Which Old Testament Rules Apply to Christians?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Leviticus 19:19, 1 Corinthians 10, Matthew 22, Mark 12, Romans 13, Colossians 2, Galatians 3, Matthew 19, Deuteronomy 22:5, Genesis 1, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Timothy 2

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--which-old-testament-rules-apply-to-christians
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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let me begin by saying the whole bible is given for us so first corinthians chapter 10 says all the things that happen in the old testament are examples for us so every teaching in the bible including the teachings you mentioned in the old testament have relevance have significance they are the word of god they have meaning for us at the same time we recognize that we're not living under the old covenant which we find in the old testament but we're living under the new covenant which was instituted by the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ so we're directly accountable for the teachings of the new covenant now to answer your question uh we we see what the new testament self says for example in matthew 22 also in mark 12 and there's a parallel passage in luke as well jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment of all and of course that was given when there was no written new testament the only bible was the old testament so in a way they're asking your question and according to traditional jewish teaching the old testament had 613 commands to obey jesus said the first commandment is hear o israel the lord our god is one love god with all your heart soul mind strength the second commandment is like it love your neighbor as yourself love your fellow human he said on the these two commandments summarize all the law and the prophets so everything in the old testament can be summarized with those two statements you'll you also find um the apostle paul writing essentially the same thing in romans 13 when he lists a number of old testament commands and then he summarizes it it's all summarized in the law of love james also talks about everything is covered by the royal law of love so i think in a broad sense we can say we're under the new covenant not the old covenant so things that were specifically given to the people of the old covenant namely the nation of israel while they're instructive for us we're they're not directly commanded to us but anything that's covered by loving god and loving people or we might say the moral law then that is part of god's plan for humans and so that would be true under any covenant so us so the the kind of things you're talking about that would not apply we might use the term the ceremonial law or the new testament speaks about a shadow types and shadows so a type is something that has it's it's a real thing a real place person event practice in the old testament that had a significance for the new testament so it has a teaching far beyond uh the the circumstances of that time uh so we also see this in colossians chapter two these things were shadows but the body is christ here's the illustration let's say you're sitting at the corner of a building and you see somebody's walking around the corner you haven't seen them yet but they're casting their shadow head up so you look at him say is that a man or a woman look in the shadow is that an adult or a child and then suddenly the person rounds the corner you see them well you don't have to keep looking at the shadow to see who they are you look straight at the body and you say well here's the person i know they are so some of these things teachings of the old testament are shadows that point toward greater truth now we have the greater truth of the new testament we no longer need to follow the shadows galatians 3 says the law was a schoolmaster tutor to bring us to christ but now that we have christ we don't still need the the schoolmaster so so in other words there are some teachings of the old testament that were preparing the way for jesus and pointing to jesus but have been fulfilled in jesus so now that we have the reality we don't need the shadow we don't now that we have the fulfillment we don't need the type so what are we talking about a classic example would be the animal sacrifices when people sinned or violated the law they were supposed to offer animal sacrifice well the new testament explains that jesus christ has become our supreme sacrifice the one sacrifice for all sin forever so we don't offer animal sacrifices because they're fulfilled in christ some of the laws you mention of separating the types of grain and also distinguishing between clean and unclean animals the new testament indicates that these things were teaching us the principle of separation in other words the ancient israelites god was trying to show them in your clothes in your farming practices in your diet in your daily life in the days of the week the day that you set aside all that was designed to teach there's a difference between what is holy and what is not holy and so in all of your life don't just do whatever you want to do but first ask what is god's will some things god wants to do something god doesn't want us to so it's like a child like a tutor teaching children you got to learn to ask the question is this the will of god or not is this holy or not is this god's plan or not is this my identification as a child of god or not so once that lesson is learned now we come to the new testament and god shows us it applies to his moral commands so we're no longer obligated to the dietary laws of the old testament or the sabbath laws of the old testament although we should have a principle of a day of rest and also a principle of assembling for worship weekly at least but all those detailed laws have been fulfilled by the reality so go back to your root question how do we know the difference well here's some questions to ask is this related to loving god and loving people is this related to god's moral law if so it will always be true before the law of moses during the law of moses after the law of moses another way to look at it is is this a ceremony or tight that's been fulfilled in christ and in the church if so what is the fulfillment we have to see a fulfillment that's greater than the type so the animal sacrifice is yes the cross that's that's an easy one but you have to see there must be a fulfillment that we do still follow that's greater than the type a third point might be what was god's plan for the human race before sin in in the book of genesis that would seem to carry over whether it's the old covenant or the new covenant jesus for example in matthew 19 they the people ask them well uh what are the grounds for divorce he says wait a minute you shouldn't be asking that question because in the beginning god didn't really plan for divorce and so they were saying well why why did the law of moses the old covenant allowed he says because the hardness of your hearts because of sin he was trying to regulate evil men were putting with their wives so he's at least trying to give some regulation of what's proper and improper and protect the rights of the woman but in the beginning god didn't intend for you to ever have to get that far he intended for the marriage to work so in the beginning he created one man one woman they were committed joined together for life that's god's plan so if you want to know what's god's plan that's what it is but later because of sin god's plan wasn't completely fulfilled and so god gave some lesser commands but if you really want to know the truth go back to the beginning uh and and so that that same principle can apply i'll give you a very practical example deuteronomy 22 5 talks about a man should not wear a woman's clothes a woman should not wear a man's clothes and and those who violate this it's an abomination unto god so a lot of people say oh that's just an old testament command you can pick and choose other commands in the same chapter the same book that we obviously don't follow so so we're not obligated of course as you pointed out well we can pick other commands in that same chapter in book that we definitely absolutely follow so how do you know well here's a good example is it related to loving god loving people and god's moral law well the very terms if you violate this it's an abomination unto god which means something god detests so that indicates it's not as he for the dietary laws he would say now don't eat pork that shall be an abomination to you you shall despise us but when he says don't cross the genders because god despises that well that indicates its moral law so that would be one test second test will does this go back to god's original plan well go back to genesis 1 god created male and female absolutely and then here under the law make sure there's a distinction address another question well is it still under the new covenant well actually yes the new covenant does talk about sex morality distinction between male and female against same-sex relationships and even effeminate dress effeminate behavior in first corinthians 6 but then very specifically in first corinthians 11 distinction between male and female in the outward appearance in the form of hair and of course first timothy 2 the woman wearing modest clothing which indicates a feminine form of clothing that's appropriate so actually the new testament does reiterate the teaching in very basic form uh and then finally you ask well could this be a type or shadow if so what does it point to uh what is the greater truth what is the abiding truth that we still follow so distinction between male and female if that's abolished what's it replaced by and the fact is it's not replaced by anything it's the abiding truth so i've just given you four examples um does it involve loving god loving people does it involve god's moral law if so it remains is it a creation principle if so it remains is it reiterated in the new testament if so it remains is it a type that's fulfilled by something greater if so what is that something greater if there's nothing greater then that's a good indication it remains so those are four practical i guess questions you could ask to know is what is stated here in the old testament something that's specifically god's will so obviously when god told noah to build an ark he's not telling us to build an ark so yes of course their historical commands are specific to a person or to a time but also many of those teachings you can tell by the four questions i've asked or the four guidelines i've given that have abiding relevance for the church today and in general we should assume the whole bible is is teaching us and certainly what we find in the new testament is directly to the church today