The Old Testament … do you love it?  Romans 15.1-13

“Oh, I just the love Old Testament!”  I heard one woman exclaim to another—‘especially Deut-, Deut-…how do you say it?’  “Doo-ter-on-o-me,” her friend replied.  “Well, yes, I especially love Deuteronomy—you know the part in the Bible where the people wandered around the desert, and whined, and Moses corrected them, and …”

Okay, that’s a lie—I did not hear a woman say that—not recently, or ever.  If honest, most folks admit that they are a little lost in the Old Testament.  My mom called it the ‘Old Bible’; Philip Yancey called it ‘The Bible Jesus Read’.1  Have you ever stopped and pictured Jesus in your mind, reading the Bible?  What did it look like?  Interesting musings.  The fact is, Jesus quoted the Old Testament regularly—that was the only Scripture available!  So, when you are reading the Gospels, or listening to your pastor read a passage, and it says, ‘as it is written,’ the Old Testament is what is then quoted.  Take, for instance in Romans chapter 15, verses 1 through 13; Paul cites the ‘old Bible’ five times.  Take a look:

“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”  For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.  May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:  “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.”    Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.  And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; ?the Gentiles will hope in him.”   May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15.1-13

Paul is calling Christians to unity—the Jew, the Gentile. . . you and me.  Paul is charging us to think of others first, (before ourselves), to love, and to love well.  Care about your neighbor’s welfare more than your own.  Consider that rascal of a husband’s feelings before your own stepped-on toes. 

There is another charge in this passage as well:  remember … essentially saying, ‘remember what God has told us in the past.’  Five times, Paul quotes from the Old Testament to give his words to the church at Rome greater authority.2   Note that it was hundreds of years before Paul preached, that these Old Testament writers saw the Jews worshiping God’s Son together with the Gentiles  … which is incredible; in fact, it was more than 700 years before, that Isaiah prophesied that ‘the root of Jesse would spring up’—that is to say, one Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who came through the genealogy of King David, son of Jesse.  Amazing!

How do we remember what came before Christ?  We read the thousand-year history of God’s people … with all of its violence, passion, raw emotion, repeated moral failures, stories of love and hate, high honor, cruel treachery of war, and numerous prophecies of the Messiah that would be born ‘in the fullness of time’.

After all, in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, when he wrote that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,”3 he was talking about the Old Testament!  Therefore, it is worthy of us spending time reading it, learning how it foreshadows the birth of Christ, and how history all ties together.  Yes indeed, it is exciting … the Old Testament—do you love it?

Christine