How Much Time Do You Spend in the Old Testament Relative to the New? - poll

[Ed Walsh]

Greetings, beloved of the Lord,

Matthew 13:52 KJV
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.​

This should be interesting and I hope helpful. I encourage you to comment on the reason you voted as you did.
I will tell you why I voted what I did after a while.

Ed

 

[bookslover]

I'm the first one to vote, I see. My choice is not quite accurate as, lately, I've spent slightly more time in the Old than the New, but not enough time to say "twice as much." Interesting poll.

 

[Ed Walsh]

I'm the first one to vote, I see. My choice is not quite accurate as, lately, I've spent slightly more time in the Old than the New, but not enough time to say "twice as much." Interesting poll.

Thanks for being the first Richard. And thanks for your comment on the poll.

 

[bookslover]

Pole? What pole. I didn't see any pole. Heh.

 

[Ed Walsh]

Pole? What pole. I didn't see any pole. Heh.

Haha, I fixed it. Now nobody's going to understand why your post is even funny.

But I will give you my apologia anyway. I do almost all my early morning posting by dictating to my tablet, and I sometimes fall short in the proofreading. Now, what did I get wrong in this rost?

I just checked and so far you are the only respondent. I guess it's just you and me and I haven't shown my hand yet.

 

[Poimen]

I am approximately equal but I spend more time in the Old Testament. I (privately) read and study one chapter of the Bible a day so obviously I would be in the Old Testament more than the New. Our family reads an OT passage in the morning and a NT passage in the evening for our family worship so there we are equal. But my wife and I usually read a small portion of a Psalm before bed and our family reads and sing Psalms twice every Lord's Day.

In addition I am usually preaching out of the OT because the co-supply for our church is usually in the NT.

 

[Jake]

In terms of daily reading, I roughly read through the NT twice in one year and the OT once in a year. However, in terms of length and amount day to day, this works out to about equal treatment between the testaments.

However, I also spend a lot of time singing and praying the Psalms in worship and in private. Right now we are going through Romans in the AM service and I Samuel in the PM service. It's hard to figure out exactly where it falls if you include other such instances.

 

[Solparvus]

I put the very top option, probably because in the past two years the OT seems to have become a new volume to me.

 

[Steve Curtis]

I chose twice as often in the OT, though as others have said, the use of the Psalms in private, family, and corporate worship (and Proverbs, of which I read one daily) may skew those values.

 

[Kinghezy]

As others indicated, this is difficult to fully answer. It is easy if you limit it to certain readings. But then if you add on what your church is going through, books you are reading, sermons/podcast you are listening, what you discuss/sing with family, etc. Or, when you discuss an OT passage, but bring in NT to show how the NT intreprets the OT how do I count this? Or, it may vary in different years or each quarter (etc) depending on what you are studying. Or, if I read a commentary do I count it towards that passage?

I put twice OT as a heuristic, but I am not convinced how accurate this is. It may be more since we have been focusing on OT books the past year or so at home.

Probably overthinking this...

 

[Jeri Tanner]

I voted twice as much time in the OT, though this is more a reflection of where I was a while ago than right now (my habits have become disrupted). And before that while ago, I was probably in the OT more than twice as much because, like Jake, it had become a rich new volume to me! What wonderment accompanied those days.

 

[Ed Walsh]

I put the very top option, probably because in the past two years the OT seems to have become a new volume to me.

I dictated to my tablet an off-the-cuff a tribute to the OT early this AM. After I proofread it I will post it.

 

[Steve Curtis]

Probably overthinking this...

Uh... yeah.

 

[JimmyH]

I am in my sixth year doing the M'Cheyne 1 Year Bible Reading Plan. I read two chapters in the morning, old and new, and two chapters in the evening, old and new.
Of course there is my own reading for devotions, and for study. I'm not sure how that breaks up. It really varies, and I haven't paid enough attention to come to a conclusion.

 

[ADKing]

I voted twice as much in the Old Testament. Singing the Psalms everyday tips the scale in that direction. There is also the fact that there are more Old testament books than New, and the Old Testament books are generally longer. My three favorite books are also OT (Job, Psalms and Song of Solomon).

 

[Ed Walsh]

I dictated to my tablet an off-the-cuff a tribute to the OT early this AM. After I proofread it I will post it.

Preface: Before I posted my poll, I dictated this adlib to my tablet. The only changes I made were some punctuation and a few paragraph breaks and some typos. I also left out the many Scripture references that should be included.

A Tribute to the Old Testament
​

For years I have spent about three times as much time in the Old Testament as in the New. And I can't begin to describe what a benefit that has been to me. Why three times as much? Simply because it is roughly three-and-a-half times as large as the New. That's the short answer and the reason I began the regimen.

