Is the Old Testament Law still valid today? Please read the rest of the question.?

Question

Hasn't grace take the place of the Law? What about Leviticus 19:19 where is states, "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material."? What about Leviticus 19:27? Do I sin every time I shave? If we aren't required to follow these, what about Leviticus 20:13?

Answer 1

BRIEFLY: Yes, some of it is. No, and you betray a crucial misunderstanding on this point as the law itself was a grace in its time. As for this business about Jesus "only giving two commandments," first to love God and then to love your neighbor, I must say it is a far more serious mistake than the previous to think that in doing so He abrogated what the Mosaic law revealed of the character of God. Moreover, and here's the real rub, the Mosaic law was meant in large measure to instruct the people of God in what it really means to love. Hence, in "only giving two commandments," He was not even issuing commandments, new or otherwise, but summarizing the whole point of the law itself. Regarding Leviticus, read what the apostles decided at the Jerusalem council as it is recorded in Acts 15. On all of these matters, I shall strive to write more after I get some sleep.

EXPANDED ANSWER: Someone else has rightly noted that the law instituted by God in His covenant with Israel has been divided into three categories. First, there is the ceremonial law, which gives prescriptions for sacrifices, ritual washings, what to eat, what to wear, and so on. The judicial law, while its precepts revealed immutable truths about the character of God, prescribed punishments that are not to be meted out by the people of God on an individual basis. While it is true that Israel constituted the people of God nearly wholly and exclusively in the Old Tesament, it is important to note that there were appointed officials who were responsible for administrating the punishments. Although I would normally adamantly oppose any hint of division of the sacred and secular because I believe that scripture treats human life pretty wholistically and not piecemeal, there may be a sense in which the judicial law could be said to have enforced by the State as a distinct entity from the Church. Going into further discussion on the judicial law would take us too far afield, but since this directly relates to your question, let me say in passing that I am far from convinced that the precepts and punishments of the judicial law should be instituted today in a society that has not made the kind of covenantal vows that national Israel did. Finally, there is the moral law, which lays out for us the sort of people we must be if we are to be able to stand before a holy God. It is largely from the moral law that we learn what it means to love our neighbor. If it had been left to itself, humanity might very easily have been ignorant of what it really means to love someone. Even with the moral law, we are left with very few people who are even mediocre examples of the consistent care for all of creation that righteousness demands.

In delineating these categories, I do not mean to imply that you will find such categories so clearly delineated in scripture. In fact, I think there is probably a fair amount of overlap between the three categories of old testament law. Regardless, they are all still divine writ and must be respected as such by those who claim to follow Christ. All of this, however, is ultimately secondary to the following point.

Whether there be three, four, or five categories of law strictly, loosely, or not at all divided, the heart of the matter is that the law of God was fulfilled in its entirety in Christ. Hear me well, for I have carefully chosen my words. You will note that I have referred to it several times now as the law of God. We are not discussing the mere customs of a nomadic people of the Levant. I have said that it was fulfilled in its entirety in Christ. It has not annulled, Christ's obedience to the law was complete in every way and leaves nothing to be desired, and it is on the basis of His obedient fulfillment of the law that we are able to stand before God righteous and blameless in His sight. It is not on the basis of our own or someone else's wisdom or piety.

Having said that, I now move to the crux of the matter, the crux of which in turn is the cross itself. Grace is a word that has been variously misunderstood and abused over the centuries. To simplify things perhaps to the point of error, anytime that God condescends to interact with His enemies in some fashion other than punishment, it is an act of grace. What is certain, however, is that God's giving of the law was an act of grace. In the opening to John's gospel account, he speaks of the fulness of God from which we have received grace instead of grace. (The Greek is completely unambiguous: "charin anti charitos." Most if not all English translations are in error on this point, with the TNIV notably being perhaps the only exception.) He goes on to specify which graces he has in mind: "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Therefore, it doesn't make much sense to speak of "grace tak[ing] the place of the Law", for the Law itself was a sort of grace. What has taken the place of the law (for some, but not for all) is the righteousness of Christ.

What does this mean? The righteous life that Christ lived (and, if I understand Paul correctly, perhaps even the righteous life which He continues to live) is credited to the account of those for whom He died. Moreover, for those same people, He took the punishment for their failure to keep the law. In this sense, grace certainly does take the place of the law. Furthermore, because the more important point of the law was to point us to our need of Christ, His fulfillment of the ceremonial law in particular leaves us with little reason to pay it any mind. It was for this reason that the Jerusalem council, recorded for us in Acts 15, decided the following:

"The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."
-Acts 15:23-29 (ESV)

For those whose sins are covered by Christ's work on their behalf, the Law still serves to show the kind of people and behavior that please God. However, those who are in Christ are usually painfully aware that, in and of themselves, they are not the kind of people that please God. They know that however much they desire to please God, they stumble and fall frequently and cannot depend on their own merit before God. Rather, they trust Christ to plead His own merit before the Father. Obedience to the law then becomes something that is, in a certain sense, no longer required but nevertheless diligently pursued.

For those who do not have the righteousness of Christ credited to them, whatever level of obedience to the law they maintain will always pale in comparison to the level of disobedience to which they sink. They will likely see the law as a simple list of dos and don'ts to be followed and get caught up in thinking that if they just follow its prescriptions from now on, they will be okay. Rather than seeing the nearly impossible requirements of the law as a sign pointing to human need, they see the law only on its surface and treat it as an exhortation and indication of human ability.

