The Old Testament: the Eternal Living Reference

What is the reference to our Christian code for living the will of God?

The only people to whom was entrusted the will of God were the Israelites (Romans 3:2). Jesus reiterated that fact by declaring that salvation is of the Jews in John 4:22.

You worship what you do not know; we [Jews] worship what we know, because salvation is of the Jews.  (John 4:22 EMTV)

Based on John 4:22, if we need to know what it takes to be saved we have to turn to the Jews. It does not mean that we have to copy the lifestyle of the Jews, knowing that they were not obedient to perfection in living the code of living that was given to Moses, but we ought to consult their source which is Moses. 

Most of us misunderstand Christianity thinking that it is based on the New Testament. The New Testament cannot procure us salvation because it does not contain the core will of God. The New Testament sheds light on the Old Testament so we can understand it, from an unadulterated point of view. Jesus made sure that He upholds the Old Testament with some declarations.

Matthew 5:17-19 EMTV

(17)  "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

(18)  For assuredly I say to you, until heaven and earth may pass away, one iota or one tittle shall by no means pass away from the law until all things are fulfilled.

(19)  Whoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men thus, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus did not abolish Moses nor the Prophets as an old testament. In the contrary, in Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus upholds Moses and the Prophets as the never-changing neither obsolete reference or source for His will  adding that it is easier for our earth to pass than one of the dots on the letter i to be taken off. No generation has an advantage over the other because the aspect of Moses  that did not get fulfilled still applies today and tomorrow into the generations to come. In the past, the Gentiles had to go to Jerusalem to learn from God (Isaiah 56:1-8), while the Jews had to go to the Temple to learn from the lips of the priests (Malachi 2:7), because no other nations and no other person besides Moses were entrusted with the will of God. No other Prophets came outside of Israel either.

Romans 3:1-2 EMTV

(1)  What then [is] the superiority of the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?

(2)  Much in every way! First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Therefore, the culture of God (not necessarily of the Jews because they stumble at the code themselves by rejecting it), with the expansion of the Judaism of Jesus, will always invade and clash with every culture without compromising its eternal principles. That way, no generation can feel cheated.

In the light of Matthew 5:17-18 and John 5:29, when the will of God clashes with any particular elements of a cultural belief system, the Christian should not dodge the command of God by arguing that the clashing command was given to the Jews, because every single iota of the will of God that was not fulfilled by Jesus is binding to any believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. All believers in the formerly God of the Jews have become one in Jesus Christ, the incarnated Jehovah.

The Torah, the Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, the Old Testament, Moses, whatever you want to call the canon of the writings of Judaism, is the foundation of the New Testament in all matters of faith. The New Testament establishes Christianity from the authority of the pre-Christian writings of Judaism (the Scriptures) and unlocks them for our understanding. 

The old Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets are still alive every day that there is a day, as ordained by the Author of the Christian faith. The New Testament highlights the adjustments to the Scriptures that are necessitated by the fulfillment aspect of the Advent of Jesus Christ culminating to the expansion of Judaism outside of Israel to the world. The New Testament makes the case to the chosen people and the Gentiles that Jesus is Jehovah God, the Messiah.

From the perspective of John 4:22, if we reject the Old Testament, in part or in whole, we are in fact forfeiting our eternal life and opting out of knowing who Jesus was before He became flesh, as discussed in Hebrews chapter one.

Luke 24:25-27 EMTV

(25)  Then He said to them, "O you foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

(26)  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"

(27)  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Even though the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and promised not to worry about what they have to say (Matthew 10:19; Luke 12:12) in their defense or witnessing about Jesus, they nevertheless kept reading the Old Testament.

2 Timothy 4:13 (NIV)

[13] When you come, bring the cloak that I [Paul] left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

This page was last modified on May 29, 2018