In short
The New Testament is 27 books starring Jesus in some way. We pile all of the other books of the Bible – the older ones – into a category called “The Old Testament.” But that’s not an accurate use of the word “Testament.”
Genesis is the outlier – the book in the Old Testament that doesn’t really fit that category.
Long version
A “testament” is a covenant (an agreement or contract), like the phrase “last will and testament.”
There are, indeed, two big “testaments” (covenants) in the Bible, and the Bible certainly does refer to them as old and new.
- The old covenant says that the blood of animals atones for our sins (Heb 9:22). It’s the Ten Commandments and other laws given to Moses.
- The new covenant says that the blood of Christ forgives our sins (Heb 10:12). It’s the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.
Every book in the Bible fits into these two covenants, except one – Genesis. (Also, probably the book of Job, too.)
What’s the deal with Genesis?
It takes place before either of these covenants existed.
After Christ died, we are told to obey the New Covenant.
From Moses till Christ, believers in God were to obey the Old Covenant.
Genesis is before the Old Covenant existed. It’s the stories of Adam, Abraham, Jacob and others that Bible geeks call the “patriarchs.” (Men with families.) Moses isn’t born till the book of Exodus, so Genesis predates the Old Covenant. (Moses is not considered a patriarch in this sense.)
What did people do without a covenant?
Well, now that is a good question.
They certainly knew they needed to:
- Offer sacrifices, like Cain and Abel (Gen 4:3-4)
- Pray, like Isaac (Gen 25:21)
- Tithe, like Jacob (Gen 28:22)
- Have faith, like Abraham (Gen 15:6)
But how? We can only guess, but we do know that the LORD himself did interact with these patriarchs directly from time to time. And by the time of the third generation of humanity (Adam’s grandson), “people began to call upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 4:26).
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