We find an unexpected tension in the middle of Luke’s record of the Acts of the Apostles. The early disciples were trying to figure out how their Old Testament theology finds fulfillment in Jesus while practically attempting to disciple thousands of new converts. These were exciting times, full of complexity and conversions.
In his Review of Ecclesiastical History, John Newton provides a glimpse for us into his Christ-centered view of the Old Testament.
Are you the worst sinner you know? How you answer that question says a lot about your theology as well as the condition of your soul. Some Christians find this questions to be difficult, if not inappropriate. So let me tell you up front that I am convinced the answer to this question, when posed to a Christian, ought to always be, "Yes. I am the worst sinner I know."
The Puritan theologian, Thomas Manton, once said: “The great skill of Christians is to find the New Testament prefigured in the Old, and the Old Testament fulfilled in the New Testament." What helps us most in this endeavor is that it doesn’t take long when reading through the NT to come across one of the 250+ citations of the OT. As we study the way in which the Apostles interpreted the OT we actually discover the Holy Spirit’s infallible interpretation of the OT passage. The principles of interpretation that we glean from the apostolic examples then serve as a guideline for how we ought to interpret other portions of the OT.
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