What's the relation between old testament and new testament?

Question

I just have began reading Holy Bible,I know very little about it. Some people asked me "Did you start with the old or new testament?".
Therefore,I want to know more about them .And as a beginner,should I begin with old testament? or the new one?

Answer 1

As a children's ministry teacher i suggest this format:

Read Genesis
You will find 3 major themes.
1st God is the creator
2nd man is sinful.
3rd God calls people to faith first Abraham then Israel

Next read Exodus
Here is how God kept his covenant to the Israeli's and how they could not stay faithful for 40 days and worshiped a golden calf they made.

The rest of the old testament is the story of Israel, how they follow and reject God in a cycle until finally He allows Babylon to capture the Jews.
Later they come back to the promise land and rebuilt but are spiritually dead.

Next, I would read Luke
This will cover the story of salvation through Jesus

Then Acts this will cover the church being born.

At this point you will have a good history .

Next read Romans!

From here you can continue in the New testament

However, If you have trouble reading and would like some incite you can try sermons from these sites
http://www.raystedman.org/complete_library.html
http://twft.com/?page=C2000
Here is also a good free online book!
http://www.pbc.org/library/series/10307


Hope this helps!

Answer 2

It depends what you want to read. The Old Testament is the collection of writing which was "all about God, and how we should live" BEFORE the birth of Christ. The New Testament is "all about God, and how we should live" according to Jesus Christ and the apostles.

Since Jesus Christ was Jewish, the Old Testament largely deals with the stories/beliefs that are common to Judaism and Christianity, but some beliefs for Christians were superseded by the teachings of Jesus captured in the New Testament. Since Jesus was teaching people who were familiar with the Old Testament, there are many references in the New Testament where a background is useful, but if your bible has a good cross-reference and footnote system, you could just flip back and read the relevant stories as you need to.

If you definitely intend to read the whole thing, why not do it in the order it comes, but if you're just starting and aren't sure, you could try Genesis, Luke or Matthew, and see where it takes you.

Answer 3

I would suggest that you read Genesis and some Psalms in the Old Testament and any of the Gospels and the book of Acts in the New Testament.

Among other things, the Old Testament is God dealing with the nation of Israel and the New Testament is God dealing with Israel and then with the Gentiles.

For about $3.00 you can get a book called "What the Bible is All About" by Henrietta C. Mears on the following Web page:

http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm

This is very basic study material.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me.

Answer 4

Just about every one has said it all, except:-
The Old Testament IS the bible, which has been edited and changed about for many years!
The New Testament is the Bible according to the followers of Jesus, so this a Holy book for Christians, who believe that Jesus was and still is God. No other faith belives that!
The Koran is the Holy book of the Islamic Faith ( Muslims)
Their Prophet was Mohammed. (Muslims do not belive their Prophet or any other Prophets were God)They belive that Jesus was a Prophet but not God!
That should give you plenty of reading, when you have finished reading those, get back to me I'll give you a long list of others, try and read them all, by which time you will come to realise that they are all interesting and all good books, but also all complete fiction!
Good luck, you'll need it!

Answer 5

If you really are a complete beginner, then I would suggest that you read a children's book of Bible stories ( which will include things from the old and new testaments, ) just to give yourself an idea of what it's all about. Then start reading the old testament. I hope you enjoy your reading!

Answer 6

The Old testament is about the beginning of things, the fall of Man, history, and prophecy. the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

As a new beginner start reading from the Book of Genesis.

Answer 7

The old testament fulfills the new testament, there are over 300 prophecies in the old testament telling about Christ, where he would be born how he would die, and that he would be the Saviour, all the Histroy of the Jews is in the old testament, it will show Gods judgement on those that did not obey him or believe in Him....if you are going to read it get a good study bible it will give alot of footnotes and cross references and a good bible commentary will also help.

Answer 8

the old testament was written before the time of christ. the laws and traditions of the old testament are considered by most christians to be out of date. however, there are some whacky stories on the old testament that are worth reading. the new testament is about life after jesus christ was on the earth. so the new testament is considered to be the more popular book among christians

Answer 9

the old testament begins in the beggining of time and will help you start off but i found that matthew is a very good book to start with. also new testament can be a little confusing at times if you aren't familiar with the old testament. not saying that im a bible genious but thats what i found

Answer 10

I once heard it said ' The New Testament is in the Old concealed....The Old Testament is in the New revealed.

My advice is to read Johns Gospel first.

God Bless