Old and New

 New and Old

July 29, 2026

Isaiah 11:5 (NKJV)

5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Isaiah 59:17 (NKJV) 

For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak.

Ephesians 6:13-17 (NKJV) 

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded yourwaist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

There is a strain of thinking among Christians that model themselves after the New Testament church, and minimize or ignore the Old Testament. Of course it is good to emulate the New Testament church, but we must not ignore the foundation teaching that formed the concepts taught by Jesus and his disciples. One example of this is the teaching on the armor of God found in Ephesians 6. This is normally taught in isolation without acknowledging that this imagery comes directly  from the prophet Isaiah. You can’t fully appreciate the New Testament teaching without putting it into the context of centuries of Jewish revelation and teaching. Jesus said that he is the fulfillment of the law, so in order to understand Him, you need to study the context of His culture and the times in which he lived. The parables in particular are set in the context of first century life and were understood by the people who were familiar with farming, fishing and building and whose moral framework was solidly anchored in the temple worship of that day. Therefore, it is Important to study all of the Bible to fully understand the teaching of Jesus in the proper context.