The Old Testament and Christian study and living
I read on the Internet that a famous preacher and son of a famous preacher has gotten himself in hot water again for saying that Christians should basically ignore the Old Testament.
Being a famous preacher with a big church (ironic here--the church only belongs to Christ) doesn't mean you are a good theologian.
There is no understanding of the New Testament without the Old, the Hebrew Bible as it's now called (not sure on that, but I'll let it pass--it's not just for the Jews, and calling it that diminishes its importance to us).
On the other hand, it's possible to get a lot of bad doctrine from the "Older "Testament.
We live the New Testament in every way, but we understand it in the context of the contemporary Roman Empire, the millennia before its time as recorded in the tanakh, the Greek language and literature, and of course, mostly, its own testimony about Jesus.
I am a firm believer that all Bible study must start with contextual understanding: linguistic, literary form, historical, cultural, religious, and the mission of God. That probably is daunting and even boring for most people, but it's the only way to get the full transcendent meaning of the text and then apply it correctly to us.
Being a famous preacher with a big church (ironic here--the church only belongs to Christ) doesn't mean you are a good theologian.
There is no understanding of the New Testament without the Old, the Hebrew Bible as it's now called (not sure on that, but I'll let it pass--it's not just for the Jews, and calling it that diminishes its importance to us).
On the other hand, it's possible to get a lot of bad doctrine from the "Older "Testament.
We live the New Testament in every way, but we understand it in the context of the contemporary Roman Empire, the millennia before its time as recorded in the tanakh, the Greek language and literature, and of course, mostly, its own testimony about Jesus.
I am a firm believer that all Bible study must start with contextual understanding: linguistic, literary form, historical, cultural, religious, and the mission of God. That probably is daunting and even boring for most people, but it's the only way to get the full transcendent meaning of the text and then apply it correctly to us.
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