We have looked at what the Law is and how the Old Testament saints viewed it. But what about the Christ-followers of today? Should we try to keep it? Dismiss it? Some other option?
Outsiders often accuse us Christians of being inconsistent with our obedience. We seem to want to adhere to parts of the law (avoid adultery and homosexuality) but overlook other parts (bacon and shrimp, anyone?) On the surface, it looks like they are right. So let’s look beyond the surface…
The best place to start is often by describing the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. One contributor to DesiringGod.org describes it this way:
The Old Testament devotes a good amount of space to describing the various sacrifices that were to be offered in the tabernacle (and later the temple) to atone for sin so that worshipers could approach a holy God. That sacrificial system included a complex set of rules for ceremonial purity and cleanness — you could only approach God in worship if you ate certain foods, wore certain forms of clothing, refrained from touching certain objects, and so on. This code vividly conveyed, over and over, that human beings are spiritually unclean and cannot enter God’s presence without purification. But even in the Old Testament, many passages indicate that the sacrifices and regulations of temple worship point ahead to something beyond them. This “something” was Jesus. Throughout his ministry, Jesus ignored Old Testament regulations regarding purification; he touched lepers and dead bodies, and declared all foods “clean.”
The culmination of Jesus’ ministry made clear his reason for doing this. When he died on the cross, the curtain in the temple tore in two, demonstrating that the entire sacrificial system and its ceremonial laws had been done away with. It is Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice for sin, not the laws of the Old Testament, that makes us clean now.
The book of Hebrews explains that the Old Testament ceremonial laws were not so much abolished as fulfilled by Christ. Whenever we pray in Jesus’ name, we “have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19). As a result, if Christians continued to practice the ceremonial laws, their actions would be deeply inconsistent with the teaching of the Bible as a whole.
The New Testament provides further guidance for reading and understanding the Old Testament. Paul makes clear that the apostles understood the Old Testament moral law to still be binding on us. In short, the coming of Christ changed how we worship, but not how we live. The moral law outlines God’s own character — his integrity, love and faithfulness. Old Testament commandments about loving our neighbor, caring for the poor, being generous with our possessions and being committed to family still apply. The New Testament continues to forbid killing and adultery, and the sexual ethic of the Old Testament is restated throughout the New Testament. If the New Testament reaffirms an Old Testament commandment, then it continues to have force for us today.
Lots of thoughts on this but I shall try to distill them into just a few. First, the Law in general was never given with the thought that one might earn heaven by obeying them all perfectly or adequately. So it is critical that we Christ-followers not view it as means to obtain God’s favor. God grants us His favor only through Jesus; our works cannot add to nor detract from that. When we view the law through this lens of error, we become self-righteous, judgmental and legalistic. Missing the entire point of God’s purpose. Instead of rules to follow, it is helpful for the Law to be more like mirror that shows us our need for Christ, ever pressing us into Him for transformation.
Next, let’s remember how Jesus explained the purpose of the law in Matthew 22:35-40;
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
This simplification doesn’t eliminate the Ten Commandments; it fulfills them, showing us the heart and desire of God for His people. We see this in Jesus and then understand why He said He didn’t come to abolish the Law but rather to fulfill it (Matthew 5). He knew then and He knows now that we can never keep it - that is why He kept it for us completely! That is why God says our righteousness is found in Christ.
This understanding helps us understand that since our purpose here is to love God and love others then we must always be seeking to understand what that looks like. The most loving thing we will ever be able to do for anyone is to point them to Christ and the truth of His Word. (Not to accept their sin in the misguided proclamation of tolerance!) In addition to being a mirror as mentioned above, we see the Law as a guide, helping us to know what it looks like to love God and love others. This guidance by the Spirit not only directs us how to love God and others, because it is the WORD OF GOD, it actually has the power to transform us in this process of obedience.So, when Christ, by the Spirit, indwells you, a work is being done in your life that the law was never powerful enough to accomplish in you, so that “the frui of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23). Absolutely amazing!
Third, we who follow Christ should view God’s commandments as a guardrail, keeping us on the path of blessing. I John 5:3 tells us that His commandments are not burdensome.
Brief detour for a look at what the New Testament means by HIS COMMANDMENTS here…
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:19–22)
The teaching of Christ and the apostles would be included, but also included would be, for instance, the implications of Christ’s example for his followers (see, e.g., Philippians 2:5), the various ways God’s Spirit induces certain values and forms of behavior in Christ followers (e.g., Galatians 5:16–25), and the working out of the renewed mind. As in Galatians 6:2, “law of Christ” is best seen as a contrast to the law of Moses, a neat way of referring to the moral constraints of the new covenant that Paul and other believers are obliged to obey. They now encounter the “law of God” not as the law (of Moses) but “the law of Christ”.
SO what is the take away? Are we supposed to keep the Old Testament laws, including the weird ones about fabrics and diets and handwashing? No. Jesus fulfilled those and freed us from living under them. Their purpose was to point the world to Christ. But the aspects of the OT law that are affirmed and repeated in the NT (sexual morality, doing good to others, being free from greed and materialism), YES. The Law and the Prophets rest on those. Commands that serve to provoke us to love God and others are eternal, modeled by Jesus.
Instead of thinking that God’s commands to us are restrictive and joy-killing, the Spirit enables us to see them as the path to great blessing. Whether it’s how to handle finances (owe no man anything but love - Romans 13:8) or instructions on managing our relationships (forgive! Matthew 18:21-35) or how to build our family (Ephesians 5 and 6), obedience to God’s commands bring great joy.
God’s commands - not burdensome but rather blessing. The key is to trust Him enough to obey.