I Fought the Law
Old Testament laws and their interpretation is always a fraught issue. Are they still relevant? Are they still valid? What do some of them even mean? Read on…
I have two questions for you. Do you believe that anyone who touches a woman who is having her monthly period is unclean until that evening? Do you believe that if someone gives false evidence in court they must sacrifice a sheep or a goat to God? These are both laws found in the Old Testament. I cannot think that many Christians today take these laws seriously. This looks a little puzzling. The bible is our holy book; we believe that it is mostly accurate, and take it as our guide to life. Yet these are laws that God has commanded us to follow in no uncertain terms. Why is it that we think that we can disregard them like this?
You might point out that these laws were created for a people geographically, culturally and temporally distant from us. The laws above were suitable for their culture, but are not suitable for ours. Whilst we still see perjury as being wrong, how many people today would be able to lay their hands on a sheep or a goat?
I could be more sceptical still. The Bible is a historical document; it was created by people and for people. The laws in the Old Testament reflect cultural beliefs, practises and superstitions. The first one I mentioned above, for example, could be seen as a reflection of primitive blood taboos, and the second of the role that religion played in the judiciary process in ancient Palestine.
So a lot of the laws in the Old Testament can be seen as not being directly relevant today. What of it? There are plenty of laws in the Old Testament that are still seen as relevant — for example, Leviticus 18:22 bans homosexual relations, a law which many Christians believe is still valid, and of course there are the Ten Commandments. What of it? Leviticus Chapter 18 is sandwiched in-between laws relating to clean and unclean foods, and laws relating to animal sacrifices. What causes us to treat the one as retaining importance for modern Christians, and the other two as not doing?
It might be argued that the Old Testament food laws were linked to the culture and environment in which they were first given, and that animal sacrifices are not appropriate today, whereas people still have sex. In that case I would draw your attention to chapter 18 verse 3, which condemns Egyptian and Canaanite practises, and this seems to be relevant to the sexual laws that follow. A little research reveals that all of the things forbidden were involved in Egyptian and Canaanite religious practises. It would appear that this is the reason they were forbidden. In what way, then, is this law different from those with which I began the article, if the Leviticus commandment grounds belief that homosexuality is wrong today? It seems clear that we cannot take the Old Testament laws as applying literally and legislatively today.
So how are they to be interpreted? There are plenty of examples in the Gospels where Jesus does not follow the letter of the law, but follows its meaning instead, by plucking corn to eat or healing on the Sabbath, for example, alongside many occasions on which Jesus stresses the importance of the law — when a rich man asks Jesus how he can get into the kingdom of heaven, before commanding him to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor and follow him, Jesus refers him to the Ten Commandments, and Jesus constantly stresses the importance of the law. However, Jesus does not stick to the law to the letter — he criticises the Pharisees, in essence, for putting the law above the people and forgetting the purpose and meaning of the law.
This, to me, seems to be the key. This year at Christian Focus, a speaker from the Council of Christians and Jews gave a workshop on Jewish oral law, and explained that although the two commands ‘an eye for an eye’ and ‘turn the other cheek’ appear to be contradictory, the second is more likely an interpretation of how the earlier law should be understood. This, she said, is how Jewish oral law works. The laws have been successively interpreted and re-interpreted by new generations of scholars. Looking at it this way, it seems that Jesus came not to replace the Old Testament laws, but to qualify them, to complete them. Though many of the laws in the Old Testament are cultural or judicial, it is easy to see echoes of Jesus’ main messages in the moral and religious teaching. The same spirit is present.
Are the Old Testament laws relevant? My examples above show that it would be difficult and undesirable to follow them all today, and it seems a little hypocritical to pick and choose. The context and purposes of familiar laws can be unexpected. If we look again at Leviticus 18, however, although this can be interpreted as a list of forbidden religious practises, most of the activities listed, such as having intercourse with one’s sister or with animals, are things that any sensible moral code would reject. Reading through the passage we can gain an insight into the way in which God wants us to view sex, even if we disagree with the relevance of individual laws, or if the reasons for which they were given are no longer relevant. I don’t know any Christians who keep the seventh day of the week holy as God commanded, though I would imagine most still try to practise the spirit, in trying to make Sunday special, or just to make some space for God in our lives.
There is no reason the Old Testament laws cannot be relevant and of use, as long as we remember when and for whom they were written. They were the laws by which Jesus lived his life, and are useful both as a background to his teachings, and to help us to understand and practise the teachings in the Gospels. After all, people will always be people, and we share the Old Testament God. It is a valuable resource, and an interesting read!
To finish, here’s a few verses from Galatians 5:3–4:
Once more I warn any man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the whole law. Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God’s grace. (GNB)
And something from Matthew 5:18–19:
Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the law will be done away with not until the end of all things. So, then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be least in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the law and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the kingdom of heaven.
These two quotes appear contradictory. It is up to us to find a satisfactory way of reconciling them — to understand the relevance of the Pentateuch, without picking and choosing which bits still apply today.