Reading the Old and New Testaments Together

How do we read the Old Testament and New Testament together?

How do we present the relationship between these two sections of the Christian Bible?

The relationship I see expressed most often is an interpretive paradigm called "prophecy-fulfillment." We frequently portray Old Testament passages as the site of a waiting process, while New Testament passages are depicted as the culmination of the waiting. We envision that the Old Testament waits for what the New Testament brings.

This is not the most helpful way to read these two testaments together.

What is so theologically problematic about this paradigm?

First, the prophecy–fulfillment paradigm assumes a narrow perspective on Old Testament prophecy. Namely, prophecy is a prediction of the long-term future. However, ancient Israelite prophets provide little indication that they are striving to predict the far-off future. The prophetic literature of the Hebrew Scriptures is not concerned primarily with predicting a distant future.

This genre of literature addresses the real theo-political issues of the day; the prophets speak into situations, providing divine guidance and sanction to the people and political leadership. They are not concerned about events centuries later. To read the Hebrew prophets as distant future-tellers is to stretch historical credibility.

A second problem with the prophecy–fulfillment scheme is that its theological emphasis is on the fulfillment side of the equation. Theologically speaking, fulfillment or completion is better than a prediction. Unfulfilled prophecies are not nearly as theologically helpful as fulfilled prophecies. Hence, the New Testament comes to take precedence over the Old Testament.

Third, the paradigm often forces us to ignore how the Old Testament passage stands on its own without reference to a New Testament passage. The paradigm encourages us to allow the New Testament to set the parameters for interpreting the Old Testament, yet never encourages the opposite direction of dependence. We can allow a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures to stand alone, even prophecy. Every prophetic text does not need a partner text to provide explicit fulfillment.  

Fourth, the prophecy–fulfillment paradigm can also create a theological sense that the prophecy does not speak into our contemporary situation. This way of reading the prophetic text emphasizes its fulfillment. And what can we do with an already fulfilled text except admire it historically? How can it speak into our situations if its truest fulfillment has been found earlier in history?

Ellen Davis notes, “we like to keep the frame of reference for prophecy within the ‘safe’ confines of the Bible, by reading prophecy solely as illuminating what has already happened—the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ—and not allowing it to meddle much in the current lives of Christians.”
Ellen F. Davis, Biblical Prophecy: Perspectives for Christian Theology, Discipleship, and Ministry (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014), xii.

The language and theology of prophecy and fulfillment create a mostly closed system. One text directly points to another text, creating a closed loop that makes it difficult to be brought forth as a prophetic word.

Shifting our focus from a more linear approach to the narrative of Scripture (in which we read the biblical books as a progression both in time and in theological depth) to a more back-and-forth conversational approach (in which we allow various texts to speak to one another) requires intentionality.

It requires us to think about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments in a more complicated way, not just a straightforward presentation in which the Old Testament provides “background” or even “foundational” material for the New Testament. A New Testament passage is not theologically superior to an Old Testament passage simply because of its placement in the New Testament section or its authorship later in time or even its mention of Jesus. Wisdom and revelation are found throughout both testaments.

Allen and Holbert describe the relationship between the testaments as follows: “The Hebrew Bible is the Holy Root from which grow the Holy Branches of the New Testament. We affirm that both testaments are holy, equally revelatory, equally expressive of the presence, purpose, and power of the God of Israel and Jesus of Nazareth.”
Ronald J. Allen and John C. Holbert, Holy Root, Holy Branches: Christian Preaching from the Old Testament, (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), 16.

Together, the two testaments create a polyphonic text, a text that speaks with many voices. These many voices need to be placed into conversation with each other, but not in a way that foresees the New Testament as the dominant voice.

[This post is adapted from my book, Unto Us A Child Is Born.]

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