Spend some time on the internet, or watching TV, and you begin to notice that everyone thinks they know what exactly the biblical laws are, and what they say. However, these people seldom agree. Each side in any debate argues that the other is simply cherry picking what laws they want to follow, and ignoring the rest. With this in mind, I am going to give a basic breakdown of the kinds of laws found in the bible.
The Old Testament
When most people think about biblical laws, they think of the Old Testament. This is the section of the Christian bible that corresponds to the Hebrew bible. The Old Testament goes from the beginning of creation to around 400 years before the birth of Christ. Since it covers such a long period, it contains a lot of information. Without some idea of how things connect, it is very possible to get lost in the middle and have no idea what is going on.
The main focus of the Old Testament is the Jewish people, also known as Hebrews and Israelites. The laws given in the Old Testament have to be understood with this in mind.
Kinds of Law
There are hundreds of laws in the bible, but they can be broken down into three broad categories; Cultural, Ceremonial and Moral.
Cultural laws are those laws designed in part to set the Jews apart from their neighbors. What good is it to have a people ‘set apart for God’ if no one can tell by looking at them? The cultural laws include most of the laws that people find strange or insulting today. There are laws about diet, clothing, civil responsibility, and a whole slew of others. Most laws that mention stoning fall into this group, or are moral laws using a cultural response. A large portion of the cultural laws are in direct opposition to what the people around the Israelites were doing at the time. This served to make them a readily noticeable group. There was little question whether or not someone was Jewish, and little question about which God the Jews worshipped, though there was constant trouble with idolaters.
Ceremonial laws are the laws that directly govern religious practice. The most obvious being those surrounding sacrifice. The number of different sacrifices, and options within these specific sacrifices, is extremely varied, but they all draw from the same basic framework. Animals were sacrificed to atone for sin in one form or another.
Moral laws are laws which deal with human nature and behavior. They deal with the relationship of man with man, and man with God, aside from those parts covered in the ceremonial law. These laws also included those dealing with sexual perversion. The most famous of the moral laws are the Ten Commandments.
Which do we follow and why?
Even non-Christians can see that Christians do not follow all of these laws. The common argument is that Christians are simply picking what laws they like, and ignoring the rest. This isn’t the case.
The question of Jewish cultural law was dealt with very early on in the life of the church. In chapter 15 of the New Testament book of Acts, we have a recounting of a debate concerning the Jews of the early church, and the gentiles that were converting to Christianity. The focus of the debate was whether or not gentiles (non-Jews) had to follow the cultural laws to become Christian. Through prayer and witness, the council concluded that non-Jews did not have to follow the cultural law to become Christians.
Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
ACTS 15:22-29 (NIV)
The gentiles did not have to follow the cultural law, but the note still included a few things that the elders of the church felt should be avoided. The first three are part of the dietary law. In those days, it was highly frowned upon for a Jew to eat with a non-Jew. By following these three guidelines, the gentiles would make things easier for their Jewish brethren. The last guideline is to avoid sexual immorality, something that damages all believers regardless of culture.
Ceremonial law is also something that Christians today do not follow. The reason is actually quite simple. All of the ceremonies were symbols leading up to the death of Christ on the cross, the final sacrifice. With the final sacrifice made, there is no reason to make more. The event that all of the ceremonial law points toward has been fulfilled. It is good to examine the ceremonies for a deeper understanding of the relationship between Christ and man, but it is not necessary to sacrifice animals anymore.
With cultural law and ceremonial law out of the way, we are left with moral law. There is no point in the bible where Christians are told that they no longer have to follow moral law. As I said earlier, the most famous of the moral laws are the Ten Commandments, so let's examine them.
Exodus 20 (NIV)
The Ten Commandments
20 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The first section deals with man’s relationship to God. There is only one God, and nothing is before him. No man made image can contain God, or any lesser god that mankind creates, and these images are therefore not to be worshipped. God is holy, his name is holy. Misuse of God’s name means to use it in some way that would cause him to appear less than such. God rested on the seventh day, and man should likewise take time to rest.
The last section deals with man’s relationship to man. Honor your parents. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery, a commandment which many do not understand today. Adultery is any sex outside of marriage. Jesus even likened sexual thoughts to adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony, often shortened to do not lie, though it means more than that. Part of the idea is do not hurt others with your words. Do not covet what others have. This is not simply wishing you had what someone else had, this is the extremely jealous focus that can strain relationships and cause mental hardship.
When asked what the greatest law was
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37–40).
This is the breakdown of the moral law. Love God, love people. To understand this, you must understand love.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8A
About the Author:
Stephen Mayo lives in Montana with his wife, daughter, corgi, and three cats.
You can keep in touch with him on Facebook and Twitter. Find more on his podcast A Side of Mayo. If you enjoyed reading this consider buying him a coffee or supporting him on Patreon.
Comments