Jon Akin recently wrote a 2-part blog on the misuse of the Old Testament in the Church. You can read parts one and two.
This raises the question then, how is the Old Testament to be read? And is the Old Testament of value to the church today?
Jon Akin, who is completing a PhD in Old Testament studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has written several blogs that can help us with both of these questions. He writes in one of these blogs:
Can the Old Testament be read in its literal sense and still be of value to a Christian audience? Allegory says, ‘No,’ and historical-grammatical method does not know. The Bible answers this question with a ‘Yes,’ and that yes is Jesus Christ. The entire OT is about Jesus (Luke 24:27), and all of history points to Jesus (Eph. 1:10). This means that OT history is about Christ and moving towards Christ. Christ is Abraham’s seed, so those in Christ are offspring of Abraham, heirs of the Israelite promises, and part of the vine of Israel (Gal. 3:29; Rm. 11). That means that Israelite historiographic literature is Christian historiographic literature. Jewish heritage is Christian heritage in Christ. Therefore, Christians cannot read Israelite history as if they are reading someone else’s mail. In order to read OT history as Christian scripture, the reader must read the narrative Christocentrically. All of the Old Testament is pointing to Christ, and if we are in Christ then it is pointing to us mediated through Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). The Old Testament does not first and foremost apply to the Christian; rather, it first applies to the Christ, and then it is mediated to the Christian. This means a typological, Christological reading of the Bible as a whole. The Bible is one book, and the Old Testament is the first part of that book. The little narratives should not be examined apart from the big narrative. Jesus and the apostles seemed to use this strategy.
Below are several blogs exploring Old Testament narratives that will help us see how to read the Old Testament and how the Old Testament is still vital to the life of the Church.
- The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Story of Noah
- The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Reversal of Babel
- Jihadist Suicide Bomber? The Gospel and Samson
- Reading the Bible Christocentrically: Rescuing the Ark Narrative from Enlightenment Reductionism
- The Gospel of Jesus in the Life of King Asa
- Jehoshaphat and the Gospel
- The Gospel of Jesus in the Life of King Joash