Lecture 24.docx

Well, let's move now into Interpretive Issues 2, 3, and 4. The second Interpretive Issue that I want to deal with with Deuteronomy, and of course this is because of the importance this verse has particularly in the Jewish tradition. In the exhortation that Moses gives to Israel, the latter part of c...

Well, let's move now into Interpretive Issues 2, 3, and 4. The second Interpretive Issue that I want to deal with with Deuteronomy, and of course this is because of the importance this verse has particularly in the Jewish tradition. In the exhortation that Moses gives to Israel, the latter part of chapter 5 through verse 11, he calls Israel in 6 for, hear, he makes a statement which is going to be the basis for instruction, essential commandments that will then flow into exhortation as you go through the rest of Deuteronomy chapter 6. What should Israel hear? What should Israel hearken to? And I give you the transliteration, just four words in Hebrew, Yahweh, your God, let me see the pronominal suffix there, Yahweh, your God, Yahweh, one, would be a most literal translation. And of course the most literal translation is not debated, but what exactly do these words mean in this context? So certainly this is an affirmation, this is a statement that Israel is to take to heart, hear, O Israel, literally Yahweh our God, Yahweh one. Now in response to that truth, in response to that proposition, in response to that statement, then comes a commandment, and you, by the way singular, and you individual Israelite, shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, and these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. By the way, interestingly, for Israel the word that was being commanded for them was verse 4, though verse 4 is not a commandment except for the hear, hear O Israel, hearken O Israel. But what was to be on their heart was that Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one, and you shall teach them diligently, this is this basic truth and the commandments which flow out of it to your sons, and you shall do this obviously at all times when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, that is, in all your activities, you shall bind them a sign on your hand, and it shall be a frontal on your forehead, that is, there to guide your thinking, there to guide your conduct, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates, your doorposts, there to direct what takes place in your house, on your gates, there to direct what takes place in your town. And so when it comes about, God gives you all these good things that he is going to give, verse 12, watch, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, you shall fear only the Lord, verse 13, you shall worship him, swear by his name, you shall not follow other gods, or any of the gods of the people around you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God, otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and he will wipe you off the face of the earth. That in some way this declaration that Moses has made concerning Yahweh is to lead Israel away from idolatry, away from serving and worshiping and following other gods and following Yahweh alone. And so this will lead to their obedience and God's blessing that at the end of the chapter will lead to their sons asking them about the statues and judgments which the Lord commanded and will give them a chance to testify to fulfill what he had said in commandment in verse 7. So there's a very close obviously tie-in between what is introduced in 6.4 all the way through chapter 6, verse 25. And certainly this bare statement in some way is to be understood as introducing what is in the rest of this context. Now certainly to understand the statements of 6.4 is to realize that there is to be at least one, if not two, placings of the verb to be. And our translations based upon the Septuagint, which is the earliest translation, which probably mirrors therefore the earliest understanding, was to put two verbs to be to make this into two coordinate statements. Number one, Yahweh is our God. That's the first affirmation. Yahweh is Israel's God. And of course again this is being spoken to the individual Israelite. Yahweh is your God. Yahweh is one, taking the term a hood as he had as its basic numerical that he is one Yahweh. But of course the question is what does it really mean, Yahweh is one Yahweh. One is a singular Yahweh. Now certainly by the time we get to the New Testament this was seen as an affirmation of monotheism. Yahweh Israel is your God. And I should say this, Yahweh Israelite is your God. Because again the suffix is singular. This Yahweh is one Yahweh. There are not many Yahways. Now as Elohim I could see a little bit more of an emphasis upon the singular and it may be that way. That there is only one Yahweh. That is there is only one God that you are to worship, you are to serve. And that is your God who is Yahweh. And of course Amaral argues for that basic understanding. But it could be that instead of seeing the term meaning one it could have the idea of oneness, uniqueness. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh alone. Emphasizing the uniqueness of God, of Israel's God. Or Craigie, his wholeness is unity. