Christians_Relationship_with_the_Old_Testament

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What relationship do Christians have to the Old Testament and the Law of Moses?

Does the Old Testament have any authority in our life?

Does the Christian need to know the Old Testament Law, and if so – why?

Many Christians answer these questions with one phrase: “We live under grace.” That phrase raises a second question.

Does living under grace mean we are free from the Old Testament law?

To answer that, we must determine what we mean by the Old Testament law.

The Old Testament Law refers to the commandments God gave to the nation of Israel through Moses. These laws taught the Israelites how to live in obedience to God, how to worship Him, and how to conduct themselves as His people. The laws are commonly divided into three categories:

1. Moral Law: These laws revealed God’s holy and righteous character and established His standards for human conduct. They taught the Israelites what God considered sinful and what He required of them in their relationship with Him and with others. Examples include commandments against murder, adultery, stealing, lying, and idolatry (Exodus 20:1–17; Leviticus 19:1–18).
2. Civil Law: These laws governed Israel as a nation and established how justice was to be administered among God’s people. For example, someone who stole another person’s property was required to make restitution (Exodus 22:1–4). God also established laws to protect the innocent, punish wrongdoing, and ensure fair treatment of others (Exodus 23:1–9).
3. Ceremonial Law: These laws governed Israel’s worship and their approach to a holy God. They included instructions concerning sacrifices for sin, the priesthood, ceremonial cleansing, dietary restrictions, and religious festivals. These practices taught Israel about God’s holiness, the seriousness of sin, and the need for atonement (Leviticus 1–7; 11; 16).

With the three kinds of law defined, the next step is to see why God gave them.

What was the purpose of the law?

God answers that question Himself. In Leviticus 10, God speaks to Aaron, Israel’s first high priest, and gives the priests their charge:

Leviticus 10:10–11 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;

11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

 

In Leviticus 11, God gives Israel the reason behind the laws of clean and unclean things:

Leviticus 11:44–45 44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

45 For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

 

In Deuteronomy 4, Moses speaks to Israel just before they enter the Promised Land:

Deuteronomy 4:5–6 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

 

Centuries later, God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel and charged Israel’s priests with failing in that duty:

Ezekiel 22:26 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

 

This last verse reminds us that God held the priests accountable for not teaching the difference between the holy things and the profane things. (Profane – refers to something common or ordinary; not set apart for God.)

So the purpose of the law was to teach the people how to live in a right relationship with God. This required them to know the difference between what is holy and unholy. The law of Moses taught the people what God considers holy or sinful; and it taught them how God responds to sin.

 

Proverbs 6 teaches us that God hates sin and considers it an abomination.

Proverbs 6:16–19 16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

 

The Confusion

Since the law teaches what God considers holy and sinful, one verse in Romans has caused confusion among many Christians. Paul wrote the book of Romans to the church at Rome to explain the gospel and how a saved person is to live.

Romans 6:14 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

 

Is Paul saying that the Old Testament Law has no authority in our life? If so, are we free to sin? He anticipates this question and answers in the very next verse.

Romans 6:15 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

 

Throughout Romans, Paul argues that our sinful nature is at war with the Spirit of Christ that now lives in us. We will call this new Spirit the Spirit of grace.

Paul argues we are not living under the control of sin but under the freedom of grace. But what does that freedom mean? Are we free to sin? NO – he is arguing that we are free from the power of sin over us. Now we are free to live apart from sin.

This freedom comes from the Spirit of God living in us and empowering us to choose NOT to sin.

But Paul does not deny that we are able to obey sin by choosing to commit sin. He makes this plain in the verses surrounding verse 14:

Romans 6:12–18 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

 

In Simple Terms: When Paul says we are no longer under the law but under grace, he is NOT suggesting that sin no longer has consequences. He is saying we are no longer hopelessly dominated by sin.

 

A Greater Responsibility

Those of us living today, especially those of us who profess to be saved from sin, live under a greater responsibility to be holy than those who lived under the law of Moses!

The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who knew the law of Moses well and were tempted to drift away from Christ. Its author makes this argument in three places. In Hebrews 2, the “word spoken by angels” refers to the law God gave through Moses at Sinai (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19).

Hebrews 2:1–4 1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

 

He makes the same argument in Hebrews 10:

Hebrews 10:28–29 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

 

And again in Hebrews 12:

Hebrews 12:25 25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

 

The author of Hebrews stressed over and over that if those who had the law of Moses died without mercy for violating the law, then our punishment will be greater because we live in a time when the Holy Spirit equips us to be free from sin.

Hebrews is teaching the same principle that Jesus taught. In Luke 12, Jesus tells a parable about servants who are waiting for their master to return:

Luke 12:47–48 47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

 

Jesus applied the same principle to whole cities in Matthew 11. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were towns in Galilee where He performed most of His miracles. Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom were Gentile cities known for their wickedness.

Matthew 11:20–24 20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

 

Jesus and the Commandments

Jesus never suggested that the law was not binding to us; He taught that the law applies to our inner thoughts and desires and not just our outward actions.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains God’s view of sin in much deeper terms than they understood it before.

Matthew 5:21–22 21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

 

Jesus makes the same point about adultery:

Matthew 5:27–28 27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

 

And again about how we treat our enemies:

Matthew 5:43–44 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

 

What relationship do Christians have to the Old Testament and the Law of Moses?

This brings us back to the question we started with.

• Christians do not live under the ceremonial (religious) laws God gave the nation of Israel.
• Nor do we live under the exact same civil laws God gave to the nation of Israel.
• But these laws do teach us how God views sin and the difference between holy and unholy things.
• Christians are expected to obey the moral laws God gave Moses in the Ten Commandments. And Jesus showed that God not only holds us accountable for outward actions but for inward thoughts and desires.
• The law in the Old Testament teaches us about God and how to live in a right relationship with God. And God has not changed.

God declared this through Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets:

Malachi 3:6 6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 

What does God’s law and the punishment for breaking His law teach you about God’s holiness and the standard of holiness God expects from you?