Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.Do these verses apply to us today? If so, what about other verses which say wearing clothes made of mixed fabric is wrong? (Leviticus 19:19)
If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
The key to understanding Leviticus is this: "the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised" (Galatians 3:19). Leviticus ceased to be applicable with Jesus. Why? Again, the Bible tells us, "no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life". This way of faith is very different to the way of law which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life"." (Galatians 3:11-12).
And here is Paul's bombshell: in Galatians 3:12 he quotes Leviticus 18:5 to show that Leviticus is part of the way of the law - not the way of faith in Jesus. In fact Paul goes on to say that if you think you have to keep one law, you have to keep them all! (Galatians 5:3). He says, "if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace" (Galatians 5:4).
So, when someone cites Leviticus to me, I remind them that Christians do not live under the Law of Moses. We live under grace, and we do not have to keep these laws.
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Your understanding of "not under the law" and Leviticus is in conflict with the NT Epistles. I have an entire chapter on this in my book so I won't repeat it all here. Here is a simple test. In short, if NONE of the book of Leviticus (especially the Holiness Code) is applicable to Christians today then Paul contradicts himself for he repeatedly cites it as a standard for Christian ethics.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, throughout the New Covenant epistles the apostles paraphrase, allude to and directly quote Leviticus and Deuteronomy as the moral guide for Christian behavior. In doing so they do not merely repeat the commandments of the Old Testament but they cite the law authoritatively as the standard for Christian conduct. The two most common are “Be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:16) and the “royal law” of liberty “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” which is a direct citation from Leviticus 19:18 which is from the very heart of the Holiness Code (Galatians 5:14; James 2:8). James in fact explicitly tells us that we are not to be mere hearers of the law but rather be doers of the law by faith for the faith without works cannot save (James 2:14).
Because only the typological elements of the law are abrogated the apostle Paul is free to repeatedly quote Old Testament laws as the standard for ethical conduct such as Leviticus 19:18 (Romans 13:9), Deuteronomy 5:16 (Ephesians 6:2-3), Deuteronomy 25:4 (1 Timothy 5:18), as does the apostle James who quotes Deuteronomy 5:17-18 (James 2:11).
Like the word "trunk" the word "law" can refer to many different things. In Galatians & Romans "not under the law" refers to the era of the Mosaic Covenant and the curse refers to Deut. 28-30 in which if hard-hearted Israel committed apostasy they would be cursed.
The pedagogical nature of the law in Galatians 3 in its context refers to the typological elements of the law that were a preparation of the coming of Christ. These were the mere types and shadows and those which distinguished Jews from Gentiles. The historical context of Galatians is Acts 15 in which Pharisees were insisting that Gentiles become Jews and be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1, 5).
In Acts 15 James preaches from Amos 9:11-12 Yet after declaring that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised they went on to insist that they keep other laws (Acts 15:29) as the saved Gentiles who would be “in the midst of Israel” must therefore keep the four laws imposed on Gentiles who live in the midst of Israel (Leviticus 17-18).
READ ACTS 15!
Notice that James at first (when he is talking from memory) gives a different order from Leviticus - Eating idol sacrifices (Lev. 17:7-9), Sexual laws (Lev. 18:1-19), Eating things strangled (Lev. 17:13-16), Blood laws (Lev. 17:10-12).
Then notice that when James writes the decree (Acts 15:23-29), he carefully puts it in the order it was in Leviticus - Eating idol sacrifices (Lev. 17:7-9), blood laws (Lev. 17:10-12), eating things strangled (Lev. 17:13-16) and sexual laws (Lev. 18:1-19). These would include laws that state one cannot marry within the degrees of consanguinity, not marrying within the degrees of affinity and not engaging in marital relations during the monthly period and finally the sexual sins of adultery, homosexuality and bestiality.
** correction - I should not have said "the sexual sins of adultery, homosexuality and bestiality" in the last sentence. But rather "the sexual sins of adultery, men having sex with other men and bestiality." The idea of "homosexuality" is a modern social construct in which people are given an identity according to their sexual desires. Sexual desires can change, fluctuate, be fluid, and so to identify someone by such desires is not Biblically nor scientifically accurate.
ReplyDeleteHi there
ReplyDeleteI think your understanding of the law ignores a plain reading of Scripture. The law indeed stands, Jesus said he did not come to abolish it but to fulfill it(Matt 5:17). Jesus obeyed all the law so that we don't have to. That's why I can have a bacon sandwich, eat prawn cocktail, trim my sideburns, wear clothing made of mixed fabrics, etc.
The Bible is very clear:
But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. (Galatians 2:17-21)
Or...
Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian... I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws. (Galatians 3:24-25; 4:12)
You see, Jesus did it all for us. We don't have to.
A plain reading of Scripture makes that clear.
What we have to do is remember that what is important is faith expressing itself in love (Gal 5:6). Love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10), not keeping rules that we don't have to. If we live in love we fulfill all that God requires of us.