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one in the sense that he is one whole. He is not divided. Now I think the only translation that does not fit the context is Yahweh our God is one Yahweh. That is almost meaningless. What does it mean that Yahweh our God is one Yahweh? Is there another Yahweh? Is there Yahweh our God is two Yahwais, three Yahwais? And of course that has been propounded but and obviously is grammatically possible. But I would think that it is one of the first three. And I am not dogmatic. And I still remember a student who was sitting on the front row when I first introduced this and he said that he was writing his Hebrew exegetical paper on chapter six verses four through nine in Hebrew exegesis and he was hoping that I would tell him what the answer was. And I said it could be one of the first three. He said you are no help at all. Well alright. I lean toward the fact within the context as a reminder to Israel of the uniqueness and yes the wholeness, the oneness of Yahweh and no one can take his place. And therefore Israel's response to this affirmation about Yahweh is to be wholehearted embracing of Yahweh himself. Because Yahweh is Israel's God, Yahweh as one or Yahweh alone, then the wholehearted embrace of the Israelite is to love the Lord with all heart, all soul, all might. That is with a total embrace of all that the person is with a particular emphasis upon heart. Coming first. That this is to be a wholehearted internal decision which then impacts every area of thinking in life. Every aspect of your thought and your doing. And of course I think that rather than stumble upon exactly where to put the verb to be in verse four is to realize the essence of the truth being given is alright you have one God, Yahweh is that God, embrace him with your total being, serve him with the totality of your heart and pass that on to future generations. And that fits within the context of Deuteronomy chapter six. Then when you get to chapters 12 to 25 and you probably sense this as you are going through all of these statutes and ordinances, these statutes and judgments, and we'll talk a little bit about statutes and judgments in just a second. But as you are going through these laws and you're saying okay I've appreciated the expository preaching of the Holy Spirit. Here's Moses been explaining what has taken place in Israel's past, Israel's present, and is bringing an exhortation upon that. Hey I'm a preacher, I understand what it is to give narration, understanding of what has been said and then after you've expounded, after you've given an explanation then to bring an exhortation, positive and negative, an exhortation to obedience, a warning of what's going to take place if you disobey. But now in the heart of this preaching in chapters 12 to 25, basically you've got a description, you've got an explanation of these laws which are to direct Israel's life, particularly as they go into the land, and no exhortation. I mean this is just one law after another. Is there any harmony, is there any organization, any structure, is there any coherence? Or is Moses just saying okay when you get in the land you need to do this, you need to do this, think about this, think about that. You know there's, is this kind of postmodern Moses just you know with the fall of consciousness just giving random laws as they come into his mind. And probably the first time you read through it, living in a postmodern world you thought well maybe that's the way it is. What's the connection? And you're not the first ones because there are many who hold to the fact that this is a disparate collection of legal stipulations without any structure or unity whatsoever. However, as we think back to chapter 5, that yes even though for a while the restatement of the 10 words has been used by Moses as a basis to remind Israel of the essence of who Yahweh is and their relationship with him and with some narrative reminders as you get into those chapters. By the way you're going to find chapters 5 through 11 of Deuteronomy some of the most preachable material in all of the Old Testament. So before you get to the dry spell in chapter 12 that's you're going to be excited you know about chapters 5 to 11. But is the structure dictated by those 10 words by the repeating of the decalogue? Is the decalogue just a foundation for Israel to remember, to be reminded what God said at Sinai and those essential features of who Yahweh is and the essentials of Israel's relationship with him as a foundation for exhortation? Or is that statement in chapter 5 preparatory after the exhortation, so chapters 12 through 25 partake as it were flowing out of that exhortation to hear really as you go in the land is significantly at some very pointed experiences exactly how the 10 words should direct you Israel as you live. And I would take position B that the structure is dictated by the order of the commandments in the decalogue and I have given you a chart hopefully that will help you appreciate this that the first commandments and the second commandment that that Yahweh is Israel's God and Israel was to to follow him and submit to him completely to have no other gods in preference to him. That really speaks about Israel's worship and in Deuteronomy chapter 12 deals with this that one Yahweh will have one place that he will choose where he is to be worshiped where Israel is to come and follow him and do not take the name of Yahweh in vain particularly don't place in chapter 13 the name of Yahweh with any other god and so the ban in chapter 13 and then into chapter 14 the supremacy of the name of Yahweh in Israel's life. And then toward the end of chapter 14 and through into the big way part of chapter 16 the great feasts and and how the worship of Israel is to be organized with a basic Sabbath principle or the Sabbath itself you know being being the foundation of these times when Israel is gathered is to gather at stipulated occasions and worship the Lord. The fifth commandment which speaks about honoring father and mother the basic patterns of authority and it's interesting chapter 16 deals with the judges chapter 17 the king chapter 18 the prophets these are authorities that God sins that are to be recognized and actually beginning of chapter 18 also the priests these are these are authorities just as as the parents are to be honored in the home these authority structures are to be honored and followed and obeyed that God gives in in the in in in Israel. Chapter 19 to the beginning of chapter 22 deals with with the commandments that deal with the the death penalty and so are dealing with the fact you shall not kill except for when God said certain individuals are to be put to death and so deals with with homicide. 