The issue is whether we would be able to make a sensible interpretation of the Lord without the Old Testament. The answer is that we could understand His moral teaching but we wouldn’t understand it in its theological, moral and historical context. For a start, original sin would be missing, there would be no Chosen People, the Messiah would have come out of the blue and all the New Testament references to the prophets and the Decalogue omitted!
In a remote part of Nigeria I talked about Jesus to a group with a tribal religion and I was surprised by their eagerness to know more. It is difficult for us to understand the impact of the Gospels on some one who has never heard of God’s love for us. But then it is a direct message from Heaven!
I really like this post. Did hearing of the death and rising of the Lord bring about Grace?In a remote part of Nigeria I talked about Jesus to a group with a tribal religion and I was surprised by their eagerness to know more. It is difficult for us to understand the impact of the Gospels on some one who has never heard of God’s love for us. But then it is a direct message from Heaven!
BTW I didn’t refer to the Old Testament on that occasion.
Also – and I don’t mean to stress you with a request for too many answers – but if as we believe that Jesus is the full revelation, isn’t the background he gives us on his “references” sufficient to understand his meaning? Else one could argue above and beyond Paul with his analogy to grafting, and say that certain things, especially those things based in the laws of the OT are understandable only to Jews, and hence while we have a full revelation, theirs is even fuller.
I can’t recall anyone who didn’t become a Catholic. The Nigerians are naturally religious and readily abandon their tribal beliefs - for the most part - although some of their customs die hard. The men usually had several wives and when they were baptised it was very sad to see the wives - except the first one - compelled to go and live with their parents while the children stayed with their father. That was a long time ago and hopefully things have changed now. Another custom they had to give up was witchcraft which was evident in a large heap of “jujus” waiting to be burned outside a church. It seemed a pity because some of them were exquisitely carved from ebony. Traditional medicine is widespread but not always successful. A nun told me that women who had problems giving birth were brought to the mission hospital plastered with mud and most of them died from infection. Life is hard in the intense heat of Northern Nigeria with the harmattan bringing sand in the air from the Sahara leaving blood in your nostrils and then in the rainy season clouds of insects attracted to the kerosene lamp making you dodge out of the way of sausage flies buzzing around like airborne torpedoes or Hitler’s v2s! In spite of - or because of - all this the Tivs are usually smiling, cheerful and aware of God. They taught me a lot about how to live…
They sound like a beautiful people.
That’s what this forum is for…
Not all of the OT is relevant to the New Covenant. Many of their laws were man-made - like animal sacrifice - and Jesus came to perfect the Law, quoting Hosea: “I want mercy not sacrifice”. Nevertheless the prophets were inspired and fulfilled a vital function in the moral and spiritual development of the Chosen People. To think otherwise is to imply that God need not have chosen them at all! But in that case why did He?
Even after He died, St Paul was violently opposed to the Apostles and only a miracle brought him to his senses. As it was, Our Lord survived only three years when He proclaimed the Good News, such was the magnitude of the task of converting the world to the folly of the Cross - and even now there are many people who are violently opposed to religion of any description. Yet God’s wisdom is evident in the overall success of Christianity in transforming the world to a universal belief in human rights and, astonishingly, the principle of fraternity which makes sense only in the context of a heavenly Father who has guided the human race since our ancestors appeared on this planet. It is inconceivable that He would have left us to our own devices until a mere two thousand years ago…
It sounds like you are saying that if Jesus and the resultant NT came “out of the blue” then it wouldn’t be a revelation fully? Well, the Church does say “in the fullness of time”. So I agree in part, though I wouldn’t doubt God’s ability to do it differently.
I love his answer to Martha in Luke 10:41-42. Perhaps it answers our mutual confusion about why the Chosen People and not we of pagan ancestry are called thus until his arrival.That’s what this forum is for…
Nevertheless the prophets were inspired and fulfilled a vital function in the moral and spiritual development of the Chosen People. To think otherwise is to imply that God need not have chosen them at all! But in that case why did He?
God could certainly have revealed Himself differently but I think the issue is the context of the NT without the OT in this world?
They are incredibly hospitable - like most inhabitants of harsh climates - but unfortunately I didn’t stay long enough to know them as well as the Chagga, Kikuyus and Luos in East Africa where I had time to learn Swahili, visit my neighbours in their huts and even have the privilege of going inside a Maasai boma!