Question

What is the comparison between the Old Testament and New Testament--and in that implications for how Christianity is practiced today.

Answer 1

• In many ways, they are complementary. The Old Testament is foundational; the New Testament builds on that foundation with further revelation from God. The Old Testament establishes principles that are seen to be illustrative of New Testament truths.
• The Old Testament contains many prophecies that are fulfilled in the New.
• The Old Testament provides the history of a people; the New Testament focus is on a Person.
• The Old Testament shows the wrath of God against sin (with glimpses of His grace); the New Testament shows the grace of God toward sinners (with glimpses of His wrath).
• In summary, the Old Testament lays the foundation for the coming of the Messiah who would sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world.
• The New Testament records the ministry of Jesus Christ and then looks back on what He did and how we are to respond.
• Both testaments reveal the same holy, merciful, and righteous God who condemns sin but desires to save sinners through an atoning sacrifice.
• In both testaments, God reveals Himself to us and shows us how we are to come to Him through faith.
  
• God's laws – from both the Old Testament and New Testament – are not just arbitrary expressions of His power. God does not make one thing up today and make up something contradictory tomorrow. He is not a nasty monster asserting that whatever He says goes, even if He says the opposite of what He said yesterday.
• God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever because He is God. God doesn't change, but that does not mean the way He deals with mankind doesn't change.
• God dealt with Adam and Eve in one way, and He dealt with the Jews through Abraham with a different plan. He deals with Christians now through a new plan, a new covenant.
• The Mosaic Covenant is a treaty God made with the Jews, the nation of Israel.
  
• The Mosaic covenant is like a state law. It was given to those people in that state for that period of time. We are in a different state now. We have a different covenant that applies to us - the new covenant with different obligations.
• We are not obliged by everything in the Mosaic Law. That was a set of civil obligations that were applicable to those people in that nation. It was made between God and Moses and Israel.
• God took them out of the land, He rescued them, and they were obligated to Him as their Sovereign. They had to keep the terms of the covenant.
• Universal moral obligations from the Mosaic Law are repeated in the New Testament. The things that no longer apply to us are not repeated in the New Testament. It’s exactly like being in a separate state.
• For example, love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself are in both the Old and New Testaments. This is a summary statement in the New Testament.
  
• Jesus is emphasizing the complete impossibility of self-justification, which is the fundamental difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
• The nation of Israel was obliged to obey the laws of their nation in order to reap God’s blessings or curses. It was based on their obedience.
• The New Covenant is based on grace, not obedience. The two laws are completely different, so the way they apply to us are different.
• Today, we do not live under the Mosaic covenant. We don't have all the laws that pertain to dietary and sacrificial things because Jesus did away with those laws.
• We don’t have the punishments proscribed in the law because that was for their judicial system in that nation.
• Just as the punishments for laws in other states don’t apply to us in California (even if we have the same law), we don’t apply those punishments since we aren’t under that system of laws.
  
• f the New Testament is the story of a Man, then the Old Testament is the story of a people. If the New Testament is personal and intimate, then the Old Testament is communal and expansive. If the New Testament is a sonata, then the Old Testament is a symphony.
• On the temporal plane, that is life here and now, the Old Testament is essential for anyone seeking to understand the human condition and humankind, for anyone seeking the answers to the most fundamental questions of life and death. In other words, the Old Testament is as relevant as today's newspaper.
• On the eternal plane, that is the infinite and forever, the Old Testament is nothing less than a formal introduction to God himself. And so it is for anyone seeking a relationship with him.
• Its supreme significance, its inestimable value, its ultimate purpose, is that it enables all of us, each and every one of us, if we so desire, the opportunity to begin to comprehend the Incomprehensible.
  
• But the fact remains,we are not under the Mosaic Law, but under the New Covenant. The Mosaic Law contained some universal moral principles that apply today because they transcend the old law, but aren’t applied in the same way judicially. The Mosaic Law was limited to a time and nation, but morality was not.