What Do Christians Obey from the Old Testament and Why?

In 2008, there was a man who attempted to obey every word of the Old Testament^{11 .} “My Biblical Year,” Relevant Magazine, May 12, 2008, https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/1454-my-biblical-year/ for a whole year. This man—who claimed to be Jewish the way Olive Garden is Italian—sought to follow the dietary laws, the cleanliness laws, and of course the Ten Commandments. He even attempted to stone an adulterer with a handful of pebbles. (“The Bible didn’t specify the size of the stones,” he said.)

As Christians, we believe the Bible is authoritative, but does that mean we should follow this man’s example?

All Scripture Is Generally Normative

Theologian John Frame explains that all of Scripture is generally normative and authoritative, but not all of it is currently and literally normative.^{22 .} John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, First edition (Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2008). 201. Laws about animal sacrifice, for example, are generally normative since they at least teach us that atonement is needed for our sin and that we should display inward and outward repentance. But animal sacrifices are no longer currently and literally normative since we are not required to make them. The key question is: 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.

1. Fulfillment of the Law in Christ

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

This fulfillment has two different meanings, one universal and a second selective. First, it means Christ universally fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law so that he could impute to us his perfect record and present us as perfectly righteous to the Father (2 Cor. 5:21). Secondly, and more selectively, it means Christ fulfilled certain laws in such a way that they were made obsolete for Christians after his death and resurrection.

The clearest category of Old Testament law being made obsolete is the sacrificial system. When Jesus declared, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), he claimed to be replacing the temple, the place where priests offered sacrifices on behalf of Israel. The author of Hebrews explained how Jesus replaced the temple, as a superior priest and sacrifice: “Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:11–12). Christ abolished the sacrificial system by becoming the sacrificial lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

However, the abrogation of certain Old Testament commands in Christ is not always clear. For example, God appears to Peter in Acts 10 and declares all foods clean, thus doing away with the Old Testament dietary restrictions. This might seem arbitrary, but further study reveals that even dietary laws find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ. To change those laws would do violence to God’s sanctity and holiness. But other laws were set down by God for historical purposes, including dietary laws, which were commanded by God to set his people apart as clean and holy among the pagan nations surrounding them.^{33 .} R.C. Sproul, Acts (Wheaton Ill.: Crossway, 2010). 183. In the New Testament, however, faith in Christ sets Christians apart since he is the cleanness they need, thus fulfilling the dietary laws and making them obsolete. Christians are even more clearly set apart as they testify to their faith in Christ through baptism.

2. Divine Changes in Redemptive History

Though every change from the Old Testament law ultimately falls under fulfillment in Christ, there is at least one secondary reason. We read in Exodus 22:1, “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.” This law of retribution is generally normative since it teaches we should make restitution for wrongs we’ve done. It also clearly teaches that God hates stealing (see the 8th commandment). But this command isn’t currently and literally normative for us today, since most of us don’t live in an agrarian society, and more importantly, ours is not a theocracy like Israel’s was. We must rely on the civil servants God has appointed to keep the peace and punish lawbreakers (Rom. 13:1–7).

Many specific commands like the one found in Exodus 22:1 appear throughout Exodus and Leviticus to serve as practical case laws of the Ten Commandments so that leaders of Israel would know how to apply them justly. These specific case laws are still generally normative for us, in that they show us God’s justice and reveal his character, but they are not literally and currently normative to Christians because God has brought about a major change in redemptive history by removing the theocracy.

Unlike ancient Israel, which was set apart as an ethnic nation under a human king, we are citizens of Christ’s heavenly kingdom. One day, he will take his judgment seat to enact perfect justice for all eternity. But in the meantime, Christ has appointed civil servants, not the church, to carry out justice on earth. Therefore, not only is the removal of the theocracy and inauguration of Christ’s kingdom a significant change in redemptive history, but it is also a subset of Christ fulfilling all the law as the perfect prophet, priest, and king and so changing his people’s relation to the law.

What About Turning the Cheek?

The above explanations might leave some wondering about passages such as Matthew 5:38–40 where Jesus declares, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

John Murray argues that Jesus’s words should not be interpreted as requiring passive non-resistance on all occasions of injustice toward ourselves or our property. Allowance for rhetorical hyperbole must be made here, as with some other teachings of Jesus. Instead, his words emphasize, “When subjected to wrongs of various kinds, when our rights are infringed upon and our liberties invaded, let us not be animated and our conduct dictated by vindictive resentment.”^{44 .} John Murray, Principles of Conduct: Aspects of Biblical Ethics (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1957). 175. Positively speaking, Murray adds that Jesus intends that we should be “generous and forbearing even to those who inflict wrong.”^{55 .} Murray. 175. Rather than changing this law which calls for justice for wrongdoers, Jesus is warning against its abuse by calling all Christians to practice forbearance and mercy even toward those who persecute them.

An even clearer example of Jesus correcting rather than abrogating an Old Testament law is Matthew 5:43–44, where Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

The command to love our neighbor comes from Leviticus 19:18, but the command to hate your enemy isn’t found in the Old Testament. This leads to the conclusion that Jesus was quoting (and correcting) a popular teaching of the day that misrepresented the Old Testament.

The Why Question

Lastly, in addition to understanding what we obey, we need to understand why we obey by seeing how Christ fundamentally shapes our relationship to the law.

Paul writes in Romans 6:14 that Christians are no longer “under the law.” Again, Murray is helpful when he argues that Paul is referring to the person upon whom only the law has been brought to bear.^{66 .} Murray. 185-86. Apart from Christ, we are under the law, meaning under its authority and liable to all the consequences for disobeying it (Jas. 2:10), but in Christ, we are under grace. As Christians under grace, we are not forced onward in a life-long death march under the crushing weight of fulfilling the law perfectly. Instead, we are beckoned by Christ’s words of love to run in the path of his commands, for he has set our hearts free (Ps. 119:32). As John Bunyan said so eloquently,

“Run, John, run!” the law demands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands;
Far better news the gospel brings,
It bids me fly and gives me wings.

Even believers in the Old Testament understood that obedience to the law is pursued by grace, or at least they should have (Rom. 9:30–32). But on this side of Christ’s redemptive work, we have a clearer vision of why our relationship to the law is under grace. Moses might have been holier than we are, but we have a clearer view of Christ than he had.

In the end, all Scripture is generally normative and lights the way to Christ (Luke 24:27), but not all of it is currently and literally normative for Christians today. All Scripture—including the Old Testament—is God-breathed and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). But it’s important to know exactly how and when to apply it.