What Do Christians Obey from the Old Testament and Why?
“What causes certain Old Testament laws to cease to be literally normative for Christians today? The primary reason is that Christ fulfilled the law through his life and death in our place. God has also brought about changes in redemptive history that adjust how we relate to certain laws.” - 9 Marks
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I think I mostly agree, but the phrase “literally normative” is not helpful to most of us. There is, unfortunately, a lot of confusion about what the word “literally” means. It is the opposite of “figuratively.” So are they trying to say these parts of the law are figuratively normative since they aren’t literally normative?
I might be persuadable, but there is a much simpler way to look at it.
We were never parties to the Mosaic Covenant. Sure, animal sacrifice predates that covenant, but that’s where Christ’s fulfillment not only of “the law” but all that pointed forward to Him, comes in.
But are sacrifices figuratively normative now? I would never put it that way! So I would also not say they are “not literally” normative. That’s likely to just confuse people.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I like to say that we are no longer under the Levitical law (law given to Moses). We are still under the law given to Noah. Further we are still under the commands to love God and love our neighbor. Those commands supersede the Levitical law. Hebrews ch 8-10 make it clear that we are not under the Levitical law, but then Hebrews 10-13 shows us that God still has expectations for us even though we are no longer under the law given to Moses.
There tends to be a lot of ambiguity in speaking and writing on “law.” Even in Romans I’m not sure Paul means the same thing everywhere he speaks of “law” or of “the law.”
But if the question is what do we do with Moses? The answer is not very difficult if you’re even the tiniest bit dispensationalist. If you’re firmly committed to ‘covenant theology,’ the answer has to be more complex, because the system requires more of certain kinds of continuity. (I think dispensationalism, in its milder forms, has just as much continuity, but along different lines, as it were.)
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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