The Uses of the Old Testament in the New

by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

The debate over whether New Testament writers were entirely accurate in their quoting from the Old Testament has raged since before the turn of the century. This fundamental question has been one starting point in thought for both redaction and canon criticism. A majority of contemporary scholars have even agreed that New Testament writers (and readers) permissively interpreted the Old Testament text. Author Walter Kaiser, Jr. elucidates how this state of doctrinal affairs came about. He references the Old Testament text for accurate exegesis and content to answer the one question symbolizing the entire work: "Have the New Testament writers fairly cited the Old Testament quotations according to their real truth-intention and original writer's meaning in their attempt to show that the Messiah and many of the events in the first century A.D. church had indeed been anticipated by the O.T. writers" The apostles preached and wrote while utterly convinced that Old Testament writing had anticipated the marvelous events they proclaimed. Did they give meaning to meaningless Old Testament texts? Did they squeeze fulfilled prophecy out of a dry passage? These are the central questions answered in this work.

Genres: Theology, New Testament, Biblical Studies, Religion

286 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2001

About the author

Walter C. Kaiser Jr. (PhD, Brandeis University) is president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He previously taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and at Wheaton College. Kaiser is active as a preacher, speaker, researcher, and writer and is the author of more than forty books, including Preaching and Teaching from the Old Testament and The Majesty of God in the Old Testament.