I am thinking of reading up the bible for knowledge sake, why is there new & old testaments?

Question

what's the difference?

Answer 1

Jesus birth marks the difference between old and new testament...

Answer 2

All of it is prophecy, among other things.

Perpetual fullfillment until it gets to the last book of the old testament. In between, there is a period of five hundred years of complete silence.

The silence is broken with the birth of John the baptist.

The first speaks of the law.

The second is the law fullfilled in the messiah.

It takes continual search and research. You won't get it first time around though you might think you have. ' New ' is a kind of curve ball. There's nothing illegitimate about the curve. There is something new, in the way it is applied by the time the new testament begins to unfold.

I suggest you read it, and get a King James Version. Also a Strongs' Exhaustive Concordance. You'll see later on as you go why.

So long as you do it privately, independently, the chances of you understanding it more fully are far greater than if you consult so called religious leaders, or attending churches. In the measure you get into it, you'll see why.

If you really get into it, you'll find yourself remembering things out of it. It won't be sense memory. And how it relates both to life and lead to other things you've read.

In this country, we don't really have a clear understanding of it even though translators in the seventeenth century were able to make sense of some pretty deep stuff from a purely academic standpoint.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

The Old Testament consists of Jewish scripture. The New Testament consists of Christian scripture. Christians also use the Old Testament as a part of their faith. If you want to take it one step further, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka LDS or Mormons, build on the first two with the Book of Mormon.

A simpler way of explaining would be that the New Testament consists of the Biblical story starting with the birth of Christ.

If you are reading for the sake of knowledge, I suggest you use an annotated Bible, a concordance and third-party writings.

"War of the Jews" by Josephus used to be part of the scripture and is often cited as extrabibilical evidence of Jesus' existence. This has been refuted more than once, including in Joseph Atwill's "Caesar's Messiah."

Answer 4

Old testament predates Jesus' birth.
New testaments are written by Jesus' apostles and tells the story of Jesus' life once baptized by his cousin John. All the books of the New testament pretty well tell the same story of the works of our Lord Jesus Christ, but in different point of views.

Old testament is hard to understand sometimes because you have to remember to only take literaly for that time period. Those scriptures are like a guide to the way the Almighty wanted His chosen people the 12 tribes of Israel (not today's Israel) to live their lives. You will recognize many of the stories told because movies have been made from them. Try and recognize that The Almighty Creator promised his chosen people that a king would come from the house of David's blood line. Enjoy, you may need to do Bible study for deeper understanding or just ask God to show you what is meant this usually works.

Answer 5

OT and NT are missed named, They are best described as the Hebrew Scriptures, and the Greek Scriptures, for the main language they were written in.

The entire bible is God's Word and is alive.

The "Old Testament" is actually the Mosaic Law which was the Law Code that Jesus Fulfilled.

Which is found in parts of Exodus, Lev., Numbers, and Duet.

Though a lot of the Hebrew Scriptures contain history, they also contain prophecies that have been fulfilled and many that are being fulfilled, with many more going to be fulfilled.

I recommend a modern English for easy of reading. I also recommend the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, because according to

Jason BeDuhn
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, and Chair
Department of Humanities, Arts, and Religion
Northern Arizona University

“is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.”—Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.

The bible compared are:

nine major translations of the Bible: King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Amplified Bible, Today's English Version (Good News Bible), Living Bible, and the New World Translation.

For more info go to www.watchtower.org

Answer 6

The simple answer is that the Old Testament was the foretelling of Jesus coming, while the New Testament was the realization of that prophecy. The Old Testament records time from the creation of the Earth up until just before Jesus was born. The New Testament Begins with Jesus birth and records His life as well as the direction of God's plans until Jesus' second coming.

Answer 7

The Old Testament, written mostly in Hebrew, starts with the writings of Moses and goes through to the last of the Jewish prophets. Then after about 800 year break, the New Testament covers the life, ministry, and followers of Jesus, the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament (See Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Daniel, et al).

Answer 8

Old Testament, BEFORE Christ.

New Testament, Christ and the aftermath.

You DO need to read it.

************** Edit add in **********

Old Testament only hints at a Messiah coming.

No one can confirm that Jesus WAS the Messiah.

If you are going to read "the" bible, start with PART 1: Old Testament.

Who reads the sequel to ANYTHING without reading the first part???

Answer 9

The Old Testament is about the fall into sin, and God's law, which condemns humanity, as well as shows the promise of the savior.

the New Testament is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the savior, and his death and resurrection to save humankind from the damning effect of the law.

Answer 10

Old - From the beginning until before Jesus. (Adam & Eve, Noah, David and Goliath, Moses, etc... )

New - Well, I guess the best way of describing that is from the time of Jesus until about 300 years after his death. Of course people would argue saying it is until the end of the world, but how cana book be written about the end of the world, if the end has not happened yet.

Go ahead and read it, its best to understand what you believe, rather than just be told what to believe. However, do as you are taught. One excerpt to keep in mind is:

Matthew 6:5
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."

Answer 11

Old testament are the Hebrew scriptures and the New testament is the Greek scriptures.
Hebrew scriptures about the time before Christ came to Earth and the Israelittes as God's chosen people.
Greek scriptures about Christ coming to Earth and being conceived by Holy Spirit and living and death as a man to save mankind from it's sinful nature and Israelittes losing their special relationship with God because of their disobedience and God's people now are christians who follow Jesus.
Both hebrew and greek scriptures are vital and valid.