ESV Chronological Plan, Day 47 | Leviticus 17-19

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read Leviticus 17:1-19:37

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Do these laws apply to us? There are different views in the Church, throughout history, about whether the Old Testament laws carry over to believers today. Generally there are two solutions here: (1) There is no requirement for Christians to follow the Old Testament laws, except for what is repeated in the New Testament by the inspired apostles. (2) There is continuity between both testaments, and while Jesus fulfills the ceremonial laws having to do with sacrifices and ritual purity, and Israelite civil laws have no bearing on a mixed Jewish-Gentile church, there is a requirement for modern believers to follow the law's ethical laws of right and wrong. So, which solution should we adopt?

In this section of Leviticus, we see some laws which are not repeated in the New Testament, but which almost all modern believers would still believe are binding on us today:

• The law against bestiality: Leviticus 18 gives a command against lying with "an animal" (Leviticus 18:23). This command is not repeated in the New Testament. The laws against physical unions between close relatives, given here, are also not repeated in the New Testament.

• You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in the way of the blind. These commands, given in Leviticus 19:14, are also not explicitly repeated in the New Testament.

• A woman must not wear men's clothing, and a man must not wear women's clothing. The law against cross-dressing or transvestism is not clearly repeated in the New Testament (there is a possible case of gender-specific commands regarding lengths of hair in 1 Corinthians 11, but these are tied up with cultural expectations of authority and whether women can pray in church--a separate discussion for another time.

Because of these examples, and the historic teaching of the church in all times and places throughout history, as well as the unchanging character of God, I believe that while the first solution listed above is a nice and simple starting place for new Christians (where we can say to them, "You know what, most of what you need right now, you can find in this little New Testament"), in reality we need the Old Testament for a fully-developed ethical system. And I believe the New Testament writers expected that we would still be making use of the commands of the Old Testament: Paul wrote to Timothy that "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). When this was written, Paul would have mostly been referring to the Old Testament.

RESPOND | WHAT IS OUR PART?

Where some modern-day teachers like Andy Stanley claim that we need to "unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament," I don't believe this is possible without falling into very dramatic error. We can apply a better understanding by simply doing what we are doing right now: reading the Old Testament and applying it to our lives.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US CLOSER TO GOD?

Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "God, thank you for your Word, for laws which benefit those who follow them, and for the grace to trust you when we don't understand why you ask us to do something. Help us to see how the Old Testament encourages us with examples of faith, with predictions of Christ, with foreshadowings of the work of Jesus, with examples of your wisdom, and with commands which lead to our joy. You are the great law-giver whose precepts are good and in whose law we find life."