Old vs. New Testaments
Author: Evan Bolen
When we look at a Bible sitting on a shelf or a coffee table, it is easy to assume we are looking at one large book. In one sense, this is true. However, upon closer inspection, we may notice that there are actually quite a few divisions within the Bible. There are 66 books divided into 1,189 chapters and over 31,000 verses between the front and back covers of our Bibles. When we think about this, understanding how all the parts the Bible fit together may seem like a daunting task.
How can we wrap our minds around such a large document? It brings to mind the old cliché question “How do you eat an elephant?” Those familiar with this question will remember the cliché answer: “One bite at a time.” Understanding how the Bible fits together is a (necessary - 2 Tm. 2:15) learning process that takes effort, but it can be done one “bite” at a time.
One of the most important bites we can take is understanding the difference between the Old and New Testaments. These two testaments comprise the largest divisions in scripture dividing the 66 books of the Bible into 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books. The casual observer may wonder why these 2 testaments exist. What’s the difference? Do they serve different purposes? Do they contain different instructions? If so, why? What is the relationship between them? Answering these questions is not only important to understanding the differences between the Old and New Testaments, but also vital to our understanding of the Bible as a whole. So, what’s the difference?
When Were The 2 Testaments Written?
Let’s start with the Old Testament. The first distinction we may note about the Old Testament is that it was written first. This explains the “old” designation. But, just how “old” is it? The simple answer is “very.” The first 5 books, also known as the “Torah,” were written in large part by Moses (Exod. 24:3-4; 34:27; Num. 33:1-2). This would mean the original writing of these books date to at least the lifespan of Moses, placing their writing around the 13th Century BC. The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, was written in the 5th Century BC. Quick math would then show that the Old Testament was written across a span of 800 years, with the newest part of of the writing still being 2400 years old.
This stands in stark contrast to the New Testament, with the first book (likely 1 Thessalonians, randomly enough) being written around 52 or 53 AD, and the last book, Revelation, being written no later than the close of the 1st Century, around 96 AD. This means not only was the New Testament written more than 400 years after the Old Testament was completed, but also that the New Testament was completed in a span of less than 50 years.
What Are The 2 Testaments Like?
These differences in the time, and time span, of the writing of the Old and New Testaments obviously result in some distinct characteristics within each testament. For example, since the Old Testament covers such a vast time span, it naturally contains more history than the New Testament. Joshua through Esther, spanning 12 books, are commonly considered the historical section of books of the Old Testament. In contrast, Acts in the New Testament is the only book considered to be devoted to recording history. Additionally, with the Old Testament being written farther into the past than the New Testament, it naturally contains more prophecies and books of prophecy than the New Testament. The Old Testament contains 17 books of prophecy spanning Isaiah through Malachi with many other prophecies being scattered throughout other books. The New Testament contains only one book of prophecy: Revelation. And, prophecies found within other New Testament books are minimal.
Another important difference to note between the Old and New Testaments is the languages each was written in. Neither the Old or New Testament was originally written in English, meaning that everything we read in English is the work of translators. The greater age of the Old Testament places it mostly in a time where Jewish people, the original audience of the Old Testament, primarily spoke Hebrew. Thus, the majority of the Old Testament was written in, and translated from, Hebrew. The New Testament, however, was written completely in a time in which the Jewish people, and much of the known world, was under Roman control. This made the common language Greek, and this is the language the New Testament was originally written in. Both Hebrew and Greek are vastly different from the English language, and even greatly different from one another. Ancient Hebrew was a very poetic, expressive language which can be seen in the beautiful, timeless writings contained in the Psalms. On the other hand, in the first century, Greek was a language which allowed great specificity with word order being determined by the idea the author most wanted to emphasize, and every word corresponding to a masculine, feminine, or neutral gender. This is getting a bit technical, but these technicalities are very helpful when determining the meaning of otherwise difficult passages.
Why Have 2 Testaments?
Every distinction we have noted thus far may seem fairly inconsequential. But, moving forward, we’re going to see that these testaments, their differences, their relationship, and our understanding of them actually have very serious spiritual consequences for us. The first way we’ll see this is by asking an important question that, while seemingly simple and obvious, can easily be overlooked. What is a testament?