But to my surprise and great joy, I discovered a treasure that is like unto that found in the field. (Matthew 13:44) Remember that the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles was the Old Testament. The same is true for the early Christians for many years.

For me, the Old has shown a searchlight on the New so that the New now glistens in a glory that I never fully appreciated before immersing myself in the Old. I am confident that what I am saying now is not true of you, but for many Christians, the Old Testament is the time of the Angry God. You almost get the idea that there are two Gods. One that is old and ornery and another in the New who's been talked out of his orneriness by his Son Jesus. But like I said, I assume better things than that from you.

For years I have devoured whole commentaries cover-to-cover on the Old Testament. Somewhat of a surprise to me was the discovery of quite a few modern commentaries on the Old Testament that are excellent tools. Maybe a little later, I can list a few that I would suggest.

I had not forgotten John's words when he said, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17) On the contrary. This difference must always be at the forefront of your mind as you mine the Old Testament. But to the discerning eye, the Old Testament oozes with the grace of God and the electing love of God. The New Testament without the Old is like trying to make sense of the modern Church without knowing about John Calvin, the Reformation, the Puritans, or the Mayflower.

In the Old Testament, we see the power of God, the goodness of God, the love of God, the patience of God, and perhaps above all, the glory of God in His unsearchable holiness. We learn of the being, and eternal nature of God, and the wisdom of God. We discover the forgiveness of God. We learn the fear of God, the wrath of God. Looking back through New Testament glasses, we see the Trinity in seed form many places--perhaps even in the very first verse of Genesis. We are given essential data about the final days of Earth and the future Glory of his eternal Kingdom. The Jews restored the Gentiles flowing into the kingdom.

Oh, the Wonder and wisdom of our God how beautifully displayed He is when you get to know the Old Testament by heart. We learn his eternal name, that He is the great I Am, that I Am, Yahweh Elohim. That the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and that He is above all blessing and praise. And in time, we begin to see Christ everywhere.

We learn about man's depravity, the darkness, deceit, and our inability to even grasp the enormity of our inner deformity. And this human heart God decided to love and befriend. We see over and over again, the Lord's work of salvation through judgment. And that this judgment must begin at the house of God.

Do I skip reading any books of the Old Testament? Never. Do I have my favorites? Sure. My first favorite is Genesis and my last Malachi, with many in between being among them.

=====​

I am recommending the Old Testament to all who do not yet know it intimately. It is the Word of God and very often the word and work of our pre-incarnate Christ Jesus...

 

[Jeri Tanner]

Can I share this with friends?

 

[Ed Walsh]

Can I share this with friends?

Do you mean what I said? Of course, you can. But I understated everything to a fault. God is so much greater and more beautiful than we can imagine. I have a pretty vivid imagination but it can not contain God. I assume that many of my thoughts of God are inadequate or just plain wrong. He who is above all blessing and praise is just too much for me. If I were to see Him as He is in my present state I am sure I would die. But someday our change will come and we will see Him as He is and will in some unfathomable way be like Him. This life is surely our time of humiliation, except we deserve it. He didn't.

 

[Jeri Tanner]

Do you mean what I said? Of course, you can. But I understated everything to a fault. God is so much greater and more beautiful than we can imagine. I have a pretty vivid imagination but it can not contain God. I assume that many of my thoughts of God are inadequate or just plain wrong. He who is above all blessing and praise is just too much for me. If I were to see Him as He is in my present state I am sure I would die. But someday our change will come and we will see Him as He is and will in some unfathomable way be like Him. This life is surely our time of humiliation, except we deserve it. He didn't.

Yes, I meant share what you wrote. All efforts to convey how great he is and how great his word is surely fall far short, but God often uses them all the same.

 

[Daughter of Catherine R]

I voted for half and half right now, probably because I tend to go back to Romans over and over again, though there is simply more OT to read. After reading the other replies, I realized the scales should have tipped to the OT since I sing (Genevan) psalms in church and at home.

 

[RJ Spencer]

I spend much more time in the NT, although when I'm studying in the New it always leads me back to the old. I was quite surprised to see that I'm in such a minority on this one. I've been studying eschatology, particularly Revelation lately. I also never seem to get out of Romans, all roads lead to Rome I guess.

 

[Ed Walsh]

I've been studying eschatology, particularly Revelation lately. I also never seem to get out of Romans, all roads lead to Rome I guess.

Revelation is a pretty lonely book without Daniel and Ezekiel as a Schoolmaster. And I agree--all roads lead to Romans.