In their quest to lead men to salvation, first-century preachers often used the ancient scriptures.

The relationship between the Old and New Testaments has plagued Bible students for centuries. Many in the denominational world lump both testaments together. The result is bizarre and confusing. On the other hand, perhaps in overreaction to this error, many Christians have tried to deny the Old Testament's rightful place in the individual and collective study of the church. Both positions are wrong.

The Apostle Paul said, "Be diligent (study) to present yourself approved of God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing (handling) the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15) We can use Paul's instructions to suggest several important points about using the Bible properly, but we must include a proper distinction, as well as appropriate linkage, between the covenants.

First, let's understand that Christians are not bound to the Law of Moses. God gave its commandments exclusively to the children of Israel. In Colossians 2:14, Paul said that the handwriting of ordinances was "nailed to the cross;" that is, it died when Christ died. In Paul's epistles, he emphasized this point over and over. The very theme of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of Christ and the new covenant over the messengers and law of the old system.

But with this clearly understood, let's also notice that the Apostle Peter's Pentecost sermon contained quotations from Joel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Psalms. Preaching from the Old Testament, he led 3,000 to confess faith, repent, and be baptized. Jesus declared, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law and the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17)

Galatians 3:24-25 describes the correlation between Moses' Law and faith in Christ: "Therefore the law was our tutor (schoolmaster) to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." Paul wrote of the Israelites' experiences in the wilderness, "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they are written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come." (1 Corinthians 10:11) So, while Christians don't live under the Old Testament laws, they remain very valuable to us.

It is a big mistake for Christians to disregard or discard Old Testament scriptures. At first, many Bible students may see this as a contradiction. If we simply discard the Old Testament, we throw away all the bases for explaining the meaning of Christ's sacrifice for our sins. We deny Christ's own statement that he was going to fulfill, not destroy, the old law. And, we throw away a set of examples given to us by inspiration from God.

On the other hand, if we don't distinguish between the covenants, our directions conflict. Keep the Sabbath, says the old law. Keep the Lord's Day, says the new. The old orders circumcision, and the new says it is of no avail. Men once worshipped God with musical instruments, but today are commanded only to sing and make melody in their hearts.

In speaking of the Old Testament, we mean the 39 books from Genesis through Malachi. The old law is the law that God, through Moses, gave Israel. The word "covenant" refers to the specific agreements and law systems, either past or present, under which people have lived.

There are not just two covenants, though many New Testament writers distinguish simply between the covenant with Israel and the covenant of Christ. Several covenants are mentioned, beginning in Genesis; for example, some sort of covenant existed between God and His first creation, Adam and Eve. It appears that God had another covenant with Noah and yet another with Abraham.

As an outgrowth of the covenant with Abraham, God developed the first written law system and covenant, which He delivered through Moses at Mount Sinai. This covenant, given to a tiny nation, became the physical pattern for a spiritual kingdom to be revealed in the future.

God ordered Israel to build a physical tabernacle in which He met with His people. This tabernacle became the pattern that guides our understanding that our bodies make up the real "house" in which God dwells. The sacrificial system, with its bloody sacrifices, established our understanding of the cost of sin and our awareness that God requires more than an animal's death to expunge sin.

The whole Mosaic system became type, shadow, and pattern for the spiritual kingdom Jesus introduced later (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1). Jesus did not come to destroy these shadows and types; rather, He fulfilled them and replaced them with what they were originally designed to represent--the reality of spiritual fellowship with God. The law system introduced by Moses laid down in physical patterns the foundation for a spiritual relationship.

We still need the Old Testament patterns because we still live in a physical world, and our eyes see only physical images. To comprehend a spiritual (nonmaterial) relationship, we must be taught (tutored or school-mastered) by way of physical patterns.

Certainly, it is possible for a person to understand, without directly referring to the Old Testament, that he must believe in Jesus, confess Him, repent, and be baptized. But it is difficult to imagine a person grasping the fullness of Christ's sacrifice and the new relationship it bought without reference to those old patterns.

• The Old Testament "history" is phenomenally powerful for today. We learn from it that regardless of the covenant under which people lived, God always blessed those who obeyed His will and cursed those who didn't. We observe that God is always true to His word.
  
  
• From the Old Testament "prophecy," we see God's advance declarations of His plans and intentions for redeeming the entire world, not just the nation of Israel. This becomes compelling evidence as we seek to establish faith in the hearts of unbelievers.
  
  
• The Old Testament "wisdom literature" provides practical guidance for daily living and coping with life's suffering.

Christians today live exclusively under the New Testament (covenant) and the law of Christ. We do not live under Moses' Law, the Ten Commandments, or any of the covenants that preceded it. Therefore, we do not build arks, offer blood sacrifices, worship in Jerusalem, stone disobedient children to death, or take our dead brothers' wives into our own beds to raise up a heritage for them.

But neither should we sever all connections with the Old Testament system. We and Abraham are linked by common faith. We are spiritual Israelites, circumcised in heart, and we ourselves become "living sacrifices" unto God. By faith, our Father dwells in us, as does His spirit and His son.

We could never understand all this without the deliberate, slow unfolding that God fore planned and executed. The Old Testament is the account of that unfolding, and the New Testament reveals the culmination of its grand design.

The Old Testament is like an elementary school, and the New Testament like graduate school. It only makes sense that we will better understand during graduate school if we've first taken the time to pass through the elementary and rudimentary principles.

With this in view, let me urge Christians everywhere to take a greater interest in studying the old scriptures that were the very backbone of first-century preaching.