Obedience to OT Law

Most of the other portion of this study is posted under the heading “the Grace / Faith / Works Conundrum”.

Question 3 – So, after believing and repenting, we have to act on our belief in obedience - am I supposed to be obedient to Old Testament law? Why do we follow some Old Testament laws and not all of them?

After being a Christian for quite some time, I found from my own personal experience that when I was first filled with the Holy Spirit, I was changed, by him. He operated in me to bring about an obedience which was from my heart, not just outward actions. He changed my attitude, my heart and my mind, and the product of that inward change was a change in my outward behaviour. However, at least for me, the ‘first love’ wore off eventually. I did allow bad company to corrupt good morals, I did get ‘polluted by the world’. And when I realized that I had ‘quenched the fire of the holy spirit’, I didn’t know what to do about it. I wanted it back. I repented and begged and pleaded in prayer – but it didn’t come back. Then I turned to the scriptures. And suddenly I was confused, because Paul and James seemed to contradict each other, and all through the scriptures it suddenly seemed that salvation was works based…. Long story short, I was reading the Bible without the understanding given by the Holy Spirit.

I decided that if God had withdrawn his Holy Spirit from me, it was for good reason and it was well deserved. But I exercised my faith, I believed in the fundamentals – the Bible is the inspired word of God, it does not lie and it is always right. From this perspective, I set about doing a thorough study on all those ‘contradictory passages’. These are some of my notes.

As John expressed so simply in 3v36, when we believe in Jesus, we obey him, not in our own strength, but because of his spirit which is at work within us. If we receive the truth and submit to his will because we believe, he changes us from the inside, over time, dealing with whatever issues we may have. This is the process of sanctification and it is continuous throughout our lives. It involves more than just obedience to Biblical law - Jesus will change your outward actions by first changing your heart. It is that simple, and all the scriptures correlate with one another to agree – but sometimes, when we try to make them stand independently of one another, we become confused and the simple truth becomes blurred. Understanding is gained when we diligently study all the scriptures, not in part, but as a whole. This is lengthy and extensive, but in doing it we sift out the false doctrines and confusions and expose the truth.

a/ Truth - obedience is absolutely linked to belief and is the next natural step for anyone who truly believes in Jesus. Our obedience does not start with the Old Testament law, it starts with belief and faith:

(Hebrews 3v12-19) – Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God….to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

So, we see from the scriptures that belief and obedience go hand in hand, just as unbelief and disobedience are linked together.

It has been taught by men that obedience means adhering to many rules and regulations, doing certain things and not doing other things. The Old Testament has more than 600 commandments, and Jesus himself said, “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them….until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven….” (Matthew 5 v 17-19)

But when they asked him, “what must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6 v 28-29). He didn’t answer “perform all of the commandments of the law.”

Do we have a problem reconciling these two statements that Jesus made? Not really. Simple Truth - Anyone who truly believes that Jesus is the Son of God will fall on their knees, put their faith in him, accept his authority over them and do whatever he says.

The difference for Christians is in their approach to the law. We ‘download the system update’ – Jesus Christ. We are not justified by the law, but through belief in Christ, who leads us in obedience to God – an obedience which exceeds the law. Obedience through Christ is not just the outward performing of actions; it is a hunger in our souls to pursue his will, his righteousness and his purpose, and it involves exercising the gifts of the Spirit.

b/ Truth - obedience to Christ does not mean disregarding the old testament commandments. It also does not mean following all of them.

(Hebrews 5 v 9) – being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 7 v 11) – Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to rise after the order of Melchizedek…? (Hebrews 7 v 18) – on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 9 v 14-15) – how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant…. (Hebrews 9 v 24) – For Christ has entered…into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (Hebrews 10 v 39) – we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

(Galatians 3 v 23-24) – Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under supervision of the law.

