The Old Testament (OT) writings are full of challenging stories about miracles and murder and other elements that make readers wonder how to take it seriously.
The Viewpoint of Jesus
We have a lot of evidence that the gospels reliably convey Jesus’ life and words. If you decide Jesus is who he says he is, that changes how you read the rest of the Bible. For example, Jesus looks at the OT with the greatest respect. Almost every book of the OT is actually quoted by Jesus authoritatively. If Jesus is who he says he is, then you have to deal with the whole Bible, even the parts that seem incredible. Jesus himself took it authoritatively. If he is not who he says he is, who cares about the rest of the Bible because that means the core of it is not true.
Consider the patriarchs. Those stories are difficult to understand. With Jesus and gospels, the biblical record is much more recent. There is much more evidence of the eyewitnesses of Jesus and the New Testament (NT) events. If what the gospels say about Jesus is accurate, he takes the patriarchs seriously.
Read the Old Testament Correctly
Just because something in the OT is recorded in the narrative does not mean it is condoned. For example, think about the practice of polygamy in Genesis. A reader who thinks the OT is condoning polygamy is not correctly reading the narrative. Polygamy is actually undermined by Genesis, but people don’t see it because they haven’t learned to read the Bible’s literary genres.
- What is your initial reaction to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- Do you believe the Bible is reliable? Why or why not?
- Does it matter to you whether or not the Bible is reliable? Explain.
- Read Luke 4:17-20. What did Jesus claim about himself? Do you believe that Jesus is who he said he is? Explain.
- Jesus took the Bible to be authoritative. Do you? Why or why not?
- Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
