OK... This is the challenge of constructing a systematic theology - what do we do with the verses that don't fit well...
If you don't mind me raising another issue...
Rahab is referred to twice in the NT as a righteous believer yet she was not only a harlot but lied about where the spies were. It is hard to see a Torah obedient believer here...
At the end of the day we all have to have a broad understanding we are comfortable with.
There are a number of God's laws that appear to conflict with each other, such as what happened when someone wanted to obey the command to circumcise their baby on the 8th day and it happened to fall on the Sabbath. However, it was not the case that they were forced to sin by breaking one of the two commands no matter what they chose to do, but that one of the commands was never intended to prevent the other from being obeyed. This is why priests were held innocent for performing their duties on the Sabbath or why David and his men were held innocent for eating the shewbread in Matthew 12:1-8.
Some Pharisees had reasoned that it was unlawful to work on the Sabbath and that healing someone was work, therefore it was unlawful to heal on the Sabbath. However, we are also commanded to love our neighbor, and it would not be loving our neighbor to refuse to heal them. All of the other commandments in the Bible hang on the greatest two commandments because they are all intended to be examples of what it looks like to correctly obey them, so no commandment was intended to prevent us from obeying the greatest two commandments, which is why Jesus ruled that it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. So there are conceivable situations where the command to love our neighbor takes priority over other commands, such as with Rahab.
For me I see the Law of the Spirit, planted in believers hearts is His living Word for each individual circumstance faced, and replaces the imperfect Law of Moses which could never be a final judge of how to act in every situation.
The Bible does not say that the Law is imperfect, on the contrary:
Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
If you believe that the Psalms are Scripture and therefore express a correct view of God's Law, then you should share it. Part of what led me to change my views concerning God's Law was the realization that the negative view of God's Law that I had been taught was the opposite of the extremely positive view that David had expressed even though I considered the Psalms to be Scripture, and that needed to change. When I read the NT as though the authors considered the Psalms to be Scripture and were in complete agreement with them, I found that the NT made much more sense and had much more continuity than I had given it credit for.
There are more ways to do what is righteous or sinful than the Law specifically prescribes or prohibits, so the Law is spiritual in that it has always been intended to teach us deeper spiritual principles of which the listed laws are just examples, and which are the divine nature/character traits of God, such as holiness, righteousness, goodness, justice, mercy, faithfulness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. If you were to look at the life of someone who expressed these character traits through their actions and were to compare them with the life of someone who lived in obedience to the Mosaic Law, then you would not be able to tell the difference because both would look like the same example that Jesus set for us to follow. Our sanctification is about being made to be more like Christ, to have an to express the same character traits.
Jesus alone kept every aspect of the Law of Moses and had the authority to break its curse over believers.
As the temple veil was rent the authority of the priesthood and the law was removed but our obligation to obey His Law of the Spirit in our hearts remains.
Can you please point to somewhere in the OT Bible where it suggests that someone who is able to obey the Law perfectly removes our obligation to obey it?
In Colossians 2 we read... "He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. 16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Whenever someone was crucified, the people would write out a sign that listed the charges against them and nail it to their cross in order to announce why they were being executed (Matthew 27:37). This serves as a perfect analogy for the list of sins/violations of God's Law that we have committed being nailed to Christ's cross and with him dying in our place to pay the penalty for our sins, but has nothing to do with ending our obligation to any of God's eternal laws. In Titus 2:14, it does not say that Jesus gave himself to free us from the Law, but in order to redeem us from all Lawlessness.
In Colossians 2:16-23, the Colossians were keeping the Sabbath and God's other holy days in obedience to His commands in accordance with the example that Jesus set for us to follow, they were being judged by those teaching human traditions and precepts, self-made religion, asceticism, and severity to the body, and Paul was writing to encourage them not to let any man judge them and keep them from obeying God.
Again, Paul was a servant of God, not His enemy, so he should not be interpreted as speaking against obeying what God has commanded, and when we look at the views of the people judging the Colossians, then we see Paul's problem was with man-made teachings, not with the holy, righteous, and good commandments of God. However, the bottom line is that we must obey God rather than man, so when God has commanded to keep His holy days and you think that Paul spoke against obeying God, then you should be quicker to disregard what Paul said than to disregard what God has commanded, but again I don't think it needs to come down to that. In Romans 3:31, Paul said that our faith does not abolish the Law, but rather our faith upholds it, so we should not interpret him as seeking to do the opposite. Does your faith uphold the Law?
Central to the Law of Moses is the Sabbath here specifically mentioned as not a matter to be judged by... because the authority of the Law of Moses has been taken away and replaced by the living Word of Jesus being the Law of the Spirit within.
The Torah is imperfect but has served a beautiful purpose for a season.
His Word, Jesus, is however truely incarnate and will never pass away.
The Jews have idolised the Torah and in so doing missed the living word when He came.
We must be careful not to repeat this error.
Blessings,
Carl Emerson.
In Deuteronomy 5:31-33, God told Moses everything to write down without departing from it either to the right or to the left, so all of the Mosaic Law is God's Law, and you are trying to replace God's Law with God's Law as though Jesus and the Spirit were in disagreement with the Father about which laws we should follow. In Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey the Law, in Romans 8:4-7, those who walk in the Spirit are contrasted with those who have minds set on the flesh, who are enemies of God, and who refuse to submit to God's Law, and in Galatians 5:19-22, everything listed as works of the flesh that are against the Spirit are also against the Mosaic Law, while all of the fruits of the Spirit are in accordance with it.
While I agree that we should not idolize the Torah, we should nevertheless give the highest authority to the words that have been spoken by God. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, everything spoken by God is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, and equipping us to do every good work, which would not be true if it has been replaced. The Law is God's Word and Jesus is God's Word made flesh, so there is no disagreement. In Acts 17:11, the Bereans were praised because they diligently tested everything that Paul said against OT Scriptures to see if what he said was true. About 1/3 of the verses in the NT contain quotes or allusions to the OT and the NT authors did this thousands of times in order to show that it supported what they were saying and to show that they hadn't departed from it either to the right or to the left, so they certainly saw the OT as still being authoritative.