived and which are recorded in the Old Testament. History also serves as a point of reference to the life in which the ancient generations lived in relationship with God. For instance, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews who advanced the traditional Judaism in Acts 7:39-43 is compared to that of Moses by the Israelites who worshipped the golden calf ( Moyise, 2015) .
Finally, the Old Testament is the base of the theology of the New. When writing the New Testament, the authors affirm the theological concepts of the Old and have the assumption that the readers recognize these truths and revere them. Most of the doctrines of the early church are defined first in the Old Testament ( Beale, 2011) . In fact, most of the truths are not talked of in the New and are taken for granted. The authors give an example of the significance of creation, the atonement doctrine, the consequences of human sin, and the primary role of covenant redemption. The Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses in the Old Testament have become the subject of theological interpretation in the New. The messages continue but in a more amplified in the teachings of Jesus. The New Testament affirms that the nature of theology that existed in the prior times was through the prophets while in the current times through His Son in Hebrews 1:1 ( Waltke & Yu, 2007) . This means that the Old Testament forms the basis of the theological concepts.
References
Waltke, B. K., & Yu, C. (2007). An Old Testament theology: An exegetical, canonical, and thematic approach : Zondervan.
Moyise, S. (2015). The Old Testament in the New: An Introduction: Revised and Expanded Bloomsbury Publishing.
Beale, G. K. (2011). A New Testament biblical theology: The unfolding of the Old Testament in the New : Baker Books.
