The Law

Chapter 9 Notes from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth + Class Discussion

Arguably probably my favorite, yet also most confusing, topic: How do present-day Christians handle the Law? (The "law" meaning those 600+ specific stipulations, or even more broadly those books of the Old Testament relating to the law. )

What do we know:

We must start with what do we know about the Old Testament law. Here are a couple snippets:

- Jesus summarized the entire law in vertical and horizontal love; loving God and loving others (Matthew 22)
- Jesus doesn't want to throw law out? (Matthew 15)
- Paul states that all Scripture is beneficial (2 Timothy 3:16)... given that the New Testament was yet to be assembled at this point, he was directly referring to the Old Testament


Present Day Viewpoints:

Traditional - Portions of the law can be divided up into moral, civic, and ceremonial laws. We are no longer bound to civic and ceremonial laws, but God's moral law remains intact.
Problems -
1) No Hebrew would have distinguished these, because everything is significant to God.
2) Scripture doesn't explicitly categorize these laws into those sects, so who determines which goes in what category?
3) 2 Timothy 3:16 - Paul said ALL Scripture is beneficial, not just parts.

Antinomian - Throw the law out, because it has no implications for us.
Problems -
1) Argued that you cannot read the New Testament without the Old Testament.
2) 2 Timothy 3:16 again, ALL is beneficial.

Reconstructionist - Attempt to reconstruct the law in today's terms.
Problems -
1) Typically people who hold to this view believe America to be the new "Israel", so push for a more theocratic government (God-run) than democratic, versus seeing the church as being the new "Israel" in a people sense.
2) The Old Testament stipulations were for a separate covenant that we are currently not bound to.


Conclusion

Different covenant, so assume none of the stipulations are bound to us unless explicitly renewed in new covenant. However, it is still FOR us if not written TO us. What matters is how much we can learn from this law about God, his demands for fairness, his ideals for society, and his relationship to his people.

Other Points when Reading Old Testament Law:

- Nowhere is it suggested that anyone is saved by keeping the Law (in fact, in Leviticus 4 there is no atoning sacrifice for intentional sins (only for unintentional), so it's assumed that people were only forgiven by God's grace).
- The law is paradigmatic, meaning it sets a standard by an example rather than by mentioning every possible circumstance.