A Lenten Bible Study: Genesis to Jesus Lesson Two: The Old and the New Testaments

Here is the second lesson in the Saint Paul Center for Catholic Biblical Theology's Lenten Scripture study, Genesis to Jesus. Follow along, and by the end of Lent, you'll understand the importance of Easter in light of God's plan for our salvation. Sign up to receive new video lessons [here] and buy related study materials.
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In our first lesson, we talked about how the Bible has both a literary meaning and an historical meaning. But that’s not all. Since God is the principle author of Sacred Scripture, it also has a divine meaning. And together, the literary sense and historical truth of Scripture reveal that divine meaning. They reveal the way God is directing the course of human history. As we’re going to see, God writes the world like we write words.

As human beings, we use words as signs that stand for particular realities. For example, the word “chair” signifies something tangible and real that you may be sitting on right now. Similarly, God uses historical realities to represent other realities. Another way to put it is that he writes the world like men write words; he uses historical realities as signs of other realities. What does that mean? Let’s use an example to make this clear: The Exodus. The actual, historical event of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, foreshadows Christ leading us out of sin and into salvation. We see this same kind of foreshadowing throughout the Old Testament in the promises of God.

God promised his children a Savior who would deliver them from their sins. We see the prefigurement of that Savior in other small “s” saviors in the Old Testament, such as Noah, Moses, and David. Then, in the New Testament, comes the fulfillment of God’s promises in the person of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. The Apostles recognized that and proclaimed Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Israel, as well as the gentiles. And today, the Church follows the example set by the Apostles. We read the Old Testament in light of the New, and the New Testament in light of the Old. The Catechism explains this further, saying that, [CCC 117] “Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.”

In other words, in the Old Testament, people and events prefigure the New Testament Redeemer and his saving mysteries. And this is nothing new. More than fifteen centuries before the Catechism we use today was written, St. Augustine said essentially the same thing when he wrote, “The New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New.”

This concealing and revealing is what theologians and Scripture scholars call “typology”. Typology is the study of how God’s works in the Old Covenant prefigure what he accomplishes through Christ in the New Covenant. In other words, as we read the Old Testament we see “patterns” or “types” that foreshadow greater things to come in the New Testament. We already mentioned how the Exodus was one of these “types”, foreshadowing our delivery from the slavery of sin. Another example is the Passover, when an unblemished lamb was offered as a sacrifice for the Israelites.

In the New Testament. Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, and our “Pascal Lamb”. Yet another example is manna, the miraculous bread that came down from heaven. It fed the Israelites during their time of wandering in the desert after their flight from Egypt. Well in the New Testament, Jesus reveals that he is the “New Manna”, the Bread of Life come down from heaven. John 6: 31-35 states:

31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always. 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

The fact is, we could spend hours doing nothing but pointing out examples of Old Testament people, events, and institutions that point to Jesus Christ and his saving mysteries. That’s because Old Testament events that point toward the New Testament have a meaning that the Catechism says is “inexhaustible.” The Catechism also says that typology points to what it calls the “dynamic movement” toward the fulfillment of God’s plan. It’s important to remember that you and I aren’t just observing this dynamic movement when we sit down and read the Bible. We are actually part of that movement every day.

Every one of us is standing in the stream of salvation history right now. We’re in that stream because throughout time God has been working to bring us salvation. He wants what unfolds in Scripture to unfold in our lives. And that brings us back to the first question we talked about in lesson one: Why should Catholics study Scripture?

Well for starters, Scripture is a treasure. Don’t ever forget that the Bible is a gift from God. Every one of us who has a Bible in our lap or on a shelf at home is incredibly blessed. Realize that for centuries, owning a personal copy of the Bible was something almost no Christian could afford. These Christians lived centuries before the invention of the printing press, so all books, but especially a book as big as the Bible, were rare. But thanks to the tireless work of the Church and her monks and priests, every parish had a copy of the Bible. And there, the people could have access to the Scriptures through the readings at Mass.

There are some critics of the Church who try to paint a different picture. They like to point out that during the Middle Ages, Catholic parishes keep their copy of the Bible chained to the pulpit. They it was because the Church was some kind of meanie trying to keep the Bible out of the hands of Catholic believers. But in fact, it was exactly the opposite.

Yes, the Bible was secured. But not because it was being kept from people. It was to make sure that Scripture was available to people. Let me give you a modern example of how this works. Long before cell phones were invented, there used to be telephone booths. In addition to a phone, phone booths contained a phone book. And was it just floating freely on a little metal counter? Nope. It was chained to the phone. Why? Because the phone company was mean? No. It was so that no one could steal it. It was so everyone could have access to it.

Likewise, Catholic churches chained their copy of the sacred text to the pulpit so that it would stay put. If the parish carefully preserved their copy, everyone would have access to it when they came to Mass. These priceless texts were preserved and passed down to us for a very specific and very important reason. Think again about 2 Timothy 3 and St. Paul’s instruction to St. Timothy to value Scripture. In verses 16 and 17, he said it was valuable because it was inspired by God. But right before that, in verses 14 and 15, he said why it was inspired. It was inspired by God for the sake of our salvation.

In inspiring Scripture for the sake of our salvation, God was doing what he always does. He comes down to our human level to raise us up to his divine level. Dei Verbum says, “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them.” And what does he tell us when he speaks with us? How to live well and how to live rightly. Essentially, the Bible takes the guess work out of how to please God. Think about it… if we want to know how to care for a car, we read the owner’s manual. Likewise, if we want to know how to live as a child of God, we need to read “Our Father’s Manual” – the Bible.

