Should Christians Keep Old Testament Laws?

By Grace Communion International

Some Christians feel that they should keep Old Testament laws such as the seventh-day Sabbath and avoiding "unclean" meats. The articles in this e-book collection address that, starting with the point that yes, Christians should obey God -- but are the Old Testament laws the laws that we should obey? The Old Covenant is obsolete, and is not a valid source of laws. The example of circumcision shows that God-given laws can be, depending on how you look at it, either swept aside or kept in the spirit, not in the letter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grace Communion International
• Release date: Mar 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311735171

Grace Communion International

Grace Communion International is a Christian denomination with about 30,000 members, worshiping in about 550 congregations in almost 70 nations and territories. We began in 1934 and our main office is in North Carolina. In the United States, we are members of the National Association of Evangelicals and similar organizations in other nations. We welcome you to visit our website at www.gci.org.

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Should Christians Keep Old Testament Laws?

Copyright 2014 Grace Communion International

Published by Grace Communion International

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Cover illustration by Ken Tunell. Copyright Grace Communion International

Table of Contents

The Role of the Law in Christian Life

Six Reasons to Obey God

What Is the Law of God for Christians Today?

Appendix 1: Matthew 5:17-19 — How Did Jesus Fulfill the Law?

Appendix 2: Galatians 3:19 and Jeremiah 7:22 — Were the Sacrifices Added Later?

Appendix 3: Matthew 23:23 — Did Jesus Confirm the Law of Moses?

Can Old Covenant Worship Laws Become New Covenant Spiritual Shadows?

Comparison of Old and New Covenants

Has the New Covenant Been Made?

The New Covenant Is Older Than You Think

Are Old Testament Laws Still Binding on Christians?

Circumcision: A Test Case for Evaluating Old Testament Laws

Are Some Meats Unclean? A Look at the Old Testament Concept of Uncleanness

About the Authors

About the Publisher

Grace Communion Seminary

Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

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The Role of the Law in Christian Life

By Joseph Tkach

At the heart of Paul’s theology, in the center of his good news message about Jesus Christ, is the doctrine of justification by faith. God accepts us when we believe in his Son — he accepts us as righteous on the basis of what Christ has done, not on the basis of what we have done.

This may be interpreted as bad news by people who think they’ve done pretty well. Such people tend not to like the idea that God would lower his standards and accept people who aren’t as good as they are, who haven’t tried as hard as they have.

However, this is incredibly good news for those of us who know that we have messed up pretty badly, and that we could never redeem ourselves, no matter how many good things we do. We realize there is no special merit in doing the things we should have done. We know we can never make up for the fact that we have let God down — all we can do is rely on his mercy.

A demonstration of justice

The good news is that God has guaranteed that mercy. He sent his Son to die for us. Because of Jesus’ death for us, God remains righteous even though he declares the wicked to be justified (Romans 4:5; 5:6). God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement…to demonstrate his justice in leaving sin unpunished (Romans 3:25).

As odd as it may sound, the death of Christ was a demonstration of God’s justice — because it shows that God has the right to forgive sin. In forgiving us, God does not just pretend that sin does not matter. Rather, he shows how much it matters by sending his Son to die for us, that is, by taking our sins upon himself. God has done everything that was needed so that he can justify the ungodly — he does not violate his own righteousness when he declares us righteous and acceptable.

This is grace. Since Christ died for us, we can be forgiven. Paul makes it clear that we are justified by faith (Acts 13:38; Romans 3:22, 26; 4:24; 5:1; etc.). We are accepted by God as his children — this is the heart of the good news of God’s kingdom. We don’t deserve it — it comes by grace — but it is guaranteed by God. The means of salvation is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

Which law to obey?

So far, so good, say some people. God brings you into his kingdom if you have faith. Now that you are here, they say, you should obey God. Specifically, you should obey the commandments he has given his people, commandments we find in the Holy Scriptures — clear commands regarding circumcision, festivals, Sabbaths, etc.

This was the Galatian heresy: false teachers said that Christians had to have both the old and the new covenants, both Moses and Christ, both law and faith, both merit and grace. It was an emphasis on continuity, on covenant faithfulness, on living by every word of God. It sounded logical, it sounded worshipful, but it was fundamentally flawed.

