The Dangerous Irrelevance of the Old Testament Law

We're now at a place in our One Year Bible that I sometimes call "the tough stuff." Repeated ceremonial laws and rules for cleanliness. What are we to do? It's been awhile since I posted, but hopefully the length of this post will make up for any lack of insight I've had the past few weeks. -Joe

While I was sitting in Common Ground Coffee House & Deli the other day, a man approached me and stated that he’d overheard that I was a pastor. I confirmed his statement and he proceeded to enlighten me to some interesting facts he’d been reading in the Old Testament recently. We had a nice conversation about the Passover and some different observances and then he began to go on his way. As I turned my attention back to my game of FreeCell (I was in the middle of a 25 game winning streak), he added one final comment:

“You know, I’m really trying to follow the Old Testament law… Jesus fulfilled it, but He didn’t abolish it… it’s just hard to figure out which ones still apply and which ones don’t.”

And then he walked away.

In hindsight, I wish I’d said something to him, challenged him in some way, for I believe with all my heart that he is on a journey towards a headache, and I believe with all my head that he is on his way towards heartache. And though his zeal for the Lord and for His word is laudable, his misunderstanding of the relationship of the Old Testament to our lives is going to cause a lot of unneeded struggle in his life.

The apostle Paul speaks directly to people like this man in his epistle to the believers in Galatia. What Paul said is this: Gentiles have never been, and will never be, required to follow the Jewish law laid out in the Old Testament. Paul is never more passionate than when he’s defending this thesis. He rebukes Peter for suggesting by his actions that Gentiles were less right with God for being uncircumcised; he calls the Galatians foolish for believing that something other than faith was needed; he even wishes emasculation upon the ones who are trying to convince the Galatians to follow the law.

If this weren’t enough, Paul goes on to tie Jews into the same deal that the Gentiles received; no one is saved by the law, all are saved by faith in the grace of God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Perhaps no verse is so important to this discussion as Galatians 5: 3-4: “If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all the of the regulations in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

That said, I’ve talked to people who with this understanding, have decided that there is no reason to read the Old Testament, because it is irrelevant to the modern Christian walk (not to mention that it’s hard to understand and often boring).

And though this perspective is slightly less dangerous than the former, it is equally misdirected and based upon a profound misunderstanding of the Biblical message of grace.

You see, reading only the New Testament, without studying the old, is like reading the third book in a trilogy without reading the previous two. Though Return of the King is a good book (and movie) on its own, it’s greatness and grandeur come from the story and conflict set up in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. In the same way, the New Testament is good on its own (a fact well attested to by the number of standalone New Testaments floating around in motel nightstands and Christian bookstores).

Like many Christians, I am tempted to skim past or skip altogether the legal documents of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is difficult reading; ceremonial law after ceremonial law, followed by rules for what should and should not be eaten (by the way, bacon is forbidden by Jewish law, which is one of the big reasons I’m glad to be a gentile Christian living under the new covenant). I am led to a question: why is all of this written down in the inspired Scriptures of our loving and all-powerful God?

The answer is found throughout the book of Leviticus, but many people miss it. All you need to do is pay attention to whatever is repeated. The thing said the most is probably the most important.

One phrase is repeated in Leviticus 11:44, 45; 18:2, 4, 5, 6, 21, 30; 19:3, 4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37; 20:7, 8, 24; 21:12, 15, 23; 22:2, 3, 8, 9, 16, 30, 31, 32, 33; 23:22, 43; 24:22; 25:17, 38, 55; 26:1, 2, 13, 44, and 45. This phrase is repeated 74 times in the first five books of the Bible, almost 50 times in Leviticus alone. What is this key to understanding the law?

“I am the LORD.”

The capitalized use of LORD in the English translation is representing the name YHWH, the personal name of God revealed to His people. Do you understand?

The entire law of God is focused on one divine purpose: God is describing Himself to us. He is showing us in every verse of the law what His nature is, what His character is, who He is as our God. When He details how cloth should not be mixed and how all sorts of things should be kept separate, He is describing His holiness to us; He is telling us that He is separate and pure. When He describes family relations, He is telling us that He is relational and that there are proper ways for relationships to work. When He says that people should leave some leftovers in their fields for the poor, He is telling us that He cares deeply for the downtrodden of this world. When He says, do not misuse the name of the LORD, your God, He is not so much telling people not to say “god” as a swear word (though it’s still a bad idea) as He is warning us not to misunderstand who He is. He is the LORD.

So when the New Testament says that Christ fulfilled the law, it is not simply referring to the fact that Jesus led a blameless life; no, it is making the bold assertion that Christ has finished the picture begun in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Hebrews 1 makes it clear. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

So you see, the law was always powerless to make us righteous, but it was powerful to show us our God. And where the law was limited even in it’s ability to do that, Christ has fulfilled all of the law and prophets, completing all that God gave Him to do. And just as the law cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of Christ, so Christ cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of God’s revelation which came before.

So let us read, and understand the marvelous purity and grace of our God.