Abuse of the Old Testament
There are many things practiced
in the name of Christianity today that have no biblical basis to be found in the
law of Christ. The Old Testament
is, at times, appealed to as the source of authority. Does the Old Testament have the same
authority for Christians today as the New Testament? How should Christians today relate to
and handle the Old Testament scriptures?
These are questions we all ought to be interested in for we are saved by
truth, not error.
God has commanded us to rightly
divide the truth (2 Tim.
That the Old Testament scriptures
have value for us today there is no doubt for Paul says, "For whatever was
written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through
perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
(Rom.15:4 NAS) We thus learn that
we can receive instruction from the Old Testament scriptures. We learn we can have hope from them for
they give us encouragement and help us persevere.
No better example can be given
than what James said in illustrating this point. He says, "Behold, we count those blessed
who endured. You have heard of the
endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord
is full of compassion and is merciful." (James
Hebrews chapter 11 is another
good illustration. We are taught by
the examples of Old Testament characters what faith is and what it means to have
faith. We are encouraged to
persevere as we see what some of those men and women were willing to do and
endure to be faithful to God. We
compare our trials with theirs and ours seem but little things and we are given
strength to go on and not give up.
The Bible speaks of these as being those "of whom the world was not
worthy." (Heb.
We are told to remember Lot's
wife (Luke 17:32), told in so many words that we ought to learn from the fact
that "anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of
two or three witnesses" (Heb. 10:28 NKJV) and consider that in relation to our
treatment of the Son of God (Heb. 10:29) where the punishment will be
worse. This list could be extended
but the point has been adequately made that there is much to learn from the Old
Testament as the New Testament reveals lesson after lesson we ought to learn.
Furthermore, much of what we
learn about God, who he is, his character, his attributes, his expectations for
man, his purposes are found in the Old Testament. We find in the Old Testament the history
of man. We find the history of
God's chosen people. We see his
eternal purpose being set forth in prophecy.
And then there is the book of
Psalms. Who is there among God's
people who has not gone to the book of Psalms time and again over the course of
his or her life to find comfort and hope and especially in time of sadness and
sorrow?
Want to learn how to pray? Read David in the Psalms to see prayer
from the heart. Learn how to praise
God in prayer and how to petition him for his blessings. Learn how to thank God.
Need wisdom? Go to the book of Proverbs. Many, many New Testaments that one can
buy also include as an addition the books of Psalms and Proverbs. They are books that are often consulted
by men today and rightly so.
I have said many good and true
things in praise of the Old Testament scriptures. I believe everything I have said has
been scriptural and so much so I do not believe anyone who calls himself a
Christian would disagree with me to this point.
We have now come to the time in
this article where we need to divide the word attempting to use the scriptures
themselves to help us divide rightly.
The Bible is very clear, as I will show, that the Old Testament is not
meant for us today as law. We
readily see this when it comes to animal sacrifices but too often want to bring
in from the Old Testament other things that should have been left
there.
The Hebrew writer says, "For the
priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law." (Heb.
But, our point is that the
inspired writer tells us as clearly as words can make it that the law has
changed. There is now a new
law. The law of Moses is gone,
fulfilled, completed, and is now history.
There is now a new law, the law of Christ. In Gal. 6:2 Paul says, "Bear one
another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (NKJV)
Everyone readily admits that
Jesus gave to man commandments to obey.
A commandment is nothing other than a law to be obeyed. Disobey a law of God and you sin. As the old King James puts it in 1 John
3:4, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the
law." In our day the law that is
transgressed bringing sin is the law of Christ, not the law of
Moses.
Hear God the Father speak from
heaven on the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter wanted to make 3 tabernacles,
one each for Moses, Elijah, and Christ.
"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" (Matt. 17:5 NKJV) Christ was not to be put on an equal
plain with Moses and/or Elijah.
Neither were to be heard any longer as present day authorities. Henceforth Christ was the one to be
heard and followed.
In Hebrews 3 the Hebrew writer
has been talking about Moses and Christ and how Christ is superior to Moses and
then in verse 7 and 8 says, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you will hear His voice, Do
not harden your hearts." (NKJV) The
day of hearing Moses is over as regards law to be followed. Hear the voice of Christ which is the
voice of God. Hear it today. Jesus says, "the word which you hear is
not Mine but the Father's who sent Me." (John
Paul says of himself in Gal.
2:19, "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God."
(NKJV) He goes on to say "if
righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." (Gal
And, then, in Gal. 3:24-25 he
makes it clear enough that an older elementary school student ought to be able
to easily understand it. He says,
"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. But after faith
has come, we are no longer under a tutor." (NKJV) The law was our tutor, we are no longer
under a tutor, thus no longer under the law. (For that matter the Gentiles were never
given the law anyway nor were they under it. The law was for God's chosen people, the
Jewish nation.)
Part of the problem the Galatians
were having was that they were wanting at the very least an admixture of the old
law of Moses with Christ. Paul
called it a perversion of the gospel of Christ in chapter 1 verse 7. Some were going so far as to wanting to
go back to the law for Paul says, "Tell me, you who desire to be under the law."
(Gal.
Paul goes so far as to say that
being under the works of the law is a curse. "For as many as are of the works of the
law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them."
(Gal.
