The Old Testament is scripture, and the New Testament is a 'peshar' <ref>Peshar has a bad connotation in Christian circles because the rabbis use so much unverifiable invention and free-for-all allegory. But Jesus and the apostles did it in a verifiable and reproducible manner giving it an authority in truth not offered by other methods, and it is from them that we get our cues.</ref> or interpretation of scripture in light of the mystery hidden from the beginning being revealed in Christ and the cross. All New Testament teaching has a source in the Old <ref>This is important. The New Testament is not 'magic' new doctrine, but the fulfillment of the mystery</ref>. This does not denigrate the New Testament in any way, but elevates it at as the proper (Christian) <ref>This commentary does not address concerns of Jews nor Muslims</ref> interpretation of 'scripture' by those who would know: Jesus and his disciples. It is a shame that some scholars would dare to hint that Jesus and the apostles 'misappropriated' scripture since they violate Greek rules of interpretation imposed hundreds of years later. Our goal is to learn how they produced the pesher; to learn their rules of hermeneutics.

Scholars have used the term 'sensus plenior' to describe the phenomenon that the original authors did not know what they were writing in the mystery. But the term as used by them is limited to a few dozen scriptures which are not easy to wrest into a literal-historical interpretation. The mystery is the warp and woof of scripture.