How Should We View The OT Law Today?
Is It Still Applicable?
Today we are going to look at one of the most common themes in the OT which is the law. The law we find in the OT is recorded in the first five books of the Bible known as the ‘Pentateuch’ and we are going to address what this still looks like for us today. Now if you know anything about the old and new covenant in God’s Word, you may be thinking that the old covenant no longer applies to us and therefore has nothing more to reveal to us or teach us. And while it is true that we are under a new covenant because of Christ, this doesn’t entirely mean that the old covenant has nothing more that we can learn from it. As Paul reminds us in Romans 7:13 “13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” Just as the law revealed to us the consequences of our sin, it also reveals to us our need for Christ. Both of these aspects are points that we can clearly learn from and apply today. As John Piper beautifully reminds us, “Thus Paul teaches that we should not leave the law behind, not reject the law for something else, but fulfill the law in the power of the Holy Spirit through faith which works itself out in love.” Forgetting the law completely because of what Christ has fulfilled is to miss the point of the law in the first place. Yes, there are aspects of the OT law that have been fulfilled and are not meant to be repeated like animal sacrifices or separation from particular foods, but the OT law still shows us God’s heart and reveals to us how God still calls us to live in the NT. Let’s dive in.
Christ & The Law
To start, let’s remind ourselves what the point of the law was. As we have discussed in previous posts and as you see all throughout Romans, the goal of the law was to point out the sin in our lives so that it may be atoned for and we can live in the righteous way that God requires. In essence, the goal of the law was to reveal the standard by which God’s people needed to live if they wanted to dwell with Him. The obvious problem with this is that no one could ever fulfill the law because of their sinful nature which is why we all need the sacrifice of Christ. So while many practices of the law are no longer applicable to us, the heart of the law still remains. John Piper explains this in great light when he mentions, “Since Christ has come and fulfilled the sacrificial side of the OT (1 Corinthians 5:7), and has declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), and has founded a new people of God which is not a national or ethnic group, many of the OT commandments do not apply to us (e.g., dietary laws, laws about sacrifices, laws pertaining to political organizations and national action). But vast portions of the OT describe dimensions of obedience which are true for God's people in any age.” It is clear that there are many specific rules that the old covenant included that we don’t need to follow anymore due to the new covenant, however, there are many others that include loving our neighbors and obeying the Lord that still ring true today. Furthermore, as we have also stated in previous posts, even the laws that we don’t need to fulfill or follow today can still point us to Christ. When we look at the OT law and see just how much we needed to accomplish to be in right standing with God, we see just how great our need for a savior really is. The old covenant shouldn’t just be viewed as an old rule of the past, but it should point us to the heart of God and our overwhelming need for a savior.
God’s Moral Standard
Now we clearly know that the law points us to God’s heart, and that doesn't change, and we also know that the law reveals to us our need for Christ, and that doesn’t change either. So with the new covenant being the covenant that we are to live in, how do we know which aspects of the old one are still active in the new one? Which points of the OT law do we forget about and which ones do we follow? John MacArthur helps reveal this to us. He notes, “How do we view the law in the present? In the past, it is addition. As to the future, it is insertion. As to the present, it is instruction. It is instruction. You say, well, if the whole ceremonial law is now set aside, what's left? What’s left is God and God's moral standards haven't changed. They were true before Abraham, they were true in the four hundred and thirty years between Abraham and Moses, and they're still true.” God’s moral standard, while expressed in different ways in the OT and NT, has never changed. God still calls us to live as a holy people by being set apart by perfect righteousness. The only difference is that on one side, our righteousness is obtained by following 613 laws, and on the other, it is obtained by the sacrifice of Christ. Even if we are saved by Christ, however, this doesn’t mean that we aren’t expected to follow any rules or laws.
Paul himself actually shows us which aspects of the OT law we are still required to follow in his letter to the Galatians. Galatians 5:14 says, “14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Seriously? That’s it? Yup. I know you may be thinking that it's a bit much to write a whole post on a question that is easily answered in one verse, but I want everyone to understand the weight of the new covenant that we live in. If we were to throw out the old covenant completely, we would essentially be throwing out this commandment in Galatians 5:14 as well. Again, just as Dr. MacArthur stated, God’s covenant may have changed, but His morals haven’t. God has always called us to love one another, even in the OT law. And when we throw out the law, we throw out God’s morals as well. This is why our Bibles tell us that Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). Yes, we don’t need to ascribe to and fulfill the laws regarding diet, sacrifices, and political organizations, but we are to always love one another as God has commanded. And while this looks different from the OT to the NT, God’s moral standard for His people has never changed. When we simply gloss over God’s law in the Pentateuch, however, we can easily start to believe that it has. I hope and pray that the next time you read through the first five books of the Bible, you aren’t just reminded of your incredible need for Christ, but that you are reminded of your command to love others just as God has always commanded us to.
Sources
[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023.
[2] Piper, J. (2023, November 8). Why the Law Was Given. Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/why-the-law-was-given
[3] The purpose of the law. (1998, January 11). Grace to You. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-178/the-purpose-of-the-law
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