When the book of Hebrews says ‘a former commandment was set aside’ – that in no way nullifies the commandments of God! Jesus fulfilled those very commandments, and then took them to the next level – it’s like having Windows 7 installed on your laptop, then ‘laying it aside’ to upgrade to Windows 8. Todd White says ‘Jesus offends your mind to reveal your heart.’ That was true of Jesus and the pharisees. They believed they were obeying the law – he showed them how they were missing it. He is the God of the Old Testament, not a new God – and if we read the books of the law in the old testament, there are plenty of scriptures pointing us to the heart of God, his mercy, his kindness, his compassion, but also to his righteousness and holiness. Even in the old testament God calls us to ‘rend our hearts and not our garments’, to ‘walk humbly with our God and show mercy’. Jesus confirmed this:

(Matthew 23 v 23) – you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

The reason we do not have to be obedient to every old testament festival is because Jesus fulfilled the rituals and ceremonies of the old testament when he was on the earth, when he died, and when he resurrected – so, what they symbolised has already happened. Some of them are continued in Christianity, without some of us even being aware of it – for example, the origins of baptism were in an old testament ritual, and Christ was the fulfilment of that ritual when he was baptized and killed and resurrected, and baptism is something all Christians continue to do today. Other old testament festivals will be fulfilled when Christ comes the second time. In all cases, the festivals are the shadow, Christ is the reality:

Galatians 4v9: But now that you have come to know God…how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principals of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have laboured over you in vain.

So the old law is not ‘laid aside’ meaning it is of no importance – it is ‘laid aside’ as in, ‘we have installed the system update’:

“…every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13 v 52).

Some Old Testament laws just expose the heart of God – and with the holy spirit within us, it is not necessary to memorize them, eg. ‘do not put a stumbling block in front of the blind’, ‘open your hand to the poor among you, without a grudging heart’ – kindness and compassion are just in us, through the holy spirit. ‘A king set over you should not acquire for himself excessive silver and gold and his heart should not be lifted up above his brothers’, ‘don’t show partiality to your children based on how much you loved their mother’ – I’ve paraphrased. These and other laws like them are laws of common decency and righteousness, which are ‘written on our hearts’. We have not forgotten them or ignored them – we have received them into our spirit so that a true believer cannot make fun of someone with a disability, or have a haughty heart, or love one child more than another, because we feel in our spirit it is diabolical – we don’t have to memorize books of scripture to make us aware of it. There are certain things that feel to us like a ‘perversion’, but because of modern society, we might even begin to think we are mistaken – then the Old Testament serves us very well, as a reminder of what God considers to be abominable, eg. A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God – Deuteronomy 22v5. With regard to other forms of spirituality, the old testament compliments the new in saying, ‘you shall not learn to follow the abominable practises of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practises divination, or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord’. The New Testament says, ‘do not love the world or anything that is in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him’.

In addressing the more outward, symbolic issues, the book of Galatians says: “…the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man…but I received it through a Revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it…so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers…. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised…. Yet because of false brothers…who slipped in …so that they might bring us into slavery – to them we did not yield, even for a moment…for if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God…. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Oh foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” It goes on, and explains why the law came after the covenant with Abraham and how Jesus fulfilled the covenant with Abraham, which was by faith, not by workings of the law. By this one example alone (and there are many others), we see what the early church attitude was towards teachings like the Hebrew Roots movement. We have the Spirit of Christ in us! We love the laws of God, because they are ‘written on our hearts’. We have no need for the outward symbolic cleansings etc. because we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ! If we follow religions that bring us back under law, we are ‘downgrading from version 8 to version 7’, or going from the 3D version to the 2D version.

Having said that, we have the freedom in Christ to celebrate the old festivals if we wish to, whilst acknowledging their actual meaning and fulfilment. One of the previous churches I attended celebrated Passover as a congregation every year – I loved the event, the menu according to the Bible, and the celebration of what God has done for us. Our empty seat at the table was for Jesus, and we would celebrate not only the mighty hand of God shown in Egypt and the Exodus, but we celebrated the accomplishment of the cross, and the blood of Christ, and reminded ourselves not to be partakers of the world.

In the same way, not every person with a quirky preference is becoming enslaved in bondage by ritual or law: (Romans 14) – “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgement on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him…. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike…. The one who observes the day, observes it in honour of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honour of the Lord…. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? … I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean…. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God…. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.” Paul also says ‘let no one judge you by a new moon or a Sabbath day’ – not everyone realises that Jesus is the Sabbath, because when we receive the Holy Spirit we rest from our labours and it is Christ at work within us – not by our own works will we be saved. Many people still keep the Sabbath in the more literal sense – and whether we do or don’t we are not supposed to judge each other on our decision. We need that day of rest physically, and it is wonderful to set aside a whole day to just commune with Jesus – but we should not make it a religious thing, it should be something we do from the heart. Paul’s statement also ends the argument that the day of the week we choose to set aside as a Sabbath day can affect our salvation. It would be more appropriate to defend the actual Sabbath, ie, if we see people trying to gain salvation through their own works. Basically what he is saying, is that be Christ-centred and not performance-based.

