Training · Grasping God's Word
Old Testament law
Where the law sits in the covenant, why the three-way division falls short, and how to apply any law through the journey.
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Card 1 of 10
In what setting was the Old Testament law given?
The Mosaic covenant: given to a people God had already rescued, embedded in the story of the exodus and tied to their life in the promised land.
The Ten Commandments open with "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt." The law was the way of life for a people already redeemed, not a ladder for earning redemption.
'I am the Lord your God. I'm the one who brought you out of Egypt, out of slavery.'
Exodus 20:2 -
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Is the Mosaic covenant still in force for Christians?
No. It has been fulfilled by Christ and replaced by the new covenant, so the Old Testament law is not directly binding on believers as law.
Hebrews says the first covenant has been made obsolete. Jesus says he came not to abolish the law but to fulfil it. Both are true: the law is not thrown away, but it now reaches us through him.
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What is the traditional three-way division of the Old Testament law?
Into moral laws, which still apply; civil laws, for Israel as a nation; and ceremonial laws, fulfilled in Christ.
It has a long history and a sensible instinct behind it. The book's objection is that the text itself does not make these divisions, many laws mix all three, and deciding which category a law belongs to is often arbitrary.
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How does Grasping God's Word apply Old Testament law, instead of dividing it into moral, civil, and ceremonial?
All of the law is God's word for us and has something to teach, but none of it binds us directly as law. Every law is applied by finding its theological principle through the Interpretive Journey.
This treats every law the same way and lets Step 4, the biblical map, do its work: the New Testament then shows how each principle is reaffirmed, changed, or fulfilled in Christ.
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How does Deuteronomy 22:8, the law about a railing on the roof, apply today?
Then: Israelites had to put a railing around a flat roof, where people spent time, so nobody fell. River: most of us do not socialise on our roofs. Principle: God's people are responsible for the safety of others on their property. Now: fence the pool, fix the broken step.
This is the method at its clearest. The specific command no longer applies to most houses, but the principle is plainly God's will and turns out to be quite demanding.
When you build a new house, put a low wall around the edge of your roof so no one falls off and gets hurt. That way, you won't be responsible for someone's death.
Deuteronomy 22:8 -
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What principle underlies the Old Testament gleaning laws?
God's people are to provide for the poor from what they have, in a way that lets the poor work with dignity.
Farmers were told to leave the edges of the field and the dropped grain for the poor and the foreigner. The command assumes an agricultural economy; the principle does not.
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What does the Old Testament law still teach Christians?
God's holiness, his concern for justice and for the vulnerable, what sin is and what it costs, and why a sacrifice and a mediator were needed.
Reading the law as God's revelation of himself rather than as a rulebook we are either under or free of is what makes Leviticus worth reading. It shows the character of the God who gave it.
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How many commands are there in the Old Testament law?
613, by the traditional Jewish count.
The number is a reminder of how much of the law is detailed regulation of daily life in ancient Israel. No one can apply 613 laws by picking the ones that feel moral; it takes a method, which is why the book insists on one.
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How are the Old Testament law and the covenant blessings and curses connected?
Obedience to the law was tied to blessing in the land, and disobedience to curses ending in exile, as Deuteronomy spells out.
This is what makes the law part of a relationship rather than a list. It also sets up the prophets, whose warnings of judgment are the covenant curses coming due.
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Card 10 of 10
Which two commands did Jesus say sum up the whole law?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.
Both are quotations from the law itself: the first from Deuteronomy, the second from Leviticus. Jesus is not setting the law aside but showing what every command in it was reaching for.
Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'
'This is the first and greatest commandment.'
'And the second is just like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'
'All the law and the prophets hang on these two commands.'
Matthew 22:37-40