He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
Matthew 13:52 NIV
In Jesus’ day, the teachers of the law were those educated in the Jewish Scriptures who could serve as teachers. They knew the Jewish Scriptures inside and out. But what would happen if they were to believe in Jesus and become disciples of the kingdom of heaven? Would they have to set aside all that they knew and replace it with the teachings of Jesus?
Jesus here affirms that there is value in both the old and the new. In what we have labeled as the Old Testament and the New Testament. The expert in the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, who learns the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, the New Testament, is compared with a wealthy homeowner. One who has both old and new treasures in his storerooms. Wealth that he can bring out at the appropriate times.
As believers today, we are likely not Jewish teachers of the law. But we do have available to us those same treasures. Do not neglect the Old Testament in favor of the New. Together they make up God’s written revelation to us. A storeroom of valuables that point to Jesus and his kingdom. Treasures that will help us to prosper in our walk as his followers. As disciples in the kingdom of heaven.
