Most of us understand the concept of a law – it tells you what you are and aren’t allowed to do, and usually specifies the consequences if you transgress. We have laws covering many aspects of our lives, and particularly the way that we relate to one another. Everyone knows what is expected of them, and what is likely to happen if they don’t live up to those expectations. As a result, where laws are fairly come by, most will respect them. Experience shows that, without law, civilisation quickly descends into anarchy.

All of this is true of the laws we have preserved in the Bible. But there is more than that. To an Israelite, the Book of the Law (i.e. the first 5 books of our Bible, also known as the Pentateuch) is representative of the relationship between God and the nation of Israel. In a sense, it is the Law which distinguished Israel from all of the nations around them, for God had chosen to reveal himself to them alone. The Law formalises the relationship between them. In fact, the Law was a gift from God to establish the ways they should live in community with one another, and in relationship with God. It also established boundaries for the relationships between Israel and the surrounding nations.

This was a source of great rejoicing to the Jews:

He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.
He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know his laws.
Praise the LORD.¹

Unlike our laws, however, the only way we are able to understand the biblical laws is to read them in the context of the narratives in which they are embedded.

Understanding the law

The Law as a whole constitutes a covenant between God and Israel. A covenant is a binding contract between two parties, usually an overlord or ruler and a vassal or servant. By agreeing to the covenant, the vassal would receive various benefits: protection, provision etc. In return, the vassal was expected to be exclusively loyal to the overlord – often on pain of death. Should the vassal transgress, it was expected that the overlord would act to punish them.

Ancient covenants follow a rigid structure:

• Preamble: This spells out the parties involved in the covenant. e.g. “I am the LORD your God”².
• Prologue: A brief description of how the parties came to form the relationship being formalised. e.g. “… who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”³.
• Stipulations: The individual laws and commands to be followed.
• Witnesses: Those who will enforce the covenant. e.g. usually “the LORD” but occasionally “heaven and earth”⁴ indicating the global importance of honouring this covenant.
• Sanctions: Blessings and curses pronounced upon those who honour or don’t honour, respectively, the terms of the covenant. These were the incentives for compliance⁵
• Document clause: A provision for regular review of the covenant⁶.

The individual stipulations generally come in 2 forms:

• Commands (apodictic): Explicit, generally applicable instructions⁷. It is important to note that not all situations are described. It is instead intended that the laws be read as a paradigm (model) upon which to base ones actions. That is to say it was expected that people follow the spirit of the law, not just the letter of it.
• Case-by-case (casuistic): These were usually conditional laws, describing how to act in a particular situation⁸.

The Law was sufficiently important to Israel that it not only got stated twice⁹, each king was instructed to make a copy of the entire law upon taking the throne, and then to keep it with him and read it every day¹⁰.

Applying the Law

The first thing to understand about the Law is that it is not our covenant. Paul makes quite clear that a Christian is no longer bound by the covenant established in the Old Testament, but is instead an heir to a new covenant established in Christ. Indeed he refers to the old covenant as “the law of sin and death”¹¹, referring to the fact that nobody except Jesus was able to honour the entire spirit of the covenant. As a result, all were guilty and worthy of death according to the Law. The gospel is that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). The sanctions of the covenant have all been borne by Jesus on our behalf.

So, if it is not our covenant, does that make the Law irrelevant to us? No, not at all. What we need to remember is that the Law is God’s Word for us, but not necessarily to us. There is still plenty to be learned from it.

Some of the stipulations of the Law, particularly the ‘ethical’ ones, are reinforced in the New Testament. (As an aside, testament is another word for covenant.) For example, the gospels explicitly and implicitly reference the 10 commandments, and so we can reasonably expect to be bound by those instructions.

Interestingly, none of the case-by-case laws are referenced in the NT. We can, however, still learn much of the character of God through their provision. For example, God is the kind of God who cares about the safety of guests on rooftops¹², purity¹³ etc..

Ultimately, however, it always comes back to Jesus. God’s standard is beyond us. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day thought they could overcome this difficulty by observing the letter of the law, but Jesus is emphatic that much more is required¹⁴. Jesus is the only one able to live up to God’s standard – but because he did, and because he dealt with the penalty of our sins on the Cross, we are able to be declared righteous.

The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.¹⁵

Praise God.

Further reading

• Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “The Law(s): Covenant Stipulations for Israel” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (3rd Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 163-180.

Endnotes

1. Psalm 147:19-20
2. Ex 20:2
3. Ex 20:2
4. e.g. Deut 4:26; 30:19
5. e.g. Lev 26, Deut 28-33.
6. e.g. Deut 17:18-19; 31:9-13.
7. e.g. Lev 19:9-10.
8. e.g. Deut 15:12-17.
9. Ex 20 – Lev 27 and again in Deuteronomy
10. Deut 17:18-19
11. Rom 8:2
12. Deut 22:8
13. Deut 22:9-11
14. See, for example his interpretations of many of the OT laws in Matt 5-7.
15. Gal 3:24-25