Proverbs 27:1 (ESV)

Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring.

As I read this verse I was reminded of how many Proverbs Jesus and other New Testament writers quoted. James makes reference to this verse in James 4:13-17. Jesus builds a the parable of the rich fool around the idea in Luke 12. Over and over as I read through the Psalms and Proverbs I come across passages that are familiar, and then I realize that Jesus, or Paul, or one of the other New Testament authors quoted or referenced these passages.

When Jesus preached, he based his messages on the Old Testament. When Paul preached, he based his messages on the Old Testament. When Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, his message came from the Old Testament. When Jesus walked with the two men on the road to Emmaus, he taught them about Messiah from the Old Testament. As believers in Jesus Christ we have a tendency to base our practice and theology in the New Testament. We tend to use the Old Testament as a sort of Aesop’s Fables. It is used to illustrate moral behavior taught in the New Testament.

The truth is, we have failed to understand the Old Testament. But if Jesus and the New Testament authors based their teaching and their understanding of the gospel in the Old Testament, maybe we should pay the Old Testament a little more attention. There are some who would say that only the New Testament is for the church. There are even some who would say that not even the gospels are for the church. They argue that the Gospels are Old Testament in nature. I find that hard to accept.

Paul wrote to the Ephesian elders, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). That whole counsel of God included the Old Testament. As believers in Christ who claim to value the Bible as the Word of God, we need to value the whole of God’s Word. The Old Testament is not just a series of stories to be used as illustrations for moral behavior, or to teach children to behave. The gospel is rooted in the Old Testament. The New Testament is rooted in the Old Testament. Our understanding of God, sin, the world, Satan, holiness, truth, and who we are as people created in the image of God but fallen… all of that is grounded in the Old Testament. Maybe, as those who claim to value the Bible, it is time for us to actually read, study, and meditate on the whole counsel of God.