Generally, if someone believes in God they will read and study the New Testament. Yet for some reason many people who believe in God do not have the same desire to study the Old Testament. Sadly, I have often heard people say it is not important to study the Old Testament. Even worse, I have heard people say that the Old Testament is just filled with legends and the stories simply are not true. I have even heard of people who believe in God make those types of remarks about the Old Testament. It IS important to study the Old Testament! Below I have listed five reasons (in no particular order) to study the Old Testament.
- The Old Testament is the Word of God. If my list only included this item, it alone should be a good enough reason to study the Old Testament. As I mentioned earlier, many people just think of the Old Testament as a bunch of good stories and myths; however, I strongly disagree with that view. The next two reasons on my list are two of the many reasons that confirm the Old Testament is the Word of God.
- Jesus spoke about it and quoted it. Jesus quoted and referred to the Old Testament quite frequently. When He spoke about the Old Testament He spoke as if the things in the Old Testament were true and literal, not exaggerated or figurative. For instance, many people would contest that the account of creation is either “simplified” or simply not true. However, consider how Jesus treated the account of the creation of man in Matthew 19:4-6: “He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Clearly Jesus agreed with the account of creation.
- The writers of the New Testament, inspired of God, referred to the Old Testament and quoted the Old Testament. All of the New Testament writers from Matthew to Peter to John to Paul referred to and quoted the Old Testament.
- The Old Testament shows us examples of righteous living, unrighteous living, the character of God, and many, many other things. Think about the lives of Enoch, Noah, Job, Moses, Abraham, or King David. Consider Romans 15:4: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
- The Old Testament allows us to have a complete understanding of the New Testament. For instance, knowledge of the sacrificial system in the old law allows one to more completely understand Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
All Scripture reference is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV).