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Shall We Throw Away the Old Testament?

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 17, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 42.

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Shall We Throw Away the Old Testament?

By I. A. CRANE

I. A. CRANE
The idea seems to prevail among a large class of people who take the name Christian, that the Old Testament Scriptures are a dead letter, in some ways positively injurious to those who read them.
How often do we hear such scriptures as 2 Cor. 3:13-15 used in the endeavor to prove that those who read the Old Testament and keep the ten commandments, are blinded by a confusing veil, which destroys their Christian experience and imparts through them a dangerous influence.
It would seem that a doctrine so far reaching as this, annulling the force and fulness of by far the greater portion of God's revelation to man, should be examined at least with caution—yes, even with suspicion.
There are some striking contrasts between the belief and practise of the disciples who were “called Christian first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26) and many who take that name to-day. For convenience let us place some of these differences in parallel columns.
Christians of A. D. 30-50
Some “Christians” of 1912
Were converted under preaching from the Old Testament. (It was more than twenty years after the day of Pentecost before any part of the New Testament was written.) Peter on Pentecost proved from Joel the promise of the Spirit. From Psalm 16 he proved the resurrection, and from Psalm 110 the ascension.
Refuse to receive the Old Testament, believing that there is no salvation found there.
Their preachers taught nothing but what Moses and the prophets did say. Acts 26:22.
Their preachers do not preach from Moses and the prophets, and condemn those who do.
They believed all things which the prophets and Moses taught. Acts 24:14.
Claim only the New Testament, and say the Old is abolished.
Continued to produce Scripture evidence from the Old Testament all those years. See Acts 3:21-24; 4:25-27; 8:32-35; 26:22, 23; 28:23.
Continue to say the Old Testament is abolished, even in the face of prophecies not yet fulfilled. (Isa. 66:15, 16, tells of Christ's coming. Hosea 13:14, Isa. 25:8, and Eze. 37:12 tell of the resurrection.)
Preached that salvation through Christ was taught by the Old Testament Scriptures, and that believers in Christ were found in the old dispensation as well as the new. Acts 10:43; John 8:56; Gal. 3:16; Heb. 11:26. (Christ's blood saves some from Egypt, Babylon, Media, yes, from every nation and tongue. Rev. 5:9.)
Preach that believers in Old Testament times were saved by the law, and knew nothing of salvation in Christ.
Took heed to the prophecies as to a light. Acts 24:14, 15; 2 Peter 1:19.
Believe the prophecies can not be understood.
Kept the seventh day according to the commandment, and went to work on the first day. Luke 23:56; 24:1.
Reject the Sabbath of the commandment, and keep the first day of the week.
There were prophets in the early church, and they expected the gift of prophecy to continue forever. Acts 11:27-30; 13:1; 21:9; John 16:13; 14:16; 1 Thess. 5:20.
Teach that there are no prophets since Christ. That those who claim to be such are false.
It seems quite clear that the words of Christ in John 5:46, 47, apply with full force to-day. If one believes Moses, he will believe Christ and the apostles; but if he does not believe Moses, he can not believe the words of Christ. We can readily see this must be true. It was the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost, that moved the writers of the Old Testament to write their story of the fall, and of the hope for man in Christ alone. 1 Peter 1:10, 11; 2 Peter 1:21; Acts 1:16, etc. This is the “Spirit of truth.” He tells the same true gospel story through Moses as through Matthew; through David and Isaiah as through Peter and Paul. There can be no disagreement nor contradiction among the inspired writers of God's Word. Be the writer a prophet, priest, shepherd, king, physician, or fisherman,—in time of exodus or exile, in peace or persecution,—God's Spirit guides the hand that writes his message of hope or warning. His word abides forever. It is “the truth.”
It was the unbelieving Jews whose minds were blinded and whose hearts were veiled with unbelief, who were unable to see Christ as the hope of salvation. They stumbled over him in their blind and despairing attempt to be justified by their own works. 2 Cor. 3:14, 15; Rom. 9:32, 33. Because of carelessness or blindness, people sometimes stumble over things in plain view. “Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their [the unbelieving Jews] heart.” Every Sabbath day they read in Moses what he said of Christ. They actually fulfilled the very words they read when they rejected Christ. Acts 13:37.
How dense was the veil which covered their hearts! Yet the word for them was, “If they abide not still in unbelief—;” “when it [their unbelieving heart] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.” Rom. 11:23; 2 Cor. 3:16. Truly, in their time as well as in our own, only a mind darkened by unbelief could read the Old Testament and see no Christ, no free salvation, no gospel. This is true of both Jews and Christians.
Waurika, Okla.