Bible readers will come across the expression, “the law and the prophets,” several times in the New Testament. It is important to know how the Bible uses that expression and what it means to us today.
The Hebrew Bible was not arranged in the exact order that our Old Testament is today. It was divided into three main sections: (1) The Law, (2) The Prophets and (3) The Writings. “The Law” consisted of the first five books of the Bible. “The Prophets” was subdivided into the “Former Prophets” (containing many of the historical books) and the “Latter Prophets” (containing most of the prophetic books). “The Writings” consisted of the poetic books and the remaining historical and prophetic books. Sometimes “The Writings” was referred to as “The Psalms,” after the largest book of that division.
In New Testament times, they did not immediately begin referring to the Old Testament as “The Old Testament,” for until “The NEW Testament” was revealed, it was not (to them) “The OLD Testament.” It was first in the book of Second Corinthians and the book of Hebrews (both in contexts of contrasting the old and the new covenants) that the writers referred to “the Old Testament” (2 Cor. 3:14) and “the first covenant” (Heb. 9:15). Until that differentiation was made between “The New” and “The Old,” the Hebrew Bible (the only Bible from God until the New Testament) was simply referred to (in short) as “the law and the prophets.” That was their way of identifying the collection of inspired books that we now call “The Old Testament” (see that clearly in Acts 13:15).
Now, look at what the New Testament tells us about the Old Testament (identified as “the law and the prophets”). “The law and the prophets were until John” (Luke 16:16). Note that marker of time, when a transition was being made to “the kingdom of God” or “the Way,” which was foretold “in the Law and the Prophets” (Acts 24:14) and becoming a reality in that day. Jesus said that He came to “fulfill” the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17), and then before His ascension, He affirmed “all things” had been “fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44).
What’s the point for us today? Jesus “abolished in His flesh…the law of commandments” (Eph. 2:15), for when He “fulfilled” all that was written in the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:44), He took that which was “obsolete” (Heb. 8:13) “out of the way” (Col. 2:14), and He brought His “new covenant” into “force” (Heb. 9:15-17). He took away the entirety of “the first that He may establish the second” (Heb. 10:9), under which we live today.