Introduction
Why should Christians read the Old Testament?
It’s tragic that we even need to ask this question. I wish we could rather be asking, “Why are Christians so excited and so inspired by the Old Testament?” The unfortunate truth is that for many people the Old Testament is not only a dead book; it is also a serious problem.
When I was headed off to get an advanced degree in Old Testament, my sister asked me why people would devote their lives to studying this part of our Scriptures. People are confused by the strange literary forms, ranging from the bizarre imagery of the Song of Songs to tedious genealogies. Many are bored with its detailed histories; who cares that Jehoahaz reigned in Samaria for seventeen years (2 Kings 13:1)? They find the detailed laws of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy to be irrelevant for life in North America in the twenty–first century. The command to build a parapet (guard wall) around the roof of a house (Deuteronomy 22:8), and the prohibition on eating pork (Deuteronomy 14:8) make little sense to us. Modern readers who actually get to the prophets may be amused by the strange antics of Ezekiel, but they find it difficult to get the significance of his actions or his messages. Perhaps the most serious problem of all is the picture of God they see in the Old Testament. Whereas the New Testament presents God, who is embodied in Jesus Christ, as a gentle God of love and grace, they perceive the God of the Old Testament as angry and violent, seemingly always on the lookout for some poor victim on whom he could unleash his fury.
Many reinforce this negative attitude by quoting the New Testament. In Romans 4:15, Paul writes, “The Law brings wrath,” and in 7:6, he says, “But now . . . we have been released from the Law; we have died to that by which we were bound.” According to Galatians 3, “all who rely on works of the law are under a curse” (v. 10), “the law is not based on faith” (v. 12), and “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law” (v. 13). In 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul writes, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” If we equate the “law” and the “letter” with the Old Testament, as many do, why should we even want to read the Old Testament?
If Christians accept the Old Testament as inspired Scripture but do not view it to have any authority for their theology or their lives, why should they read it? That is the question this short booklet would like to address. To answer this prevailingly negative view, I propose six reasons why Christians should read the Old Testament, beginning with what I consider to be the least significant and ending with the most important.
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