My kids and I have discovered In2TV, and have been enjoying watching old shows. The other day, an episode we were watching opened with a man in a lab coat furiously working, surrounded by cages of white mice. You already know what he was, don't you? Because you've seen the image so many times, you know already that he is some sort of scientist (from the lab coat), probably experimenting on the mice, and his "furiousness" suggested a hint of madness.
My kids, however, were full of questions. Who is that man? Why are those mice in cages? What is he doing? Is he nice? Is he being bad?
So, what does this have to do with hermeneutics? Just as my kids missed the thousand words inherent in the picture of the scientist, you will miss much of the message of the New Testament if you are not already familiar with the Old Testament. There are over 2,700 quotations or allusions to the Old Testament in the New Testament, which works out to an average of 100 per book. It has been noted by some that the book of Revelation is the most Old Testament book in the New Testament.
So let me encourage you to study the Old Testament. Yes, we live in the New Covenant, but you don't want to miss the pictures.