How the New Testament Uses the Old Testament

OT: The Exodus from Egypt is the story of rescue from slavery and a deliverance to a promised land. Later, the prophet Isaiah uses that story to portray the coming judgment and enslavement that was coming because of disobedience, but mixed with hope because the enslavement would be temporary and they once again will be rescued and restored to the promised land.

NT: The story of the Exodus is then repurposed in the New Testament as a picture of humanity’s slavery in sin, with a deliverance to a promised land, accomplished by the death and resurrection of Christ.

OT: The sacrificial system was designed as a picture for the ancient Israelites. It was designed to be a response on the part of those who had a right relationship with God, picturing that life comes only as a result of death. The living, in order to continue living, must consume the dead. Those worshipers whose attitudes were not right, who only were going through the motions, but whose lives did not reflect a relationship with God, were condemned and their offerings were unacceptable. (see Isaiah 1 and 66).

NT: The author of Hebrews points out that the blood of bulls and goats did not take away sins (see Hebrews 9). Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is a picture, a response on the part of those who have a right relationship with God. Spiritual life comes only as a consequence of death—the death of Jesus. Those whose attitudes are not right are condemned, and their communion is unacceptable (See 1 Corinthians 11:29-30: “many are sick, and not a few have fallen asleep”).

NT quotation of OT: Not all quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament are to be taken “literally.” There is variety in how the New Testament makes use of the Old Testament, ranging from explicit quotation and application according to historical-grammatical methods, to simply playing off a theme, making further developmental use of the picture. The process is often times similar to what Copeland did with American folk music in Rodeo or Appalachian Spring, or what Rachmaninoff did with the rift from Paganini in his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (other composers have done similar things, both modern and classical; think of what rap artists do with sampling). Thus, Isaiah’s “apocalyptic” statements of “new heavens and new earth” (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22) in context are metaphors for the new life Israel would have once they returned from Babylonian captivity (think of how someone feels, and the metaphors they might use, after recovering from a long and serious illness).

The NT will play off these OT images and take them in new directions and develop them further. And sometimes the NT will merely allude to the OT pictures. Consider the many allusions to Ezekiel, Isaiah, the Exodus and Zechariah (among others) that show up in the book of Revelation. Given the widespread ignorance of the connections that the author of the book of Revelation is making to the OT, it is not surprising that so many entirely misunderstand what the book of Revelation is actually all about (a comparison between Babylon and the Roman Empire, both of whom mistreated God’s people and both of whom would suffer God’s judgment).

In thinking about the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament, also consider how Christians today will use catch phrases and biblical imagery and then apply them to situations far removed from their context or original purpose. Just as we will use literary, television, or movie allusions the same way. The allusion process we use today in day to day speech should not be excluded from consideration as we think of the NT use of the OT. We should also remember (or become aware of) the first century Jewish practice and methods of interpretation and use of the OT.

We must be careful not to let our modern, post Enlightenment, twenty-first century engineering-technical, urban and industrialized approach to the world overwhelm our understanding of what the Bible and its authors (pre-industrial, pre-Enlightenment, and agricultural world) were doing.

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About R.P. Nettelhorst

I'm married with three daughters. I live in southern California and I'm the interim pastor at Quartz Hill Community Church. I have written several books. I spent a couple of summers while I was in college working on a kibbutz in Israel. In 2004, I was a volunteer with the Ansari X-Prize at the winning launches of SpaceShipOne. Member of Society of Biblical Literature, American Academy of Religion, and The Authors Guild
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