Some parts of the Bible seem to me to be overtly apologetic and others less intentionally so. That is, some parts are written with the idea of persuading people of the truth of the Hebrew/Christian God and that we should worship Him; others do not have that as an intended aim, but for one reason or another still lead people to believe.
The purpose of this blogpost is simply to make the point that, while the Old Testament in general seems to me to be less of an apologetic work than the New Testament, it nonetheless contains much that is powerful for apologetics.
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It has to be noted at the outset that Christianity has a conversion agenda that Judaism does not. There is nothing like the Great Commission nor any pronouncement like John 3:16 in the Old Testament, which as a general matter seems geared toward instructing God’s chosen people rather than persuading people to choose God. There’s nothing wrong with that; many New Testament letters fall into the category of instructing new churches and their congregations on right behavior rather than simply increasing their numbers.
In all events, it certainly appears that the purpose of the OT was less evangelical than the NT. Just one last datum on this: While God’s acts were of course visible in the OT, God Himself was deliberately invisible in the OT, but — as the Son — clearly visible in the NT.
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Nonetheless, there is much in the Old Testament that will draw people to belief. And, as usual, genre matters.
The way that the Wisdom books — Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon — might draw people to belief is by their, well, wisdom. That is, the wisdom in them in so profound that after reading them a while a skeptic starts to think, Gee, there is so much truth in here that maybe these people are on to something. If words are plausibly God-inspired, then there is a plausible God. Here, by the way, is a profound truth, albeit one found at the outset of Genesis rather than in the Wisdom books or prophecy: Man is created in God’s image.
The wisdom of the prophets can have the same accumulated effect, and of course if the prophets are predicting future (to them) events that turn out to happen, that is even more powerful evidence that God’s hand is present (Pascal, among others, uses fulfilled prophecy as an apologetic tool).
Conversely, if the Wisdom books were full of bad advice and the prophets dispensed not only bad advice but failed fortune-telling, it would be hard to persuade the skeptic that an inspiring God was behind this scripture; of course it is evidence for God if He is speaking to and through people, but here we often have only the prophet/author’s word for its authenticity, do we not?
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Now: What about the Old Testament’s history, from Genesis through Esther?
When you think about, you are likely to conclude that, for an historical account to draw a skeptic to faith, there would be a balance between too much supernaturalism and not enough. Regarding the latter, consider: Maybe God did help Israel defeat the Philistines, just as maybe God did help Athens beat the Persians, but you need more than just the outcome of the conflict to show that God determined it. Regarding the former: There are plenty of miracles in the OT’s historical narrative (see sidebar list below), but not so many that they overwhelm that narrative. How confident are we that they are true?
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Sidebar — Herewith a brief listing of miracles/supernatural events in the Old Testament:
1. From the Moses narrative: the burning bush, ten plagues of Egypt, parting of the Red Sea, manna and quail, and water from the rock at Mount Horeb and later in Kadesh.
2. From the Joshua narrative: parting the Jordan River, the fall of Jericho, and the sun standing still during a battle in Gibeon.
3. From the Elijah and Elisha narratives: the fire on Mount Carmel (Elijah prayed, and God sent fire down to consume his sacrifice on a wet altar, disproving the prophets of Baal), raising the dead (both Elijah and Elisha miraculously resurrected the sons of widows who had passed away), and the floating ax head, and Elisha instructed the Syrian army commander Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times to cure his leprosy (it worked).4. Miracles of protection and deliverance: for example, the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Jonah and the whale.5. More generally, there is God’s very existence and His Creation of the cosmos, and His choosing of the Jews and protection of them and communication with their leaders.
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Now, do we think the supernatural parts of the OT historical narratives are true? One supposes they need not all be true, but if very many are not then the credibility problems for the rest mount up. Yes, if all the OT historical narratives did happen that would be reason for faith. But it doesn’t seem as written with that in mind as Gospels, and it’s long enough ago that it’s harder to verify and, in many cases, hard to know if God’s hand was in the nonsupernatural events. But consider:
- There is independent archaeological and written historical evidence confirming many OT events and accounts — a King David, for example, the various non-Jewish peoples, how people farmed and ate and drank and generally lived, etc.
- There is the Jewish metanarrative. As I wrote earlier this year: “When you think about it, there is really no other group in world history like the Jews. Consider, for starters, their longevity and successes despite repeated calamity and persecution. They are, by the way, less than 0.2 percent of the world’s population.” Applying this specifically to the OT historical narratives, if it is indeed true that the Israelites frequently triumphed and consistently survived as a people against strong odds, then is that not evidence that God’s hand was in it? — and, if that is likely true, then of course that is evidence of (a) God and (b) the OT’s veracity.
- The many random details in the OT narratives suggest its truth.
- The fact that there is so much in the OT that reflects unfavorably on the Israelites makes it seem unlikely that it was made up by them.
- Finally, while the New Testament is of course not part of the OT, the fact that it — and, in particular, Jesus Christ — cites the OT as Scripture is evidence of its truth if one is persuaded by the apologetic arguments for NT truth and, especially, the essential truth of the Gospels.
In sum, while the Old Testament has I think less apologetics than the New Testament, it nonetheless contains much that is powerful for the apologist.