For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. (Heb 10:1)
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. (Mt 5:17)
Many years ago, I heard an interview on the radio in which a secular news reporter was criticizing Christians for being inconsistent and failing to follow their own book. “For example,” he said, “The Bible clearly forbids people from eating pork, yet Christians everywhere think nothing of putting pepperoni on their pizza.”
When I heard what he said, I couldn’t believe my ears. I was embarrassed at the critique — not for myself but for the reporter. He was obviously a well-educated man, but he plainly had no idea what Christians believe about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. I was embarrassed at his confident display of ignorance.
Since that time, I have heard the same accusation many times over, sometimes dealing with food, sometimes with other examples — Christians wear clothes with mixed fabrics; Christians do not stone adulterers or children who curse their parents; Christians do not practice the Old Testament ceremonial washings or require circumcision. Every time I hear the accusation, I feel the same embarrassment that I felt for the news reporter. Apparently many people actually believe that Christians are hypocrites for failing to practice much of the ceremonial and civil law that appears in the Old Testament. What they do not understand is that Christians would be hypocrites if they required people to keep the ceremonial and civil laws in the Old Testament.
It seems necessary, therefore, to say something about what Christians believe about the relationship between the two testaments. Before we talk about Old Testament history, however, let’s talk about more recent times. In the nineteenth century, the United States had laws regulating slavery. Today those laws are meaningless, for the context has changed. In the nineteenth century, however, the United States also had laws prohibiting murder and stealing. Those prohibitions still exist and will continue to exist. No doubt you can think of other examples of both types of law, for there are many of each. It seems rather plain, then, that some laws change with the times, while other laws remain fairly constant. No normal person would criticize a U.S. citizen today for failing to follow nineteenth century tax law. We do not live under nineteenth century tax law. We would, however, criticize a citizen who violated nineteenth century laws on kidnapping or rape, for we recognize that those prohibitions still apply. Now the relationship between the Old Testament laws and the Christian is much like this normal relationship we recognize with law in general.
Some Old Testament laws deal with moral and character issues that are universal. Other Old Testament laws deal with a specific government in a specific time. In this respect, the Old Testament is no different from the laws of any other land. But with the Old Testament another category also applies. Some Old Testament laws symbolize or foreshadow future realities. Those realities came in Jesus, and now we no longer need the symbols, for the real thing is here. It seems appropriate, therefore, to talk briefly about these different categories of Old Testament law.
First, the obvious. The Old Testament came before the New Testament, and the New builds upon the Old. The Old Testament is like the first 40 chapters of the story, and the New is the remainder of the story, to include the climax. The Old Testament provides the context for Jesus, and both Old and New Testaments focus on the same thing — Jesus. The Old Testament prepares people for the coming Messiah; the New reveals Him. The Old foreshadows a perfect sacrifice for sin; the New enacts it. The Old predicts the coming of a new covenant; the New releases it. The Old is constantly looking forward; the New is constantly looking back at the Cross and Resurrection. Both testaments describe the same event from different perspectives. Because the New Testament comes after the Cross, it gives a clearer picture than the Old, but one can easily see the New in the Old and vice versa.
This means that the New Testament interprets the Old. The clearer picture helps us understand the older one. Suppose you have two pictures of the same mountain. One is an old drawing in which the artist drew the mountain based on a description given to him, and one is a clear photo in which the contours of the mountain are easily discernible. The clear photo helps you see what the artist was trying to represent. In similar fashion, the New Testament helps us understand the Old Testament law, the sacrificial system, the Messiah, and the covenant between God and Israel.
The Old Testament tells the story of God’s dealings with His people. Included within those dealings are many laws. The New Testament is clear that some of those laws deal with moral issues and are, thus, still commanded for one who would follow Jesus. Do not commit adultery, do not steal, honor your father and mother are some examples. The New Testament is also clear that much of the Old Testament law was ceremonial and symbolic (see the book of Hebrews). Sometimes that ancient law existed merely to symbolize a purity that God demanded of His people. Wearing clothes made from only one type of cloth and plowing fields with one type of animal might fit that category. Sometimes it existed to symbolize the fact that God’s people were to be set apart from the rest of the world. Circumcision and dietary laws might fit that category. Often it existed to foreshadow a coming reality. The entire sacrificial system complete with its washings and rituals fits this category, and so do the laws symbolizing purity and the fact that we are to be set apart. In Jesus, all of these categories are now fulfilled, for in Him, we are made pure on the inside, we are set apart from the world in how we live, and we see in the Cross the true sacrifice that the ceremonial sacrifices symbolized. Thus, Christians do not do away with the Old Testament laws. Rather, in Jesus, they fulfill them. The Christian is under a new administration, but it is not any administration. It is the very administration that the Old Testament was pointing towards.
In other instances, Old Testament laws — particularly punishments for crimes — reflected a situation in which the entire nation consisted of those who were supposed to be the people of God. In that case, often the punishment for a crime was the real punishment that God says a particular crime deserves. Adultery, breaking the Sabbath, cursing your parents, and more received the death penalty under the old covenant. The punishment was more severe because the entire nation was supposed to be the people of God. God could hold them to a higher standard. These punishments, thus, reveal the severity of sin. They show us how God views such sins. They do not mean that civil government today should adopt such punishments, for the context has changed.
Today, the people of God are interspersed throughout many nations. Today the people of God are a minority in every nation, including those nations that identify as Christian. Today the people of God are a spiritual body and not a civil entity. Thus, civil laws that were unique to a situation in which the people of God were a nation unto themselves do not fit the current situation in which the people of God have no borders, are a minority within any nation, and are a spiritual body. If an entire nation truly was the people of God, then the severe punishments we see in the Old Testament would rarely be carried out. Today, however, if civil government had such punishments, most of the world would be in instant trouble.
Now, of course, since the Old Testament contains different categories of laws, one must determine which laws are universal and which are not. Some people talk as if this is hard to determine. In most instances, it isn’t. It is fairly obvious that some laws, like prohibitions against murder and lying, are universal moral issues. It is also fairly obvious that other laws, like the kind of food you eat, have no moral basis in and of themselves. They had a purpose, but that purpose was something other than moral.
For the Christian, the New Testament sheds light on the Old. This means that the New Testament has something to say about the true purpose of the Old Testament laws. When the New Testament describes what sinful and righteous lives look like, it often does so by reiterating Old Testament commands (Rm 1; Eph 4-5). Murder, stealing, coveting, lying, crude language, idolatry, greed, disobedience to parents, drunkenness, adultery, homosexuality, rebellion and more are all condemned in the Old Testament and then condemned again in the New. In these situations, interpretation is obvious. The Christian lives under the current administration of the New Testament, and that administration plainly states that such behaviors are universal moral issues.
The New Testament, however, also states that other Old Testament laws no longer apply. The imperfect sacrifices of Leviticus have given way to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus (Heb 10). The sign of God’s people is no longer circumcision but faith and a life that reflects it (Galatians). The dietary laws are described as morally neutral and nonbinding (Mark 7:14-20). In all of these situations, the New Testament never condemns the Old Testament laws. It does not say that they were immoral or unjust. It says simply that a new era has begun.
Now if Christians truly believe that they live under a new era, they would be hypocrites to require people to go live under the old era. That old era has been fulfilled. Therefore, if you like pepperoni, put it on your pizza. And if people criticize you for not following the Bible, I guess you’ll just have to love them. It may be appropriate to gently correct them — or it may not be, depending on the situation — but they don’t know what they are saying.
