BOOK SUMMARY: OLD MADE NEW - A GUIDE TO THE NEW TESTAMENT USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT - CHAPTER 1 - TOOLS OF THE TRADE

A THREE-STEP PROCESS

Step 1: Identify the Passage

You must identify which OT passage is being used in the NT. Quotations in the English text reveal that something is being cited. Most Bibles will list cross-references to help you find the cited passage. There are a couple reasons why cross-references are used.  Sometimes they point to the actual passage being quoted. Other times they point to themes mentioned in the NT verse.  It won't always be the case that the cross-references only point to the OT passage being cited.  

Once you've identified the OT passage being used you need to figure out how the NT author is using it. Is he citing, quoted or alluding to it?  

(1).    Citations generally follow the "it is written" formula.  In essence it is saying, "pay attention." Citations can be general and not mention the OT author (John 6:21). Or they can be specific and share the OT author (Matthew 2:17).  

(2).    Quotations are generally verbatim statements from the OT but the NT author doesn't necessarily tell us that he's quoting from a particular author.  There is no introductory "it is written" statement.  Some English Bibles will have quotation marks around such passages. The author of the book contends that quotations and citations are different. He claims citations are meant to prove a point while quotations are meant to help us understand a current NT situation while using a previous OT situation to help us understand what the NT author means in his current point (Romans 9:7). It'd be like saying, "We're not in Kansas anymore" to help others understand that you're out of your element or comfort zone. 

(3).    Allusions, like quotations, do not cite a source, but rather than being verbatim they are less precise. John 1:51 alludes to Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28:12.  Allusions are harder to nail down. There is much debate in this area on how these OT passages are used. Allusions require us to dig into our mental Scriptural knowledge database to have an "aha moment." There are 4 tests you can use to see whether an allusion is valid.

(a).    Volume - How much word-for-word parallelism to the OT text is found in the allusion.

(b).    Recurrence - Does the NT author(s) use that OT passage/book elsewhere?

(c).    Coherence - Does the OT passage fit with the argument in the NT?

(d).    Plausibility - Could the original NT audience have detected this allusion too?

Knowing whether a OT is cited, quoted or alluded to helps us to see the NT intended use of the passage.

    

Step 2: Double-Click on the OT

Once you've identified the OT and whether or not it's cited, quoted or alluded to, you then need to spend time understanding the OT passage.

(1).   Wording Comparisons - Studying the wording helps us to see if the NT author is being careful to cite word-for-word or if he's being more loose in the use of the OT like an allusion. In examining the wording we may see a variation from the original text. They could be quoting from memory, local scrolls or from early collections of OT excerpts. The differences could be also be accounted for by the use of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT Hebrew Bible). Matthew 12:17-21 cites Isaiah 42:1-4 but the ending is different. Matthew ends with "in his name the Gentiles will hope" while in Hebrew Isaiah 42:4 reads, "The coastlands away his laws."  Why the difference? Matthew is using the Greek translation. Or Matthew is tweaking the wording to make sense of it in his current context. Quotations by today's standards are supposed to be verbatim. In the 1st century, quotations were meant to speak the essence of the original author's point.  There are several kinds of "revisionary" quotes from the OT.

(a).    Updating Grammar - Mark 4:12 modifies the tense and mood of Isaiah 6:9-10).

(b).    Rearrangin Clauses - Romans 13:9 reorders some of the 10 commandments.

(c).    Skipping Portions - Luke 4:18-19 skips some of Isaiah 61:1

(d).    Substituting Words - John 12:15 changed "mounted" in Zechariah 9:9 to "sitting."

(e).    Paraphrasing - 2 Corinthians 4:6 summarizing Genesis 1:3.

(f).    Contextualizing - Acts 4:11 adapted the "stone" passage of Psalm 118:22 to Peter's audience.

(2).    Observations About the Broader OT Passage - The snippets that the NT authors use are meant to make a point, but they invited us to understand the bigger context of the account that passage was drawn out of.  Look at the pollen, but zoom out and see the flower. This is close context vs broader context understanding.  Makes some key observations about the broader OT passage.

(a).    Where does this passage fall into the history of Israel?

(b).    What genre of writing is this?

(c).    What keywords or themes stand out that caught the NT author's attention?

(d).    What is the basic sense of this OT passage in its original context How does its theme relate to the bigger storyline of the OT?

We need to constantly brush up on the storyline of the OT so we can have better instincts about how a NT author is using the OT.  Firstly, study the NT summaries of the OT (Acts 7:1-53, Acts 13:16-25).  Secondly, read the OT with the big picture in mind.  Thirdly, read up on Biblical Theology.

Step 3: Listen to the Remix

There is continuity between the OT and the NT and at first glance we don't always see how and why the NT authors use the OT to help us know God.  But as we learn the way the NT authors use the OT we can see the OT in a clearer fashion and we can import a fuller understanding of it into the NT.  Thus, what we have is not a "new meaning" but a "fuller sense" of God's Word.  At the same time, there is a sense of discontinuity between the OT and the NT. The authors of the NT see the OT as being "fulfilled" in Christ. The OT Scriptures find their telos or destination in Christ.  As such we do not see NT authors using Scripture as lectures or scholarly dissertations on what it meant long ago. Rather we see them showing the "aliveness" of Scripture in connecting it to Christ.  The prophets lived prior to Christ entering this world in humanity. Whether or not they knew the fulness of their Spirit-inspired writings is beside the point.  Christ is the key that finishes the song of the OT and they use a continuity and discontinuity hermeneutic.  The author suggests 3 ways that the NT authors see "fulfillment."

(1).    Prediction - The OT author prophesied an event and the NT other sees it as coming to pass (Acts 2:31/Psalm 16:8-11). Bear in mind that some prophecies have multiple fulfillments--prophetic perspective.  These are near term and long term prophecies bundled into one prediction.

(2).    Pattern - History repeating itself. Acts 7:51 reminds the Jewish leaders that they are committing the same sins as their forefathers.  But other sorts of patterns are called types.  Adam is a type of Christ--Christ being the anti-type or the fulfillment of the type.  The Passover lamb is a type of Christ.  The bronzer serpent is a type of Christ.  Earthly Jerusalem and the Temple are types.

(3).    Prescription - The NT authors often use the OT for moral instruction.  God's moral character transcends time thus we should see some use of morality carried across both testaments. The moral truth will still apply (continuity) while the application might look different (discontinuity). Example; tithing in OT vs giving to care for elders.

We cannot flatten out all uses of the OT in the NT and say that they were all Messianic predictions.  There are various sorts of use of the OT in the NT. But we ought to be nuanced in the way we say that the NT is using the OT.