T. D. Alexander
The English term “law” is most commonly understood to denote either a system of rules or a particular rule that regulates human behavior within a country or community. While this understanding of law occurs in the Bible, the word “law” is also used in other ways. “Law” frequently translates the Greek and Hebrew words nomos and torah, respectively. To complicate the picture, torah denotes different things in different OT contexts. It would often make better sense to translate torah as “instruction.” So the term “law” in the Bible covers a range of quite different things.
God as Lawgiver and Judge
Central to the biblical understanding of God is the idea that as the creator of everything, he alone determines what is morally right and wrong. God holds people accountable when they either disobey his specific instructions or undertake actions that are counter to his ordering of creation. When Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, they disregard an instruction specific to them. When Cain kills Abel, he acts in a manner that is contrary to God’s standards and values. In both cases, those involved are accountable for their actions and duly punished. God is the sole and ultimate arbiter of justice.
When Adam and Eve rebel against God, they reject God as law-giver, preferring to set their own moral standards; they seek to become autonomous, determining their own laws. Furthermore, as a direct consequence of rebelling against God, human nature became perverted. People inevitably fail to live by their own standards, not to mention those of God. Against this background the overall biblical account of redemption centers on how people, as lawbreakers, can be made right with God and how their perverse behavior can be made to conform to what God requires. In the telling of this story, the concept of law figures in a variety of ways.
Throughout the book of Genesis people are held responsible for their immoral actions. This implies that they have some sense of right and wrong, although the text of Genesis only occasionally alludes to the existence of God’s laws or regulations (Gen 9:3–6; 26:5).
While the account of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt briefly refers to decrees and statutes that God imposed on the people at different times (Exod 12:49; 13:9; 16:4, 28; 18:16, 20), the first recorded, substantial listing of God’s moral values applied to human life comes in the context of the covenant God made at Mount Sinai. Importantly, this covenant comes after God redeemed the people from slavery in Egypt and delivered the firstborn from death. God’s salvation precedes the “law,” so people do not earn salvation by keeping it. However, having been redeemed by God, the Israelites are expected to live holy lives by keeping the covenant obligations.
The Obligations of the Sinai Covenant
By entering into this covenant, sometimes called the Mosaic covenant, the Israelites willingly agree to fulfill various obligations that God placed on them. Primary among these is a set of broad principles called the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1–17). To these broad principles are added other items that fall under a number of distinctive categories (Exod 20:22—23:33). This material may possibly comprise the document known as the Book of the Covenant (Exod 24:7). Supplementing the broad principles of the Ten Commandments are sample case laws designed to help people resolve disputes; these laws describe particular scenarios and appropriate penalties (Exod 21:1—22:20). The Book of the Covenant also contains a section concerning moral imperatives that demand a standard of morality that goes beyond that which human law courts may regulate (Exod 22:21—23:9). Another section sets out instructions relating to periods of rest associated with the concept of the Sabbath and annual festivals (Exod 23:10–19). It gives particular attention to the Sabbath because God designated it as the sign of the covenant (Exod 31:12–17); to disregard the Sabbath is to dismiss the importance of the covenant relationship with God. In conjunction with the Ten Commandments, all of this material seeks to shape the behavior of the Israelites, enabling them to be God’s holy people. Fundamentally, however, obeying these obligations does not create the covenant relationship with God because he has already redeemed the people.
Regulations for a Holy People
The sealing of the covenant at Mount Sinai prepares the way for God to come and dwell in the midst of the Israelite camp. To facilitate this, God instructs Moses to manufacture a special tent, the tabernacle, that will function as God’s temporary earthly dwelling place. Additionally, God appoints and consecrates some Israelites as priests to serve within the tabernacle. Since God’s presence makes the tent exceptionally holy, he gives various instructions to prevent the Israelites from defiling the tabernacle (by making it ritually unclean) and to remedy such defilement when it occurs. These concerns are reflected in the wide range of areas covered by the instructions in Leviticus such as offering different types of sacrifices, categorizing food as clean and unclean, designating various bodily ailments and conditions as unclean, and giving guidelines for acceptable moral behavior. A constant theme throughout all of this material is God’s demand for the Israelites to be holy as he is holy (Lev 11:44–45). In this context holiness is associated with wholeness and life. If the Israelites are to live close to God without being put to death due to their sinful nature, they too must be holy. Ultimately, to be holy is to be perfect like God.
