Question about the Old Testament

If this is covered elsewhere, let me know.

So which parts of the Old Testament am I still supposed to follow? I know Jesus mentioned some stuff (Animal Sacrifice, etc) specifically that we didn't need to do anymore. But what about the rest of it? There's a lot that I can't find any clarification on. Is there some part in the New Testament that I missed or didn't understand that cleared this up?

Have you read the book of Hebrews? It spends quite a bit of time on the new and old covenants.

Marv

valerian

You have to differentiate between the Old Testament LAW and the morality of God.

You have to follow none of the Old Testament. By which I mean that Christianity teaches that you are not judged by the Law: your salvation doesn't depend sticking to the hundreds of old testament rules.

But these debates can get polarized very quickly with people thinking that means you can ignore the old testament and throw out its teachings.

If the Old Testament is as much the word of God as the New, then it shows the character of God.

Something that God found reprehensible in the OT isn't suddently going to be fine now. But something that God commanded his people to do (like the dietary laws, for example) isn't neccesarily the way it has to be forever.

This is one of the reasons that the ten commandments are so well respected: you don't throw them out because they express a moral code.

It is difficult, because there is no black and white way to determine whether a command in the law was for the time and people or whether it was forever. Several schemes have been suggested, but when it comes down to systematically working through all 600+ commands in the OT, they all come across problems.

But if you use the principle of asking: does this express something of God's morality? then you're on a better track than either trying to live under the law, or throw the whole thing out.

Of course, Christianity also teaches that you have the Spirit of God in you to convict and discern for you.

The NT shows several occasions where the God told the early Jewish Christians not to get so hung up on the law.

Rule of thumb: If it hasn't been fulfilled in the New Testament, it still applies.

Genesis. Abraham was justified by faith, before he was circumcised, before Moses. Those fulfil God's promise to him who place no reliance on Law or outward sign, but believe God when He says that all one's sins are wiped away by the cross of Christ.

Jer 31:33-34

The OT laws were intended to make the nation of Israel a great physical nation. The law of Christ: "Love one another"; is intended to make the church a great spiritual nation.

owg

What would Jesus do?

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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. –C.S. Lewis”

Every part of the OT is to teach us about ourselves and the flesh, in relation to the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Every single law of Moses is to teach us about our walk in the Spirit, now, and how by the Spirit we overcome the flesh. It all has spiritual application. Every thing that happened to Israel is there to teach us... everything the prophets say is there to teach us. But the lessons have to be sought for, and it takes a lifetime of learning.

1Pe 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,
1Pe 1:11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
1Pe 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

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Jesus gave us, His followers, only two commands "Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul strength and mind, and the second is like it, Love you neighbor as yourself" He goes on further to state that in these two commands are embodied the entire Law and the Prophets. Don't fret so much about following the Law, just the two commands Jesus left us.

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You were never supposed to follow any of it. It was delivered to the Hebrew people by Moses from their Theocratic rule (God), because they had just come from 400 years of making bricks 7 days a week. They had no (or very little) laws, customs, culture, economy and leadership/destiny.

The entire 'laws' as such covered many issues, like, good social practice, healthy diets, discipline, motivation, but most important of all to develop a culture that has the mindset that will bring forth a messiah.

Much of what they were taught can be narrowed down to recognising the only atonement for sin came from the shedding of innocent blood.

Read the new the new testament and understand what Jesus teaches. Read the old testament and imagine that you are a Hebrew just escaped from Egypt to gain the proper perspective.

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