The Old Testament

The Old Testament

1. Books of the Jewish ancestors of Jesus

   • Interpret many prophecies about the coming of the messiah
   • Makes up more than half of the christian Bible

2. Why is the Old Testament important to christians?

   • The creation stories are in the OT
     • These tell Christians the first beliefs on why God created the universe
   • God's developing relationship with mankind is recorded in the OT
   • The christian faith has grown out of the Jewish faith
     • Created its own identity
   • It showed that a figure like Jesus was actually predicted by important Jewish prophets

3. Connections between the OT and the NT

   • Christians believe God had one plan for salvation that was revealed to the Israelites
     • The OT and Nt tell one ongoing story of salvation.
   • At the same time, authors of the NT were proposing something radically new. Jesus' fulfilment of the Israelites hope in God's promise, For NT writers, the OT was the holy scripture
   • Estimated that the NT has over 4,,000 references to the OT.
     • This shows how important the OT is for Christians
   • The OT shows what is going to happen but that does not mean they were actually looking to the future.
     • They were expecting the final fulfilment of God,s promises.
   • The writers of the NT believed in the coming of the Messiah and also Christ being the Messiah