1. The Old Testament and New Testament have common teachings about God: unseen Spirit, eternal, immortal, Holy/perfect/pure, Creator; source of all Truth, knows us intimately, is always present, is sovereign, with ultimate power 

 

2. YHWH, the LORD God of the Old Testament, is Holy, including not just Justice/Judgment but also Mercy/Love
a) Exodus 20:6 – punish to the 3rd & 4thgenerations; show love to 1000 generations
b) Psalm 23 – shepherd, source of goodness and mercy

 

3. The God of the New Testament, represented by Jesus (Son of God) and God the Father, is Holy, including not just Mercy/Love, but also Justice/Judgment
a) Actions of Jesus in cleansing the Temple ( 21:12-13)
b) Harsh words of Jesus against liars & hypocrites (Matthew 23)
c) Teaching about a coming Day of Judgment (against God’s people the Jews of that generation: 1 Peter 4:17; Matthew 19:28 – judge 12 tribes; Matthew 7:21-23 – “away from me you evildoers”; Matthew 8:12 – “thrown outside, weeping and gnashing of teeth”
d) In 1 John: God is love (4:16) but God is also light (1:5)
e) Acts 5 and the immediate punishment of Ananias and Sapphira

 

4. Jesus affirmed that YHWH of the Old Testament is the one true God which he represented
a) Matthew 22:29-32 “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”; quotes from OT Scripture, “it is written”.
b) He acknowledges being the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13) and Messiah/Christ; references to Jonah, Moses, Elijah, Noah, and others as pointing to Him.

 

5. In the Old Testament, salvation and judgment happen primarily on a temporal level (within history), though with glimpses of eternal destinies; in the New Testament, the focus becomes more on the eternal dimensions of salvation and judgment, though foreshdowed by saving acts such as healings and other miracles, and by some key acts of judgment such as the prophesied destruction of the Jewish Temple and judgment on that generation (Mattthew 23:35-24:34).

 

6. In the Old Testament, God chose certain people (beginning with Abraham and eventually including some of his descendants as the nation of Israel, known later as the Jews) to have a special relationship with Himself. That special relationship involved special blessings of protection and provision for their faithfulness and obedience, but also extra punishment for their unfaithfulness and disobedience. Through the work of Jesus that special relationship is transformed into a new people of God including both some Jews and some non-Jews (Gentiles) (1 Peter 2:9-10).

 

7. In the Old Testament, God was protecting “the Covenant Seed” (the line of descendants through whom eventually the Messiah/Christ would come). In the New Testament that person, Jesus, is being revealed as that “seed of the woman” who would deal with sin once and for all time. (Gen.3:15, Romans 16:20, Hebrews 2:14).

 

8. Some apparent discrepancies are invalid:
a) The “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) – This is not a radical new ethic contradicting the Law of Moses, but clarifies some misuses of the Law at that time, and deals with personal relationships beyond the rules of the Law.
b) In John 8 a woman is caught in adultery – Jesus actually applies the Law of Moses in dealing with her case.

 

9. Some passages explicitly connect OT and NT teachings:
a) Matthew 22:40 – all the commandments hang from the 2 laws of love
b) Matthew 5:17-18 – “I came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it”

 

10. Jesus’ role in his earthly life was limited: He would wage a spiritual battle (Matthew 10:34-36); He came to preach the Good News of Kingdom of God (Luke 4:41); He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10); Jesus came to save the world, not to judge it (John 12:47). 

 

11. Jesus would someday be the Judge: the judgment on that evil generation of Jews (cf. Matthew 12, 21-24); the judgment between sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46); He will judge and avenge (Revelation 6:10).

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