KINGDOM, COVENANTS, AND CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
PREPARATION FOR LESSON 1
As a young university student, I participated in a weekly dormitory Bible study. Once during the course of the study, I became involved in a discussion with a fellow student about some point in theology. (You might use the word “argument” in place of “discussion”!) I recall countering my opponent with a quotation from the Old Testament.
I will never forget the pained look on his face, and the comment that followed: “But that’s the OLD Testament!” It was clear that as far as he was concerned, the matter was settled. While for him the Old Testament had some limited historical value, it had clearly been eclipsed, and its authority over modern believers superceded, by the New Testament.
Have you ever had an experience similar to this? Or have you ever found yourself thinking along similar lines?
With the emphasis that many churches have put upon the New Testament, many believers wonder why we bother to tote around all those extra books in our Bibles. Except for some exciting stories (for the children, naturally!), pithy sayings and stirring poetry, most of the Old Testament has been relegated to second-tier status. Once we get past the “accessible” parts, there seem to be too many bizarre episodes, incomprehensible visions and tedious narratives for us to make much use of these books.
In these lessons we will survey the Old Testament by examining its “Kingdom, Covenants and Canon.” We will see that the Old Testament is not a random amalgam of episodes, genealogies and prophetic tidbits. Instead, it is unified around the central theme of the kingdom of God, which was administered through covenants and applied to life through the Old Testament Canon.
Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr.
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In the first lesson we will see why the Old Testament is so important and relevant to Christians today. We will do this in three sections: 1)The Old Testament’s Distance from Us, 2) Relevance for Us, and 3) Application to Us.
In preparation for this lesson, read Luke 24:13-27, focusing especially on verses 25-27. Write down what these verses indicate about the teaching of the Old Testament. What difference should this make in the way we read the Old Testament?
Read also 2 Timothy 3:16-17. What do these verses teach us about the importance of studying the Old Testament? What are the benefits?
Finally, read Matthew 5:17-19. What does this tell us about Jesus' view of the Old Testament law?
Goals and Objectives of Lesson 1
GOALS
In this lesson, we would like to accomplish the following:
1. We hope you will become excited about studying the Old Testament and become convinced of its importance for us today.
2. We hope you will make use of all the resources and activities of the lesson to understand why we should study the Old Testament, and to learn how to shorten the distance between the O.T. and us today, applying it and making it relevant.
3. We hope you make some changes in your life as a response to the teachings of this lesson.
OBJECTIVES
When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:
1. Complete all the written assignments of the lesson, expressing your own thoughts and attitudes regarding the Old Testament and its proper application today.
2. Obtain a satisfactory grade on the test, demonstrating that you can identify the following: factors that produce a distance between us and the Old Testament, steps to shorten that distance, the meaning of biblical inspiration, the attitude of Jesus and Paul toward the Old Testament, and the proper application of the Old Testament today.
3. Answer the application questions in the study guides, in which you show how you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life.
"General Instructions for Assignments"
If you are not very familiar with the process of doing the assignments for a lesson, you should read this PDF tutorial. It will guide you through the lesson, step by step. If you are already familiar with the process, you may skip this and go to the more specific "Instructions for Lesson 1."
"Instructions for Lesson 1"
Carefully read these instructions. You may want to print them out so that you can refer to them as you proceed through the assignments.
Note about Greek and Hebrew
Once in a while, the lectures of Third Millennium courses include words in Greek or Hebrew. Don't worry about this, because a knowledge of these languages is not necessary for the course. Furthermore, when a Greek or Hebrew word is used in a study guide, glossary, or quiz, it will be transliterated (using English letters). However, it may be helpful to at least look at the alphabet of these biblical languages and learn something about the way they are transliterated. If you are interested, you may look at the following resources:
For Greek, see the following PDF document:
Greek AlphabetFor Hebrew, you may look at the following web site called "Judaism 101"
http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm
Glossary
Each lesson has a glossary of terms and names used in the lesson. You can find it in the "Resources" section of the lesson