New Testament Re-interprets the Old Testament?

Does the New Testament really re-interpret the Old Testament? What does that actually mean and why would anyone suggest such a thing?

When someone states that the NT re-interprets the OT, they mean that the NT is given priority over the OT in terms of doctrine. This allows them to revise the literal fulfillment of OT prophecy and repackage it.

George E. Ladd once wrote:

Here is the basic watershed between a dispensational and a non-dispensational theology. Dispensationalism forms its eschatology by a literal interpretation of the Old Testament and then fits the New Testament into it. A nondispensational eschatology forms its theology from the explicit teaching of the New Testament. It confesses that it cannot be sure how the Old Testament prophecies of the end are to be fulfilled for (a) the first coming of Christ was accomplished in terms not foreseen by a literal interpretation of the Old Testament, and (b) there are unavoidable indications that the Old Testament promises to Israel are fulfilled in the Christian church.

Amillennialist Kim Riddlebarger has observed:

But eschatological themes are reinterpreted in the New Testament, where we are told these Old Testament images are types and shadows of the glorious realities that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ…This [literal interpretation of the Bible] leaves dispensationalists frequently stuck in the awkward position of insisting on an Old Testament interpretation of a prophetic theme that has been reinterpreted in the New Testament in the light of the messianic age which dawned in Jesus Christ.

Covenant Theology generally teaches that the church is the “New Spiritual Israel” and all of the promises God made to Israel are now fulfilled in the church. However there are many OT verses which explicitly teach a future for Israel in the land, with a prominent national position in a future kingdom. Since CT denies this to be the case, it has to somehow work around texts such as Jer 7:7, 25:5, 31:31-37, 33:25-26; Ezek 36:22-38; 37:21-28; Amos 9:14-15 etc.

But what does this kind of re-interpretation do to our understanding of the integrity of God’s word? Can we trust our face value reading of anything in the Old Testament using this methodology? Are we in danger of imposing our own doctrinal presuppositions onto the texts? How did Jesus expect His disciples to approach the Old Testament (Luke 24:24-27)?

Dr. Paul Henebury has given some thoughtful responses to these questions: Part One and Part Two

Dr. Michael Vlach has also provided some excellent resources HERE