Why do we need the Old Testament if we are not saved by the law?

The Old Testament is needed because, although the law has nothing to do now with salvation or with God imputing righteousness to us, everything believers enjoy in this age of grace rests on what took place back there in the Old Testament. It is the foundation, just as higher mathematics requires first learning the simple part.

Les explains that even though the law has nothing to do now with our salvation or with the imputing of righteousness from God to us, yet everything you and I enjoy in this age of grace rests on what took place back there in the Old Testament. He compares it to how you cannot go into higher mathematics until you have learned the simple part. The righteousness of God is through the faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, with no difference between Jew and Gentile. Paul stresses that salvation is by believing with all the heart, not by adding works, and the Old Testament supplies the necessary foundation for that grace.

Why is the Old Testament still important for us in this age of grace if the law does not save us?

The Old Testament remains important because, although the law no longer has any part in salvation or in God imputing righteousness to believers, everything enjoyed in this age of grace rests on what took place in the Old Testament. It provides the foundation, much like learning the simple part before advancing to higher mathematics.