This evening’s quotation comes from a book that came in the mail today.
At every point early Christians attempted to understand their Scriptures in the new light of the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They used the Old Testament to prove their Christian theology and to solve Christian problems. The Old Testament provided the substructure of the New Testament theology. The Old Testament also provided the language and imagery for much of New Testament thought, although this is not always obvious to a casual reader. Therefore, New Testament concepts must be understood from Old Testament passages. Virtually every New Testament subject must be approached through the contribution of the Old Testament (pp. 29-30; my emphasis).
My paraphrase: You ‘ll understand the book better if you start at the beginning.
Source; Snodgrass, Klyne. “The Use of the Old Testament in the New.” In The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? Essays on the Use of the Old Testament in the New, ed. G. K. Beale, 29–51. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994.
Great quote, Todd! Indeed we would understand Peter’s intended audience correctly if we would look thru OT Scripture – “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people for God’s own possession,” and “not a people, but now you are the people of God” – this is straight out of the OT and directed to true Israel, not the church. And John’s use of the vine in Jn 15 is a frequent OT picture of Israel. And the sheep talk. Far too much has been directly applied to the church because we spend so little time studying the OT – in context.
Thanks for the excellent encouragement to know the whole of God’s Word!
Do you mean to imply that knowing the Old Testament well might actually be more important than knowing extra-biblical literature well for the study of the New Testament? :)
There are some good essays in this volume.
Charles – your comment reminds me of discussion in today’s study group on Matthew’s use of Hosea 11:1. If we just would concede that the NT authors were comfortable with the techniques of their day, we wouldn’t have to try to figure out what the Old Testament really teaches.
I just have to say amen to that!
I’ve been away from your blog for too long. I just happened to think of you tonight, and I meandered on over.
Todd,
I would have also highlighted this sentence from your quote:
“Therefore, New Testament concepts must be understood FROM [emphasis] Old Testament passages.”
Those who make comments the likes of which was made in your NT discussion group basically are jetisoning the OT. I guess it makes life easier–then you only have one testament to actually deal with. The “old” one is just for show; and it’s just that–Old.
Amen to this, but one cautionary note: there are places where reading Paul and others solely through the light of Old Testament or 2nd Temple concepts obfuscates the way in which Paul and others are reframing the debate in new ways.
Richard Hays’ “Echoes of Scripture” is a good test case for the benefits and limits of such an approach to NT exegesis.