Christians should read the Old Testament because it’s God’s Word, inspired and useful for our lives today. It gives us hope, warns us about mistakes to avoid, shows us what matters to God, and reveals his character. It also contains prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, and it’s essential for understanding the New Testament. Skipping it is like walking into the last act of a play and wondering why everyone is crying.
It’s God-Breathed and Full of Hope
Lots of believers love the Gospels and Paul’s letters but quietly avoid the Old Testament. The long genealogies, strange laws, and violent battles can feel confusing or even off-putting. That’s understandable. But the earliest Christians didn’t see the Old Testament as optional. For them, it was simply “the Scriptures,” the Bible Jesus himself read, quoted, and taught from.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
When Paul wrote these words, the New Testament wasn’t finished yet. The “Scripture” he had in mind was mainly the Old Testament. He calls it God-breathed and useful for shaping us into people “thoroughly equipped for every good work.” That’s our first reason: the Old Testament is God speaking.
The second reason is that it gives us encouragement and hope. Paul said that everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4). The stories of Abraham waiting for a son, Joseph rising from a prison, and Israel returning from exile all remind us that God keeps his promises, even when the wait is long.
It Shows Us What Matters to God
The third reason is that the Old Testament teaches us what not to do. It’s brutally honest about the failures of God’s people. Adam and Eve disobey. Israel grumbles in the wilderness. David commits adultery and murder. Solomon’s heart drifts toward idols. These stories aren’t there to make us feel superior. They’re there as warnings.
1 Corinthians 10:11-12 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
Paul says these things were written down “as warnings for us.” When you read about Israel’s idolatry or a king’s pride, it’s worth asking where the same tendencies show up in your own heart. That kind of reading keeps us humble.
The fourth reason is that the Old Testament shows us what’s important to God. Through the Law, the prophets, and wisdom books like Proverbs, God reveals his heart for justice, worship, family, honesty, and care for the poor. The prophet Micah summed it up beautifully when he said God requires us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8). Those priorities haven’t changed.
It Reveals the Character of God
The fifth reason may be the most important. The Old Testament reveals who God is. Some people imagine an angry God in the Old Testament and a loving God in the New, but that’s not how the Bible describes him. When God revealed himself to Moses, he described himself this way.
Exodus 34:6-7 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love. He’s also holy and just, and he takes sin seriously. You see both sides of his character all through the Old Testament, and you see them come together perfectly at the cross, where God’s justice and mercy meet. If you’d like the big picture, check out What Is the Story of the Old Testament?
It Points to Jesus and Unlocks the New Testament
The sixth reason is prophecy. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the Old Testament spoke of a coming Savior: born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), a descendant of David (Isaiah 9:7), pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5). Seeing those promises fulfilled in Jesus strengthens our confidence that the Bible is true and that God is in control of history.
The seventh reason is that the Old Testament is essential for understanding the New. Words like covenant, sacrifice, Passover, temple, Messiah, and Lamb of God all have deep roots in the Old Testament. Jesus himself showed his followers how the whole story pointed to him.
Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
On the road to Emmaus, Jesus walked two discouraged disciples through Moses and the Prophets and showed them what was said about himself. The Old Testament isn’t a detour from the story of Jesus. It’s the setup. When you read it, you’ll find the New Testament comes alive in ways you never expected.
The Takeaway
Why should Christians read the Old Testament? Because it’s God-breathed, it gives us hope and warning, it shows us what matters to God and who he is, and it points straight to Jesus. If you’ve been skipping it, start with a narrative book like Genesis and read the Old Testament with fresh eyes.
