Livin Leviticus Loca part 2

First off, I’m thrilled that Sam read the suggested verses last time. As a reward he received a little lesson on fair play. And, in case you are wondering how that fits in to the categories I gave last time – ceremonial, moral, and civil – I think dirty fighting as described in Deuteronomy 25:11-12 is in the moral category. Therefore this law should still apply (in my opinion).

However, while the three ways to categorize is helpful in some ways, as I said in the last post there are some problems with it, so how do we understand the Old Testament laws? In this post I’m going to look at some passages in the New Testament that deal with understanding the law.

For dinner this evening we are having ham. There are many tasty things that one can do with a pig. However, as you probably know, eating a pig is forbidden in Jewish law (Leviticus 11:7). Simon Peter was not only a disciple of Jesus, but also a devout Jew, so when we read the account given in Acts 10 of Peter’s vision, it is of no surprise that Peter is shocked. He is informed by God that the dietary restrictions have been lifted. In fact it takes three times of the same vision and voice of God to get Peter to consider this, and then that’s even followed by a divine appointment with a Gentile.
Notice something interesting and important here. The story of the dietary restrictions being lifted is interwoven with the story of Peter accepting the Gentile believers. The lesson that Peter takes from all of this is that God shows no partiality in regards to which culture someone comes from if they are following him (Acts 10:34). There are a few things to note here. First, the law, at least in some cases is now understood in a radically different way. My ham dinner in and of itself is not sinful. Second, it seems that the implications of the law can be more complex than one might first expect. In this example, dietary laws are connected with table fellowship, which dictates who you can hang out with and who is acceptable in the sight of God. Finally, the turning point in history as to the interpretation of the Law as far as Christians are concerned is found in the person of Jesus Christ. It is to Jesus we will now turn.

The second scripture that I’ll look at is found in the gospel of Matthew 5:17-20. In these verses Jesus says that he did not come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it. He then states that not one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law. Either Jesus and the New Testament contradict themselves (as seen in the treatment of pork above), or Jesus’ understanding of the fulfilling of and purpose of the law are different. Christians have come to believe that Jesus did not just fulfill the law, but rather was the fulfillment of the law. The law of Yahweh found its truest expression in the person of Christ. How does this work out? In the rest of the chapter Jesus sets forth some pretty high standards. For example, he still holds to the law of adultery, but ups the ante saying that you it includes lusting in your heart. Murder is still forbidden, but Jesus again increases the expectation stating that we are not to even hate our brother. In these teachings we see that the law is not simply the outward behavior, but also a matter of the heart.
Here we perhaps get a glimpse into what living by the laws of God would mean by examining how Jesus applies and understands them. I think that in the verses mentioned above you see Jesus’ interpretations moving towards mercy for the outcast (the adultery law surely helped the women more than men after Jesus was done with them), towards loving God and neighbor. In fact, Jesus teaches that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Then he follows it up with an amazing statement that all of the law and the prophets hang on these two commands (Mt 22:34-40).

From Jesus we learn that the law is not simply chucked aside. In fact, in some way through Jesus it is fulfilled. Yet it is changed too.

Finally, I the last part of scripture that I’ll bring up is in Galatians. Throughout this letter Paul is discussing the role of the law in the lives of believers, especially in regards to circumcision. In Galatians 3:24 Paul refers to the law as a schoolmaster or tutor. The word that was used was the same word that referred to a slave that instructed and guided upper class boys in Greek and Roman society. Once the child reached manhood the schoolmaster was no longer needed. Verse 25 says that now that faith has come you no longer need the schoolmaster.
Paul is saying here that faith in Christ, who was the fulfillment of the law as we saw above, is that step into maturity and beyond the tutor of the law. This is not to say that the law is now disregarded, but rather that those lessons are learned. There is a new level of maturity.

One of my concluding thoughts in the first post was the idea that the principles behind the laws still apply, but the specific applications may not necessarily. I think that idea still holds after examining these New Testament Scriptures. I think we can say more as well. Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the law, marks a new relationship with the law for us as believers. In some ways boundaries have come crashing down as with the dietary laws and relationships with Gentiles. In other ways it is a step beyond because we are living into the spirit of the law. We are not to kill, but we are not even to hate someone in our heart. Also, the remark that all of the law and prophets hangs on the great love commandments is a profound statement. The way in which we view the law and scripture must be shaped by our love of God and our love of neighbor.

So where does that leave me with my ham dinner? What do you think about tattoos? What have you concluded from these verses? Next time I’ll tackle the tattoo question directly, and I think I’ll consider my own enjoyment of ham as well.