The English definition of “testament” runs two ways. One definition is “a tangible proof or tribute.” This definition is close to the definition of evidence. This definition is embodied in the sentence “Higher average life expectancies are a testament to the discoveries and improvements of modern medicine.” The other definition is “an act by which a person determines the disposition of his or her property after death.” This is, essentially, another word for the legal document which determines what will happen to a person’s property after he or she passes way. This is the meaning of “testament” in the phrase “last will and testament.” While there are applications we can make from these definitions, neither definition truly encompasses the whole meaning of the word “testament” as it is used in relation to the Old and New Testaments.
It is a good study practice to allow the Bible to be its own commentary, and we can do this in our pursuit of understanding the testaments. This is where the aforementioned specificity of the Greek language comes in handy. Every time the word “testament” appears in the Bible in connection with Old and New Testaments, it is translated from the same Greek word. The definition of this word is “a disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will.” This is similar to the second English definition we noticed earlier. However, the Greek definition goes on to mean “a compact or a covenant.” This goes a step farther, and describes a testament as, essentially, an agreement or contract. This brings up some important questions. If the Old and New Testaments are, more specifically, defined as Old and New Contracts, who are these contracts between? What are the terms of these contracts? Are we involved in these contracts?
The Old Contracts
We can and should turn to scripture to answer these questions. When we do this, three distinct “contracts” begin to emerge; all three between God and man. To summarize, God created mankind (Gen. 1-2), humans sinned and were therefore separated from God (Gen. 3; Isa. 59:2; Rom. 3:23), and God wanted to reconcile humanity to Himself (first hinted at in prophetic form in Gen. 3:15). The rest of the Bible is the story of God accomplishing that very goal.
Since God wanted to be reunited with the people He loved (Jn. 3:16), it follows that He would give them instructions about how they could be with Him again. This is exactly what we see unfold through scripture, and it is the origin of the division between the Old and New Testaments. As you might guess by now, this division exists because God has made more than one contract with mankind. This is significant. What are these contracts?
As already mentioned, there are three distinct contracts apparent in scripture. The first two are recorded in the Old Testament, and the third is found within the New Testament. The first is seen in God’s agreements with men like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God spoke directly with these men and gave them specific instructions about how they and their families should serve Him. This can be seen in the instructions God gives Noah to build an ark to save his family (Gen. 6) and the instructions God gives Abraham to move his family to a promised land God would show him (Gen. 12:1-3). During this early time period, God would communicate directly with the heads of a household, or “patriarchs.” This period of God’s “contracting” with man has thus been dubbed the “Patriarchal Period” and consisted largely of verbal, non-written, direct communication between God and mankind. This period is the focus of the Old Testament until around the twentieth chapter of Exodus after the Israelites have been led out of Egyptian bondage. As far as scripture records, there was no group of people excluded from this patriarchal system, and it likely continued until the time of the New Testament for everyone except one race of people that we will discuss shortly.
As we reach this point in scripture, we observe a very important development in God’s relation to mankind. God gives man a written law. Beginning in Exodus 20 and continuing through the end of Deuteronomy, Moses writes out a contract as God instructs him to. This contract would instruct the Israelites (another name for the ancient Jewish people) concerning their worship to God, their treatment of their fellow man, and even the civil laws which would guide their day to day lives. This contract is commonly called “the Law of Moses” (Josh. 8:31; Lk. 24:44), or more simply, “the Law” (Josh. 1:7; Mt. 12:5). When people refer to the “Old Testament Law,” they are almost always referring to this law since the majority of the Old Testament deals with the Israelites trying to keep this contractual agreement between themselves and God. This law or contract remained in effect through the close of the Old Testament and into the first few books of the New Testament.
