Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

....was when the CofC dispensed with the Old Testament as something "possibly considerable", i.e., a "restricted" acceptance....accepted more as something "attached" to the New Testament by a binder....only for "restricted teaching" conditioned of course on an understanding that it was "put to death" in various ways by the crucifixion....so the use of scriptures in the Old Testament must be done 'very, very carefully"....

Unfortunately, the titles of both, i.e., "Old Testament" and "New Testament" are man made and impose a supposition that is really misleading....when one is a continuation of the other....even Christ spoke of how the Law and the Prophets spoke of Him...so He Himself exists in it (and quite frankly therefore can be considered to have inspired it).....and in it all is still a valid presentation of the nature of God and man....

But what is lost with this kind of mindset is recognizing that we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because He is the God of Jesus whom we recognize as the Messiah....even though we have been brought to Him as Gentiles....yet even so, we are "grafted into the tree"....well, what tree?? It is the people of God...His people from the beginning....we have not been "served" as some kind of exclusively chosen "New Testament", "better" people over those in the "Old Testament"....the "church" started in Genesis, not Acts.....

The failure to recognize this is one of the most arrogant legacies of the CofC, IMO....

I have long recognized that Trust and Obey has been the only way since the Garden...Eve, Noah, Abraham...all of it is always just to trust God and to obey (do) what he says to follow His wisdom. But God does make a covenant with Abraham. And Ezekiel and Jerimiah speak of a coming new covenant and Jesus speaks of the new covenant. Jerimiah specifically states the new covenant will in fact not be like the one made with the Hebrew patriarchs.

So there does seem to be some basis for an old/new framing and that they are different. But yes, the Hebrew letter argues that there is really only one long chain of people being pleasing to God through their trust and obedience/doing. And that the prophets had wanted to know the mystery that had been promised but was only revealed in Jesus.

So yes, all are connected and focused on the promise made to Abraham (long before the Law given through Moses). It seems it is easy to confuse and/or conflate the "OT" with the Law given through Moses.

One is built on the other. The Old Testament is the foundation. The New Testament looks toward the kingdom of Jesus. He is given praises because people appreciate him. Not because he needs it or craves it.

As pastor Alistair Begg says, "It takes the whole book to make a whole Christian". The Old Testament is the story of how God refused to give up on a stubborn rebellious people, and to this day He still refuses to give up.

Opie wrote:As pastor Alistair Begg says, "It takes the whole book to make a whole Christian". The Old Testament is the story of how God refused to give up on a stubborn rebellious people, and to this day He still refuses to give up.

Yep. It's really more about that refusal than about anything else, ISTM. No matter how horrific the circumstances, He has always intervened to attempt to construct a rescue and a relationship. Some might think what a foolish god, yet His everlasting faithfulness is His mainstay. Interesting pastor, by the way, I looked him up. He must be really cool, he's my age.....

Opie wrote:As pastor Alistair Begg says, "It takes the whole book to make a whole Christian". The Old Testament is the story of how God refused to give up on a stubborn rebellious people, and to this day He still refuses to give up.

That is true. He puts up with alot. Perhaps we are at the beginning stage of a later development. Every deal with children growing up. Mine are in their 40's. My oldest granddaughter is in college. I used to toss them in their parents bed when they were little. They loved it. My knees used to hurt from giving them horsey rides. Those days are over but the memories are good and my knees feel better.