Theonomy or Dismissal?
What does the Old Testament Law have to tell Christians about how they should live today? Christians have given a wide variety of answers to this question.
On one end of the spectrum there are theonomists, who believe that the Old Testament Law should be the model for the laws of civil governments today. Theonomists believe that the judicial laws of the Old Testament Torah, being directly authored by God, are perfect laws that express God’s perfect will for justice. Therefore, they argue, these laws are the model of what should be legislated by all governments in all times and places, not just in ancient Israel.
The first problem with theonomy is that Ancient Near Eastern law codes were not laws as we typically think of them today. They were not legislation that was enforced. Rather, they were a kind of wisdom literature that provided guidance for judges and rulers in making wise and just decisions in particular cases. So, to try to turn the laws of the Torah into the legislation of modern nation-states is wrongheaded to begin with.
The second problem with theonomy is that it draws a theologically erroneous parallel between Old Testament Israel and modern nation-states. From a biblical perspective, Old Testament Israel was a unique entity, the covenant people of God. That covenant people of God has now become the Church. So, the correct parallel is not between Old Testament Israel and modern nation-states; the correct parallel is between Old Testament Israel and the Church. It is thus completely arbitrary to try to take the stipulations of the Torah which God gave to His covenant people and to try to impose them using the power of secular nation-states on those who are not members of God’s covenant people today.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are many Christians who believe that the Old Testament Law has nothing to say to Christians and that we should simply dismiss it. They point to Paul’s statement that “you are not under law, but under grace” (Rom 6:14). Since Christians are not under the Law, they argue, we should simply ignore the Old Testament Law and base our ethics solely on the New Testament.
The problem with this idea is that it ignores the positive things Paul has to say about the Old Testament Law. Paul teaches that “the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good” (Rom 7:12), and that “the Law is good if one uses it properly” (I Tim 1:8). Though Paul teaches that “a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law,” He makes it clear that Christians do not nullify the Law by their faith, but, “rather, we uphold the law” (Rom 3:28, 31).
Jesus Himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands [of the Old Testament Law] and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:17-19). Given this, Christians cannot simply ignore or dismiss the Old Testament Law.
In the New Testament era, God’s covenant people are no longer directly under the Old Testament Law. That system of relating to God has been superseded by relating to God through Jesus Christ. Yet, it still remains the case that the Old Testament Torah is Divinely Authoritative Scripture. It still has something to tell us about how we should live today.
A Nuanced Approach
How do we go about discerning what ethical guidance the Torah has for us? The traditional answer is that the stipulations of the Torah can be divided into ceremonial, civil, and moral laws. Christians can ignore the ceremonial and civil laws, but they should still follow the moral laws.
The problem with this approach is that it is overly simplistic. It is not always clear which category each stipulation of the Torah is supposed to belong to. This is because the division of the stipulations of the Torah into these three categories is an artificial, extraneous tool of interpretation. The Torah itself makes no such distinction between ceremonial, civil, and moral laws; the three types are often freely mixed together within the Torah’s law codes. This is because all the laws of the Torah (whether “ceremonial,” “civil,” or “moral”) have to do with one thing: the Israelites properly relating to sacred space, the Holy Presence of God in their midst.
Thus, we need a more nuanced approach to how the stipulations of the Torah can provide guidance for Christians living their lives today. Rather than dividing the stipulations of the Torah into three categories of laws and ignoring two of them, we should understand all of the Torah as being relevant for Christians and having something to say to them. But different stipulations of the Torah apply to us directly or indirectly in a variety of ways. We need to examine each part on a case by case basis and interpret it in the context of the full canon of Scripture in order to determine how it applies to us.
The New Testament makes it clear that the Torah’s commandments regarding ceremonial cleanliness and temple rituals are not to be followed by Christians today. This is because Jesus, and, by extension, His body, the Church, have replaced the temple building as the place where God’s Holy Presence dwells (Eph 2:22, I Pet 2:5). But these Old Testament commandments are still relevant in that they help us understand how serious God’s Holiness is, and thus how we need to live as those in whom God’s Holy Presence dwells, seeking to rid ourselves of every trace of sin.
The New Testament also makes it clear that Torah’s commandments regarding capital punishment for idolatry, murder, adultery, and other serious sins are not to be followed by Christians today. This is because God’s holy people are no longer identified with a particular nation, but are a voluntary, global community that transcends all national boundaries. And God’s revelation of what it means to be truly human in the teaching and example of Jesus, especially in the cross of Christ, tells us that the use of violence is forbidden for Christians today. But these Old Testament commandments are still relevant today in that they help us understand how serious those sins are, how they cannot be tolerated within the Christian community, and how the church needs to remove those who stubbornly refuse to repent of these sins from the Christian community.
There are many stipulations in the Torah, which, practically speaking, we can regard as essentially directly applying to Christians today (although we must, in some cases, translate these stipulations to a very different cultural context). Some of these are reinforced somewhere in the New Testament. Others are not. But just because a stipulation is not explicitly reiterated in the New Testament does not mean that Christians are justified in ignoring it. Unless we have a good reason to think otherwise, we should assume continuity of God’s ethical standards across salvation history. Some things are quite different now than they were during the Old Testament period of salvation history. But God is the same God, we are the same (albeit transformed) covenant people, and God’s creation is the same creation (though being made new in Christ). The Torah thus has enduring moral Authority for Christians as they seek to be obedient to God and to follow His will.
The Torah is still significant as an ethical guide for Christians today. We should not ignore it, nor should we simplistically regard all of it as directly relevant. Instead, we must use a biblically and theologically formed wisdom to discern how its various stipulations can give guidance to our ethical decision-making today.