I love this passage of scripture, because it clarifies so many questions. Whilst I eat bacon, I do feel convicted that anything from the sea without scales, or anything without legs, or anything with more than four legs, or any mammal with scales or wings, or anything with paws, should come anywhere near my mouth, unless I’m giving my cat a kiss. And according to this passage of scripture – that’s fine. Jesus said it’s what comes out of our mouths, not what goes into them, that makes us unclean. Food is not a salvation issue, and it should not be an argumentative issue or inspire judgment of one another. Perhaps the forbidden foods of the Bible are forbidden for health reasons? We know that bats and carnivores are spreaders of disease, and that shell fish allergy can be severe enough to kill. Or maybe it’s because they are associated with pagans? I am aware that African witchcraft uses things like bats and claws and black cats…. Perhaps God, being kind, knew the cruelty that would ensue from consumption of certain things, like tortoises and shell fish being boiled alive? Or maybe those foods are symbolic. Not being a ‘qualified theologian’, I don’t know for sure.

The commandments and the law are God speaking very clearly, defining wrong from right, and Jesus only fulfilled the law, he never ignored it or contradicted it. Jesus never ‘made what is good evil and what is evil good’ (that would technically make him the anti-Christ):

(Romans 7 v 7) - …if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.

(Romans 7 v 12) – the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Exodus 20 v 3 – 17 & Deuteronomy 5 v 7 - 21– The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy 6 v 4 – The Greatest Commandment

Leviticus 19 v 18b – Love your neighbour

Simple Truth – salvation is not found in the law, but the Biblical law shows us wrong from right. Without the Bible, there is no standard, and our social system becomes up-side-down and dysfunctional, or perverted.

The Greatest Commandment is not Greatest because God is arrogant – if we do not first love God, obedience to his will is unattainable, because our obedience is a reflection of our love for Christ and our belief in Christ. Obedience completes God’s love in us, God’s love for us is not first dependent on our obedience. You cannot attain the obedience God wants by just obeying the law, because he doesn’t just want your actions – he wants your actions to be a result of your relationship with him. As the scriptures say, we have God’s love even as sinners and unbelievers - but we only have adoption and God’s salvation when we believe, which results in walking in obedience.

Simple Truth – Jesus will deal with us one step at a time. Christians have sin in their lives, because we are all in earthly bodies and our flesh is constantly waring with our spirit. Sanctification is a process, not an overnight achievement. But fight in the spirit – don’t sit on a plateau and stay there.

The Conclusion – Biblical law exists so we can differentiate between wrong and right. Biblical law is like the guide rail on a set of stairs – think of Jesus as the actual stair case to heaven. He is what gets us there, not the guide rail; but if you jump over the guide rail, you fall off the stairs. In other words, the law should point us to Jesus, who changes us. We are not supposed to change ourselves through service to the law. Works of faith extend beyond the law. A work of faith can be simply acting on the sudden urge to pray for someone who Jesus puts in your mind. A work of faith can be approaching someone to give them a word from God that he has impressed on you for that person. Works of faith encompass anything you do from a heart of obedience and compassion, whether it be a prayer or the working of a miracle, keeping your mouth closed instead of fighting back, being humble enough to listen and learn instead of proudly promoting your own opinion. A work of faith is holding to Jesus even when everything in your world seems to be falling apart. This obedience grows as your relationship with Christ grows – in order to walk in this obedience, all you have to do is come to him every day and give him your time – pray to him, wait quietly to hear from him and see what he stirs in your heart; read his word and take the time to think about what it is really saying to you. If you authentically surrender to him, he will do the rest.

Food for thought:

(Acts 5 v 29) - …We must obey God rather than men.

(Revelation 14 v 12) – Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

(Matthew 7 v 21) – Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

(Revelation 2 v 23) - …I will give to each of you according to your works.

(Galatians 3 v 2) – Did you receive the Holy Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?