do christians follow old testament?

Question

if they dont why?

Answer 1

Dear Fatima,

The question that you pose has intrigued theologians for many centuries. Before I answer I think that it is necessary to look at the functions of both the Older Covanent, and the New Covanent. There are several reasons why God gave the Older Covanent. Lets examine some of them.

First: The concept of one God. Right from the first words of Genesis we read "In the beginning God...." For the rest of the book that is one of the main themes.

Second: The concept of the Trinity. In the second verse of Genesis we are introduced to the "Spirit of God", and by the end of the third chapter we know that God has a physical body. The Father is the creator that lives outside time and space. The Spirit is the person of God that hovers or moves between time and etrnity and the Son is the part of God that deals with man. He has a physical body.

Third:The concept of Prophecies. The earliest of these is in Genesis 3:15 where Satan is told that he will bruse Messiahs's heel, but Messiah would crush his head. From then on, there are dozens upon dozens of prophecies that deal with the coming Messiah.

Fourth:The concept of worship. From the early chapters when we see that Abel worshipped God in an acceptable way to the the last chapter of the last book , where we see that God will exhault those that revere Him, worship is a main part of the Older Covanent. In addition, there is a whole book that teaches how to worship.

Fifth: The concept of morality. Throughout the Older Covanent we see morality at work over and over. Whether its the 10 Commandments or the history and demise of the wicked, morality is a key issue throughout. The books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Eccleiasies all deal with the matter of morality

Sixth:The concept that God keeps His promises. He made promises to Adam, to Abraham, to Jacob, and to David. These promises were generally about the coming Messiah.

Seventh: In order to keep his promises, God had to maintain a people that he could pass on His blessings. Many of the laws given in Leviticus were designed to maintain Israel as Gods Chosen People. They were chosen to be the nation that would bring forth the Messiah. The histories of Israel are necessary to understand how this occurred.

When Messiah arrived and Crushed the power of Satan's hold on man a new Covanent was started. Of the things that I mentioned above, there is one that is no longer necessary for the Christian. That is living as an Israelite that is still awaiting the Messiah. All the laws or rites that perform that function are no longer necessary for the Christian to observe.

Now to answer your question. I would hope that all those parts of the Older covanent that deal with the character of God, the nature of worship, the necessity of morality, both the wonder of fulfilled prophecies, and the anticipation of coming fulfillments, and the promises of God, would be followed by Christians. The things that Christians are not required to do is to follow those laws and rites that hold the Jewish nation in preparation for the coming Messiah.

I hope this helps

God Bless

Bryan

Answer 2

There is a lot to explain to do this question justice. I think Sheepinar...said it best when talking about the book of Hebrews that is in the New Testament. It explains in better detail how Jesus came and saved us from the Old Testament laws because of the fact that we can't obey them all perfectly. So, through our relationship in Jesus we will go to heaven and not by obeying the laws of the Old Testament.
It also explains that a lot of the laws were in place for health reasons at that time. Like not eating animals that died of natural causes or diseases. Also circumcision was because of health reasons. But the ten commandments are still followed because they are known as "moral" laws. You can learn more by reading Hebrews.

Answer 3

The New Testament is the number 1 thing Christians follow. It cancelled out certain OT passages, i.e. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice so we don't need to sacrifice animals anymore. But other parts of the OT are still followed, esp. Laws of Moses and 10 Commandments. OT is mainly a history of progress, where it left off the NT began. Its all about progress and sometimes the new cancels out the old.

Christians, Muslims, and Jews all have the OT as a basis of their religion but have other texts that are more important.

Answer 4

Some try, most do not.
Trying to follow all the laws in both the OT and the NT can be a bit much. There are the 10 commandments, the Laws of Moses, the beatitudes and the laws put forth by Paul/Saul.

As of yet I have found no Christian who follows all of the laws of the OT, much less those in the NT.

As to why, you would have to ask them individually why they don't. Some say they follow the New covenant however it wasn't Jesus who said it was the time of the New Covenant, it was Paul/Saul. So there is some confusion as to what is to be followed and what is to be left behind.

Answer 5

I like to as best as I can. There some old testament laws that deal a lot with being clean and unclean. As a Christian I don't need to worry about these laws because Jesus' blood has already washed me clean. However, I do feel that God would still like it if I followed them even if I didn't have to or feel that I have to. Old Testament is about following the law and New Testament is about a relationship with Jesus.

Answer 6

I'm assuming you mean Old Testament laws.

Humans don't have the ability to follow the Old Testament law; that is why Jesus was sent. He covered the sin because we don't have the control over our flesh that is required to fulfill the law.

When you become born again, the Holy Spirit enters you. The Holy Spirit is simply the Spirit of God on Earth (but is a separate entity). The Holy Spirit then empowers you to follow the law.

Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40:
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

In loving God and loving others as you do yourself, you are obeying the law. In other words, you won't be breaking the ten commandments.

Answer 7

The Old Testament is extremely important because it foreshadows the message of the New Testament, which is how mankind is able to reconcile with God. The OT tells us what God's standards are, such as the 10 Commandments. But the sacrifices are no longer needed because the REAL sacrifice has come, which is Jesus Christ. The things that were shadows of things to come are no longer needed when the real thing comes.For example : they had to physically circumcize the Jewish males to show that they were God separate and holy people, but now the Bible tells us that the real circumcision is in the heart, spiritually, when one believes.

Answer 8

I assume by saying "The Old Testament", you are refering to the Law. The OT is much more than just the Mosaic or Jewish law. It is recorded history from the beginning of time demonstrating God's plan for His people including you and me today. A summary of this is that when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, they brought the punishment (Death) on us all. By in the OT, God promised a saviour.

The Law of the OT, summarized in the 10 Commandments is something to be followed, but it is also something that no one can follow perfectly. We all have sinned, and the purpose of the Law is to show us that.

In the New Testament, Jesus is shown to be the Christ, the saviour promised in the OT. We are not saved by any work of our own (we can not be "good" enough to get to heaven), but rather by the work of Jesus. Our salvation is a gift of God (Grace). We (Christians) still use the 10 commandments to show us how God desires for us to live.

So in short, Christians should still follow the 10 commandments from the Old Testament, but we do so out of gratitude for God's gift of salvation, not to try and "earn" our way to Heaven.

Answer 9

No, christians are not under the Old Covenant law. They are under the New Covenant grace. In the Old Testament, it talks about where there is a change of the priesthood, there is a change of the law. It is again stated in the book of Hebrews. The priesthood changed with Christ at the cross, so we are under a New Covenant with God and therefore a new law. The law of love with only 2 commandments.
Love God
Love your neighbor

The entirety of the law is fulfilled in these 2 commandments.
If you love your neighbor, you would not steal from him...or covet his wife, or bare false witness against him. True love would not do these things...Therefore christians are not instructed to follow Old Testament law.

Answer 10

The Old and New go together...not separate. Saint Augustine said the New Testamnt is hidden in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New. There are a lot of"Prefigurements" of the New written in the Old. The most famous and best known is Isaiah prophesies, written 700 years prior, about Jesus and the virgin birth (Christmas)

The entire Bible has to be taken and read as a whole.