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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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If we do not have some sort of understanding of God the New Testament would have no relevance and could be treated as a book belonging to another religion
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It’s simply common sense. How can you fully understand anything if you don’t know the origin of it? You can’t fully grasp the New Testament and why it’s here unless you start at the beginning with the Old Testament. In all things, there is a beginning and an end. You have to understand why there is a New Testament. The Old Testament explains why the New Testament has to happen because there needs to be an ending because nothing in this current world will last forever.
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The OT is part of the revealed Word of God. The OT displays Gods character and His heart towards His creation. The OT gives us the history of mankind,; creation and the fall, the choosing of God’s people and the line of redemption leading to Christ’s appearing. We need to know all that went before in order to fully appreciate the mission and work of Jesus the Messiah.
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Not reading and understanding the OT makes reading the NT incomplete. Understanding that God and indeed Jesus was there from the beginning is important in our walk with God.
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A lack of knowledge of the OT will weaken our understanding of the NT because the OT answers important foundational questions as to how did the world begin, the power of the Creator, the redemptive nature of God, the righteousness of God in punishing sin, the power and wisdom of God in weaving His redemptive plan through a people/nation, God’s dealings with man of common decent and royal decent, His power in communicating the future through prophecy and 100% perfection in revealing these truths as prophesied. Without the OT we would not understand that our first father Adam sinned and that all mankind since needs to be rescued from sin and that God has been working these 6K years to redeem man through the sacrifice of His messiah, His Son Jesus. And by seeing God’s fulfillment of OT prophecies we can know with certainty that Christ’s second coming is assured.