Session 138: Introduction to the Old Testament

The connections between the OT and the NT:  Both show God’s love, desire for a relationship with, willingness to lead and  forgive.  The OT looks for a Messiah; the NT presents the Messiah.  (“What is concealed in the OT is revealed in the NT.”)

Are the stories of the OT “true?”  (See CCC paragraph 107, and Dei Verbum 11.)  All true for the sake of our salvation.  A given story may or may not be literally true (listen to senses of scripture) but is ALWAYS true as it describes the relationship between God and Mankind. 

These books are not intended as science texts or history texts:  again, they are intended to describe the relationship between God and Man.

2 errors in studying the OT:
“God COULDN’T have done it that way...science disproves it.”  (God is God, he is Omnipotent.)

“God MUST have done it that way, because that’s what the Bible literally says.”  (This ignores the way truths were communicated long ago.  Remember the senses of scripture.)