First sentence: Pop quiz. Name that Bible verse:
1. "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord."
2. "He catches the wise in their craftiness."
3. "You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan."
Scratching your head? That is understandable. These would not make anyone's Top 10 Bible Verses list. If you had to choose, you would probably wager that they are from the Old Testament (OT). And you would be correct: Exodus 13:2, Job 5:13, and Amos 5:25-27, respectively. But they also appear in the New Testament (NT). While these verses are somewhat unfamiliar to us, they were not unfamiliar to the NT authors.

I would give this book an A+++++++ for organization and clarity. I have got nothing but love and appreciation for a book that keeps things well laid out (organized) and incredibly clear. Lanier says what he means and means what he says. He clearly promises what he's going to be doing, what he is doing, and what he has done. It's almost like you've got the author in the room with you going "Do you follow?" and "Are you with me?" and "We good?" The topic, the focus, the point is always center stage. There's no side-stepping or distractions.

What is the book about? How the Old Testament is used in the New Testament. (Or how the writers of the New Testament made full use of the Old Testament).

What is the goal? What does he hope to accomplish? He wants YOU (the reader) to come to appreciate the awesomeness of making these connections (for yourself) and following through to studying these passages. WHY and HOW and WHAT. He shares a three-step process for studying these Old Testament passages when they pop up in the New Testament.

The three step process: 1) Identify the Passage, 2) Double-click on the OT 3) Listen to the Remix.

At its most basic, it can be summed up as read it in the New Testament, read it in the Old Testament, compare and contrast the wording/phrasing, ask thoughtful questions about context and meaning. You should spend time thinking about what it meant in the Old Testament and how that meaning may have shifted (or may not have shifted) in the New Testament. WHY did the NT writers choose that specific passage.

There are just FOUR chapters in this one. FOUR. Chapter one is an overview of the skills, the "tools of the trade." The remaining three chapters are, "The Old Testament and the Gospel," "The Old Testament and Jesus Christ," and "The Old Testament and the Church."

What can we learn about the gospel...by reading the Old Testament? What can we learn about Jesus Christ...by reading the Old Testament? What can we learn about the church....by reading the Old Testament? Each chapter CELEBRATES both the Old and New Testaments and show them as ONE.

Lanier's enthusiasm of the subject definitely began rubbing off on me. I appreciated how much he loves the subject and how excited he is to get others involved in studying the Bible this way.

There are SO MANY figures (or charts) in this one. My attention doesn't always thrive with this format, but, in this instance I was hooked. I learned so much!

So while this is a book about how-to-study-the-Bible-for-yourself, it is also very much a BASIC, straight-forward gospel-presentation. I mean these are the abc's of the gospel.

What a great resource! Down to earth and very practical with steps laid out and lots of examples of how to put it into practice. How He shows us a basic roadmap that illuminates the New Testament references the Old Testament by reading the New Testament scripture first, and then the Old Testament scripture in full in a three step format, and he breaks down that format into even smaller bite size pieces that basically anyone can do. I will be looking forward to adding this to my personal collection. Excellent for personal study.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

"Old Made New" explained how the New Testament writers often quoted, cited, or alluded to Old Testament verses as the basis for the arguments they were making. He described how to evaluate each type of reference and any differences seen between the New Testament and Old Testament verses. He also explained that you need to read the Old Testament verse in context to fully understand what the New Testament authors were referring to. He then took several examples of this from the New Testament and showed step-by-step how to work through this process. He showed how these references covered a wide variety of topics and weren't only prophecies about Jesus. It wasn't hard to understand the author's points or difficult to do his process of studying these NT-OT links. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those interested in doing a more in-depth Bible study.

Multiple surveys have shown that many are more comfortable and familiar with the New Testament. Study groups prefer it. Sermons predominantly are from the New Testament. Most believers know the New Testament more than the Old Testament. While believers typically proclaim the Bible as comprising both the Old and the New, in practice, they tend to read and prefer to study mainly the New Testament. One reason is relatability. Modern readers find it easier to relate the first-century writings rather than ancient texts before the birth of Jesus. Sometimes we even forget that during the time of Christ, the only Scriptures available were the Old Testament. The New Testament didn't exist yet! Many efforts have been made to encourage Christians to study not just the New Testament but the entire Bible. This book is one such effort. Author and professor Greg Lanier give some more reasons why it is important to study how the New Testament uses the Old Testament. Not only was the OT written for all of us, many of the references in the NT points back to the OT. Technically, this is known as the field of biblical intertextuality. What this book provides are basic tools for the layperson to do just that. Using the "Three-Step Process," we learn to use tools such as:
1) Identification the Passage
- Looking at citations, quotations, and allusions
2) Check Out the Old Testament Reference
- wording comparison, broader comparison of the OT passage,
3) Listen to the Remix
- look at predictions, patterns, prescription

These steps are then applied to the study of the gospels, how the gospel writers use them, how Jesus uses them, and how the Church use them. The author does a good job of debunking the common paradigm that the Old Testament and New Testament are about the law and gospel respectively. Such a dichotomy might explain why most people gravitate toward the NT instead of the OT. Using this "Three-Step Process" roadmap, readers get a template to practice how to read and study the Bible as one. That in itself makes this book a worthy resource to keep.

My Thoughts
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The title of the book is quite revealing. It also brings along multiple meanings for the reader to ponder. Apart from helping readers appreciate the OT from the NT perspective, it can also suggest ways in which we can see the OT with new eyes. It might even breathe new life to the way we read every book of the Bible! We can also see a thread of continuity from Genesis to Revelation in the Person of Jesus Christ. This will require some practice and a disciplined mindset. The three basic questions are simple: "What does this tell me about the gospel? About Jesus? and/or about the church?" Some of the content might be a little too technical for the layperson, but given time and seeing how Lanier explains it, it should be quite palatable. What I like about this book is the way the author affirms the importance of studying the whole Bible rather than just the NT. It is also a creative way in which Lanier begins with popular interest in the NT and guides readers to pay some serious attention to the OT.

One final comment. Those of us who are regular book readers would notice the use of footnotes and citations. These are typically used to direct readers to additional explanations or expanded information without interrupting reader flow. They are also used to give due credit for material borrowed from others. Apart from the need to avoid accusations of plagiarism, such practices are also about authorial integrity. Even though the use of academic citations, footnotes, and scholarship standards are instruments of our modern construct, the Bible openly uses cross-references throughout the Bible. The New Testament especially refers constantly to Old Testament texts. Jesus too is a reader and references the Old Testament, especially the book of Deuteronomy. For us as modern readers and students of the Bible, learning how the New Testament uses the Old Testament would aid us immensely in the study of the Bible.

Greg Lanier (PhD, University of Cambridge) is an associate professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He also serves as associate pastor of River Oaks Church (PCA). He has published multiple books and scholarly articles on early Christology, the Gospels, the Septuagint, and other topics. Greg and his wife, Kate, live in Florida with their three daughters.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Crossway Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

This is one you're going to want for your bible study resource library!

It's only 4 chapters and very practical. The author guides us through studying Old Testament passages when they're cited in the New Testament. There are great tables to follow as examples and exercises to follow at the end of each chapter. He invites us to keep the gospel at the forefront of our study and helps us gain greater understanding of the scriptures through appropriately understanding the context. Highly recommend!

Such a needed resource! Old Made New teaches us about the absolute relevance of the Old Testament teachings in modern day Christianity by going into a deep dive of how the New Testaments continuously quotes the Old Testament. This is a great resource to have in every Christ follower’s library!