Before we go into a discussion of the New Testament, it is necessary that we note some facts about the nature of the Law of Moses. As we mentioned briefly, this contract was a contract with a specific race of people: the Jews. Additionally, this law demanded a great number of animal sacrifices. Hundreds of verses in the Old Testament are devoted to describing the specific kinds of animals to be used in sacrifices as well as the methods by which they were to be sacrificed. For example, the entire chapter of Leviticus 16 is devoted to describing the process by which the High Priest would offer a sacrifice for atonement once a year for the sins of himself and all the Israelites. This sacrifice involved the killing of a bull and a goat. Other sacrifices required under the Law of Moses required lambs, turtledoves, and even grains used for making bread.
Another thing to note about the the Law of Moses is that, while it was a law from God, much of the “logistics” of carrying out the law involved physical things. The priests came exclusively from one tribe within the Israelite nation; the tribe of Levi (Num. 3:5-7). There were specific garments the priests were to wear while performing their duties (Exod. 28). The place of their worship was in the Tabernacle, which itself was to be designed under very specific instructions (Exod. 26-27). The Tabernacle would be replaced with the Temple, which would have a permanent home in Jerusalem (1 Kgs. 6). This meant that even their worship of God involved a physical structure in a physical location.
The Need for a New Contract
One might ask, with all of the specificity of the Law of Moses, why would there be a need for a new contract between God and mankind? Without spoiling too much of what we’re about to talk about, the Law of Moses found within the Old Testament was lacking in one area. By itself, it could not forgive the sins of mankind and allow them to be reunited with God for eternity. The Hebrew author sums this up by saying, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” (Heb. 10:4) What was the problem?
In essence, the blood of animals was insufficient to atone for the seriousness of mankind’s sins. I’ve best heard this described through imagining forgiving mankind’s sin as a court case. The crime is sinning against God, and the punishment for the crime is that the perpetrator must die (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23). It is possible, however, for an innocent person to volunteer to bear this punishment in the stead of the guilty party. Animals cannot accomplish this, as they are not people capable of committing, or even understanding, sin. It would require a perfect person to suffer the punishment of our crime. Where might we find one? Could someone who loved us dearly like our parents or a spouse take on our punishment? What about a really close friend? There’s one big problem with any other person we know pleading guilty in our place. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). This means that no one can suffer our punishment in our place because everyone is guilty of their own sin. At this point, we have a huge problem with the Law of Moses that it cannot solve by itself: It can’t reunite us with God. This is where the New Testament, and more specifically, the new contract between God and man comes into play.
The New Contract
We are introduced to the most important person to walk this earth in the opening words of the New Testament (Mt. 1:1). His name is Jesus Christ the Son of God (Mt. 16:16-17). His mission was to reconcile mankind to God (Lk. 19:10). He had the unique ability to do this because He lived a sinless, perfect life as a human subject to temptation (Heb. 4:15). He willingly suffered one of the most painful forms of execution mankind has ever devised (Phil. 2:5-8) only to be resurrected three days later (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Why did He do this? To solve the problem we just mentioned: to be the perfect sacrifice and suffer our punishment in our place (Jn. 3:16; Heb. 10:10; 1 Jn. 2:2). He accomplished this goal flawlessly. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus constitutes the most important event in the history of the world. But, how does Jesus play into our discussion of the Old and New Testaments?
Jesus play into our discussion of the Old and New Testaments? Jesus is mostly talked about for the sacrificial role He played in making our salvation possible, but the apostle Peter identifies Jesus as more than that in Acts 3:22. He identifies Jesus as a prophet like Moses. Did Moses die to forgive the sins of the Israelites or any other group of people? No. So, what quality does Jesus share with Moses? If you remember our discussion so far, Moses is strongly associated with communicating a law with God’s people. He is so associated with this that the law found within the pages of the Old Testament, as we have noticed, is commonly called the Law of Moses. Additionally, this is one major quality that sets Moses apart from other Old Testament prophets, as no other prophet was responsible for giving the law of God to His people. All the prophets who followed Moses merely worked to bring God’s people back into obedience to His law and keep them there. Moses was a lawgiver, and it’s reasonable to conclude this was the quality Peter was identifying in Jesus.