29 at 22 9 through 23 19 broadly deal with sexual ethics the application of not committing adultery and again many specifics that are given and how the the marital relationship between the man and the husband within marriage is to be guarded and then broadly at 23 20 to 24 7 dealing with you know I shall not steal I shall not bring false witness and only in chapters 25 verses 5 to 16 it checked the desires of your heart as well now even giving these broad parameters their specifics that how do they exactly fit in matter of exegesis but I think and again you can trace this through in Meryl's commentary that that I think there is good warrant you know to to understand that there is a progression there is a cohesion on these commandments that are given to us in the heart of Deuteronomy based upon their relationship to the outworking of the basic principles given in the 10 words. Now certainly this discussion of chapters 12 to 25 leads us to a discussion that I kept putting off until this point because as we come to this culmination of the Torah we have to deal with how exactly as Christians do we understand these law codes and whether it whether it be the particular law code of Exodus 21 to 23 whether it is the laws concerning the the the offerings and Leviticus 1 to 7 whether it's the the purification standards that are given in Leviticus 11 to to to 15 whether it's the the holiness laws directing Israel's life in Leviticus 17 to 19 to the commandments given to Israel as far as the the tabernacle their internal the tabernacle their internal action with that tabernacle in Numbers chapters 1 through 6 and even Moses exposition particularly in chapters 12 to 25 I mean it seems like so much of this law has nothing to do with you and I as Christians I mean we're not part of a Christian army invading a land of Canaanites so that we need to know particularly what to do when we come upon certain cities and you know cities that surrender and what are we to do with the the captives that we now have taken I mean we read Deuteronomy chapter 20 and say very very interesting but so what but so what you know don't don't boil a kid in the mother's milk now how many of you have been tempted to do that I mean you know just last night I was tempted to take the kid and boil in the mother's milk and the commandment came and I realized and particularly what about you know Leviticus chapter 12 we try to give some indication on what we believe about I'm sorry at chapter 11 the food laws chapter 12 even you know how how long is your wife to remain unclean after the birth of a child you know being a be it a boy be it a male be it a female and what does that mean the chapter 11 the food laws and how those food laws chapter 14 reiterated in Deuteronomy and Acts chapter 10 seems to now you know turn them around and say okay we're not to take those things to heart anymore as as Christian believers how do we understand the law and I commend for your careful reading the chapter in cracking old testament codes by Richard Avabek and let me just draw a couple of salient to statements that are in his chapter he says the implication the old testament law extend through the new testament in the modern church ministry and Christian life the implications and the fact that we have a law giving God that calls his believers his people to follow certain standards is not just a an old testament issue it flows into the new testament as well and it is essential to understand the old testament law from the perspective of its original context and purpose this is why it's good to have this discussion now we have gone through the Torah this is the place to have this discussion because now you started to get an understanding of the context in which these laws were given and the purpose of these laws within their biblical context now he goes on to say and the bottom of page 115 you should star this or make note of you don't have the book here a realistic treatment of old testament legal literature requires careful consideration of three literary subgenres covenants law and law ritual legislation and the relationship between them okay we've got to be very very careful to define our terms carefully all right he brings up all right what about covenants to capture the spirit of this legal institution is to wreck to realize that a covenant is best defined as a means of expressing and or a method of establishing and defining a relationship and here is what we're going to return to and i get this from avabach the mosaic covenants within which the mosaic law is embedded because it is a covenant the covenant with israel number one made at sinai through moses by yahweh with israel is to be considered primarily a legal contract rather than a relational bond it's important less the mosaic covenant be considered primarily a legal contract rather than a relational bond get the context of what he's saying here right first and foremost though at sinai israel entered into covenant with yahweh yahweh is their god they are his people there's a relationship that's already been established between the two based upon the based upon the abrahamic covenant remember how the law code begins before the first statement the 10 words remember i am yahweh who brought you up from the house of slavery and pharaoh to myself you are now my people and yahweh is god and you shall not take his name in vain etc you say well you should not append his name to a idol you shall not take his name in vain but the mosaic law is embedded within a covenant and a covenant and a covenant speaks first and foremost about a relationship so law is called it is a is is found within it is a calory of subservient to the greater relationship so he talks and you can talk a little bit there about covenant we've talked about that but he says to law he says in