Covenant Renewal and the Law of Moses
Following the death of the adult generation that left Egypt, the Israelites renew the covenant initiated at Mount Sinai before they enter the promised land. While this is a renewal of the Sinai covenant and is grounded in what occurred at Mount Sinai, Moses sets out afresh the obligations that the people must fulfill. In this new presentation of the covenant obligations, known as the torah (instruction) of Moses, he warns the Israelites that God will judge them based on whether they obey or disobey his torah. To underline its importance, all that Moses says is recorded in a document, later called “the Book of the Law [torah] of Moses” (e.g., Josh 8:31; 23:6; 2 Kgs 14:6; cf. Deut 28:61; 29:21; 30:10; 31:26). While this “Book of the Law” contains God’s “commands” and “decrees” (Deut 30:10), it also includes instructions for building altars and lists of blessings and curses (Josh 8:31, 34). Although the precise extent of his book is unclear, it probably consisted of the material now recorded in Deut 5:1—28:68. In this context the “law” (torah) is much more than a system of rules. Within the rest of the OT, this torah of Moses figures prominently in two important and contrasting ways.
First, some passages in the OT view the torah positively as a source of joy for those who delight in its contents (Ps 19:7–10). God will bless those who meditate on it and live by its instruction (e.g., Josh 1:7–8; Pss 1:2–3; 94:12; 119:1). Kings, in particular, were expected to “follow carefully all the words of this law” (Deut 17:19) by reading daily the torah of Moses. In light of this, the failure of most Israelite and Judean kings to obey the teaching of the Book of the Law contrasts with Jesus’ readiness to quote from Deuteronomy when Satan tempted him (Matt 4:1–11). As heir to the Davidic throne, Jesus lives by the torah of Moses.
Second, the “Book of the Law of Moses” becomes the standard by which God judges the actions of the people, especially the kings. Solomon is condemned for disregarding the instructions in Deut 17:16–17, which prohibit a king from amassing wealth, taking foreign wives, and buying horses from Egypt (1Kgs 10:23, 28; 11:1–4). Eventually, the Assyrians and Babylonians decimate the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, respectively, because they flouted the obligations set out in the Book of the Law. As Deut 28:64–68 predicts, God punishes them with exile because they failed to live according to the law.
After the Babylonian exile, renewed attention is given to fulfilling the instructions found within the “Book of the Law.” The book of Nehemiah highlights how Ezra read the “Book of the Law of Moses” to the people of Judah over a number of days (Neh 8:1—9:3). This emphasis on conformity to the law continued to influence the religious outlook of the people in the centuries that followed. Such was the prominence given to the “Law of Moses” that by the second century BC the designation “Law” came to be applied to the first five books of the OT. This development complicates the picture, for the “Law of Moses” was subsequently understood to include everything that was said in the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy. By the first century, adherence to the Law played a major part in shaping much of Jewish life.
Jesus and the Law
Against this background, the Gospels contain many passages that directly or indirectly address how Jesus views the law. Jesus is frequently at odds with the different Jewish religious groups regarding how people should keep the law. Two main trends are evident.
First, Jesus criticizes especially how others interpret the OT law in ways that lessen its moral demands. Other religious teachers focus on the minimum level of righteousness that the law requires, but Jesus sees it as pointing toward perfection, something that the Ten Commandments and the moral imperatives found within the Book of the Covenant imply. For Jesus the OT law does not simply draw a line between behavior that is legal and illegal, as his contemporaries suppose. Rather, it is a signpost pointing to the perfection of God. For this reason, Jesus rejects a legalistic approach of interpreting the OT law (cf. Matt 5:21–48). He seeks from his followers a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (Matt 5:20); he encourages his listeners to “be perfect . . . as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48), echoing the OT demand for holy living, for holiness is associated with moral wholeness.
Second, Jesus criticizes strongly those who adopt a hypocritical stance concerning the law. He openly condemns the Pharisees for emphasizing lesser aspects of the law while ignoring the most important aspects (Mark 7:1–23). Additionally, their attitude toward ritual cleanliness exposes a key failure to appreciate fully the true cause of human uncleanness. For Jesus, the Pharisees and others too often use the law either to avoid caring for those in distress or on the margins of Jewish society or as a reason to condemn anyone who shows compassion and love to such people. The self-righteous attitude of the Pharisees, based on their misinterpretation of the law, is repugnant to Jesus.
