Old & New

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"O Lord, open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your Law" (Psa 119:18)

The Old Testament and the New Testament are the two lips of God to speak to us. The New is concealed in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New. We cannot understand one without the other.

But the difference between the Testaments must be clearly understood. We have the shadow in the OT but the substance in the NT (Heb 10:1). The New Covenant, unlike the Old, is not of the letter but of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:6 Rom 7:6). In the OT the Law was written in tablets of stone, but now God writes it in our hearts of flesh (Jer 31:31-33; Heb 8:8-10; 2 Cor 3:3). The ceremonial part of the Law takes a spiritual meaning in the New Testament. For example, the Sabbath speaks of the rest Christ gives to His people here and then in eternity (Mt 11:28; Heb 4:4-10). Similarly God told Peter to eat even the "forbidden" food of the OT to explain to him a spiritual truth, that is, how God can save the non-Jews also (Acts 10:10-16,44,45). The Temple in the OT becomes the people of God and their bodies in the NT. The New Covenant is called a "better" Covenant (Heb 7:22; 8:6).

The core of the OT is all about what God "demands" whereas the core of the NT is all about what God "gives." Praise the Lord we are not under Law but under Grace (Rom 6:14). Let us stand firm in the liberty, and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage (Gal 5:1). In fact, those who attempt to be justified by Law have fallen from Grace (v4). Law and Grace cannot coexist. Ishmael and Isaac cannot dwell in the same house. An old cloth and a new piece should not be stitched together. The new wine cannot be kept in old bottles (Mt 9:16,17).

By saying so we do not mean that the Old Testament is irrelevant to us today. Apart from the Law the OT contains prophecy, history and wisdom. "These were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor 10:11). The OT must be read and diligently studied by every Christian, but the interpretation and application must be always in the light of the NT.

If you would have a balanced diet of both the Old Testament and the New Testament truth, follow the Bible Reading Calendar given on pages 13-16 of this book.

The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible,
is the religion of Christ's Church! (C.H. Spurgeon, 1834-1892) 

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