The Bible is one of the most important foundations of the Christian faith, and it contains two main sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. However, while many Christians believe in the power and importance of the New Testament, they tend to question the Old Testament. This is a major concern because the Old Testament fills almost two-thirds of the Christian Bible, and discarding such a large portion of God’s message is essentially ignoring a significant part of His word to mankind.

Many people may push aside the Old Testament because they believe that it does not openly express any of the essential elements of the Christian faith, such as salvation, justification, sanctification, and glorification. However, the Old Testament is a powerful section of the Bible that contains a valuable message from God. The Old Testament is not meant to be a group of books on which we base every detail of history upon. Instead, it is a book of history with a specific purpose. As Christians, we must look at the overall message of the Old Testament to truly understand its purpose.

One of the main themes of the Old Testament is the heart of man. Story after story, we see mankind treating each other and God with injustice and malice in their hearts. When God created the universe, this was not what He hoped for. God’s intent was for the universe to be good. However, when mankind disobeyed God, evil and malice were brought into the universe. This world was no longer centered on the goodness of God but the corruption of this original good. In the Old Testament, we see mankind turning what was good into something that is not. We see murder, adultery, betrayal, and chaos.

However, God could not allow such corruption to reign in His world. He revealed to mankind what is good through His law. Even after God openly revealed who He is to mankind, humanity still failed to measure up to the expectations of God and His goodness. This continuous theme reveals the heart of Man. Since the first moment that sin, a corruption of the original good, entered the world, the heart of man turned from God and toward selfish desire. No matter how much mankind tried to meet the expectations of God, it always failed and continued in its corruption. 

This is one of the most important themes of the Old Testament. Mankind will always fail to meet the standards of God on its own. No matter if we are kings or paupers, emperors or fools, we will all fail God. If Christianity is to truly understand the New Testament, we must embrace this essential theme of the Old Testament – the heart of man is full of corruption and selfish desire, and we can do nothing on our own to fix this.

In the 21^st century, it is difficult to read the Old Testament. Stories of cities we have never heard of, Men we honestly don’t care about, and crazy talking animals, makes this portion of the Bible hard to relate to. Yet, it is important for us to read this part of the Bible as often as one would read the easier to relate to New Testament. The Old Testament tells the story of mankind’s constant and continuous failure to live up to the standards of God. It also tells the story of God’s intimacy with His creation. Both of these elements are things of which we must constantly remind ourselves if we are to truly understand the New Testament. The Old Testament shows us the reason for the events in the New Testament. We, as mankind, will always fail to live up to the standards of God, just like the people discussed in the Old Testament. But God deeply desires to be intimate with us. He is so intimate that He is in every action and decision that we make, just as he was with the people of the Old Testament. However, God designed mankind to reflect His goodness and not our own corruption. He desires to be more than simply involved in our lives. It is His desire to have a true relationship with us. This is why He sent His son to die for our failures and to fulfill His desire, as well as ours, for an intimate relationship with our God.