Bởi vì ngươi đã vâng theo lời dặn ta, nên các dân thế gian đều sẽ nhờ dòng dõi ngươi mà được phước. And in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
In the Old Testament, God through an Angel promises to Abraham the coming of the Messiah (the Seed). Vì Đức Chúa Trời yêu thương thế gian, đến nỗi đã ban Con một của Ngài, hầu cho hễ ai tin Con ấy không bị hư mất mà được sự sống đời đời. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In the New Testament, God’s promise has been fulfilled when He sends us His only Son, Jesus Christ.
Did you know that the Bible is the world's best-selling and most widely distributed book? (Yes, it beats Harry Potter.) An estimated 2.5 billion copies have been sold since 1815. It has been translated into 2,233 languages and dialects.
The Roman Catholic Bible has two parts, the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. If the Bible is a collection of so many books, one must wonder who wrote them and why they are organized the way they are.
Before we can learn the difference between the Old and New Testaments, we need to know what Testament means. The word “Testament” means the covenant or promise between God and humans. To us, we call the first part of the Bible the Old Testament because that was God’s first promise to us of sending a Messiah and the New Testament is his new covenant with us about the future (after Jesus). However, to the Jewish community, who also believe in the Old Testament, does not see their testament as “old” because they do not believe in Jesus. That’s why the Old Testament is also known as the Hebrew Bible.
The Old Testament is a collection of selected writings written and edited by members of the Hebrew-Jewish community between 1000 B.C. and 150 B.C. The Old Testament is religious literature that shows the people’s understanding of God and how God was involved in their lives. The Old Testament is divided into five categories: law, history, poetry, wisdom literature and prophecy. The Law taught people how to behave and follow God. The history taught the people how God was in their lives. Poetry consisted of the Psalms which were prayerful and used for personal worship. Wisdom literature, which includes Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom, taught us how to think and behave. The prophecy books did not tell the future. Prophets in the Bible do not predict, they’re more like messengers of God that are trying to remind the people around them if they are being bad, and to stop it.
It is believed that there were four groups of writers for the Old Testament. We know this because the books in the Bible call God different names. One group of writers, called J, called God Yahweh, and wrote the laws and history. Another group, called E, called God Elohim, and also wrote about history. In the Old Testament there is a section of laws called Deuteronomy and that was written by the D group. They also added a little history that talked about the laws. And last, but not least, was the P group, who were the priestly writers, and were the editors for the Old Testament, adding stories here and there and organizing the books.
The New Testament, which teaches us about Jesus and how the Church was started, was probably written from 50 AD to 125 AD. The New Testament has three categories; Gospels, Letters, and Other Writings. There are four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which show us what Jesus and His life was like. The Letters, were written to different communities to talk about Jesus and His teachings and why the people should believe and follow Jesus. Other writings consisted of Acts of the Apostles which shows the beginnings of the Church and the Book of Revelation which helped warn and encourage the churches to prepare for Christ’s victorious return.
The New Testament, which was most likely written in Greek, has 27 books. These books had eight authors, Matthew, John, Paul, James, Peter, Jude, Mark, and Luke. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, wrote the Gospels. Acts of the Apostles was also written by Luke. The others wrote the letters that were sent to the communities to preach and teach about Jesus Christ. Revelation was written by John the Apostle.
For the Old and New Testament to have authority, it must be declared Biblical Canon by the Church, meaning the Church approves of those books. There are many books that were written that do not have authority, like the Gospel of Thomas or Gospel of Peter.
1) In school, we have history class that teaches us the history of the United States and other countries like France, Japan, etc. The Bible is our history book that teaches us how our religion and relationship with God began. When you ask your teacher why we learn about history, he or she will most likely tell you so that we can learn from the mistakes of the past and the good things of the past so that we can have a better future. By reading the Old and New Testaments, we can learn how the people made God sad and how they made Him happy and learn what to do and not do. We will also learn about Jesus’ life and His teachings so that we can follow in His footsteps, which will help us to lead better lives and have a good relationship with God.
2) Where ever we go, there are rules that we need to follow. Rules keep us safe and guide us on how to behave. The Old and New Testaments are filled with rules that helped the people back then behave. Not all of the rules in the Old and New Testaments apply anymore, like “You shall not see your neighbor's donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore it; you shall help to lift it up” (Deuteronomy 22:4). Most of us don’t own donkeys or oxen, but the idea behind this rule still applies, if we see something that belongs to our neighbor, we should help them and return it. If we’re ever confused about something, we should turn to the Bible and try to find out what God says about it. If you’re not sure where to look, ask a parent, a Huynh Truong, or a Priest.
Áp Dụng Trong Cuộc Sống (Life Application)
We should try to read the Old and New Testaments often. Even if you just read a little bit each day that would be good. If you think about it, the Old Testament is like an epic novel, there are wonderful stories about heroes and villains that make up our history. It’s even better than Star Wars. The New Testament is the history of our best role model, Jesus Christ. How can we follow our role model if we know nothing about Him? That’s why we should read the Bible.
The Bible is a very long book, but as you can see by the Guinness Book of World Records, it’s the best selling book, that must mean lots of people want to read it. If you have trouble understanding the Bible, you can look for a Children’s Bible that describes the stories in an easier-to-understand version.
God doesn’t talk to us face to face like how we do with our family and friends. The only way for us to communicate with God is through the Bible. Without the Bible, we are lost. That is why it is important to read the Old and New Testaments.
Why do we read the Old and New Testaments? We read for religious, theological, devotional, or inspirational reasons, for spiritual edification, to nourish and nurture faith. For us, the Old Testament is that part of Holy Scripture known and quoted by Jesus and the New Testament writers. It is like a prologue, or introduction, to the New Testament. The Old Testament points forward to Jesus, is to be interpreted in the light of the New Testament, where Old Testament promises find fulfillment. Through the Bible, God speaks to man. We can see it as God's outreach or search for man, or as man's search for God.
The Old and New Testaments were written by many different people, but all with the inspiration of God. God, through man, is now able to communicate to us what He wants us to understand about Him, Jesus, and life in general.
By understanding the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, we can understand the importance of both parts of the Bible, without one, the other does not make much sense.
Dear Jesus, please help us to understand the Old and New Testament. Help us to use these books to live a good life and make God happy by being His good sons and daughters. Thank you for this gift that you have given us, the ability to know God through the Word. Amen.