Examining the relevancy of 2 Testaments

I’m trying to understand the Bible, but it’s difficult. My question is why do we need 2 Testaments? If one isn’t relevant anymore why wouldn’t God just get rid of the one and have the other? It would shorten the Bible and make it easier to understand and follow.

Thanks so much for your question. The Bible is divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These two testaments are covenant agreements, meaning they are formal, solemn, legally and spiritually binding contracts between God and his people. In the Old Testament, or old covenant agreement, we find out how the world and mankind was created, how sin came into the world, and how the first man and woman fell into disobedience and separation from God. But one of the most important things we find in the Old Testament are the laws of God. Without the laws we wouldn’t know what’s right or wrong in God’s eyes, nor would we know the blessings promised to us for our obedience or the consequences coming to us for our disobedience. Perhaps the most important lesson we learn from the Old Testament is that no one is able to keep God’s laws, which is why he allowed animals to be sacrificed for the temporary atonement of sins for his people. Ultimately, a savior would be needed to totally cleanse mankind from their sin, once and for all, which is why the New Testament begins with the genealogy, prophecy, and birth of Jesus Christ.

In a nutshell, the Old Testament is our history. And in order for us to clearly understand where we’re going as people of God, we must know where we’ve been, and how we got to this point in our journey. If the Old Testament was not accessible to us, as God’s people, we would have a legitimate excuse to sin because we wouldn’t know his rules; we wouldn’t have clarification and interpretation from the prophets; and we wouldn’t understand what we need saving from.

The Old Testament shows us our flaws and sins that keep us from God’s presence; whereas the New Testament shows us Jesus Christ, the only one who was flawless and sinless, and it teaches us how to be in Christ, so that through Christ, we can dwell in God’s presence forever.

The two testaments are like two halves to a whole, they are like a left hand and right hand, or a perfect union between a husband and wife ... one is incomplete without the other. Some Christians say, “The New Testament is the Old contained; the Old Testament is the New explained.” No matter how they’re described, both covenant agreements are necessary to fully understand God’s plan of salvation through his son Jesus, and how to get us to our promised land ... our home in a glorious heaven.