THE INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW

Abstract

A very large majority of New Testament books quote the Old Testament explicitly, and often make it clear that the authors regarded the Old Testament as an authoritative body of literature which claimed the attention and obedience of Christians. The interpretation by Greek thinkers of poetry and ancient myth forms a useful but distant background to the use of the Old Testament by New Testament writers. To the Greek philosopher, the existence of earlier literature was no more than incidental; at most it provided a useful confirmation of truths of which he was already persuaded on other grounds. Judaism understood itself as a current practical exegesis of its Bible. Most of the writers of the New Testament were Jews, and all were children of their own age. The wording of the Old Testament is taken over and woven into narrative or argument.

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