From Vern S. Poythress, The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses:

The whole Old Testament finds its focus in Jesus Christ, His death, and His resurrection…the Old Testament teaches us about Christ…Christ is the focus of the message of the Old Testament.  He is the One to whom it points forward, about whom it speaks, and whom it prefigures in symbols (Matthew 5.17-18; Luke 24.13-49; 1 Cor. 10.11; 2 Cor. 1.20) (pg. 5).

Thus we have a threefold task.

First, we must try to understand the law of Moses on its own terms, within its own historical environment.  God intended it to be heard and understood by Israelites who had recently been redeemed from Egypt.

Second, we must try to understand how the New Testament completes God’s story and God’s word that He began to speak in the Old Testament (Matthew 5.17-18).

Third, we must obey and apply God’s word to ourselves and our own circumstances [Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ].

Often Biblical scholars stop with the first step.  But it is legitimate to read the first part of the story again in the light of the end.  By doing so we may understand more clearly how the beginning already introduced the teachings and the tensions that are completed and resolved at the end.  Jesus Christ Himself is the center of the New Testament revelation.  Since the New Testament completes the story begun in the Old, Christ is also the center about which the Old Testament begins to speak in its preliminary way, and to which the Old Testament points forward (pgs. 7-8).

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Tags: how to apply the old testament, how to read the old testament, Old Testament