Should we 'unhitch' ourselves from the Old Testament?
There are four reasons I can think of to pay concerted attention to the older of the two biblical testaments…and NOT 'unhitch' the Old Testament. 1. The O ld Testament, like the New Testament, is inspired and profitable. Ignoring the Old Testament betrays a leaky view of inspiration. It’s an inconstant inerrancy. The life-verse of inerrantists is 2 Tim 3:16 . But the “ All Scripture ” of our mantra is referring to the graphē (writings) Timothy had at his disposal, namely, the Old Testament. Since every word of it was “ breathed out by God ,” it behooves us to treat every word with due respect to its provenance. One example of how Jesus viewed the plenary, verbal inspiration of the Old Testament is shown when he uses the present tense to make a theological point from the Old Testament; “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” therefore there must be a resurrection since those men are alive; because God did not say “I was the God of the late Abrah