If Jesus was a lawgiver, we would expect to find a law He has given. And, we can. There is another law spoken of in the New Testament. It is called “the perfect law of liberty” in James 1:25. It is more commonly called “the faith” which denotes a system of belief (Acts 6:7; Rom. 1:5; 1 Cor. 16:13; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:13; Phil. 3:9; Col. 2:7; etc.). This law is comprised of the words revealed to us in the New Testament, as this is the record of the system of belief under consideration in all of these verses we have noticed. These words reveal how we can access salvation, how we can remain within the grace of God, and what we can hope for in a future in God’s presence. The New Testament is God’s new contract between Himself and mankind, and it was necessary because the Law of Moses, by itself, was unable to save mankind from the consequence of sin (Gal. 3:10).
The Relationship of the Two Contracts
It is important to note that the Law of Moses in the Old Testament and the Law of Christ in the New Testament are not contradictory or opposed to one another in any way. In fact, they are complimentary. Jesus Himself said “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Mt. 5:17). Jesus didn’t come as an afterthought because the Law of Moses was a mistake. Rather, the Old Testament foretold of Jesus’ coming. The reference to Jesus as a lawgiver that Peter made earlier was not a quote original to Peter. Acts 3:22 is actually a quotation of Deuteronomy 18:18 wherein a future lawgiving prophet was promised by God. There are numerous messianic prophecies recorded in the Old Testament which foretold Jesus’ coming. In fact, the Old Testament even records that it would be replaced with a new, better contract between God and man that could forgive sins (Jer. 31:33-34).
The Old Testament, and more specifically the Law of Moses, and the New Testament wherein we read of Christ’s Law are codependent in the sense that one does not make sense without the other. Without the Old Testament, we would not understand why Jesus’ sacrifice was necessary, and we would be without many wonderful examples of faith, failure, and love. This is why Paul says of the Old Testament, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4) and compares the Old Testament to a tutor preparing man for the coming of the Law of Christ in Galatians 3. On the other hand, without the New Testament, the Bible would just be a slightly shorter book that left us scratching our heads thinking “What was that all about?” There would be no hope of salvation, no sacrifice for sins, and no victory over death. The Law of Moses was “a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things” (Heb. 10:1), and without the New Testament and the Law of Christ, those shadows would still be just that: an outline of something better. We have to have the Old Testament to understand the necessity of the New, and we have to have the New Testament to see he point of the Old.
One last point that must be noticed regarding the relationship between the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ is that the Law of Christ is the contract between God and man today, not the Law of Moses. Christ has replaced the Old Testament’s laws with a better one (Heb. 10:1-10). This means that the Law of Moses is no longer in authority, and we cannot bind it as if it is. This was a major focus of Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians. The Christians in the region of Galatia had been taught that they must keep the Law of Moses to be pleasing to God. In chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians, Paul discusses the superiority of Christ’s Law over the Law of Moses, and makes the conclusion in chapter 5 verse 4 that anyone who tried to justify themselves by the Old Law was “fallen from grace.” Perhaps you have heard someone argue that Christians cannot eat shellfish or pork because the Bible says not to. While the Bible does condemn these things in books like Leviticus, these condemnations are in the Law of Moses, not the Law of Christ. This means they do not apply to mankind today living under the Law of Christ. This is one illustration of why it is extremely important that we learn the difference between the Old and New Testaments. Our salvation depends on it.
Important Differences Between the Laws
As we bring our thoughts to a close, it is important to note a few fundamental differences between the Law of Moses of the Old Testament and the Law of Christ of the New Testament. These differences are important because they relate to our salvation and the nature of our relationship with God today.
Difference in People
The most important difference for those of us without Jewish ancestry is the difference in the people the Law of Christ pertains to. As we have noticed now more than once, the Law of Moses was God’s contract between Himself and the Children of Israel. The Law of Christ, however, is to be preached to “all nations” (Mt. 28:19). The Law of Christ was and is open to all people regardless of their origin (Gal. 3:27). We can see this come to fruition through the pages of the New Testament. To illustrate once again how the Old Testament and New Testament are intertwined, all nations being able to unite under one contract with God was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 12 (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:8).