essence the old testament law is a set of stipulations for the covenant relationship between the lord and the nation of israel the mosaic covenant is like a picture frame surrounding the law in other words the law in the old testament whereas the law in the old testament only has relevance as it relates to the covenant it's part of the covenant and so once again it's embedded within the covenant think in terms of a picture frame the covenant is the frame and the stipulations are found within that he says and this is very vital the spirit of the law is basically this god expects the people whom he has redeemed to take their covenant commitment to him seriously because he takes his covenant commitment to them seriously he's a covenant keeping god he has been faithful to come he's been faithful the company is made with abraham in bringing the seat of abraham as a nation to himself he is bound to covenant loyalty what does he expect of now israel and come in covenant relationship with him to express the same kind of loyalty how do they express that loyalty by being obedient to him how are they obedient to him by obeying the stipulations he gives and those stipulations are a reflection of his own character they reflect yahweh they reflect their relationship with yahweh by obeying the laws that he gives to them now this is where he talks about understanding obviously the statutes and the judgments page 120 the old testament law is basically a combination of two types of law divine decrees what yahweh stipulates and diva and divinely determined judicial ordinances or precedents that many times it is here's here's a judgment that is you know based upon something's taken place and then a judgment is brought and that judgment then has legal precedence so they can be of two kinds they can be declarative stipulations or they can be judgments and it's interesting that's exactly the distinction we have in deuteronomy 12 one these are the statues and judgments which you shall carefully observe then he goes on we're going to come back to this again the law is a unified whole ritual legislation within a subgenre of legal literature because of its distinctive concerns and content and so there is no distinction in the old testament between ritual legislation that which governs what takes place at the tabernacle what takes place with the priest the offerings etc and the other law as well and then we'll come back to how he talks about the application of the law because it's vital the first and foremost that we understand this nature of the law as far as the torah is concerned and avabach is given us two very very important principles the first that is here and that is the basic framework of the old testament at this point as we have seen has been covenantal that the mosaic law finds the i'm sorry the mosaic covenant finds its meaning in its association with the abrahamic covenant and then the abrahamic covenant's association with the noahic covenant the mosaic covenant is is given to regulate the relationship between yale and the nation of israel why the nation of israel because of yale's faithfulness to the abrahamic covenant that this is the nation that yale promised to abraham and i will make of you a great nation a nation that's going to dwell in this land for what purpose that through you abraham all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed and so israel is that people to use dr grisani's terms that terms that servant nation servant of yale nation that that yale way has chosen to be his people to honor him worship him and display his character to the nations to the nations too might come to salvation in yale way and also reap those blessings now as part of that covenant and as part of the covenant within the picture frame within the covenant itself god gives the law the law his decrees his ordinances maybe i should have put there instead of decreased statutes ordinances judgments this is law and this law is given for israel's instruction that they might know how to live as yale way's people and therefore fulfill yale way's covenant purposes for them now with everything i said notice how how all that we say about law ultimately finds this meaning tied into the mosaic covenant and the mosaics covenant response in relationship to the abrahamic and the noahic covenant which goes before and you start to get something of the importance of seeing the whole structure of the torah that you can't just pull out the mosaic law and start to see that you can't just pull out the mosaic law and study in isolation from its context the scriptural context now as we get to deuteronomy second generation of israel yale way explaining and exhorting israel to covenant faithfulness which will be seen in their obedience to yahweh we hear the words that are not given to us in exodus when the first generation said all that yahweh has said we will do and yale way's response which has not been given up to this point until deuteronomy five oh that they had such a heart that they would obey and it is in deuteronomy we find clearly they do not presently have that heart in fact an essential imperative in 10 16 is circumcise your heart israel unless there is a change in the inner core of each individual's heart their innermost being if you think you can just hear with your ears and say well obey with your lips without any penetration and having this instruction change your heart you're going to go into the land and though i have pled with you explain with you well first explain pled with you to obey well first explain pled with you to obey the result is going to be what disobedience we're going to get to read joshua through kings the former prophets what historically was the experience of israel on the land disobedience moses was a true prophet don't stone him you got it right and the problem that was needed was a change of heart now when the latter prophets come along they go back to what moses said in