Hot answers tagged old-testament
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Before Christ, people were saved by believing in God's promise of the Messiah who was to come, as we are saved by believing in the Messiah who has come.
Hebrews 11:39-40 (ESV)
And all these [Old Testament saints], though commended through their
faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided
something better for us, that apart from ...
14
There are many separate views to the matter. I'll try to list the most common ones, along with sources (at the end of each section). I'll first just describe the views briefly; the sources are available for those more interested.
Catholic
The Catholic Church teaches that the Law of Moses (the Old Law) is a preparation for the Gospel, and as such no longer ...
14
Wow, I'm surprised that nobody has actually given a proper answer yet. aceinthehole, was on the right track, just lacked the key.
Hebrews 10:4 (NIV)
It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
@Caleb, you are definitely onto something, because this verse clearly tells us that nobody in the old testament was actually saved ...
14
Here's a list of several events just off the top of my head:
capture/destruction of Jericho
Othniel
Gideon's 300 men against the Midianites
Samson's final crush of the Philistines
Elijah and the prophets of Baal
As to why God didn't save them from some oppressors, one of the myriad instances of a single phrase in Judges shows why:
Now the sons of ...
13
It is said that Jesus rose from the dead frequently in the New Testament. This presumes that yes, Jesus was fully dead at some point. Before Jesus, of course there wasn't a heaven, just a place of the dead referred to "hades" or "hell" (as you acknowledge). As Jesus had died, he went there. Jesus preached the Gospel to the dead (1 Peter 4:6) and those that ...
13
The first five books are closely linked together - they are the "Torah" (Hebrew for "teaching" or "instruction") traditionally attributed to Moses. This explains why they can be called "The Five Books of Moses"; the Greek "Pentateuch" means "five books" and is another title for this section of the Bible.
Calling the books after Moses makes sense, and avoids ...
13
There are a number of different theories as to the meaning of Genesis 6:3:
120 years to the flood
One common interpretation is that it's not talking about lifespan, but the amount of time humanity has to repent before the coming of the Flood.1,2
Aside: Genesis 7:6 tells us that Noah was 600 years old when the flood came, placing the flood 1656 years after ...
13
This lamentation/complaint against Israel's wickedness and their practices of sacrifice is interesting because it is not only found in Isaiah 66 (the last chapter) but also in Isaiah 1:
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, ...
12
You can find your answer a few verses earlier in the same chapter:
Matthew 5:17-18
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 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.
The Law of ...
12
Numbers 21:6-9 (NIV)
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it ...
12
Well, the Apostle Paul specifically states that the things written in the past were for our instruction, for encouragement, and to give us hope.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our
instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of
the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:14 ESV
Also, the Old Testament ...
12
YES, there are!
The footnote in my NLT Bible for Acts 11:1 has a list of Old Testament verses that say that salvation is for all people, not just the Jews. Below, I've reproduced the list and for two of them, I've directly quoted them because they're the clearest and most direct with regards to this topic.
Genesis 12:3
Psalm 22:27
Isaiah 42:4
Isaiah 49:6
...
11
This was actually addressed pretty explicitly early on, and doesn't require all that much interpretation.
In Acts chapter 15, the apostles and elders of the church held a council to determine the answer to this exact question. When they reached an answer, they claimed it had the sanction of the Holy Ghost, so their answer is to be understood as divine ...
11
Melchizedek was the King of Salem and a high priest of God.
Genesis 14:18-20
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,
19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into ...
11
Regardless of his faith, Abraham was still a man - he had not yet been perfected: he was still on his walk of progressive sanctification.
The same question could be asked as to why David sinned with Bathsheba, or why Samson fell for Delilah.
And any of countless more examples - the men and women portrayed in the Bible were not perfect (excepting Christ). ...
10
There are not multiple versions of the new Testament. There is one version. The first four books happen to be four different accounts of the the same series of events but there are 27 books in total.
How were the books of the New Testament chosen?
No, there is nothing equivalent to the four perspectives of the Gospel books in the Old testament, there is ...
10
Like my answer here, you need to keep the chronology right. There is no levitical law at the time of Abraham.
Thus, even if he did marry his sister, remember that he was breaking no covenantal restriction on doing so. As I said in that answer, you don't convict someone of a crime ex post facto.
10
It seems that the Second Person of the Trinity took on the name of Jesus when He entered into creation and was born of Mary. Prior to this, He was with the Father and the Spirit.
When Jesus prays in John 17, He mentions the glory He had with the Father before the world began.
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with
you ...
10
Prototypes of Jesus can be thought of as falling into the following categories:
Prophecies
In these kinds of references, a man of God delivered a message which would be fulfilled in Jesus. Isaiah 53, to quote one famous example, speaks of a suffering servant who would be "beaten for our iniquities and wounded for our transgressions." "By his stripes, we ...
9
Yeah, well no... He prefigures Jesus, the same way lots and lots of OT people do.
Job/Suffering Servant from Isaiah - for suffering
Moses - for leadership out of bondage
Abraham/Noah - for trusting in God's providence
David - for kingship
Melchizedek/Aaron - for priesthood
9
Maybe, maybe not. Consider Job 9:6.
Job 9:6 (DRA)
6 Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Job is supposed to have lived around the time of Abraham, quite a while before the events that took place in numbers. Even if you consider Job to be a tall tale, its origin in oral tradition might ...
9
Oftentimes, the simplest answer is the correct one. So here's the obvious answer: He spoke and wrote in Hebrew because he was dealing with Hebrew-speaking people at the moment. Had God spoken to them in English, Latin, or Chinese, they would not have understood him!
God, being omniscient, knows all human languages. This means that he has no trouble ...
9
If anything, it says that God is both generous and accommodating. There are two scenarios that should be considered:
God granted the same knowledge of what good governance should look like. This says that God's glory will in fact be shown in all nations, as he himself proclaimed. (Gen 12 and Psalm 2 come to mind, but there are others)
If the other nations ...
8
The entirety of the Old Testament predicts, foreshadows, or reveals Jesus in some way. I've heard it said, "The New [Testament] is in the Old, concealed; the Old is in the New, revealed."
There's actually a really cool song that goes through all of the books of the Bible, telling how Jesus is revealed in each. (I have to admit, though, I've never tried to ...
8
The flood is explicitly used typologically twice in the New Testament.
Jesus, speaking of the final judgment (Matthew 24:37-41), says it will be like "the days of Noah".
For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the ...
7
Here is a partial answer...
Matthew 27:52-53
52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Here we have "saints" rising up, who had already died. Presumably these are righteous Jewish people, who ...
7
Hebrews 5:6, which quotes Psalms 110:4, is a bit more specific:
6 And in another passage God said to him,
“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
So if Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, he's obviously not Melchizedek.
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There are a few other instances of God's direct intervention (as opposed to, say, the Gideon story, which can be attributed to clever tactics).
At Jericho, the priests with the Ark of the Covenant circled the city walls several times, blew their trumpets, and then the walls collapsed (Joshua 6).
Later, in the battle against the Amorites, God rains ...
7
If God had created Christianity first, people would not have known their need for a Saviour. "What do we need to be saved from?
So God first sets up a do-it-yourself religion; by which I mean that if the Jews followed all the laws they could save themselves earning their right to heaven.
That didn't work. Worse, some people became more interested in the ...
7
The short answer is "Yes." Jesus quoted from the Old Testament scriptures as if they were authoritative, and as if they were the very words of God. The passages of the OT that are historical were regarded by Him as historical.
Jesus affirmed the historical existence of Jonah (Matt. 12:40), Noah (Matt. 24:37-38), and Adam and Eve (Matt. 19:4-6).
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