This question is necessary because the Bible contains commands, promises, warnings, examples, laws, songs, prophecies, proverbs, narratives, and letters given in different settings across many centuries. Jehovah spoke to Adam in Eden, Noah after the Flood, Abraham concerning covenant promises, Israel through Moses, kings through prophets, exiles in judgment, disciples during Jesus’ earthly ministry, and congregations through the apostles. If a reader ignores those distinctions, confusion follows quickly. One person tries to place Christians back under the Sabbath law of Sinai. Another insists dietary restrictions still bind believers. Another treats promises spoken to Israel as though every line is addressed directly to the church in the same manner. Another, reacting in the opposite direction, acts as if the Old Testament barely matters at all. Scripture permits neither error. All Scripture is inspired and profitable, according to Second Timothy 3:16-17, yet not every passage applies in exactly the same way. The question is not whether the whole Bible matters. It does. The question is how each part matters.

The first step is to approach the Bible with The Correct Method of Bible Study and sound hermeneutics. That means seeking the meaning intended by the inspired author in his historical and grammatical context. Before asking, “How does this apply to me?” you must ask, “What did this text mean to its first hearers?” and “To whom was this command or promise originally given?” A command to Noah to build an ark is not a standing command to all believers. A command to Abraham to leave Ur was not a universal order to all men in all ages. A law requiring Levitical priests to offer sacrifices at the tabernacle was not written to Christians in the congregations of Asia Minor or to believers today. Yet those passages still teach us truth about Jehovah, faith, judgment, obedience, worship, sin, and redemption. This is why careful interpretation matters. We do not honor Scripture by flattening its audience distinctions. We honor it by understanding what Jehovah actually said, to whom He said it, and for what purpose.

A central issue in knowing what applies today is recognizing the difference between covenants. Much confusion disappears when the reader learns to distinguish the patriarchal era, the Mosaic Law, and the new covenant established through Jesus Christ. Exodus 19-24 records the covenant Jehovah made with Israel at Sinai. Psalm 147:19-20 says He declared His word to Jacob and His judgments to Israel; He had not done so with any other nation in that covenantal form. Exodus 31:12-17 identifies the Sabbath as a sign between Jehovah and the sons of Israel throughout their generations. That matters greatly. It means the Mosaic covenant was not a universal code delivered to all mankind. It was a specific covenant with a specific nation for a specific purpose in redemptive history. Galatians 3:19 says the Law was added because of transgressions until the Seed should come. Galatians 3:24 explains that the Law served as a guardian leading to Christ. Once that covenantal purpose reached its appointed goal, the people of God were no longer under that guardian in the same way.

This does not mean Jehovah changed His character. It means His covenant administration changed. The issue is not contradiction between Old Testament and New Testament, but movement from promise to fulfillment, from shadow to substance, from preparatory covenant to completed sacrifice. That is why covenants and laws must be handled carefully, and why the relationship between law and grace must be understood biblically. Matthew 5:17 says Jesus came not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them. Romans 10:4 identifies Christ as the goal or culmination of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Hebrews 8:6-13 teaches that the new covenant is better and that in speaking of a new covenant, the former is made obsolete. Hebrews 10:1-14 explains that the sacrifices of the Law could never finally take away sins, whereas Christ offered one sacrifice for sins for all time. Therefore, Christians do not live under the Mosaic covenant as a binding legal code. They live under Christ, who fulfilled the Law’s anticipatory role and now governs His people through His teaching and the apostolic writings.

At this point, some readers make a mistake in the other direction. They assume that if Christians are not under the Mosaic covenant, then the Old Testament has little direct value for them. But Romans 15:4 says that whatever was written beforehand was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. First Corinthians 10:1-11 teaches that Israel’s experiences were recorded as examples and warnings for later believers. The Old Testament still applies, but not always as covenant legislation. It applies as revelation, instruction, warning, wisdom, promise in proper context, prophecy, and moral truth grounded in Jehovah’s character. Some commands apply directly because they are repeated for believers under Christ. Some laws no longer bind in their old covenant form, yet the principles beneath them still teach holiness, justice, purity, and devotion. Some rituals pointed forward to Christ and therefore have reached their fulfillment. Some narratives are descriptive rather than prescriptive; they tell what happened without commanding us to reproduce every detail. Understanding these differences keeps us from both legalism and neglect.

Concrete examples make this clearer. Circumcision was commanded under the Abrahamic covenant and then functioned within Israel’s covenant life, but Acts 15 and Galatians 5 show that Gentile believers are not required to be circumcised in order to stand right before God. Animal sacrifices, priestly mediators, and temple rituals occupied a central place in the life of Israel, yet Hebrews 7-10 teaches that Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice have surpassed and fulfilled that system. Dietary restrictions distinguished Israel from the nations under the Law, yet passages such as Acts 10, Mark 7:18-23, Romans 14:14, and Colossians 2:16-17 show that Christians are not to be judged on such ceremonial grounds. The annual festivals and new moons belonged to the shadow cast before the arrival of Christ, but the substance belongs to Him. The Sabbath is especially important in this discussion because many assume it is binding in the same way upon Christians. Yet Exodus 31 ties it covenantally to Israel as a sign, and Colossians 2:16-17 says believers are not to let anyone judge them with respect to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath day, because these were a shadow of what was to come. Romans 14:5 also shows that the observance of special days was not imposed as a universal Christian requirement.