One of the things that manual tells us is that if we want to protect ourselves from sin, we should memorize the Word and meditate on it. Psalm 119:9-11 states: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Scripture also tells families to keep God’s word always in their heart, with parents teaching it to their children in the midst of life’s daily activities. See Deuteronomy 6:4-7:

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

The Bible also gives us instructions on how to worship and on what it means to obey the moral law. Examples of that can be found in Nehemiah 8 and Exodus 20-24.

Now that we’ve look more closely at the “why” of Scripture study, we need to turn back to the “how.” As wonderful as “Our Father’s Manual” is, most of us still need a little help understanding what’s in the manual. Here is St. Paul’s direction in 2 Thessalonians 2:15:

“15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.”

In this passage, “word of mouth” refers to what St. Paul taught the people in person through his actual preaching and teaching, and even his personal example. Similarly, “by letter” refers to what he wrote to the people in his absence. Note that he instructs them to hold to both written and oral instruction. They need both to protect them from misinterpreting the gospel taught by the apostles, which is always a real danger. Ephesians 4:11-14 counsels us to this end:

“11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

In order to achieve the unity of faith, God has not only given us His Word, but also a faithful interpretation of that Word preserved by the Holy Spirit. That faithful interpretation is there to prevent us from fracturing the Body of Christ into thousands of different denominations, at odds with one another over core beliefs. Those entrusted with the sacred task of interpretation form the Church’s Magisterium – the bishop of Rome and all the other bishops united to him. The Holy Spirit empowers the Magisterium to faithfully preserve and proclaim the full revelation of God – Scripture and Tradition – to God’s people. The unity of those two things – Scripture and Tradition – is very important. Dei Verbum (10) tells us, “Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God… “

Sacred Tradition is the faithful handing down of revelation from Christ through the apostles and their successors to the present day. And Sacred Tradition, like Scripture, is living and active, especially in the Liturgy. When we read Scripture in light of Sacred Tradition – trusting the interpretative authority of the Church’s Magisterium – we are reading the Bible from the heart of the Church. We are reading Sacred Scripture with the same Spirit who inspired it and empowers the Church to preserve it and understand its message.

We recognize that Scripture was written by different authors over the course of many centuries and in many different styles of writing. But we also recognize that the Bible isn’t an anthology of related but separate stories. There may be many human authors who wrote the Bible, but there is only one Primary Author, God, and He is the source of Scripture’s unity. Because of that, we read the books of the Bible in light of each other. That not only helps us understand each book better, but it also helps us appreciate the unity of the story – God’s story. That story is God’s plan to redeem the world and unite all things in Jesus Christ.

In the Bible, we see that plan unfold through God’s covenants with man. The great early Church father, St. Irenaeus, studied under St. Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John. St. Irenaeus wrote that in order to understand salvation history, we need to understand the various covenants in the Old and New Testaments. “Understanding,” he says, “consists of showing why there are a number of covenants with mankind and in teaching what is the character of those covenants.” (Against Heresies)

Testament = Covenant

The Old and New Testaments each, respectively, point to the Old and New Covenants. In fact, the word “testament” actually means “covenant.” What we call “testaments,” the ancient Israelites called “covenants.” Scripture records the story of salvation as a sequence of covenants that God makes with his people. It’s the story of God’s covenant plan for his children.

Since covenants are so important, it’s important that we understand what covenants are. Most people today think covenants are the same as contracts. But they’re not. Covenants are much more than contracts. Covenants and contracts both establish relationships, but the type of relationship they establish is very different. Covenants create the strongest type of bonds between persons – family or kinship bonds.

Let’s examine the differences between the two a little more closely. Contracts are made with a promise; Covenants are sworn with an oath. Contracts are signed in your name; Covenants are sealed in God’s name. Contracts facilitate an exchange of goods and services. They say, “Let’s trade,” and “This yours and that’s mine.” Covenants, however, mediate an exchange of persons. They say, “I am yours and you are mine.” Another difference is that contracts are temporary. No ongoing relationship is required once the terms of the contract are fulfilled. Covenants on the hand are permanent, even affecting future generations. For ancient Israelites, the difference between covenants and contracts was about as great as the difference between marriage and prostitution.

A covenant forges a sacred family bond in which persons give themselves to one another in loving communion. This is hardly a foreign idea in modern times. Marriages and adoptions both fit the category. Both are ways in which we can expand the size of our families through covenant bonds. Likewise, God makes us part of his family through covenants. Jeremiah 31:31-34 tells us that:

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

God is our Father because of his covenant with us. Salvation history is really the story God becoming our Father, using covenants to expand his divine family in time and space.

In our next lesson, we will consider the first covenant God makes with humanity with Adam and Eve as husband and wife. The second covenant we’ll discuss is made with Noah, who is the head of a household that includes his wife, their three sons, and their sons’ wives. The third covenant is made with Abraham, who is the chieftain of an entire tribe. The fourth covenant is made with Moses, who exercises leadership over the twelve tribes of Israel. The fifth covenant is made with King David, who rules the kingdom of Israel. The sixth covenant, the New Covenant is established by Jesus Christ, whose kingdom expands through the Catholic Church to include believers from every nation under heaven.

In this last covenant salvation history reaches its goal. All things are united in Christ, and we are restored as children of God. All the nations are brought into God’s divine covenantal family through Jesus Christ. Notice the progression of God’s covenants; moving from a couple, to a household, to a tribe, to a nation, to a kingdom, to the kingdom of God encompassing the entire world. These covenants tell us the story of how God restored all of humanity back to himself after the fall of Adam and Eve. His plan expands until it is completed in the Church where everyone can be reconciled back into his family.