This is the second post on understanding the Old Testament. You can read the first post here.
In a previous post I discussed Marcion, the false teacher who jettisoned the Old Testament. What about an opposite extreme? The “Jewish Roots” movement has recently exploded, requiring believers to carefully follow the Sabbath laws (on Saturday), the feasts in Leviticus 23 and other Jewish expectations. They contend that the church has lost its way and must return to “a more Jewish way of life to be authentic.”
So how do we explain why we follow some Old Testament laws but not others? It can seem like we are just cherry-picking:
- “Thou shalt not commit adultery or murder.” Keep those.
- “Don’t mix fabrics or trim your beard.” Oh brother… that one’s going to be a pain. Let’s nix it.
- “Laws about slavery, different prices for men and women and so on…” those are embarrassing—let’s hope people don’t notice.
The whole impression is that the commands we want to make people obey, we bring over; the awkward ones we just ignore.
My first response to this charge is that these are not new questions. There are good reasons for what we believe and it isn’t random. But the discussion should hardly stay in the academic domain. You need to know why we understand the Old Testament commands this way. You need answers the next time someone throws this charge in your face. And you need to understand this for your own sake. Because the real reason we don’t follow all of the Old Testament commands is that Scripture itself has set the example. By working carefully through how the New Testament references the Old Testament, the picture comes into focus.* Consider these patterns taken straight from Scripture:
Commands repeated in the New Testament
A large number of Old Testament commands are restated in the New—for example, the Ten Commandments:
What makes this interesting is that these are not just quoted as curiosities. The New Testament tells us things we must do and then quotes the Old Testament to prove it. So in these cases, the fact that God commanded something in Exodus means we have to do it. It’s authoritative and binding—not just because the New Testament repeated it but more fundamentally, because God said it.
In fact, if anything, the New Testament is not lowering the standards but raising them. “Moses said not to commit adultery… but I tell you not to even look or think about a woman that way” (Matt. 5:27-28). More broadly, “do not murder” includes not hating your brother without a cause. Later, Hebrews argues that the New Testament blessings only raise our sense of responsibility (Heb 12:18–29).
Commands set aside in the New Testament
And yet the New Testament also leads us to recognize commands that are set aside. Critics like to ask why we eat shellfish, pork and other unclean foods since the OT clearly forbids that (Lev. 11). Once again, careful attention reveals that this is not arbitrary—it arises from Scripture itself.
The New Testament change starts with Jesus teaching that people’s hearts, not their stomachs defile them, and “thus he declared all foods clean” (Mark 7:18-20). Later, Peter receives a special visit from God Himself, telling him to eat “all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air” (Acts 10:9-16). Peter’s strong reaction tells us how shocking this was—“By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” Rounding out the picture, the epistles tell us that forbidding certain foods is a form of wrong teaching (Col. 2:16; 1 Tim. 4:3).
In other words, the NT is absolutely clear that these commands are not binding on believers today. Similar New Testament passages teach us how to understand the Jewish festivals (Col. 2:16) and religious ceremonies (Heb. 9:10; 10:1).
The Tension Explained
This helps to explain what we are doing when we follow certain Old Testament commands and not others. But it doesn’t explain the why. Why would parts of Scripture somehow be set aside by others or no longer apply to us today? There are several reasons:
- Old Testament Israel was a different group of people with different needs.
As a father, I have different rules for my 6-year-old son and my two-year-old daughter. That isn’t inconsistent; it’s only sensible because they’re different people with different needs. Likewise, Old Testament Israel is fundamentally different from the international church. We are not a nation in need of a specific judicial code; our calling is to go to the nations and see disciples established in every culture. Instead of waiting for the Messiah, we carry the good news that He has come. All of this makes the church an entirely different sort of institution—like two different people with different needs. And in fact, many of the Old Testament laws are designed either to govern the nation or to make it clear that they are a distinct cultural people—purposes that do not apply to the church at all. This is a fundamental and sensible reason that commands about diet, festivals, and much of the legal code does not apply to us today.
- Jesus has fulfilled the ceremonial law.
Even more fundamentally, Old Testament commands apply to us differently because of what stands at the center of the story of Scripture. Commands about sacrifices, cleansing and festivals existed to point ahead to Him. That task is done (Heb 9:9–14). We don’t need those pictures now any more than a man would look at a picture of his wife while she sits across the table from him. The waiting is done. The reality is here. The Savior has come.
- The foundation of the Old Testament law is the same.
But beyond these things, the basic realities of right and wrong do not change. As New Testament believers we can read the Ten Commandments as authoritative because the basic ethics of Scripture rest on much deeper realities. Murder is wrong because man is made in God’s image, adultery because marriage is exclusive, lying because God is truth, and so on. We should not expect that the standards of the New Testament are somehow more “relaxed” any more than we expect that God’s nature has changed.
Don’t be intimidated the next time someone uses the Old Testament to nullify Scripture’s authority. The Old Testament isn’t a mistake or a theological embarrassment. In fact, it highlights the centrality of Christ in the biblical story. Both testaments speak with authority and power because ultimately both testaments point to Him.
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*Incidentally, this also explains why enemies of Christianity are happy to seize this to prove we are being inconsistent. It does require careful study. Unbelievers, casual believers and most people in general have never taken the time to do that and find themselves confused. Furthermore, that’s why you should be prepared to answer this question.
