TOUGH QUESTIONS
By Rev Joseph Tan
TCA College
Are We Still Bound Under the Laws of the Old Testament?
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus declared, “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.” Does that mean that we are still required to adhere to the laws found in the Old Testament? Are we bound to follow all of its rules and regulations? To answer this question, we must first understand the different laws found throughout the Old Testament, as well as their theological purpose. Then, we must understand the context in which Jesus made this declaration. Defining the “Law” The Jewish people refer to the first five books of the Old Testament– Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – as the Torah () תּוֹרָה, the “Law of Moses” or simply, the “Law”. In Hebrew, the word torah means “law” or “instruction.” Christians refer to the same five books as the Pentateuch (e.g., Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 2:22). There are only a few instances where
the Law is in reference to the Old Testament as a whole (cf. John 10:34 concerning Psalm 82:6).
The Ten Commandments – The Foundation for All of God’s Laws
For this article, we will refer to certain portions of the Law: • Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20-23); • Tabernacle laws (Exodus 25-40); • Laws of Leviticus (Leviticus 1-27); and • Laws of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 12-26).
Given 430 years after Yahweh’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15, 17; cf. Galatians 3:17-18), the different laws can be viewed as an extension of the Ten Commandments: the first four commandments had to do with one’s relationship to God while the last six dealt with one’s relationship with fellow human beings. Additionally,
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