Christians have been really blessed in this nation to have had the freedom to be able to live a lifestyle based on the law of God. However, that trend is seemingly coming to an end. That freedom is going to move on; it is slowly being taken away from us. Here is an interesting quote:
“…it is a sign of the times. As John Daniel Davidson compellingly argues in Pagan America, the nature of the American state has fundamentally changed. After decades of decline and retreat, Christianity is no longer a dominant force in American society but the faith of an increasingly marginalized minority. The civilizational consequences of crossing this momentous but largely unrecognized tipping point have only just begun to materialize.”
What is happening on college campuses now is overflowing into our society to disrupt and to destroy it. And Christianity is not going to be upheld as a wonderful virtue. Living by the law of God is going to become more difficult. And we need to take the time now to build a solid understanding of God’s way of life, His governing principles, virtues, civil and spiritual laws. Not just an intellectual exercise but a very practical experience.
A central aspect of God’s law is that it is “unchangeable”. Note that Christ’s role did not and does not decrease the importance of God’s law: “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles . . . The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable” (Isaiah 42:1,21). When Christ was on the earth, He reinforced that point (Matthew 5:17-20).
It’s clear that Christ lifted the law onto a more important spiritual plateau. Yet the Apostle Paul had and still has the reputation in theological schools of doing away with God’s law. He supposedly “spiritualized away” the Mosaic law. That is contrary to Paul’s teaching: “For what the [Mosaic] law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3–4).
True Christians have the spiritual ability, through God’s Holy Spirit made available through Christ’s sacrifice, to take the law and lift it individually in our own heart, in our own mind onto a higher level. Paul does uphold and use the Mosaic law as a moral standard of godly conduct.
Paul took the principles in the Old Testament and used them in a spiritual way in the New Testament For instance, it’s part of God’s law that we treat animals kindly and take care of their needs. God’s law does involve animal husbandry (Deuteronomy 25:4; Proverbs 12:10).
See what Paul did with this principle in Corinth: “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we have no right to eat and drink?” (1 Corinthians 9:1–4). Paul is talking about his work as a minister and his devotion to preaching the gospel and he is saying, ‘Do I not have the right to eat and drink? In his defense Paul sites Deuteronomy 25.4.
“Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?” (1 Corinthians 9:8–11).
Paul is saying that the ministry has a right to eat and drink from the people he is serving. He takes an aspect of an OT law and gives it a spiritual application. Paul’s approach to the law was to take specific commands and make the spiritual principle the norm for godly conduct. Paul harmonizes these two principles, that the laborer is worthy of his hire, of his wages (1 Timothy 5:17-18).
In Romans, there is one principle that is not easy to apply because it goes against the grain of the human mind: “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord” (Romans 12:17–19). Note the Old Testament law regarding vengeance in Deuteronomy 32:35. This is a part of God’s law. It’s also a part of “love your neighbor as yourself.” We should not avenge ourselves if we are wronged or try to cause the other person harm.
It is important to look for principles to apply in the Old Testament rather than to look for loopholes. Christ said that we are to live by every word that proceeds for the mouth of God (Matthew 4.4). So in reality no divisions exist in the Bible, but just to clarify some of these things, the Old Testament laws can be identified in three categories:
- The moral law summarized by the 10 commandments.
- The ceremonial or sacrificial law
- The civil or judicial law of Israel
In Israel these divisions did not exist. There was no separation of church and state. So we need some guidelines on how to approach God’s laws today:
- We must assume an Old Testament law is binding until we see that the New Testament teaches otherwise.
In Galatians 3, Paul discusses a law that was added because of transgression: “therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24-25). This is the sacrificial law.
We need to keep in mind that the Bible is a book of continuity. The division of Old Testament and New Testament is really not by God’s design. It’s a whole book and it all develops and flows that way. For example, Israel all the way from Abraham through into the New Testament Church. There’s a seamlessness between the Old Testament and the New Testament. They keep building and strengthening and growing in terms of understanding and application.
Christ magnified the law in its application. There is the physical and then the transition into the spiritual. There is ancient Israel, a physical nation. Then there is the New Testament Church, spiritual Israel. We’ve been so programmed by the world we live in for so long, to look at the Old Testament as old, nasty, hard, and harsh. The New Testament is full of love. We still need to overcome that hurdle in our mind as we grow. We live in a changing society where morality and authority are changing. And we do not have authority to pick and choose which laws we might want to obey or not.
As the values and the standards in this world are changing, there is the temptation to try and make God’s way of life fit some of those worldly values. That tendency is there but we don’t have that authority. It’s the unchangeable and immutable law of God. We need to look for its application in the Old Testament and see if it fits anywhere in our lifestyle today.
- We obey the laws that define sin.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, . . .” (Romans 5:12-14).
Sin is attributed to Adam. Sin is the transgression of the law. The law was in place long before the codified law was given at Mount Sinai. So we want to look for those laws that help us define sin for the obvious reasons: “. . . I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin (Romans 7:7,12,14).
The value of the law is to identify what sin is. And Paul said the law is holy, and the commandments are holy and just and good. He’s quoting from the ten commandments when he says that. The law as summarized by the ten commandments is binding. And it’s holy and it is spiritual.
- We do not keep the ceremonial or sacrificial laws.
“Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. 9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience — 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:1,9-10).
“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. . . . 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.. . .5 Therefore, when He came into the world, [Christ] said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. . . .18 Now where there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:1,3,5,18).
Jesus Christ fulfilled the sacrificial offerings with His own sacrifice. All of the sacrifices, refer to Jesus Christ in different aspects one way or another (Leviticus 1-7). So, Jesus Christ fulfilled this system. Another reason we don’t keep the sacrificial laws is simply that there is no temple and no Levitical priesthood today to offer those sacrifices.
However, we are to offer spiritual sacrifices (Psalms 51:15-17). And there are things to be remembered when He is promising after His death and resurrection that the Holy Spirit would come, and be available to them (John 14:26). Physical Israel needed physical reminders. Spiritual Israel has God’s Spirit to bring His laws to mind.
- With the dissolution of national boundaries by captivity, the loss of the temple and the Levitical priesthood, the civil or judicial laws cannot be enforced.
We don’t have the means and the ability to enforce these civil laws. The civil law administered national laws governing the nation of Israel. We don’t have that authority. Look for an example in Deuteronomy 19. We are not called to do that (Deuteronomy 19:1-5,14).
- Even if we cannot keep the civil laws in the letter we should keep the principles intended.
These are good principles. You just do these things in your neighborhood to care for your neighbors and your friends. With Neighborhood App you always see somebody’s lost a dog or somebody’s gained a dog. They’re reaching out to each other to help each other. You look out for your brother, your neighbors, your friends. And when they do that to you, you know how appreciative you are of their care and their concern (Deuteronomy 22:1-3; Exodus 21:33-35).
- Obey laws which define love towards God and our neighbor.
“You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD. 15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD. 17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:13–18). All those principles are great principles and should be a part of how we approach other people in or out of the Church.
So, which laws? Christ defined in the two great commandments in the law: “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ 37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ ” (Matthew 22:35–40).
The law was powerful in the mind of Jesus Christ and He wanted to impart that to His people (Romans 13:8,10). Love has always been the goal of the law. So, for people to say that the New Testament is love. The Old Testament, that’s a harsh, cruel God. It’s ridiculous. God’s law has always been about love because God is love. And any law He gave, whether it be Old or New Testament is an expression of love.
1 Timothy 1:8 “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,”
Brian Orchard