One of my sons just finished reading Leviticus. I agreed with him that the long lists of rules can be overwhelming. Not once have I been tempted to cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. We rarely focus on the cleansing of leprosy in our home. How should Christians relate to the Old Testament Law after the coming of Christ. The two ditches we are trying to avoid are legalism on the one hand, and license on the other hand. Some want to enforce every single law today.
Ed Dobson wrote a book about his experience of trying to live the Old Testament law for a whole year. His conclusions included how difficult it would be to keep every law every time. In the Old Testament, God’s people struggled with keeping it also. Now new forces were trying to insist that the new Gentile believers keep every ceremonial and calendar law of the Old Testament. James came to a different conclusion.
The early church decided to ask that the new believers avoid idolatry and immorality. Food sacrificed to idols would become a huge issue in the church at Corinth. Likewise, immorality. James and the Jerusalem Council insisted that the moral law of the Old Testament was binding on these new believers. It still is. The ten commandments have not become the ten suggestions.
One pastor concluded he would have his own council and dismiss the moral requirements of the law. This contradicted the findings of the original council. Christians today are not free to dismiss the moral law of the Old Testament. One man and one woman constitute a marriage in God’s eyes. This covenant is inviolable. Jesus quoted the Old Testament, confirming that it is binding. Later Paul would lament the slide away from God into immorality and deceit (Romans 1-2).
Jesus fulfilled the law once and for all (Romans 10:4-5). He also taught that we were not to dismiss the law out of hand (Matthew 5:17-48). Christ who has saved us can keep us out of the ditch of legalism, trying to bind other believers. He also delivered us from license. The gospel does not allow us to say, “Anything goes.” Carefully consider: are we avoiding idolatry and immorality today?
