16 Sep Why the New Testament?
If God was the author of the Old Testament, and everything there is true and good, why did he send Jesus to change things and institute a new covenant, and with it the New Testament?
It’s a great question because it seems to suggest that God could or should have done the best thing up front, rather than doing something lesser and then fixing it later… right?
The reason is that it needed to happen in this order, or it could not have happened.
The explanation is something like this:
When you have children you must teach them, but at first they are young and incapable of learning complicated things, so they start by learning simple things, such as how to feed themselves, wipe their own bottom and more. Then at school they start with learning numbers, and later learning how to add, and later to multiple and later algebra. There are many steps along the way.
So one reason why God brings along new things is that he is building on previous things. The previous things are necessary steps along the way. But there is more than that, and it has to do with the heart and with relationship. Compare two scenarios.
Situation One: Imagine a teenager walks along and sees what seems like wet paint on the wall, and out of curiosity reaches out to touch it, leaving a finger mark. An adult appears and with harsh tones, criticises the youngster for behaviour. The teenager does not respond well to the correction as they did not feel they had done anything wrong.
Situation Two: Now imagine a teenager that is advised by their parents in advance, that there is fresh paint, warned not to touch it, and advised there will be consequences if they do. Then the teenager chooses to touch the paint anyway and ignore the rules. Now there has been something done that is wrong, the consequence is justified, the parent doesn’t have to be harsh, but simply follow through with the consequences. The teenager has no grounds to feel they are being injustly treated.
In comparing the two situations, which one allows the wrongdoer to know they were wrong? The second. In the first case the teenager is unlikely to be remorseful, but rather critical. But it the second scenario, remorse and repentance with it is possible. Then, if the teenager is repentant, the opportunity for grace, forgiveness, mercy and more are possible because of the remorse and sorrow for sin.
And So God knowing that humans need law to precede grace, had to issue first the Old Testament with the law, followed by the grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ. As John observed, ‘For the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ John 1:17
God is intelligent, and knows that sometimes things must come in a certain order, for them to work.
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