Ignorance (of Scripture) is (not) Bliss.

When I was a kid, probably late elementary/early middle school, I learned about inside jokes. Two of my classmates were giggling about some comment that one of them had made and I thought they were poking fun at me. So, I did the average “Thai” thing and confronted one of them. “You got a problem with me?” I said to the one kid. He replied, “What are you talking about, Thai?” “I heard you two laughing at me!” I said back. With realization that I had heard them laughing at their inside joke, he explained to me that it wasn’t about me but a joke between the two of them.

I felt really dumb, but I also was intrigued. I asked him if he and I could come up with an inside joke. He just smiled and said “Yes! But the best ones are the spontaneous ones. The ones we don’t expect.” I can’t remember if we ever came up with our own but I do remember learning that day that context is everything!

This memory was brought on by a conversation that I was having with a friend about the Bible. It started with the fact that the Catholic bible has 7 more books than the protestant bibles. I won’t get into it here but it’s something everybody should know why that is. And no, we didn’t add the books. Go research the Council of Trent. Anyways, this friend just blabbered out, “I don’t know why we even need the Old Testament, we have the New Testament!”

I’ll admit, I used to have this view point as well. I even said, “Who cares what happened BEFORE Jesus when we have the story OF Jesus. Give me the juicy details of the Gospel!” So what made me change my mind? Typology. Or the study of types. A type is a person, thing, or event in the Old Testament that foreshadows something in the New Testament. It is like a taste or a hint of something that will be fulfilled or realized. The Bible is filled with all types of typology! Here are a few examples:

• Peter uses Noah’s ark as a type of Christian baptism (1 Pet. 3:18–22).
• Paul explains that circumcision foreshadowed Christian baptism (Col. 2:11–12).
• Jesus uses the bronze serpent as a type of his Crucifixion (John 3:14; cf. Num. 21:8–9).
• The Passover lamb prefigures the sacrifice of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7).
• Paul says that Abraham “considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb. 11:19).

(Excerpt: Mary, The Ark of the New Covenant, Steve Ray, Catholic Answers, 10/2005)

Augustine said that “the Old Testament is the New concealed, but the New Testament is the Old revealed” (Catechizing of the Uninstructed 4:8). I had tried to read the Bible cover to cover but it was so boring that I stopped. But once I knew what to look for, scripture became so much more amazing then I could have ever imagined! It’s like watching a suspense/thriller and at the end, everything comes together and you remember all the details that lead up to the climax of the movie! Without proper context, when the story of Christ comes together, certain details may go over you head as if they were throw away details. The kind that makes you say, “Weird detail, I don’t think I needed to know that, but OK..” And that’s why Augustine also said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ!”

Back to this friend complaining about the Old Testament: I agreed that the New Testament is wonderful by itself, but the Old makes the New even better! It gives the New Testament even more depth and richness to know how all the prophecies of Jesus were fulfilled. But where do we get the prophecies? Bingo! The Old testament. How amazing is it that God’s salvation plan was foretold thousands of years ago then brought to fruition just like He said it would?! Doesn’t it make it cooler at that point!?

“Give me one detail from the Old that is relative to the New!” He snickered back. I said, “Okay, when Jesus is crucified and has given up His Spirit, why was it important for the Gospel writers to mention that his legs weren’t broken but instead they put a lance through his side?” (John 19:33-34) I asked as he was scratching his head.

“Uhh… well I haven’t really thought of that. Is there a reason for that?” He mumbled back.

“Yes!!! In the Old Testament, God told the Israelites the bones of the Passover Lamb were to remain unbroken (Exodus 12:46). Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:9) and the eternal Passover sacrifice, so His bones also had to remain unbroken!”

*Mind blown* His eyes got wide and he nodded his head saying, “That does makes sense. I wonder what else, I’ve been missing…”

Same here, my friend, same here. That’s why we have to read and study scripture! I’m amazed at how much detail is woven through the fabric of Sacred Scripture! I’m challenging every one of us to not only READ scripture but to INVESTIGATE scripture! Better yet, join a good Bible study! Most every Bible has footnotes on every page, take a second to read through those and if it references a verse in the Old Testament, go and read it and try to piece it together. You won’t regret it!

Gentlemen, it’s time to be real men of faith!

(Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash)