Which Old Testament Laws Apply Today?


This short Bible study explains the easiest, surest way to know which Old Testament laws apply to New Covenant Christians. #BibleStudy


Old Testament Cleansing Law:
"When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening."  Leviticus 15:19 

Old Testament Dietary Law:
Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be regarded as unclean by you. Leviticus 11:12 

Old Testament Sacrificial Laws:
Leviticus 7 contains a long list of commands about sacrifices and says, "These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering, which the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai in the Desert of Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord." 

Old Testament Civil Law with a moral principle:
Deuteronomy 22:22: "If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel." 

Old Testament Ceremonial Law:
Exodus 23:16: Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.

How can we know which commands in the Old Testament apply to us today?

Most Bible scholars divide Old Testament laws into moral, civil and ceremonial. When divided in this ways, ceremonial laws include cleansing laws, dietary laws, sacrificial laws, and laws governing holy days. Scholars agree that civil and ceremonial laws were specifically for Old Testament times. 

But let me simplify the question about which apply to us: If an Old Testament law applies to us today it will be commanded in the New Testament. If it's not commanded in the New Testament, it doesn't apply to Christians.

And please note this says "commanded" not "mentioned." For example, in Matthew 23:23 Jesus mentions the Pharisees tithing their spices, but He doesn't command us to tithe our spices. In fact, some scholars believe the tithing of spices even went beyond the Old Testament command in Leviticus 27:39

We will address each of these categories of Old Testament laws in this series, so let's start with Old Testament civil laws: 

These laws were specific to the Nation of Israel during a specific time in history. Some of the punishments seem harsh by our modern standards, but God was preparing Israel to bless other nations when the Messiah came.  

None of these civil laws are re-commanded in the New Testament, but many of them contain principles that are found in New Testament commands.  For example, it's a New Testament command not to commit adultery (Hebrews 13:4), but we are not commanded to kill adulterers as required in the civil law in Deuteronomy 22:22 (shown above).

For more details, see No More Sacrifices, No More Dietary Laws and Cleansing Laws, and The 9 Commandments.

copyright, Gail Burton Purath, 2013, BiteSizeBibleStudy.blogspot.com, updated in 2022

This short Bible study explains the easiest, surest way to know which Old Testament laws apply to New Covenant Christians. #BibleStudy

Bite Size Bible Study

6 comments:

  1. Hi Gail. I have come across some teaching which seems to suggest that none of the old testament laws apply to Christians today, including the ten commandments. I was confused about this until I read your posts on the subject which helped to answer my questions, thank you. There's an awful lot of wrong thinking out there which is very worrying! Thanks again and God bless, Christine.

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    1. That blessed me to hear, Christine.
      Yes, many of the laws in the Old Testament still apply to us today!
      But Christ has fulfilled the laws that had to do with being "clean" and "unclean" before God - dietary, ceremonial, and cleansing were fulfilled in Him. Acts 10 and the book of Galatians talk about the end to external law-keeping. And the New Testament laws are about our hearts, minds, attitudes, and actions, not simply external practices.

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  2. Homsexuality is an abomination in Leviticus 18:22 and II Timothy 3:16-17 applies. Why not teach people to "rightly divide the Word of truth"? What I see is many Christians break off fellowship or effectively hate someone for what they perceive as "wrong thinking" but they won't have a conversation about the issues, perhaps because they don't know why unless John MacArthur, the Pope or Kenneth Copeland is around to help them. Or just get mad because someone disagreed with them!

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    1. Hi Daniel,
      I'm not sure I understand your comment.
      As the devotion states: "The easiest, surest, way to know if an Old Testament law applies to us today is this: If it's commanded in the New Testament, it applies. If not, it doesn't."

      You offer an example of a law that is re-commanded in the N.T. so nothing in this devotion would refute that.

      But I'm not sure I understand your comments about breaking off fellowship or hating people or your references to these human teachers?

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  3. This is ridiculous and not based in Scripture in any way. 1 John 3:4 says sin is transgression of the law, Yahweh's law. There is no Biblical distinction between "moral", "ceremonial", or "civil" laws. We are to live as "Jesus" lived and that was in accordance with the Torah. He is tbe same yesterday today and fire we and it is no longer I who live but Messiah in me.

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    1. Hi Unknown,
      I would assume from your ungracious way of wording your comment that you are angry, and in your anger you didn't fully read the devotion.

      It clearly explains that despite these scholarly distinctions (moral, ceremonial and civil), "The easiest, surest, way to know if an Old Testament law applies to us today is this: If it's commanded in the New Testament, it applies. If not, it doesn't."

      I am sad for you that you cannot enjoy the wonderful name of Jesus and the freedom from Old Testament law keeping. Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament laws for me, thoroughly, completely, fully, 100%. Now I serve Him by obeying his New Testament commands because I love Him, not because they save me.

      May you come to understand the true Gospel.

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