How Should We Understand The Law
How Should We Understand the Law?
In this series in "How to Understand the Bible" we are focussing on how to understand the Old Testament. Many people find parts of the Old Testament daunting and challenging to understand. One such part is that portion in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along with this series, encourage them to learn more and sign up to receive the series via email.
Most people who start to read the Bible from the beginning for the first time will typically have this experience: Genesis is fascinating with the story of creation, Babel, the flood, and the epic stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The exodus story is gripping. And then comes the law. Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments are familiar. Next come the flurry of laws and stipulations, many of which are so far removed from our culture and hard to understand that the Bible reader can get bogged down. Mid-Leviticus, typically.
What is "the law"? What is the purpose of the more than 600 regulations? And, very importantly, how much of this applies to our lives? Why do we believe that "You shall not commit adultery" in the Ten Commandments applies to us but "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material" does not?
In Scripture "the law" may refer to the more than 600 regulations Moses passed on to the people in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, or it may refer to the first five books of the Bible, or as shorthand for the entire pattern of religious life and rituals in the Old Testament. Law is a way for any society to define the proper bounds of behavior both for protection and for flourishing. But the law of the Old Testament is unique in that it was God's way of shaping his relationship with a covenant people.
This will help us understand the sometimes bewildering array of laws, some of which seem strange to us. The Hebrews were chosen to live in a distinctive way by how they dressed, what they ate, and how they worshipped. Most of these laws do not carry over after the coming of Christ, when the old covenant gave way to the new covenant, and the way of living in obedience to God comes via a higher kind of law.In Exodus through Deuteronomy there are three kinds of laws. First, there are civil regulations, for instance, property rights; marriage and divorce standards; laws sanctioning theft, murder, and other crimes; health regulations; etc.
Then there are ritual instructions that define the sacrificial system, the festivals, the role of the Levites, and the specific physical features of the tabernacle.
Finally, there are moral principles, which include sexual ethics, the major themes of the Ten Commandments, and more. These three types are sometimes called the civil law, the ceremonial law, and the moral law.
So how do we know which of the 600 laws in the Old Testament apply to Christians today? Should we avoid eating shellfish? Ought we to observe Passover? Is it wrong to steal? Do we have to observe the Sabbath (i.e., rest on the seventh day of the week, Saturday)? Are sexual relations between blood relatives wrong? Is tithing (i.e., giving 10 percent of your income) an eternal commandment?We have to answer this question on something better than our intuitions. The terms of the new covenant must guide us here, and what we find in the New Testament is that the civil law was God's way of shaping Hebrew society; it's not binding today. The ritual law used sacrifice and festivals and the tabernacle to teach lessons about sin and atonement, but it has now been superseded by the work of Christ. (See the teaching in the New Testament book of Hebrews.) Moral laws have ongoing validity, but mostly because they are repeated in one form or another in the New Testament.
But lest we repeat the legalism and self-righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law of Jesus' day, we are guided in the new covenant by this one transcendent principle: the law of love or "the law of Christ"Gal. 6:22 Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.Jesus said the whole old covenant law can be summed in :Matt. 22:37-40 37 Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[] 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." Paul put it this way: "the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" Gal. 5:1414 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[a]and "love is the fulfillment of the law" Rom. 13:8-108 Owe nothing to anyone-except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law. 9 For the commandments say, "You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet."[a] These-and other such commandments-are summed up in this one commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[] 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law.
It would be reasonable to ask: "If most of the Law in the first five books of the Bible does not apply to us today, in what sense is it part of the word of God for us?" Here is where we need to set aside all self-centeredness. The whole sweep of the biblical narrative is the story of God moving among and within people in order to bring salvation to humanity, but that doesn't mean every verse is about us. The law of the Old Testament is the word of God for all people for all time, but given to specific people groups in the context of God's dynamic, upward development of a covenant relationship with human beings. The apostle Paul puts it this way: "The law was our guardian [custodian, tutor] until Christ came that we might be justified by faith" Gal. 3:2424 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.So the law stands as a true expression of the will and the ways of God, expressed in a particular era, subject to modification, providing the basis for ever higher revelations of what it means to be the covenant people of God.Jesus summed it up when he said: Matt. 5:17 17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.
How Should We Understand the Stories of the Old Testament?
Limits of the Law: The law serves a good purpose-up to a point
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
One issue surfaces in virtually every one of Paul's letters: What good is the law? To most of Paul's audience, the word law stands for the huge collection of rules and rituals detailed in the Old Testament. Whenever he starts talking about "the new covenant" or "freedom in Christ," his Jewish listeners want to know what he thinks about Moses' Law. Does God still require obedience?
Thanks to his years as a Pharisee, Paul knows Moses' Law well. This chapter, the most personal and autobiographical in Romans, discloses exactly what Paul thinks about this issue.
When the Law Is Helpful
Paul never recommends discarding the law. He sees that it reveals a basic code of morality, an expression of behavior that pleases God. The law is good for one thing: exposing sin. "Indeed I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law" (Romans 7:7). To Paul, rules such as the Ten Commandments are helpful, healthful and good.
When the Law Is Helpless
The law has one major problem: After proving how bad you are, it doesn't make you any better. As a carryover from his days of legalism, Paul has a very sensitive conscience. Yet, as he poignantly recounts, it mainly makes him feel guilty. The law that bares his weaknesses cannot provide the power needed to overcome them. The law, or any set of rules, leads ultimately to a dead end.
Outside Help
A strict disciplinarian like Paul has little trouble keeping most of the Ten Commandments. Outward actions such as swearing, murder, adultery, stealing and lying can be measured and controlled. But an internal, invisible sin, such as coveting, proves far more bedeviling. As Jesus made clear in the Sermon on the Mount, invisible sins like coveting, lust and anger can have the same toxic effects as the more outward manifestations of stealing, adultery and murder.
Romans 7 gives a striking illustration of the struggle that ensues when an imperfect person commits himself or herself to a perfect God. Any Christian who wonders, "How can I ever get rid of my nagging sins?" will find comfort in Paul's frank confession. In the face of God's standards, all of us feel helpless, and that is precisely Paul's point. No set of rules can break the terrible cycle of guilt and failure. We need outside help to "serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code" (Romans 7:6). Chapter 8 celebrates that help.
Life Questions
What personal struggle makes you feel most helpless? Where do you turn?