Many people think Christians are hypocritical in how they apply Old Testament laws to modern life. After all, Christians don’t follow Deuteronomy 22:11, which says, “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof.” Yet they agree that adultery is wrong (Ex 20:14). The truth is, many Christians understand that certain laws related to Israel but no longer directly apply today—they just can’t explain why. What we decide about the role of God’s Law in our lives is a big deal. Unless we provide reasons for our apparent inconsistencies, we present low-hanging fruit to a culture that increasingly wants to disparage Christian thought and practice. Rather than dissect every law, I’m going to share some essential principles to help in these matters.
Paul Appears to Pose a Problem
Christians believe the whole Bible to be God’s Word given to humanity, some of the New Testament teaching about the Old Testament can perplex us. Paul insists that Christians are no longer “under law but under grace” (Rom 6:15). He says that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” and “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Rom 8:2, Gal 5:18). But in other texts, he affirms that “the law is good” (Rom 7:12, 1 Tim 1:8). So which is it, Paul?
To understand why Paul spoke this way, let’s consider a framework evangelical theologians have utilized for generations. We can distinguish between the moral, civil, and ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. In other words, some laws were ethical imperatives that transcend time and culture (moral), other laws pertained to specific social practices of the Jewish people and ancient near eastern peoples (civil), and other laws related to the proper worship of God (ceremonial). Just compare the following examples:
- Civil—Lev 23:24—“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket.” (I don’t have any neighbors with vineyards, and if I did I doubt I would feel comfortable just picking their grapes!)
- Ceremonial—Lev 1:2-3—“When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord . . . you must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting.” (We couldn’t do this if we wanted to; the tent of meeting doesn’t exist anymore.)
- Moral—Lev 19:13—“You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him” (Ok, I get this one. I get it so well I wouldn’t want to eat his grapes.)
The New Covenant – It Does Change Things
It’s easy to see that various types of laws pervade the Old Testament. We should be careful, though, not to make overly formal distinctions between these types of laws. Wasn’t Israel morally obligated to fulfill all of them? God didn’t color code the Torah to make some laws more important than others for them. However, these categories are sustained functionally in the New Testament and indicate that Christians should now apply the Old Testament laws in new ways. Let’s see why…
Paul frequently stressed that aspects of God’s law were ethnically and temporally limited. The reason? It all begins with God’s covenant with Abraham. The Scriptures predicted that “God would justify the Gentiles by faith” rather than by the Old Testament laws, and this is foreshadowed when God said to Abraham, “In you shall all the nations be blessed” (Gal 3:7-8). That leads Paul to exclaim, “There is neither Jew nor Greek . . . if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:28-29). God’s intent was that national distinctions would not divide his church and the strictly civil and ceremonial elements of God’s law would give way to the New Covenant promised in the Old Testament (Jer 31:31-34). Jesus unveiled the New Covenant at the first Lord’s Supper: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Those saved by the blood of Jesus are partakers of this New Covenant. [1]
Christians Now Celebrate the Ceremonial Law
Christians do not follow the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament for another critical reason: they were fulfilled in and by Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:1 says they were “only a shadow of the good things to come.” The priests, the offerings, the forms of worship—Jesus Christ performed all the works necessary to fulfill the ceremonial laws through his life, death, and resurrection. He obeyed God perfectly, sacrificed himself for the sins of humanity, and now sits at the right hand of the Father as our Great High Priest. Therefore, the believer upholds the ceremonial dimensions of the Law of God not by doing them, but by recognizing and accepting their fulfillment in Christ. [2] It would be the height of hypocrisy for a Christian to practice the ceremonial dimensions of the law under the illusion that they yield religious power to gain God’s favor—that would be to reject the work of Christ, who has now and forever reconciled us to God.
The Law is Still Relevant, but in New Ways
Paul does say that the law is still good . . . “if one uses it lawfully” (1 Tim 1:8). Reasons for the continuing relevance of the Old Testament laws for Christians permeate the New Testament—but they are relevant in new ways. Grasping this is key, or we will misapply the laws to contemporary situations. Here are overarching principles that Christians must bear in mind:
- Even laws that don’t apply directly still have indirect significance for Christians. Ceremonial laws illustrate the holiness of God and the care we should take to know him, relate to him, and obey him. Civil laws reveal God’s heart concerning justice and how we should treat our neighbor. We would surely be a much holier people, and have a much healthier society, if we regularly contemplated the Old Testament laws and related their intentions to similar modern situations.
- God’s laws still expose humanity’s sinful state. When we read the Old Testament laws—whether ceremonial, civil, or moral—we become aware of our own moral ineptitude. We recognize our woeful failure to live morally pure lives in light of their awesome implications for worship and ethics. The Law of God leaves humanity’s sins and sinfulness lying naked, defeated, and condemned for all to see (Rom 7:7-13; 2 Cor 3:6-11; Gal 3:21-22).
- The law guides us to the feet of Christ. The corollary to the sin-revealing and condemning function of the Law is its role as a custodian. In Greco-Roman society, the paidagogos, or custodian, was responsible to administer the affairs of minors, including their schooling. The Law served to guide and manage the people of God until the coming of Jesus Christ, the one who would fulfill the Law’s requirements and justify us through faith (Gal 3:23-25; 4:4-5).[3]
- The law cannot condemn those who belong to Christ. Building upon the fact of the Law’s fulfillment in Christ, Paul also presents the Law as having lost its power to condemn those who place their faith in Christ. Without the forgiveness of sins gained through Christ’s shed blood, we would remain under the Law’s condemnation (Rom 8:1-4; 1 Cor 15:56-57).
- We follow the “Law of Christ” which has its roots in the Old Testament. The Law of Christ is, simply put, the Holy Spirit guided manifestation of love (Matt 22:34-40, Gal 5:13-18, Rom 13:8-10, Rom 8:1-4). But we shouldn’t think of “love” as an open-ended expression of what we perceive to be goodness or kindness toward God or others. God defines love. The moral norms of the Old Testament provide insights as to the nature of love and what practices constitute real love—that means it still has value for defining moral behavior for Christians. Jesus himself brilliantly exposed applications of the Old Testament, as can be seen in passages such as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus both embodied and expounded the Law, demonstrating the everlasting worth of the principles of the Old Testament (Matt 5:17-48; 23:23-24).
In Sum…
Far from being hypocrites, Christians have good reason for their perspectives and use of the Old Testament. If Christians understand their relationship to the Old Testament laws in light of these principles, they will be able to respond to the charge of hypocrisy. More importantly, they will reap the benefits of the whole Word of God. In an upcoming article, I will present some in-depth examples of how Christians might relate some specific Old Testament laws to our modern time.
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[1] Several key passages make the ethnic/temporal limitations of the Law quite clear: Romans 3:28-31, Ephesians 2, and Galatians 3. I recommend carefully reading them along with the following article: Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, s.v. “Law” by Frank Thielman, 531-536. This is one of the most concise, clear, and convincing presentations of the New Testament treatment of the Law that I have encountered.
[2] See Douglas J. Moo, “The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ” in Continuity and Discontinuity, ed. John S. Feinberg (Westchester, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1988), 217.
[3] See Richard N. Longnecker, Galatians. Word Biblical Commentary, 41 (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, 1990), 146-149.