Africa Study Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 48
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U N D E R S TA N D I N G A N D A P P LY I N G
T H E O L D T E S TA M E N T T O D AY
P
aul wrote, “All Scripture is inspired by God”
(2 Timothy 3:16). The “Scripture” he mentioned was what we call the Old Testament. We
no longer offer sacrifices on an altar in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 7:1-10). We no longer worry
about sowing two different kinds of seed in one
field (Leviticus 19:19). Most Christians no longer observe the Sabbath regulations of the Bible
(sundown Friday to sundown Saturday). How
do Christians explain our departure from these
practices, and how do we apply the Old Testament
to our lives today?
The Relationship between the Testaments
The Old and New Testaments form one story of
God revealing himself. In the Old Testament, God
revealed himself to the Jews, the descendants of
Jacob (also called Israel), son of Isaac, son of
Abraham. The Jews (children of Israel) were a
nation that worshipped the Lord. God gave them
laws that covered the three major parts of life.
These were eternal moral laws that explained
how people of all times should live, ceremonial
laws that explained how the Jews were to worship God, and civil laws that told the Jews how
to govern their nation and practise justice. In the
New Testament, God revealed himself through his
Son Jesus Christ to all people for all time. But the
overall message of the Bible did not change. That
message is that God made us, he loves us in spite
of our often rebellious attitude towards him, and
he wants to reconcile us to himself.
The Old Testament writers spoke about issues
that were important to a nation that had a special
relationship with God and was under judges or a
king. By the end of the Old Testament, that nation
was weak politically and made up of only two
of the original twelve tribes. When Jesus Christ
began his ministry, some of his followers expected him to restore the political glory of the Old
Testament Jewish nation. But the Kingdom Jesus
introduced was a spiritual one, not a physical one.
It was the Kingdom of God. Thus, it needed different kinds of laws to govern its citizens.
This is similar to what has happened to most African nations. Most were under a colonial power
that had laws. However, at independence, a new
government came to power and made different
political laws. There were eternal laws—against
murder, for example—that were the same under
both governments. Other laws—such as the laws
of inheritance—were based upon the culture and
history of the indigenous people. To understand
the modern laws in Africa, one has to have a good
understanding of the colonial laws, traditional
ethnic laws, and the transition period that led to
the new laws of each nation.
Though it does not apply to us in the same way
it did to a Jewish nation, the Old Testament is
important for us today. We can learn about the
character, power, and majesty of God from the
Old Testament. The experiences of the Israelites in the Old Testament “happened to them
as examples for us” (1 Corinthians 10:11). God
preserved these people because the Messiah,
Jesus Christ, would be born of “the royal line
of David” (John 7:42). The sacrifices described
in the Old Testament are pictures or illustrations of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the New
Testament. Once Christ came, those sacrifices
were not necessary (Hebrews 10:1-18). The
ceremonial laws and the civil laws of the Old
Testament are helpful to understand but are no
longer necessary for believers to follow.
Jesus and the apostles testified to the authority of the Old Testament. Jesus said, “I did not
come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings
of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their
purpose” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus did not abolish
God’s eternal principles; he applied them in a
new context. Six times in Matthew 5 Jesus quoted
an Old Testament law or tradition and then said,
“You have heard . . . but I say . . .” Each time Jesus
took a law that was given to the Jewish kingdom
in the Old Testament and told us how that law
should be understood in the Kingdom of God in
the New Testament.
Difficulties in Understanding
the Old Testament in Africa
Because many practices and customs in Africa
are similar to those in the Old Testament, we
Africans often identify more easily with the Old
Testament than Westerners do. However, this can
lead to misunderstanding, especially if we do not
distinguish among:
Laws that are based on God’s holy nature
(moral)—for instance, “Honour your father and
mother” or “You must not commit adultery”
(Exodus 20:12, 14).