Difference in Priesthood
One stark difference between the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ is the priests who work in serving God. We noticed earlier that, in the Old Testament, the priests were all from a specific lineage within the Jewish nation. In contrast to this, under the law of Christ, all Christians are considered priests. Peter describes Christians as a “royal priesthood” (1 Pt. 2:9). How is this possible? It ties back into Jesus’ sacrifice. Because of Jesus’ blood (Rev. 1:5), Christians have access to God’s grace (Rom. 5:2) and may approach the throne of God (Heb. 4:16). All Christians have the ability to approach God as the priests of the New Testament. Additionally, in the place of an imperfect, human high priest, Christians serve under a perfect High Priest in Jesus Christ (Heb. 4:15).
Difference in Location of Worship
The most visible difference in the Law of Christ which we are subject to today and the Old Testament Law of Moses is the location in which we worship God. We’ve noticed already that the location in which ancient Jews worshipped God was in the physical city of Jerusalem in the physical building called the Temple. If we were to consider what the equivalent place of worship was in the New Testament under the Law of Christ, the first image that may pop into our minds is a church building since we can drive through most any town on a Sunday morning and see groups of people gathered at a church building to worship God. This, however, would be an incorrect assumption.
Dedicated church buildings are absent from the pages of the Bible. Additionally, there was no designated temple to which Christians traveled to worship in the New Testament. In fact, there was no centralized headquarters at all for the Christian religion as there was for the Jews under the Law of Moses in the Old Testament. Where then did Christians worship?
In John 4:21-24, Jesus sheds light on this question. He says there would come a time when those who worshipped God would not worship Him in Jerusalem, but rather would be able to worship Him anywhere so long as it was in spirit and in truth. When would this prediction prove true? We see this come to fruition with the establishment of the church in Acts 2. At the end of this chapter, Christians were worshipping together both in the Temple and in houses. The church is not tied to any physical location under the Law of Christ as the nation of Israel was in the Old Testament. This was very advantageous for the heavily persecuted Christians in the 1st Century, and it would be a very important thing for Christians to remember today to avoid the over prioritization of physical things like ornate church buildings. We cannot build a Temple to God today because God “dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). Rather, the temple of God today should be found within the pure hearts of Christians (2 Cor. 6:16).
Difference in Sacrifice
The final difference to note is one we have already discussed at some length. We discussed previously that the sacrifices in place in the Old Testament required by the Law of Moses were largely animal sacrifices. We’ve also mentioned already that Jesus was the sacrifice in the New Testament, and He willingly chose to be this sacrifice in order to make the “Law of liberty” possible wherein mankind can be forgiven of sins. This was something the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament could never do, and as such, Jesus became a sacrifice “once for all” (Heb. 10:10).
There is another sacrifice mentioned in the New Testament though, and it provides a good subject of discussion for us to conclude on. This is the sacrifice Christians, the priests of the law found in the New Testament, are expected to make. It is described in Romans 12. There Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2). Here, Paul uses terms that seem contradictory. How can one be both alive and a sacrifice? That is the answer provided in verse two. Christians are expected to live their lives differently by allowing God’s word to shape the way they think and behave. Paul calls this a reasonable service, and that is true when we consider that Jesus died so that Christians might live a life without the dreadful consequences of eternal separation from God constantly in the back of their minds. A life lived for Christ is a reasonable request (2 Cor. 5:14-15), and that is what is requested of all people today by the New Testament.
Conclusion
As we consider the Old and New Testaments, it becomes abundantly clear that they are very different from one another. However, we also see that this difference is born not from opposition to one another, but rather a difference in purpose which they work together seamlessly to accomplish. We may turn to the Old Testament to learn where we came from, who we are, why we should depend on God, and why Jesus came to die for us. And, we may turn to the New Testament to see where we are going, who we need to be, how we can show trust in God, and how we can benefit from the sacrifice Jesus made for us. The common thread we see tying everything within both of these testaments together is God’s love for you and me. Won’t you open His word today to see how you can respond to that love?