All this is to say that the Jerusalem council saw fit to indicate that much of the old testament law, insofar as it was a covenant between God and Israel, could be safely ignored by Gentile converts. The declaration of the council seems to assume the understanding that obedience to the law is not so much an imperative unto salvation (insofar as justification is concerned) but an indicator of salvation (insofar as sanctification is concerned). Hence, those who are in Christ, as a part of the very fiber of their being, will not, as a rule, engage in the activities listed by the council. Eating food offered to idols is generally something that a Christian will not do. The same goes for the consumption of blood or any strangled food. Also, and this gets to the point of this whole answer, sexual immorality will generally not be truly appealing to those who are in Christ. Whatever pleasure might be derived from it in the moment will be grossly overshadowed by the sorrow that follows after.

(I'm running out of time to work on finishing this answer before this question is closed. If I fail to finish it and you're interested in my answer, please contact me.)

Answer 2

Is the Old Testament Law still valid today? No.

Be aware that the 'old testament' law was done away (Hebrews); but the 'new testament law (in basic terms) reauthorize several (9) of the 'Ten Commandments'.
Further, be aware that the 'old testament' law is given from Exodus 20- Deut. 26 inclusive; not Genesis-Malachi. (Apply the 2 or more witnesses principle here Matt 18:16, 2 Cor 13:1, along with 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Synonym; old testament (2 Cor.3:13-14 and the law of Moses many uses/witnesses).

Answer 3

Okies, I'll take a crack at it .....

Here's the thing about the Law ... you can follow every letter of the law, including not shaving, including wearing only single thread material all your life and STILL not get into Heaven. Why? Because if your heart is bad, what good is the Law?

This is the message that reverberates throughout all of Jesus ministry. He repeatedly said it's not the letter of the Law, it's the Spirit of the Law. The parable of the Good Samaritan was a prime example of this. As is the story of Jesus picking corn on the Sabbath.

This was the problem with the Pharisees of that day (and a lot of us too!). They were sticklers for the Law, but their hearts were rotten to the core. They would nitpick the Law to death, and allow people to die of neglect rather than step out of the Law to love them (Good Samaritan story). Jesus called them a den of vipers ... in this day and age we'd call them lawyers lol.

Love is more important than the Law, this is what Jesus had to say to those Pharisees and to you as well. He said that God doesn't really care about your sin, He cares about your heart and the condition it's in. Having the right spirit will lead to following the Law anyway, and that is the perfect combination, heart and law. This is what He meant when He said "I have not come to abolish the Law, but fulfill it"

Answer 4

Many scriptures in the Christian-Greek scriptures make it very clear that the Mosaic Law Covenant that God established with the Israelites ended when they failed to hold to their end of the agreement. After that Jesus initiated a New Covenant with a "Spiritual Israel" made up of peoples of all tribes, tongues and nations. However, Jesus also made it clear that the principles found in the Mosaic Law still apply today. Many of the actual physical requirements, though, such as the ones you mentioned, as well as not eating pork and shell fish, etc. no longer apply.

Answer 5

Jesus made operative a new law covenant with his shed blood, that replaced the old covenant, it was for forgiveness of sins and the formation of the heavenly nation of king priests, the 144000 that would rule with Jesus in heaven. Matthew 26:21-29, 1 Cor 5:7,

Answer 6

Ofcourse. Think of it this way. Only if you believe all the events happened and in about 6000 years. You also have to believe in Noah's flood and everything. I bet your thinking oh no... my faith is ruined the earth is millions of years old and there's no evidence of a flood. What millions of dead things fossilised, canyons the lot?

Jesus came to forfill the law not destroy it. The laws about its a sin to shave was given to the Jews for Gods purposes because he was trying to find a people that worshiped and followed him. Shaving does not harm anyone and it does not offend God these days only then when he told people not to do it just to test them.

Try and get into the mind of God and you will see why he says the things he says in the Old Testament.

Paul

Answer 7

For your answer, read the Bible. Oops! forgot about all the contradictions, I am God, unchanging, eternal, my word is forever. My alter ego, Jesus says, I have not come to change the law,but to fulfill it. Salvation, salvation, "I am the truth and the light" the only way to be saved is to believe in me. Then, he says,the only way to be saved is to sell everything, give it to the poor and follow me. Which is it? Why, would God care what you wear? Why, would he care what you eat? Maybe he needs a shrink. When will people get it? The Bible is nothing more than a book, filled with tribal myths, legends, bad history, lies, contradictions, murder and mayhem. People should be repulsed. If you brought the Bible in all its glory to the Big Screen, it would get an X-rating, as not fit for anyone.

Answer 8

Jesus came to take the place of the Old Testament law with the exception of the 10 Commandments.

Answer 9

All these laws are just as valid today as there were when God gave them to man. The reason that they were there then is the same as now.. Show us how completely helpless we are in keeping them all. And how much we need the Blood of Christ to cleanse us and make us clean before a Holy God... Jim

Answer 10

According to the idea of the New Covenant, nope, not at all. Jesus only gave two commandments: Love your neighbor as yourself and love God above all others. Pretty simple stuff.

Answer 11

Most laws in the Torah (Old Testament) apply to Jews only, and many of them apply only in the land of Israel. God "chose" the Israelites for special "obligations" not for special rewards. Jesus has relieved you from all "obligations" such as affixing a mezzuza to your doors and gates, but I don't think He would be offended if you did so!