I could go on and on with proof
texts for the book of Galatians and the book of Hebrews both deal extensively
about the change of the law telling us clearly that we are not under the law of
Moses today. The book of Romans
also gives us much the same. But,
my main interest is making an application as to how all of this affects us today
as Christians and believers.
The idea seems to be prevalent today that the Old Testament gives us authority to worship in ways we please if we can find an example for our practice in the Old Testament. But, does it?
Paul says of certain Galatians,
Gal. 5:4 (NKJV), "You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be
justified by law; you have fallen from grace." They were wanting to bring over into
Christianity circumcision. "Indeed
I, Paul say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you
nothing. And I testify again to
every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law."
(Gal. 5:2-3 NKJV)
The only way these people could justify themselves, even in their own eyes, was by an appeal to the Old Testament scriptures, justification by Old Testament law. It won't work. Why not? Because it is not a part of the law of Christ. We do not have a problem with the issue of circumcision today but we often seek to do what that group did who wanted it - justify our practice that cannot be found in the law of Christ, the New Testament, by an appeal to the Old Testament.
We are given a choice of whose
law and authority we will live by.
Will it be Moses' law or Christ's law? We cannot mix them. What Christ wanted from the old law to
be observed today he brought with him and had it recorded in the pages of the
New Testament. We can go backwards
to Moses or we can move forward to Christ.
That is our choice.
There are things that seem so
right to a man, how can they be wrong?
The writer of Proverbs says, "There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death." (Prov.
We also ought to learn from this
that we ought not to just accept without question the things that have been
handed down to us from man (men) who lived in the past but whose teachings have
come to be accepted as a sort of a standard - it doesn't matter whether the man
was Calvin, Luther, or the Pope, or whomever it might be. Isaiah said in Isa.
Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 "offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them" (verse 1) and the Bible says "so fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD." (Lev. 10:2 NKJV) They had no authority from God to use profane fire or as some versions put it "strange fire." (NAS)
What is the application? To Nadab and Abihu worship was worship
as long as it was directed to God and meant for his praise. It seemed right to them. Who could object to worshipping
God? Well, we found out. God does not think as man thinks.
What Nadab and Abihu did was no different than what we do today when we add to the worship things we cannot find in the law of Christ, the new covenant, the New Testament. Col. 3:17 reads as follows, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (NKJV) How does one do a thing in the name of the Lord Jesus about which the Lord Jesus spoke nothing?
A careful reading of 1 Chron.
21:18-19 will show you that the phrase "in the name of the Lord" means by the
Lord's authority. The angel of the
Lord had commanded Gad to go speak to David about building an altar and verse 19
says, "So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of
the Lord." Thus by the Lord's
authority which is expressed in his word, not outside it. We are to do what we do "in the name of
the Lord Jesus," by his authority found in his word. Now reread Col. 3:17 and you will see
this involves everything we do in religion and most assuredly in our worship.
Nadab and Abihu were doing a thing in the name of God which God had spoken nothing about. Nadab and Abihu were not condemned for doing a thing that was written or given but for what was not written or not given and doing it anyway because it pleased them. Do you think for a single moment that Nadab and Abihu thought it would matter? You know they didn't.
Peter says, "if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God." You will need an oracle of God to do that. When you have to go outside the word of God for your practice it is because there is no oracle.
The New Testament tells us
exactly how far we are allowed to go.
We can go that far and no farther.
How far? In 1 Cor. 4:6 Paul
says, "not to exceed what is written" (NAS) - "not to go beyond what is written"
(ESV). John says, (2 John 1:9
NKJV), "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does
not have God." When we step outside
what Christ has said, his written word, we step outside his doctrine and adopt
the doctrine of man. On the day of
judgment you do not want to find yourself trying to explain to God why you did
that.
Today all kinds of things have
been brought into the typical worship of churches for which man cannot find a
New Testament book, chapter, and verse for and we all really know that. I am not telling anyone anything they do
not know. Most will readily admit
it. They say God will not
care. It makes no difference. It is still worship to God they
say. It pleases him. But what do you do with John
Sometimes they say they did it in
the Old Testament. Moses did it or
David did it so it has to be okay. Instrumental music in worship is an
example. Which law did Moses and
David live under? Instrumental
music was a command of worship under the law of Moses (see 2 Chron. 29:25), that
is to say that era or dispensation.
Does one seek justification by an appeal to the law of Moses? God said to those with Jesus on the
Mount of Transfiguration, "This is My Beloved Son. … Hear Him!" (Matt. 17:5
NKJV)
(You are aware that the church we find in the New Testament existed for hundreds of years before man brought the instrument into the worship. This in itself tells you where it came from, God or man.)
But, the things brought from the Old Testament over to us today go far beyond just instrumental music. Things like the special robes and/or priestly attire worn by those who are considered to be some what in the church, the idea that there are two classes of brethren - one priests and then the rest of us, the ritualism we find often in the churches, sprinkling, and so on. All from the days of the law of Moses and none of which can be justified without an appeal to it. Will we hear Moses or Christ?
The title of this article was
abusing the Old Testament. How is
that done? I think we see now it is
by seeking justification from it and especially in the realm of public worship
in our own day. That is not where
you will find justification, not today.
I close with the words of God the
Father on the Mount of transfiguration.
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" (Matt. 17:5)