, and in a number of passages is the value of Old Testament
study specifically emphasized. Perhaps nowhere is this done more
clearly than in 2 Tim. 3. 15-17, in words written primarily of the Old
Testament: "The sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture
inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for {11}
correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of
God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work."
Evidently the writer of these words considers the sacred writings of
the Hebrews able to inspire a personal saving faith in Jesus, the
Christ; to furnish a knowledge of the things of God; and to prepare for
efficient service. And these are the elements which enter into the
life advocated and illustrated by the Founder of Christianity.

An attempt will be made in this chapter to determine the New Testament
view of the Old Testament for the purpose of discovering what is the
proper Christian view of that part of the Bible. For, if the teaching,
spirit, and example of Jesus have a vital relation to Christian belief,
and if his immediate followers have preserved an essentially accurate
portrayal of him, then the modern Christian view of the Old Testament
should be a reflection of the view of Jesus and of those who, as a
result of their intimate fellowship with him, were in a position to
give a correct interpretation of him and his teaching.

We may inquire, in the first place, what is the New Testament view of
the purpose of the Old Testament Scriptures? The answer to this
inquiry is furnished by the passage in the Second Epistle to Timothy
quoted above. Neither this nor any other passage in the whole Bible
warrants {12} the belief that the Old Testament ever was meant to teach
physical science, or history, or philosophy, or psychology. Everywhere
it is stated or clearly implied that the purpose of all biblical
teaching is to make man morally and spiritually perfect, and to furnish
him "unto every good work." Therefore we may expect that where the Old
Testament writers touch upon questions of science and history they
develop them only in so far as they serve this higher religious and
ethical purpose. This being the biblical view of the purpose of the
Scriptures, any theory of the Old Testament which makes no distinction
between scientific and historical statements on the one hand, and