We Can’t Have One Without the Other

At first, it took me by surprise, even as a shock. But I’ve discovered there are pockets within the Christian community where it’s being taught there’s really no need to worry about what God says in the Old Testament. That all we need to know for following Jesus Christ is contained in the New Testament. 

Not naming names, but even some prominent preachers are telling their congregations to disregard Old Testament teachings. A post I wrote recently received a comment to that effect. The person stated, “the Ten Commandments aren’t Christian, have never bound Gentiles, and the apostles were clear that Gentiles who become Christians are not…under the law of Moses.”

 

Part of the problem, I suspect, is that Old Testament law has traditionally been divided by theologians into three main categories – moral, ceremonial, and civil (or judicial). Ceremonial laws deal with religious worship, ritual purity, and the sacrificial system. It’s true many of those laws were intended specifically for the people of ancient Israel. These would include dietary restrictions, animal sacrifices, annual festivals to be observed, and physical circumcision. 

 

Many modern-day Jews continue to honor certain dietary laws and religious observances. As for the symbolic animal sacrifices, Jesus’s death on the cross eliminated the need for those. And most followers of Jesus don’t practice dietary restrictions for religious purposes. 

 

However, moral and civil laws presented in the Old Testament remain just as valid today as they were thousands of years ago. Civil law provided the rules that governed Israel as a distinct national community and society, and many of these same laws were instrumental to the forming of the United States, being reflected in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

 

For instance, those laws concerned restitution, courtroom testimony, guilt and innocence, provisions for people in need, and many other things. To this day, such principles have helped maintain the United States as the unique nation it is. Laws established by God are timeless, reflecting the fallenness of humankind and the necessity for establishing guidelines for conduct, both individually and collectively.

 

Perhaps most important are the moral laws given in the Old Testament, which reflect God’s unchanging holiness and character. This is where the Ten Commandments are especially pertinent. In fact, Jesus alluded to them specifically. 

 

One day a member of the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders and teachers, confronted Him: “‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:34-40).

 

Without listing them individually, Jesus was referring to the Ten Commandments, as found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.The first four concern our relationship with God – to love Him foremost; not to worship idols; not to take His name in vain, and to observe a weekly Sabbath day. The remaining six, including honoring parents, not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, not lying, and not coveting what others have, concern how we relate to one another.

 

Another time Jesus made clear His attitude was not, “Well, that was then. This is now.” Rather, He declared His purpose was to be the fulfillment of the laws and prophecies God gave in the Old Testament. In His Sermon on the Mount, He stated, “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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will be any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). 

 

Jesus then proceeded to address a number of important moral and legal issues, including murder and malice, adultery, keeping promises, seeking revenge, loving adversaries, and giving to the needy, all of which were addressed in the Old Testament.

 

But the priceless truths of the Old Testament go far beyond the commandments and regulations God prescribed. We learn just as much about His character there as we do in the New Testament. His promises there apply just as much for us today as they did for the ancient Israelites. They speak of His love, faithfulness, perfection, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, justice, righteousness, and assurances of His unfailing care and provision.

 

In 1 John 4:16 we’re told that “God is love,” and we see that embodied in Christ – His teachings, actions during His earthly ministry, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection. But we dare not forget that God also is holy and just, intolerant of sin, and unwaveringly determined to mete out justice in His perfect way and time. The Old Testament reveals this so clearly.

 

The refrain from an old song said, “love and marriage, they go together like a horse and carriage…. You can’t have one without the other.” It could just as easily have said, “go together like the Old Testament and the New Testament” (except it wouldn’t have rhymed). You can’t have one without the other.