It is true that Christians should obey God, but the Law of Moses is the wrong law. The book of Galatians makes it clear that the Law of Moses is obsolete. Its authority has expired, and we are no longer under the law. Paul even says that the Sinai covenant produced a religion of bondage (Galatians 4:24-25), but that Christians are free.

We are children of the promise, children of the free woman (3:29; 4:31). It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (5:1). If you try to be justified by the law, then you will be alienated from Christ, and you will have fallen out of grace (verse 4). Paul emphasizes that we were called to be free (verse 13).

Not only is the old covenant the wrong law, Paul’s point is that we cannot be saved by any law. If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21). If a different law could have given us life, then God would have given us the life-giving law. But the very nature of law prevents it from giving us life. All a law can do is set forth requirements and prescribe penalties for failure. Since we all fail at some point, the law prescribes penalties. It cannot give us life.

Since we never achieve perfect obedience in this life, we can never look to law as a standard for salvation. We can never say, Grace covered my past sins, but now my salvation depends on my obedience. If that were true, we would all be doomed. Our acceptance with God is always on the basis of grace and faith, and never on the basis of our obedience. We can never say that we deserve eternity with our Creator.

Loyalty to God

What then is the role of law in a Christian’s life? We know that Christians do not sin deliberately so that grace may abound. We know that Christians want to please the God who saved them. We know that sin caused our Savior to suffer and die, so we do not want to have anything to do with sin. We want to obey God as best we can, even though we know we can’t do it perfectly. We are obeying not because we earn anything through obedience, but because we love God and want to obey him. We are his children, not hired servants.

Our relationship with God is based on faith, not a list of rules. It is a personal loyalty to God, a loyalty that leads us to obey, but a loyalty that always looks directly to God, not to a list of rules as a gauge of our relationship. We never boast of obedience, nor despair of falling short. God has already made fully sufficient provision for justifying us even when we were wicked and ungodly.

When we are used to thinking of religion as a list of rules, Paul’s teachings seem self-contradictory. If our salvation doesn’t depend on the law, the reasoning seems to go, then why would anybody want to obey? Surely there has to be some kind of threat involved, or else the people of God would quickly jump into immorality. I exaggerate to make a point. The point is that we need to think about law in a different way, and we need to think of Christianity in a different way.

When people see laws and commands only in terms of reward and punishment, then they are naturally bewildered about the role of law when it is neither a basis of reward nor of punishment. Christ has removed it from such roles.

Why then should anybody obey? We need to reorient our thinking about law — away from thoughts of reward and punishment, away from a standard that we are measured by. We need to think of God’s laws as a matter of personal loyalty, as integral and natural to a personal relationship.

A new form of righteousness

God’s law, which for us is the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21), provides forgiveness for every transgression (except that of rejecting the forgiveness provided by Christ). This forgiveness is received by faith, not by penance, not by good works, not by our paying a price (Romans 3:28). This is not the kind of law that we are used to.

Christianity is a faith, not a list of rules. It is a belief in God’s grace, in his love, in his promise and power to forgive and cleanse. God grants his children not only forgiveness of sin, but also a new life — a life in Christ. Where once we lived for ourselves, now we live for Christ. And we do so because the Holy Spirit resides in us, not because we have suddenly become righteous ourselves.

The New Testament does give us rules and behavioral expectations, but these should be seen as the result of a faith relationship, not as the basis for it. They are not the measurement of our righteous standing before God — and that’s good, because we all fall short. We have no righteousness of our own, but when we put our confidence in Christ, God counts us as righteous (Romans 4:23-25). We have peace with God, not directly ourselves, but through Christ (Romans 5:1-2).

There is now a new righteousness that God has made known (Romans 3:21). It is a righteousness that does not come from the law. It is a righteousness that comes only from God himself (verse 22). The law and the prophets testified to this new righteousness, but it does not come from them; it comes only from God (verse 21).

This new righteousness comes from God through faith, to all who believe. Everyone is a sinner, and the only way we can have righteousness, the only way we can have peace with God, is by God giving it to us (verses 22-23). All who believe are made righteous, or justified, freely, by God’s grace through the redemption that comes through Jesus Christ (verses 23-24).

The fruit of the Spirit

Our righteousness, then, is not really ours — it is Christ’s. God attributes the righteousness of the only righteous human,