Hi David,
thank you for your reply! I have been exchanging messages with Chaplain Steve on this site for a week or two, although he hasn't answered back in a while, so I imagine he's on vacation.
It's hard to sum up my questions even in a prioritization sense, because throughout my walk, these doubts and questions orbit my mind at different times. One question that I and probably most of us has is 'do we need to pay attention to the Old Testament too, or just the New Testament?' It seems by John 10:35, Matthew 15:3, Mark 7:13 and Matthew 5:18 that we pretty much had better mind the Old Testament in toto. But I don't know any Christians who stay away from shellfish or pork out of religious reasons.
Your thoughts are welcome. I'd much prefer to ignore the Old Testament. It reeks of Iron Age mentality, violence, a vain and petulant God who commands genocide and hurling babies against rocks. It seems too judgmental and divisive to me. So I really have a vested interest in being able to get rid of it.
The OT and the NT are both very special in this sense, they are the repository of God's own words to us. Both are considered His "breathed" words, IOW, they are "His" words like the words we speak are "our" words. They are penned by man, but their Author is God Himself. So dismissing them would, obviously, be a mistake. Understanding what they mean to us today wouldn't be however
Are you allowed to eat pork and shellfish now, absolutely, unless you are a Jew who is trying to keep Kosher (I love pork too, especially the price in comparison to steak
). But St. Paul made it perfectly clear that all things are now legal for us, and that even includes Jews who are now Christians.
The moral law (i.e. "Thou shalt not kill") still applies, but the ceremonial law was never meant for anyone outside of the Nation of Israel, and that before Christ came.
The OT helps us understand what living the Christian life would be like outside of Christ and it is, in fact, the Law of the OT that becomes our "tutor" (Galatians 3:24-25) to show us our great weakness (IOW, that we cannot obey that which must be obeyed perfectly to be saved), and in doing so, cause us to seek the only remedy we have left, God's mercy and forgiveness which can only be found in Christ.
There is a lot of tough stuff in the OT, but God's grace can be found on every page of it as well (if you look for it). Read something like
Psalms 103 if you want a concentrated dose
As for your Scripture references, remember that Jesus was a man who was born "under the Law", lived "under the Law", and He preached to Israel only, who at that time was made up of people who were "under the Law" as well. Our being under Grace occurred only after that was possible, IOW, after His death, resurrection, and ascension, at Pentecost when the HS first formed the church.
Still, His words ring true for us today. The Jews formed a running commentary on the OT, the Talmud and other books, what they referred to as "Tradition", which they believed to be the correct interpretation of the OT.
It wasn't, which is why the Lord pointed out to them that by the use of their "tradition", rather than obeying the Law, they actually transgressed it (IOW, they sinned against God) and they invalidated it as well (they changed God's intended meaning). So the need to correctly know and obey the word of God is just as true for us today as it was when it was written (which, BTW, was actually in the later Bronze Age .. the NT was written during the Iron Age though).
So for us, the moral law is "in", the ceremonial law is "out" but, just to be clear, the moral law is a guide to understanding what it means to be righteous. We walk in obedience to it to please God, but it is not through such obedience that we are first saved OR that we remain saved, salvation is always and only by grace through faith.
Wow, this has gone on way to long. I'd better stop and see what questions you might have or points you'd like to make. Sorry for rambling on so long.
Yours in Christ,
David
