Did the New Testament Reinterpret the Old Testament Prophecies to Fulfill Its Own Needs?

Four things that Carroll claimed the New Testament did to accomplish its reinterpretation of the Old Testament to meet its own needs:

1. By believing that the Old Testament prophecies had not really failed.

2. By glossing over the passage of the centuries between the prophecy and the fulfillment.

3. By accommodating the Old Testament prophecies to the New Testament reality.

4. By transforming the terms of the prophecy into modified or metaphorical methods of interpretation.

How should evangelicals answer these accusations? Well, it's fair to say that sometimes the New Testament does sometimes use the Old Testament in ways that are not obvious from the text of the Old Testament itself; however, is the New Testament interpretation of the Old Testament still a valid interpretation? Let's look for a minute at one of the text book examples of this problem. In Jeremiah 31:15, the prophet wrote, "This is what the LORD says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping--Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more." Jeremiah had been promising that God's people would be destroyed by the nations and would be driven into exile. This first talks about Israel's sorrow because so many of them had been killed by the Gentiles and the land had been left empty. Then Jeremiah went on in verse 16 to say, "This is what the LORD says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come--this is the LORD's declaration--and your children will return from the enemy's land." The problem is that Matthew 2:18 quotes Jeremiah 31:15 and claims that it was fulfilled when Herod slaughtered the babies in Bethlehem. What in the world would that have to do with the original meaning of Jeremiah 31:15? At least superficially this would seem to be a clear example of the kind of reinterpretation of Old Testament prophecy described by Carroll.

If you assume that God did not stand behind the scenes telling Jeremiah what to say, this would seem to be a clear case of the New Testament twisting the Old Testament to its own ends; however, wait a minute, is that really fair? If you assume instead that God does speak to man in concepts. Is it possible to understand why Matthew would use Jeremiah's words in the way that he did? First, it's worth remembering that Jeremiah was looking forward to both the captivity and the return. From Jeremiah's perspective, in the future the Gentiles would come and murder the babies of Bethlehem. It might be fair to argue that this would happen twice: first by Babylon and later by Rome. Both events would be essentially the same kind of brutality. It's also worth noting that Jeremiah 31 is full of verses into which Messianic content can easily be read. Several verses talk about the virgin of Israel rejoicing. Jeremiah 31:21, 22 reads, "Set up road markers for yourself; establish signposts! Keep the highway in mind, the way you have traveled. Return, Virgin Israel! Return to these cities of yours. How long will you turn here and there, faithless daughter? For the LORD creates something new in the land--a female will shelter a man." So, the virgin of the passage is Israel, not Mary, but the end of this passage that speaks of the woman who will encompass a man as a new thing on earth could very well be understood as a promise of Christ's birth.

So, how do you understand the passage? The main thrust of Jeremiah 31 is certainly a description of the return from captivity; however, it may be reasonable to see also in the background a Messianic theme. Matthew would have picked up on this secondary Messianic theme when he used the prophecy. So, it all goes back to your presuppositions again. Is there a God? Does He speak to people? If you answer no to either question, you will look at how the New Testament uses the Old and conclude that it cannot be valid. The New Testament authors did not understand or did not care what the Old Testament prophets were trying to say to the people of their own day. On the other hand, if you believe that God does speak to men you will use the New Testament quotations of the Old to look for hidden meanings in the text and secondary themes that you may not have noticed when you read the Old Testament text.