The Main Differences Between the New and Old Testaments
The Bible is one cohesive book divided into two major categories: the New Testament and the Old Testament. You will find 39 individual books in the Protestant Old Testament and an exacting God focused on laws designed to keep the Jewish people in check. In the New Testament, you’ll find 27 books and a forgiving God focused on universal redemption. While these are important differences, there are other main differences between the New and Old Testaments that require your attention, whether you’re studying the Bible as a scholar or for personal reasons.
Formatting Differences
When reading the New and Old Testaments, you’ll notice a difference in the formatting styles of the individual books within each Testament. The New Testament contains four gospel books detailing the life of Jesus, followed by Acts of the Apostles, which is considered its own category despite being formatted similarly to the gospels. Most of the other books of the New Testament are letters, or epistles, and the Testament concludes with an apocalyptic book, Revelation.
The formatting of the Old Testament includes historical narrative books, law books, poetic books, and books from major and minor prophets. Most of these prophetic books aren’t apocalyptic like Revelation, though, because they focus on the events that occur in the New Testament. There are only a few instances, such as in the book of Daniel, where the prophets allude to events similar to what is found in Revelation.
Content Differences
The varying formats of the books help differentiate the content between the New and Old Testaments. The content of the New Testament focuses on communicating the identity of Jesus, the plan of Christian salvation, encouragement in the Christian faith, and what Christians believe will come at the end of the world.
Meanwhile, the Old Testament takes readers back to the Christian creation story and through the development of the Jewish civilization, including their laws. The Old Testament also contains advice for readers, such as the wisdom in Proverbs, then starts to focus on prophetic words for the people of Israel and the world as a whole. Much of what is prophesized in the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament.
Application Differences
Christians believe you must apply the Bible to your life in order to stay in communion with God and live well. However, the lessons of the Old Testament are much harder to apply than the lessons of the New Testament.
Much of the Old Testament focuses on characters, and while we can learn from the strengths and weaknesses of these characters, their lessons are harder to discern. The New Testament is much clearer in its directions for Christian living, especially in the epistles, which makes it easier for people to apply these lessons to their lives if they so choose.
There are many differences between the New and Old Testaments, but the main ones are the varying formats, content, and application possibilities. If you want to read these Testaments for yourself and learn more, we sell giant print KJV Bibles that are easy to read and will help you dive further into this impressive book.