On the Road to Emmaus

Today I began a Sunday School series at my church titled "The Road to Emmaus: Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament". It is the first time I've taught adults that are substantially older and wiser than myself, and I entered into it with a bit of insecurity. It ended up being incredibly enjoyable and I'm looking forward to how the rest of the series will go.

The reason I post this is to advance some thoughts laid out by Dave several weeks ago regarding biblical theology. I am going to post short thoughts on each Sunday's lesson so that you can follow along if you are interested.

This week we looked at a few introductory concepts that inform the how and why of studying the Old Testament. Biblical theology is a distinct area of theology from the more popular systematic theology as well as historical or pastoral theology. Systematic theology is concerned with seeing what the whole Bible says about a particular concept or topic. Historical theology is concerned with the development of theology over time in history. Pastoral theology is concerned with how we ought to live our lives and operate as a church as dictated by scripture. Biblical theology is concerned with the overall story or meta-narrative of Scripture. It asks questions like, "what unifies the Bible?"

So why study the Old Testament? Well if the Bible is all one story, that means that the OT is over half of the story, at least in quantitative terms. This also means that the OT informs the remainder of the story that we find in the New Testament. We see the NT quoting the OT on almost every page. Additionally, we see the OT always pointing us forward to Christ. The same God, the three-in-one, is the God of the OT and the NT. Despite the protests of some who would declare the God of the OT a God of wrath and the God of the NT a God of love, both testaments portray the same God--a God of both justice and mercy.

Finally, we see the NT speaking of the both the significance of the OT scriptures for NT believers. In 2 Timothy 2:15-17, Paul tells Timothy that the OT scriptures are "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." Additionally, we get the most important statement about about the OT scriptures from Jesus himself when, after his resurrection, he confronts two of the disciples about their failure to understand the OT. He says "'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:25-27).

Thus, the class is aptly titled "The Road to Emmaus." My hope is that in the coming weeks we will continue to see the way in which the OT is telling the same story as the rest of the Bible: the story of God's rescue mission through his son Jesus.