Our previous study dealt with three questions concerning the Old Testament. First, we learned when it was given. Second, we considered to whom it was given, and third the question was how long it was to last. A failure to properly understand the answer to these questions will lead one to all sorts of errors in religious matters. We now consider the New Testament, that section of the Bible that today is our guide and rule of practice in religious matters.

The book of Hebrews is a good beginning for this brief study. The letter begins by telling the Hebrews that "in time past" God spoke to the people "by the prophets." This may be considered a broad term for the Old Testament. In contrast to that now, "in these last days" God has "spoken to us by his son" (Heb. 1:1-2). At the transfiguration of Jesus the voice of God came exhorting those present to "hear ye him;" i.e. Christ. No longber was Moses and Elijah to be listened to as a guide in religion (Matt. 17:1-5). Christ then is the authority now; not the Old Testament.

Jesus later told his apostles that when the Holy Spirit came he would guide them into "all truth" (John 16:13). What the Holy Spirit directed the apostles in became the standard by which men would serve God. In John 14:26 Jesus told the apostles that the Holy Spirit would both teach and remind the apostles of the things he had spoken to them. Therefore, what the apostles spoke and wrote became the standard of authority by which men must live their religious lives.

The apostle Paul dealt with the process of revelation in First Corinthians 2:7ff, and clearly showed that these were the things of God. Let us notice what he wrote to the Ephesians. All religious authority is inherent with God. Paul said that God revealed "the mystery" (gospel) to him, as well as to the other apostles. In Ephesians 3:3 Paul affirmed that he "wrote" those things down. That is followed by "when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ."

John also affirmed that they had both heard and seen the Lord and wrote down that which they had seen and heard (1 John 1:13). The written revelation of God, by his great providence, has been preserved for us today in the book we call the Bible. Of the two major sections of the Bible, the New Testament is our guide; not the Old. Jesus, following his resurrection from the claimed to have "all authority" (Matt. 28:18). No religious authority then belongs to any but Christ, including the Old Testament writers. This is not to say they did not write truth, but their work was preparatory to the coming of Christ.

On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) Peter and the other apostles preached for the first time the terms of admission into the Kingdom of God. In that chapter Christ had been seated as God's supreme authority (v. 36). His , burial and resurrection form the very core of the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4). When we set about to make religious determinations, we must do so based on what the New Testament teaches; not the Old. It is the words of Jesus, embodied in the New Testament that will be the judge of men in the final analysis (John 12:48). Learning the proper use of both major sections of the Bible is vital!

                                                                                    - Bill Moseley