When we survey the state of the church today, we find a solemn reality: many believers lack a clear understanding of our primary calling as disciples of Christ—to make disciples (Matt. 28:18–20). Look more closely and the issue becomes even more concerning. The church is producing very few disciple-makers—men and women bold enough to share the gospel, walk with those who repent and believe, and teach them to obey everything Christ commanded.
Why is this happening? Our lack of boldness has two primary root causes:
- A lack of understanding of our God-given purpose.
- A sense of inadequacy or unpreparedness when it comes to sharing our faith and helping others grow toward spiritual maturity.
Yet both of these deficiencies can be strengthened—if not entirely mended—through intentional discipleship: mature believers investing in younger believers, teaching the commands of Christ, grounding them in the Scriptures, and equipping them to live out their purpose.
Volumes of books have been written on discipleship, many of them helpful works by faithful brothers in Christ. Most focus on the methods of Jesus, which is certainly where we should begin. After all, it is His command we are obeying, and His authority that sends us. But I wonder if in our focus on methods we often overlook a simple but crucial truth: Jesus taught in a distinctly Jewish context, and His words were inseparably rooted in the Old Testament Scriptures.
He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Ignoring this reality is not a small mistake—it is a vital one. The Old Testament formed the theological, cultural, and linguistic foundation of Jesus’ teaching. His listeners—first-century Jews—were acquainted with the OT Scriptures, and Jesus spoke in a way that assumed this understanding.
In other words:
We cannot fully comprehend the teachings of Christ without understanding the Old Testament context from which He spoke.
After all, it was Christ—together with the Father and the Spirit—who gave us the Old Testament Scriptures in the first place.
In recent years, one well-known evangelical pastor suggested that in order to avoid offending the culture, we should “unhitch” the gospel from the Old Testament. My argument would be the exact opposite: If we desire to train our people to be effective disciple-makers, we must rehitch the words of Christ to the Old Testament context He assumed.
This is not a call to become Judaizers or to require adherence to ceremonial laws that Christ fulfilled through His sacrifice. Rather, it is a call to become biblically informed, recognizing that the Old Testament provides the theological soil from which the teachings of Jesus grow.
In the following article, we will take a closer look at one of the foundational teachings of Christ: the Greatest Commandment. We will examine the Old Testament passages He quoted, explore their original context, and consider the weight those words carried for His original audience—and for us today.
In doing so, we will see that rehitching the words of Christ to their Old Testament roots enriches, clarifies, and strengthens our understanding of His commands.
This article is from the 1Q026 ReadttBook quarterly: The Gospels and the Old Testamnt. To access the entire Quarterly, click here: https://readttbook.org/resources/
