The Two Testaments

The Old and New Testaments, usually characterized as if they are thoroughly incoherent, fit together more intimately than many people recognize.  Nevertheless, some inside and outside of the church pretend like a person must trivialize one to declare allegiance to the other.  American Christendom has practically abandoned the Old Testament in favor of the New.  Those who subscribe to evangelical Christianity often attempt to understand everything in the Old Testament in light of the New Testament, but the fact of the matter is that the only legitimate approach is often the exact opposite of this.

The New Testament is the illusory refuge of evangelical Christians, whose general incompetence with handling Old Testament texts with regards to ethics is even known among non-Christians (especially when it comes to Mosaic Law).  They flee from the clarity of the Pentateuch in favor of the vague, incomplete commandments of the New Testament.  In an effort to distance themselves from Mosaic Law and what they subjectively deem "offensive" actions of God, they posit that the New Testament somehow makes the majority, if not the whole, of the Old Testament's instructions about issues like criminal justice obsolete (a stance that entails massive internal contradictions [1]).

Ironically, claiming that the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament at best only results in a contradiction that would nullify the New Testament itself, as it consistently references and hinges upon the Old Testament.  Jesus, Paul, and other New Testament authors quote and allude to the historical and moral components of the Old Testament quite frequently.  If the Old Testament can be discarded, it follows that the New Testament, for which the Old Testament serves as an inescapable foundation, must likewise be discarded.

The Old Testament can be true if the New Testament is not, but the New Testament is neither correct nor properly understandable apart from the Old Testament.  Rather than accept this, evangelicals tend to act as if the inverse is true.  Their distortions cannot change the fact that the New Testament stands or falls on the validity of the Old.  If a disparity between the two existed, the Old Testament would not be the problem.  The New Testament would instead be the problematic portion of the Bible.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-consequences-of-non-theonomy.html