Bible Question: what is the difference between the old testament and the new testment |
Bible Answer: I once heard a clergyman explain it thus: the Old Testament is Christ concealed, the New Testament is Christ revealed. Genesis 3.15 foretells Christ's coming: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise HIS heel. The Old Testament is Law-Mosaic law, and traditions added by the Israelites. You know about the 10 commandments? By Jesus's time, the Jews had 619. No wonder Jesus took such issue with the religious leaders of his time. In Matthew 23.13 Jesus says "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." The Old Testament was to tell us God's law, and give us an opportunity to fail miserably at fulfilling it. The New Testament is the Gospel (Gospel means good news in Greek, if I'm not mistaken). That's why the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are called gospels, because they tell of Jesus's words and actions while he was on earth. But thanks be to God, for giving us the victory in Jesus Christ, the only one who could and did perfectly fulfill the law! In Matthew 5.17-19 Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Did you notice that breaking the commandments just makes the lawbreaker called the least in the kingdom of heaven--heavy discipline, but not expulsion? We are saved because God is good, not because we are (we are justified by grace, God's goodness, totally undeserved by us). He knows that we need to praise Him--that's how He made us--and the Bible, Old and New Testaments, give us insight into His nature, and infinite reasons to praise and thank Him. |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 1 | Author | ||
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ladyappleman | ||
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Emmaus | ||
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angel1 | ||
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Jacoba | ||
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singnangel | ||
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G White | ||
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sweet | ||
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Carlynn | ||
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Ezejean | ||
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Chusarcik | ||
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lchen | ||
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Confucious | ||
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justme |