Jensens survey of the old testament adam 317
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are your re ections concerning spiritual
accountability of people living in the two
eras?
Let us now focus on the two immediate
pre-Christian settings of the New Testament,
namely the Old Testament and the four
hundred silent years.
CHART 7: HISTORICAL SETTING OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT
A. OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY
Christianity did not emerge mysteriously
out of a vacuum. God had been moving
among the people of the world, especially
Israel, for many centuries before Christ.
Then, “when the fulness of the time came,
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman,
born under the Law, in order that He might
redeem those who were under the Law, that
we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal.
4:4-5). Erich Sauer connects the Old
Testament with the New in these words:
The Old Testament is promise and
expectation, the New is ful llment
and completion. The Old is the
marshalling of the hosts to the
battle of God, the new is the
Triumph of the Cruci ed One. The
Old is the twilight and dawn of
morning, the New is the rising sun
and the height of eternal day.1
Even though the last book of the Old
Testament was written about four hundred
years before Christ’s birth, our knowing the
Old Testament is knowing the religious,
social, geographical, and, in part, the
political setting of the New. Besides, the Old
Testament was the Bible of Jesus, the
apostles, and New Testament writers. When
they spoke or wrote, they often quoted or
referred to the Old Testament’s history and
teaching.
The Old Testament is mainly history, but
it is sacred history. That is, it reveals
especially how God moves in and through
the lives of people and the courses of
nations. We might also say that the Old
Testament is redemptive history, for “God
actively directs human history for the
purpose of redeeming men to Himself.”2
The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the
Old Testament to record what would
adequately reveal that redemptive purpose.
Thus, the writers have much to say about
such crucial facts as these:
1. God is the sovereign Creator.
2. Man is a sinner in need of salvation.
3. God is holy, and He judges sin.
4. God is love, and He offers salvation to
sinful man.
5. A savior would be born to die for the
sins of man.
