A Biblical Vision, Part I: Mastering the Old Testament Witness to Christ

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A B i b l i ca l Vi s i on, Par t I : Mas ter i ng the Ol d Tes tament Wi tnes s to Chr i s t

c. The apostolic use of the Old Testament (Rom. 1.16-17)

d. The Church’s use and acknowledgment of apostolic authorship (1 Cor. 15.1-3)

5. Old Testament Canon: the dominant role of Moses (Exod. 24.4, 7), called the Pentateuch (the five writings, our first five books of the Bible)

a. Joshua’s writing in the book of the law of God, Josh. 24.26. (note: the law was always considered to be from God , Deut. 31.24; Josh. 1.8).

b. Two other divisions of the Hebrew canon, The Prophets and the Writings , were selected out of a larger litera ture (15 or more books of this literature are mentioned in our Old Testament) (see “book of the Wars of the Lord,” Num. 21.14; “book of Jasher,” Josh. 10.13; “book of the Acts of Solomon,” 1 Kings 11.41; “book of Samuel the seer, book of Nathan the prophet, book of Gad the seer,” 1 Chron. 29.29, etc.; fifteen or more such books are named in the Old Testament). 6. Why and when was the Old Testament finally brought into being as a canon? Answer: The coming into being of many apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings during the intertestamental period (between Malachi and the period of Jesus’ appearing).

7. By the appearance of Jesus, the Old Testament (i.e., Tanaach in modern Judaism) consisted of the Law, Prophets, and Writings (the first book of which was the Psalms, Luke 24.44).