Brief Primer on Understanding the Relationship between the OT Laws & the Christian (w/Video)

This multi-part question was asked by a member of our church:

Q1: “Why did God give ordinances in the OT about things he does not expect us to do [now]?

Q2: [Another way to ask], why do some Christians believe some parts of the Bible are not for current times?

Q3: How do we approach or interpret such seemingly biblical contradictions?”

Below is the answer I gave.

Answer to Q1 (“Why did God give ordinances in the OT about things he does not expect us to do [now]?”):
The covenant people of God before Christ were under the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law includes a number of commands & practices that are categorized into moral laws, civil laws, cultural laws, ceremonial laws, & sacrificial laws.

• Moral laws = the commands that govern oneself unto God and with others

• Civil laws = the commands that govern the Israelites as a nation under the Mosaic Law

• Cultural laws = the practices for the Israelites as a particular ethnic people under the Mosaic Law

• Ceremonial laws = the commands & practices for purity under the Mosaic Law

• Sacrificial laws = the commands & practices for righteousness under the Mosaic Law

The new covenant people of God in Christ are no longer under the Mosaic Law because Jesus fulfilled the Law (Matt. 5:17-18, Rom. 7:1-4, Gal. 3:5-26, Heb. 8:6-13).

So what is the Christian’s relationship with these Old Testament laws now?

Moral Law — fulfilled & continues

• Even though Jesus fulfilled the moral law of God it still continues because morality is based upon God’s unchanging holiness (Matt. 22:34-40, 1Pet. 1:13-16).

Civil & Cultural Laws — fulfilled & a new nation = obsolete

• The civil & cultural law is obsolete now for those under the new covenant (e.g., Rom. ch14, Gal. 2:11-16; 4:9-11; 5:1-6, Col. 2:13-22). Not every believer in Jesus is ethnically Jewish, and for those who are, they are no longer under Judaism. All born-again believers in Jesus are now a new nation of people, our civil law is the law of Christ (Eph. 2:11-22, Gal. 6:2). This doesn’t mean we can’t still glean wisdom from these laws. We can, like with anything we read in the OT (e.g., Rom. 15:4-6). But we are not obligated to uphold these civil laws as is because they are obsolete for those under the new covenant.

 Ceremonial & Sacrificial Laws — fulfilled = obsolete

• The ceremonial & sacrificial law is obsolete now for those under the new covenant. Christ fulfilled all these laws in His atoning sacrifice for the sin of those who believe in Him (Heb. 9:11-26).

Answer to Q2 (“[Another way to ask], why do some Christians believe some parts of the Bible are not for current times?”):
1. Because some parts aren’t for current times, as we just saw.

2. Because they don’t know how to properly interpret Scripture to rightly understand it. Therefore, they don't know what parts are for current times and what parts aren’t.

3. Because some parts conflict with what they want to do or believe, and this is their way of dismissing those parts.

Answer to Q3 (“How do we approach or interpret such seemingly biblical contradictions?”):
There are no contradictions in Scripture. There is only a lack of rightly understanding the context and how to properly interpret it that leads to what appears as contradictions.

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This is the Christian’s relationship with those five categories of Old Testament laws. We now exist in the fulfilled, finished work of Jesus the Messiah.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2Cor. 5:17, CSB)

We must view the old testament with the light of the new covenant or we will obstruct our view of the old and misunderstand the new.