How should a Christian interpret the great stories of the Old Testament? During my theological training, I was indoctrinated against the sins of moralising or spiritualising them. We were supposed to preach them theologically, always drawing out their contribution to the grand narrative of Scripture. I am not sure I fully understood what that meant in practice, and I am certain that I never mastered doing it. Are we not to draw moral and spiritual truths from them?
Paul answers that question for us in 1 Corinthians 10:6–13, a passage that pulls back the curtain on how the Old Testament was intended to function for the church. From his inspired use of Exodus and Numbers, we discover four principles for reading Old Testament narrative faithfully and fruitfully.
The Principle of Historicity: These Events Really Happened
Paul asserts that “these things happened to them” (1 Cor. 10:11). He was referring to some incredible things that happened to the generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt. In verses 1–10, he mentions Israel being led by a pillar of fire and cloud, passing through the Red Sea, being fed with manna from heaven, and drinking water from a rock in the desert. He also alludes to miraculous judgements from Numbers 14, 16, 21, and 25. These are the kinds of stories that sceptical scholars dismiss as myth and fiction. But Paul asserts that these are not legends crafted to teach lessons—they are history.
Therefore, we read Old Testament narrative as fact, not fable. We do not treat them as myths or fables designed to teach moral lessons. The power of Paul’s warning relies on the fact that real people, who really experienced God’s miracles, really died in a physical desert. The history stands before the application.
The Principle of Typology: God Shaped the Past to Teach the Present
If historicity asks, “Did this happen?” then typology answers, “Why did God record it?” Paul emphasises that God intended the things that happened to Israel to serve as examples for us (Christians). He says it twice for emphasis.
First, he says, “these things happened as examples (typos) for us” (v. 6a). One meaning of the Greek word typos is “an archetype serving as a model, type, pattern, model” (BDAG, under τύπος, §6). In theological terms, a “type” is a historical person, event, or institution that God intended to prefigure a future reality (the “antitype”).
Second, he writes, “Now these things happened to them as an example (typikōs), and they were written for our instruction” (v. 11). The Greek word refers to something that serves as an example, model, or warning (BDAG, under tupikōs). The idea is the same: God planned the events as examples for us and inspired the records for our instruction.
God is the Author of history, not just of the Bible. He orchestrated the events of the Exodus specifically to create a pattern that would help the New Testament church understand its own identity. We read the Old Testament looking for these patterns that the Holy Spirit embedded in history.[1]
The Principle of Culmination: All Scripture Moves Towards Christ
If typology asks, “Why did God record it?” then culmination asks, “Where does the story lead?” Jesus Christ is the culmination and climax of redemptive history.
Paul notes that these things were written for us, “upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (v. 11). This is a key idea in the New Testament. Through the work of Jesus Christ, Christians are living in the final period of God’s plan, the climax of redemptive history. The entire history of God’s dealings with humanity was moving towards one climactic event, the coming of Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament looked forward to it or, more accurately, to Him.
The Old Testament is a story in search of an ending. It is incomplete without the New Testament. As Christians, we recognise that the entire Old Testament story is building towards the coming of Jesus Christ. God always knew that his redemptive plan would not ultimately be realised through Abraham, Moses, David, or national Israel, but through Christ. When we recognise this, we are not reading Jesus into the Old Testament but reading Him out of it as fully intended by God and understood by the Old Testament writers.
The Principle of Continuity: Their Story is Our Story
Paul calls the ancient Israelites “our fathers” (v. 1), that is, our ancestors. He was writing to a largely Gentile church, yet he saw the church not as a separate entity disconnected from Israel, but as the spiritual continuation of the people of God.
Therefore, we should read the Old Testament narratives as our family history. The warning of the wilderness is not just a story about “them” (an ancient, foreign people); it is also a story about “us” (the people of God in the wilderness of this world).
Conclusion
How, then, should Christians read Old Testament narrative? Paul’s inspired handling of it furnishes four principles.
We read it historically, because God really acted.
We read it typologically, because God intended those acts to teach us.
We read it christocentrically, because Jesus Christ is the goal of history.
We read it personally, because their story is our story.
Paul teaches us that the Old Testament narratives are mirrors. When we read Exodus or Numbers, we are not just looking through a window into the Ancient Near East; we are looking into a mirror at our own spiritual realities and dangers.
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[1] In 1 Corinthians 10:1–13, Paul recognised how the pattern of God’s dealings with the Exodus generation was providentially intended as a message for Christians, specifically the Corinthians. He recognised the same pattern in the Exodus generation and the Corinthian church. Similarly, we should be so rooted in our biblical family heritage that we recognise how the same message is God’s word to us.
Disclaimer: The views presented in this blog are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the views of SATS.