The Old in the New: Understanding How the New Testament Authors Quoted the Old Testament

by Michael J. Vlach

Evangelical scholarship has had over fifty years of extensive (and at times, heated) discussion over the usage of the Old Testament in New Testament. However, now with the appearance of Professor Vlach’s book THE OLD IN THE UNDERSTANDING HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT AUTHORS QUOTED THE OLD TESTAMENT, perhaps we have now come to a grand summary of that extensive dialogue. Michael J. Vlach has carefully summarized seven key positions held by various evangelicals (including my own view) and has given a legitimate critique of each view. But more than that, he has also taken up a wide sample of most, if not all, of the passages usually raised on this subject and has given a reasonable solution in Scripture text after Scripture text—in a succinct, but credible manner. I cannot endorse Vlach’s work too highly, for I found that he had hit the nail on the head in case after case. In years to come, theological students and pastors will turn to this excellent treatment of this subject and they will find it is exactly what they had been looking for. Thank you, Professor, for carrying out this task so successfully.Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Massachusetts

Genres: Theology

524 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 30, 2021

Reviews

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most likely, if you have ever read the world's best selling book, the Bible, you have read something at some point in the Bible that made you think, "I wonder what that means." Perhaps, as you've read through the pages of the New Testament, you've noticed that many times, the author of a particular book, whether it was Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, etc, would quote from the Old Testament and you wondered if that quote fits with what the original author was trying to say. Old Testament quotations found in the New Testament are in abundance. Many of those quotations make perfect sense. They don't really cause the reader to pause and wonder why the New Testament author chose to quote a particular Old Testament reference. But, there are a fair number of places in the New Testament where there is a quote from the Old Testament that, if you go back to the Old Testament passage (from where the quote came from) and read that passage, you'll be left to wonder if the author of that Old Testament passage was truly referring to the issue that the New Testament author seems to be addresssing. This is the topic of "The Old In the New" and this topic must be addressed for any person who wants to be an excellent student in understanding the pages of Scripture. It's not a trivial matter to handle God's Word carelessly. We must demand of ourselves that we are faithful to the text and what the author meant by what he wrote. In fact, Scripture says that man of God is approved by God when he handles accurately the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

I have come to have a deep appreciation for Michael Vlach as an author (See his book, "He Will Reign Forever"). He writes in a humble and gentle manner and, even if one were to disagree with him, you couldn't accuse him of being rude or arrogant. In this book in particular, Vlach presents five main approaches to understanding how the New Testament authors used quotes from the Old Testament. In explaining the five different approaches, he presents his own view/approach (from those five) and then walks the reader through all of the various passages where a New Testament author quotes the Old Testament, demonstrating the problems with each of the other four approaches/views and then gives a reason for his view, his approach. Vlach is gracious in his writing and he is likewise compelling. Because of this, I believe he will get an audience from those who, either have another approach, or, those who are ignorant to the issues at hand.

I appreciated Vlach's writing (possibly because I fully agree with him) and believe he addresses an issue that many need to study and consider. The Old in the New helped me see more clearly a number of passages that I had often pondered with some element of puzzlement. I found the book to be insightful and very helpful and I highly recommend it as a great resource to all who are diving in to indepth studying of Scripture.

[Julian Seibel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vlach untersucht in seinem Buch, wie die neutestamentlichen Schreiber die Bibelstellen aus dem Alten Testament zitiert haben. Sie wählten ihre Bibelstellen nicht blind aus, sondern berücksichtigten ständig den jeweiligen Kontext. Das belegt Vlach in seiner Untersuchung. Er führt sehr viele Beispiele aus dem NT an und legt dann dar, wie diese Stellen zu verstehen sind. Ein sehr hilfreiches und nützliches Werk. Es hat mir sehr geholfen, dass Vlach auf sehr viele Bibelstellen im NT eingeht. Deshalb ist das Buch auch als gutes Nachschlagewerk geeignet.

[William Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of seven interpretive frame works. I appreciate his self-critique of his own perspective (which is the classic grammatical-historical method or single meaning yet multiple implications view). Helpful booklet in clarifying various hermeneutical perspectives.

[John Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling and thorough framework for understanding NT authors use of the OT. Well researched and insightful. Will definitely grab as a reference tool many more times.