In our final installment of Understanding the Old Testament I want to give you a series of questions to ask yourself when reading the Old Testament that might help with attempts to apply it to today. There are 6 questions in total, and I will try to be brief in explaining them.
Here they are…
Is this connect to the Mosaic Law Given in Deuteronomy?
When the New Testament speaks of the old covenant being imperfect and temporary (see Hebrews) it usually speaking of the Mosaic Covenant. This covenant was given by God to the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai. It contained many instructions for how the nation was to live and worship. There, God promised that there would blessing for obedience and discipline for disobedience. The rules given in the law of Moses (see Deuteronomy) are no longer the means that God use to govern his peoples lives and worship. If a commandment is connected to the Mosaic Covenant it is not likely to be required of God’s people today.
What type of law is this?
Not all of the laws given in the Old Covenant were given for the same purpose. Civil Law was given to govern the people. Israel was to be a theocracy, that is that their worship and religious system was their legal system. Therefore, some of the laws giving were civil laws and do not apply today. Ceremonial Law was given to instruct Israel on how to worship. We are no longer bound by these laws as God has given us a “better” way to worship and approach him, Jesus Christ (to borrow language from Hebrews). Moral Law was given to show people what was right and what was wrong. Because God is not a changing God, we can know that these things are still wrong today.
There is no formula for knowing which laws are which. Scripture doesn’t give us a code for figuring it out. We have to do that as we read and interpret God’s Word. We may not always get it perfect, but we will hopefully grow in our understanding over time.
Was this command repeated in the New Testament?
This is probably one of the most helpful questions to ask ourselves. Laws that are not repeated in the New Testament can be considered obsolete. Why? Because the Old Covenant way of relating to God has been replaced by the worship of God through Jesus. An example of this would be the Ten Commandments. Nine of the Ten Commandments have been repeated in the New Testament therefore we can know that God still requires them of us. Which one isn’t repeated? The command to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
Does this commandment express something true about God’s nature and character?
This one doesn’t speak to commands and laws, but it a really important question to ask ourselves. When the Old Testament speaks of God as loving, kind, just, forgiving, hating sin, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, etc. we can know that these things are still true about God today because he never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Have I lived up to this command?
This may seem like a funny questions after I have just said that most of the laws in the Old Testament don’t apply to believers today. But as we saw in a previous post, Galatians teaches us that the law is a “tutor” that leads us to Christ. This means that the point of the law was to teach and show us that we cannot obey the law and thus need a savior. Seeing where we have not, and in fact cannot, keep the law reminds us that we need Jesus and that is in fact the whole point of the law.
Do I believe God will love me for my obedience?
It’s really easy to look at the laws we easily obey and think that God loves us more, or approves of us more, because we have kept the law. The truth is the only one who has kept the whole law is Jesus. When we believe that Jesus obeyed the law on our behalf, died on the cross as the punishment for our disobedience to the law on our behalf, and was raised again on our behalf then God applies the obedience of Christ to us so that we can now be seen as not only not guilty of breaking the law but as righteous having perfectly obeyed the law.
May your readings of the Old Testament serve to grow your understanding of your need and appreciation for Jesus!