The Old Testament Genres

Jesus in the Bible:The Bible is not designed as a how-to manual for rules of life. Ultimately the Bible is a collection of stories and correlations between the Old and New Testament that show God’s plan of redemption for man in a fallen world through Jesus Christ. By looking for references to the Old Testament in the new Testament, paying special attention to the stories of salvation and redemption from sin, and using typology to identify foreshadowing’s of Christ in the Old Testament are all ways that we can help identify the works of God through Jesus in both books of the Bible.How to live out what you learn:Ultimately, we must apply our knowledge gained through the study of Scripture to our life in meaningful ways to allow the purifying beauty of Christ work through us. Utilizing the four questions for application as outlined in Everyday Bible Study of Duty, Character, Goals, and Discernment (Page 178) offers us a framework to apply to all situations and facets of life, both consciously and unconsciously. This framework is vital to helping us see things through God’s ultimate vision and brings us in closer unity to his ultimate goals for us on Earth.How to study the Old Testament Genres, Part 1: LawAt the fundamental level, the law reveals our guilt before God. The laws function as a mediator for fallen man and gives us a powerful provision to remedy our sinfulness. To study the law, we must consider first the historical and cultural issues that may require further understanding to know what the law in relation to. It is also useful to categorize laws that are applicable to modern day and those that may no longer be as relevant. The New Testament addresses this to some degree with affirmations from Jesus. Other laws help us to identify things that are of most importance or value to God his desires. Using our power of discernment to identify these important characteristics of law and the genre of law will help us study and apply the concepts presented in a useful mannerHow to use multiple translations:According to EBS (page 94): “When you compare several translations and find different words or phrases in each of them, this is noteworthy. In this case, the translation committees do not agree on the best way to express the word, phrase, or sentence in English.” This means that while they do generally agree on the overall message, there will be certain words or phrases that could possibly have a different connotation in English. Utilizing multiple translations, especially those that cover a spectrum of translation types, and then measuring these against one standard text to stay on track are all useful in effectively studying multiple translations of biblical texts.