thorah israel you have proved to be unfaithful because of your disobedience you have proved that you do not have the proper heart therefore you need to repent of your sin return to the lord and allow the lord to do what change your heart that you will now become obedience but it is in the the latter prophets what's implicit in the thorah and particularly in deuteronomy will become explicit and that is god is not going to change israel's heart by in some way reestablishing reasserting the mosaic covenant but the mosaic covenant will come to an end and be replaced by what a another covenant that yawai will make with israel that finally will be called according to jeremiah chapter 31 the new covenant by the way that new covenant also is going to have torah there's nothing wrong with torah there's nothing wrong with a covenant having torah having even instruction as law as commandment as ordinance as statute when that when that law code gives instruction in how the covenant partner is to live partner is to live to bring honor to the one that they are in relationship with to show their covenant loyalty through keeping the requirements that are given and particularly these requirements reflect in some way the essential nature of the other covenant party the lawgiver that in some way embrace and give us some idea of who yawai is himself well back to all right understanding the law within that context and second of all understanding that the old testament law was as avabach said an organic whole now why do i say this because thanks to the influence of john calvin and you heard last week the influence of calvin has been enormous sometimes for good if he got it right and sometimes for not so good if he maybe got it wrong now if i in the last hour call the mass reason the question at this point i have to call the calvinistic tradition on the law this has almost become so common that we think is in the bible itself that the law is broken into three parts the moral law which which are the essentials which which are the essentials the ceremonial law which obviously deals with with the religious of course in the old testament this deals with the priests the sacrifices etc and then the civil law which deals with the secular law now the ceremonial law according to traditional protestantism points to whom jesus christ who is the ultimate sacrifice who is the ultimate offering who is the high priest who is the sacrifice in other words everything that is in the ceremonial law the religious instruction points to and is now fulfilled in jesus christ the the secular the civil law now this is an internal debate within calvinism today and that is to what extent should the civil law of the old testament pertain to the civil state you're a phenomenist dominion the theologian you believe it should the church should be working to enact the civil law into the the nations in which we live most calvinists will say no no no no that the the church today is a a holy nation a set-apart nation to god but not a nation in the traditional sense that all we can see is how these laws have application to the church so it depends on whether the secular you know is still to regulate the life of christians or whether it is to regulate the state in which christians find themselves a good illustration of that is the sabbath law i grew up rural england post-world war ii and there was one thing and one thing only that you could do on sunday go to church or stay home there were no movie theaters were not open there was nothing on tv no sporting events were held stores closed gas stations were closed so you could drive but you better make sure you had enough petrol as we call it in england to get back home because you're not good there's no gas stations i mean everything is closed well why because in england there was no division that point between church and state and and the the law said what you shall keep the sabbath day holy sabbath is now the christian sabbath sunday therefore it doesn't make any difference whether you are a christian or not the state law now late 50s 60s this starts to break down in rural england it starts to break down in rural america as well so no longer do we have a state law saying everybody you know has to keep the sunday you know holy but what do i still hear in church you can't because you are a christian all right it's no longer binding in the state and that probably should never have been binding in the state but it is binding upon christians and of course the essentials well these govern all peoples all places all times that when we think in terms of the fact that that gentiles have not kept the law what have they not kept they have not kept the essentials all the way from obviously the first commandment through the tenth commandment including the fourth commandment and the fourth commandment is the problem the fourth commandment was what you shall keep the sabbath as a holy day all right is that essential the answer is if you understand this yes it is it's part of the ten commandments it's the fourth commandment but then as the essentials are spelled out and i have no problem with the ten words being essential for israel that are then detailed and spelled out i think you picked that up already but is the sabbath law religious or civil here's the problem that those essentials the first four usually seem to be god would and five through ten are seen to be man would first for the basis of the religious laws five through ten the basis of the secular laws but let me ask you this about the sabbath is that religious or civil ceremony or civil religious or secular just from your reading of the old testament just the torah well you should answer both is it a religious regulation yes it is the sabbath is to be a day of holy convocation but it isn't also civil on the sabbath you are to do no work in fact if you work there are to be civil penalties you are to be stoned and that's because you worked on