At the same time, moral commands that reflect Jehovah’s holy character continue in force, not because Christians remain under Sinai, but because these truths are reaffirmed under Christ. The New Testament repeatedly condemns idolatry, adultery, fornication, impurity, homosexual conduct, theft, falsehood, covetousness, hatred, drunkenness, and murder in the heart, while commanding love, truth, forgiveness, sexual purity, honesty, justice, and obedience to parents. Jesus grounded marriage in creation in Matthew 19:4-6, not merely in temporary custom. Romans 13:8-10 shows that love fulfills the law’s moral demands, and Paul cites commandments against adultery, murder, theft, and coveting as still expressive of righteous conduct. Ephesians 6:1-3 reaffirms the duty to honor father and mother. First Thessalonians 4:3-8 teaches sexual holiness plainly. Therefore, the Christian does not discard Old Testament moral revelation. He reads it through its covenant setting and sees that the same righteous God still hates sin and loves holiness. What has changed is not the moral purity of Jehovah, but the covenant form in which His people live before Him.

Another important key is genre. Not every part of Scripture applies in the same literary way. Narrative often shows what happened, not always what should be copied. The polygamy of some Old Testament figures is recorded, not endorsed. Wisdom literature gives general truths about how life ordinarily works under Jehovah’s moral order, but a proverb is not always an unconditional promise for every possible circumstance. Psalms teach us how to adore, lament, trust, confess, and praise, yet not every line is spoken from the exact historical position of every later believer. Prophecy may contain immediate historical referents, future judgment, future restoration, or Messianic expectation. Apocalyptic literature uses vivid imagery that must be interpreted according to its context rather than woodenly mishandled. This is why careless reading produces false application. A passage can be inspired, true, profitable, and deeply relevant while still needing to be interpreted according to its literary form.

The ministry of Jesus and the teaching of the apostles are decisive for Christian application. They show us how the earlier Scriptures reach their fulfillment and how believers are to live now. Acts 15 is a landmark passage because the apostles and elders did not place Gentile believers under the full yoke of the Mosaic Law. That single chapter guards the church from a massive interpretive error. Likewise, Hebrews explains the passing of the old covenant priestly and sacrificial order. Colossians clarifies that believers are not to be bound by food laws and calendar observances as though these remain covenant requirements. First Corinthians 9:20-21 distinguishes being under the Law from being under Christ. This means that the Christian’s direct rule of life is not Moses as covenant mediator, but Jesus Christ, whose teaching is carried forward by His apostles. That is why the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation are indispensable for knowing how earlier revelation applies in the present age.

Still, this does not justify reading only the New Testament. The whole Bible remains the Word of God. Genesis gives the foundation for creation, marriage, sin, judgment, covenant, and promise. Exodus reveals redemption, holiness, and worship. Leviticus teaches the seriousness of sin and the necessity of atonement. The historical books display the blessings of obedience and the disaster of rebellion. The Psalms form the heart in worship. Proverbs trains the mind in wisdom. The prophets expose false religion, injustice, idolatry, and empty ritual while pointing forward to Messiah and kingdom hope. The Christian should therefore read the entire Bible eagerly, but read it with covenant awareness. All Scripture is for the Christian’s good, though not every statute is his direct covenant obligation. That distinction keeps the reader from chopping the Bible apart while also protecting him from dragging obsolete covenant forms into the life of the church.

A useful way to think through application is to ask several questions every time a passage is studied. Who is speaking, and to whom? In what historical setting is this said? Under which covenant does this command stand? Is this a direct command, a principle, a warning, a description, or a fulfilled shadow? Is the matter grounded in creation, in temporary national legislation, or in Christ’s completed work? Is the teaching repeated, reinforced, or clarified in the New Testament for believers? When those questions are answered carefully, many disputed passages become far clearer. For example, tithing under the Mosaic economy supported Levites, festivals, and care for the needy within Israel’s covenant order. The New Testament, however, directs Christians to generous, willing, cheerful giving according to ability and purpose of heart, as in Second Corinthians 8-9, rather than placing them under the Sinai tithe structure. In the same way, the death penalties within Israel’s civil code belonged to that theocratic nation and are not handed over to the church, yet the moral seriousness of the sins involved remains visible.

So how can we know what parts of the Bible apply to us today? We know by reading every text in its own context, under its own covenant, with attention to its own genre, and in the light of Christ’s fulfillment of the Scriptures. We refuse the shallow claim that the Old Testament no longer matters, and we refuse the opposite mistake of placing Christians back under the covenant code given to Israel at Sinai. We let the whole Bible speak with its full authority, but we listen carefully enough to hear when it is giving a direct command, when it is revealing an enduring principle, when it is providing a warning example, and when it is pointing us to Christ as fulfillment. That is how Scripture remains both unified and clear. Jehovah has not left His people in confusion. He has given a complete written revelation, and with faithful interpretation, believers can know what to obey directly, what to learn from deeply, and what to recognize as fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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