Answer # 76

The foundation of The Church of God is the Holy Bible (Ephesians 2:19-20).

The apostle Paul never said we should not use the Old Testament.He not only quoted the Old Testament himself quite often, but be stated in his letter to Timothy that "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching [doctrine, KJV], for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness ..." (II Tim. 3:16).

In this passage he was referring to the Old Testament, because the New Testament hadn't been fully written or canonized at that time. In verse 14, Paul instructed Timothy: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, [the Old Testament] which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (II Tim. 3:14,15). In Timothy's childhood there was no New Testament written - so Paul must be speaking of the Old Testament.

Paul also commended the Jews of Berea, who "received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures [again the Old Testament] daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed..." (Acts 17:11-12).

Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 both quote Jesus Himself as saying: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Jesus Christ Himself is here quoting from the Old Testament — Deuteronomy 8:3. This is not the only time Christ quoted the Old Testament. He gave His stamp of approval to historical accounts which are sometimes questioned by some "higher critics" today: Adam and Eve (Matt. 19:3-4), Abel (Matt. 23:35), Noah's Flood (Luke 17:26-27), Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:28-29), and Jonah (Matt. 12:40), Jesus also referred to Moses, the author of most of the Pentateuch. Christ said in John 5:46-47 (KJV): "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?"

The Old Testament and the Old Covenant (which was pre-Christian) are two entirely different things. The Old Covenant was the agreement between God and ancient Israel, while the Old Testament is composed of the inspired writings of people who lived during the time the Old Covenant was in effect. While Paul said that we no longer need to observe certain of the Old Covenant Levitical rituals such as physical circumcision, he did not mean that we should not quote the Old Testament.

The New Testament contains hundreds of direct and indirect quotations from the Old (about 630 quotations and references, see The Bible Handbook by Joseph Angus, p. 249). And the Old Testament contains prophecies of Christ, plus predictions that are yet to be fulfilled in our day. We cannot ignore the Old Testament if we are to follow the examples of Christ and Paul.