While Jesus is adamant that he has not come to dismiss what the Law or the Prophets say, but rather has come to fulfill OT expectations (Matt 5:17), he anticipates that his death and resurrection will inaugurate new developments. Among these are the making of a new covenant in place of the Sinai covenant, the inclusion of Gentiles within the community of God’s people, and the replacement of the Jerusalem temple with a very different type of temple. These changes directly impact how Jesus’ future followers view the OT law and its bearing on Christian living.
With the making of a new covenant, Jesus’ followers would no longer be under an obligation to keep the Sabbath, the sign of the Sinai covenant (Gal 4:8–10; Col 2:16; Heb 8:7–13). When Gentiles become part of God’s people, the distinction between clean and unclean foods, which was intended to remind the Israelites of their calling to be a holy people, would no longer be relevant (Acts 11:1–18). With the creation of the church as a new temple, the detailed regulations relating to the old temple become redundant. No longer would there be any need for the Levitical priesthood and the sacrificial system that was introduced when the tabernacle was first erected (e.g., Heb 7:18–19; 8:1–6).
In these ways and others, an important transition occurs following the death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit on believers. Not surprisingly, many Jewish-born followers of Jesus struggled to adjust to such dramatic changes. This was made all the more difficult since the early church continued to value the OT law as both a guide to moral perfection and a source of information for understanding how God has worked out his plan in Jesus (e.g., Heb 10:1). In discerning how the OT law should be understood and applied in the light of the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus, Christians should be guided by the teaching of Jesus and the apostles to whom he delegated authority.
Paul and the Law
Some of the issues Paul addresses in his letters reflect the transition from an OT understanding of the people of God established through the covenant at Mount Sinai to a NT faith based on Jesus’ sacrificial death. While some of Paul’s opponents vehemently argue that Christians must observe the law (torah), Paul insists that Gentile believers are not obligated to keep all aspects of OT instructions and regulations. Paul comes to this conclusion because the Sinai covenant has been replaced by a new covenant that embraces Gentiles as well as Jews. Yet, although Paul no longer sees himself as being “under the law” like other Jews (1 Cor 9:20), he does not see himself as being without any law, for he is “under Christ’s law” (1 Cor 9:21). In the light of all that Paul has to say, it seems reasonable to conclude that Christ’s law affirms the moral standards reflected in the OT law.
Paul emphasizes that “God would justify the Gentiles by faith” (Gal 3:8) rather than by “works of the law” (Gal 3:5). As supporting evidence he points to how God considered Abraham righteous because he “believed God” (Gal 3:6, referring to Gen 15:6). Paul also argues that God’s promise of blessing for Gentiles is associated with faith (Gal 3:8–9, 14), but “all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse” because it is not possible to obey fully “everything written in the Book of the Law” (Gal 3:10). While Paul has no desire to disparage the law’s importance, he insists that it cannot “impart life” (Gal 3:21). Life comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, who fulfills God’s promise of blessing for the Gentiles. God’s promise to Abraham occurred 430 years before he made the covenant at Mount Sinai, so it takes precedence over the Sinai covenant and its obligations.
Although the law of Moses had an important function in the nation of Israel, it became redundant with Christ’s coming and the inclusion of the Gentiles (Gal 3:23–25). (In his letter to the Romans, Paul expresses comparable sentiments.) While Paul dismisses the observance of the law of Moses as necessary for salvation, he nonetheless views the law as good, being a witness to the righteousness that Christians should display in their lives: “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Gal 5:14).
The issue of whether Gentile Christians must be circumcised and whether they must observe the law was a central concern at the council of Jerusalem, which Paul attended (Acts 15:1–5). Peter describes the demands of the law of Moses as “a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear” (Acts 15:10); he then adds, “It is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved” (Acts 15:11). The council decided that they “should not make it difficult for the Gentiles” but should only require them “to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (Acts 15:19–20). The council thus signals that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised or keep the law of Moses in order to be fully righteous before God.
Conclusion
The term “law” does not refer to a single entity in the two testaments but may denote a variety of things depending on the context. Although both testaments affirm that God is the true source of moral guidance, not all of God’s instructions are universal requirements for all time. Appreciating both the continuity and discontinuity between the testaments is vital for understanding the law’s role in shaping the life of God’s people. Both testaments affirm the need to be holy as God is holy, but the practical implications of this differ in a variety of ways as we move from the OT theocracy of Israel to the NT church. A biblical-theological perspective helpfully explains why the early church did or did not implement different aspects of the OT law and how modern Christians should approach the diverse materials that are subsumed under the general heading of “law.”