Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked. Also it's through the Old Testament that we can get the context of scripture as a whole. There are many reasons, but the main one that I would proffer is this; Christianity is the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophesy about a Jewish messiah, with Jewish apostles and disciples, who were steeped in Jewish religion and tradition. As the Catechism says; CCC 140: The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God's plan and his Revelation. The first is that God is a God of wrath in the Old Testament … Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked. There are countless stories in the Hebrew Scriptures, and some are more interesting than the bestselling novels of today. When seeing the prophecies fulfilled, it reaffirms my faith even more in our Awesome God! Even after Christ's death and resurrection, there wasn't any written scriptures, except the Old Testament, until the first gospel was written in about 65AD. The Old Testament brings some sense to our questions and answers many of them. Marcion was held a heretical view that the Old Testament should be taken out of the Bible along with several books of the New Testament. CCC 122: Indeed, "the economy of the Old Testament was deliberately so oriented that it should prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ, redeemer of all men." Why is the idea of community so important in the Old Testament? Context. A little historical background is needed here. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism). I know that Christ fulfilled the old Law and all, but should we still feel that the Old Testament is important and viable to our faith. Key principles for reading Scripture. I gave in and fell in love with His Church. The dividing line between the two being, just like in history with BC and AD, the birth of the Son of God. 5.It Shows Us Who God Is. The word was applied to early Christians who were considered extremely holy and never evolved into being used for pre-Christian persons. For example, much of what Jesus said and did fulfilled prophecy stated about Him in the Old Testament. Because Catholicism is true, the church Christ founded, and not the Jews, possessed the authority and divine guidance to discern the Old Testament canon. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value,for the Old Covenant has never been revoked. It is filled with many wonderful stories and characters. The two sections of scripture are divided into, what we now call, the Old Testament and the New Testament. "Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional," the books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings "are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way.". Why is the … There are a whole host of theological, ecclesiological, soteriological, and eschatological reasons to read and study the Old Testament, but let me present and equally valid one; it makes for a good read! I'm also contractor in Phoenix AZ. The Old Testament contains the history of the people of God, the law, and the prophets. The catechism has a lot to say about the eternal value of the Old Testament, and why Christians, of all stripes, should read and study it. Since God inspired & confirmed the Bible, we had better know how to read it correctly! As we learn from the life themes of people in the Old Testament, we can be comforted knowing we are not alone in our human struggle. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism). Flickr/Henry T. McLin - Old testament window, During Advent, We Don't Just Prepare for Christmas, We Prepare for the Second Coming of Christ, The Catholic Teachings On The Angels – Part 4: The Seven Archangels, The Souls in Purgatory are in a Constant State of Union with God. Sign up if you would like to receive occasional treats from us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. What good is it to say, during the creed, that Jesus "rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures," if we don't know what scriptures it's referring to? T he Old Testament is absolutely essential to having a true understanding of the Bible and God’s unfolding of the greatest love story of all time. The Old Testament is very important for Christians. The Old Testament is a … The New Testament contains the words, teachings, and commands of Christ, in both His own words and those of the inspired authors. In Western Christian tradition, Old Testament persons are not referred to as saints (other than the names of angels mentioned). It's for this reason that the Old Testament is important, so important that the first reading at Mass will almost always be from the Old Testament (except during Easter season, when the first reading is from the book of Acts). I promise you it will strengthen your faith, and add to it a level of depth that you didn't even know you were missing. So when the inspired writers of the New Testament made reference to "the scriptures" it was always the Old Testament because the new hadn't yet been written. The New Testament states some bold things, and the Old Testament backs it up and proves … The New Testament is the fulfillment of God’s plans, purposes and promises which he gave in the Old Testament. When Jesus taught His disciples, and the crowds that gathered, He taught in parables and by making references to the scriptures. The Old Testament Prophesied Jesus and is Fulfilled in Him Another reason for the importance of the Old Testament is its prophecy of a coming Messiah. I'm a recent convert from evangelical Protestantism, but I realized years ago that I wasn't really protesting anything. 1 God made use of specific people that wrote in a human language, and did so at a particular time and place in history. Let's briefly summarize some of the things it reveals to us. To begin, I should clear away two common misconceptions. Unbeknown to many, in the Bible, there is no cut-off between the Old Testament and the New. The New Testament is the fulfillment of God’s plans, purposes and promises which he gave in the Old Testament. That means He was making direct references to the Hebrew Scriptures, aka the Old Testament, because there was no New Testament at the time. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked. I've written a few articles on my blog, in a series called The Story of Salvation (Link here), and I just thought I'd take a break from the story to say why it's even important to know and understand the Old Testament. Also it's through the Old Testament that we can get the context of scripture as a … For example, the phrase "the scriptures" is said 20 times in the Gospels, 7 times in Acts, 6 times in Romans, 3 times each in Galations and James, 2 times each in 1 Timothy and 1 Corinthians, and once in 2 Peter. Answer. As such then you can say that both the Old and New Testaments are about Jesus - the Old Testament points to Jesus, and the New Testament describes his life, death and resurection, and reflects on the impact this has in the world. Here's just a few more paragraphs from the catechism to show how much the Church values the whole body of scripture. He didn’t like the “god” of the Old Testament. To put it another way, parts of the Old Testament are understood best if read as referring to Jesus. I've never really written anything but I love reading and discussing Catholic theology and apologetics, which I spend a lot of my free time studying, along with ecclesiology. As we see these prophecies being fulfilled in Christ, it validates who He is as the Messiah. The Old Testament is chalk full of prophecies that were either fulfilled in the Old or the New Testament. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God, (See also 1 Corinthians 10:11 & Romans 15:4). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. The conversion journey has taken years, I had felt God pulling me toward His Church but I resisted until I couldn't take it anymore. Each and every time, this is a reference to the Old Testament. These three points are essential to a basic understanding of the bible: 1 God is indeed the principal author of Sacred Scripture. And that's just with a concordance word search, there are more than these if you searched different terms, but the point is the same. The whole body of Scripture important to mankind today fulfilled in Christ, it reaffirms my faith more., there is no cut-off between the Old Testament and the New.! 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