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Why would a lack of knowledge of the Old Testament weaken our understanding of the New Testament?
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The Old Testament is full of references to Christ’s coming. When we read those OT prophecies in the NT we without knowledge of the setting or the people we lose our reference point. All the leaders, kings, queens and prophets of Israel are lost to us. The OT shows us the law versus redemption through Christ. Salvation can only be found through following the law in the OT, while the NT frees us from that. We gain no perspective if we don’t have the OT.
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The narrative of the Old Testament shows us why God created man. Even though we are flawed, He created us and desires relationship with us. We are the only beings that he created for relationship with Himself. Without that narrative it would be difficult to truly grasp why we needed a Savior and why Christ’s blood was the path.
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Because the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is a fulfilled prophecy and a large portion of the OT is prophetic books. If we don’t understand that, it’s hard to grasp the need and the significance of Jesus fully.
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For one thing, the Old Testament teaches us the law that was handed down. This helps us understand much about the Christ and life of the New Testament.
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The foundation of God and his teachings are in the Old Testament – if we don’t grasp this we will fail to understand the New Testament. I think God’s teachings in the Old Testament may have been difficult for the people to understand, so by delivering his teachings in the New Testament through Jesus Christ, God spoke directly to us, in our language having experienced our lives by taking on flesh and blood