Topic: Application of the Law of Moses (part 1)
One of the most difficult issues while reading through Deuteronomy is how to apply the Law to our lives today. Until a believer understands the relevance of the Law, specific statutes, precepts, and commands will seem alien, irrelevant, and boring. The culture of our day even sees the Law as offensive.
A good starting point in viewing the Law is to examine how other Old Testament writers taught about the Law. Take a moment and examine how Psalm 119 referred to the Law.
- Vs. 97, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.”
- Vs. 111, “Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.”
- Vs. 112, “My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.”
- Vs. 131, “I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.”
- Vs. 143, “Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight.”
Does this sound like most present-day Christians? Do we hear people talk about longing passionately for the Law of God and expressing their sheer joy and delight in God’s commandments? Sounds foreign to our culture, doesn’t it? Some will surely say, “But that’s Old Testament stuff. We’ve been redeemed from the law and our focus is on the Gospel, not the law.”
The next point in our journey in understanding the Law is to see how the New Testament reflects on the Law.
- Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight ; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
- Romans 7:6, “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”
- Romans 7:8, “But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.”
- Romans 7:12, “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”
- Romans 7:22, “For in my inner being I delight in God's law.”
Does this sound like a man who believed the law of God has no place in the Christian life? Read what Paul says carefully and you will find a man whose heart longed for the law of God as much as David’s.
One final reflection point to make for this week’s thought is to see how Jesus related to the Law.
- Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished!”
Jesus taught that the Law was relevant, and the rest of the New testament taught the Law was relevant (II Timothy 3:16-17), therefore believers today must not disregard the Law but meditate on it because it gives us instructions on how to live holy for God is holy (Leviticus 19:2, 20:7,26, 21:1, I Peter 1:16).
Jesus made it clear that requirements of the Law were simply a call to love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-40). The Law is concerned with the conduct of loving relationships. Even though the Law can be harsh, it is set forth to teach that love requires tough action for the safety of the community.
While reading through Deuteronomy, the first attitude necessary when reading the Law portion is to see the Law as relevant, worthy of meditating on, and a call to love.
See you Sunday!
Dr. Scott Kallem