the sabbath so the sabbath is essential it is to use the codification moral law but the sabbath is also religious it governs your life before god but it also governs your governs your civil requirements as well how you relate to work the land etc it is this which shows us the old testament law is to be understood as a unified whole it stands together and it comes to a conclusion together now i have no problem with the fact that these essential divisions might at time be helpful for us to kind of grab a hold and codify understand the law but there's no passage in the old testament says this is the moral law this is the ceremonial this is the civil law this is a category that has been placed upon the old testament now because the new testament restates nine of the ten moral laws we see those as essential but once again let's think in terms of the mosaic law now let's call it that the mosaic law finds its meaning within what the mosaic covenant all right let's go back to that sabbath back to that sabbath exodus chapter 31 what is the sign of the mosaic covenant the sabbath so we'd assume that of any law if the mosaic covenant has come to an end what law would you most assume no longer to be to be relevant sabbath well let's go the mosaic law and we're going to come back to this when we get to the prophets as well the new covenant says the law is going to be written upon israel's heart what is that law the mosaic law is a part of the mosaic covenant if the mosaic covenant comes to an end what does that do to the mosaic law it too has come to an end so now we get to really where the rubber meets the road and that is how old testament law applies to christians the critical issue of the law's relevance today hinges part take partially on the answer to one question within the mosaic covenant is there a valid distinction between the law that is universal and timeless and civil or ceremonial law that is culture bound now what's our answer to that the law in total is related to what israel that time that place that people unfortunately for what seems to be an attractive division for the law in the discussion of this modification the problems then become insurmountable in fact those who take the threefold division of the law cannot agree among themselves on what still pertains to christians and what doesn't now here is the key the law continues to demonstrate god's expectations though christians live under the new covenants and have a different relationship to the mosaic law x10 x15 would be two cases in point change of covenants by very definition means what change of law so when the new testament says we're not under law under law it doesn't mean by that we're not under any kind of legal prescriptions what it means by that is we're not under the mosaic prescriptions for we are roman's eight the galatians five the galatians six actually is where it is equation six two but we are under the law of the messiah the mediator of a new covenant we're no longer under the law of moses the mediator of the old covenant but we are under the law of christ the messiah the mediator of the new covenant now significant today that many believers want to enjoy the blessings of the new covenants which they should there's blessings there's benefits forgiveness of sin the indwelling of the holy spirit the internalization of the of the torah we love the benefits we love the benefits for we have many christians today you have a hard time with law as a principle that god has a right to tell me how to live but if you're in relationship with god through jesus christ and you enjoy the benefits of the new covenant it also means what we as believers just as there was the old testament are bound to show our covenant loyalty by obedience to the law of christ by the way where's that law of christ found read every letter of the new testaments now we call them imperatives what's another way to state an imperative a command if you don't believe that new testament believers aren't under commands read every letter of the new testament and see there are multiple commands we're no longer under the mosaic law but that doesn't mean we're no longer under law we are but that'll waste the new testament when we get there because just like the mosaic covenant law god's directives and how his people in covenant relationship to him are to live is just as as much a reality for believers this side of the cross relates to god through jesus christ as it was to israel related to god through what took place at sinai in the old testament so that what takes place is as avabag gets it what's our relationship to the mosaic law as direct pre-script that we should obey zero as instruction in how god calls people in covenant with him to a standard which in some way reflects his own character that they are called to obey to fulfill the covenant purposes a great deal we are called the same kind of hearing and obeying of hearing and obeying to god in the new testament as israel was in the old testament now am i in the stipulation not to boil a kid in his mother's milk don't have to worry about that one because it's never repeated in the new testament by the way some are relaxed in the new testament some are intensified in the old testament you could divorce your wife for an unclean thing in the new testament you can divorce your wife only on the basis of adultery and and leaving i got the legal word now but you desertion or vice versa wiped out or vice versa wife to husband so some commandments in the new testament are more restrictive than what's in the old testament in fact to say i live in the mosaic stipulations in some places is to have it easier but in other places is to have it harder but you know what in both cases even under the new covenant can we fulfill the commandment god gives to us without what a change of heart and the enablement of his spirits what israel lacked in the old testament we have in the new testament and of course we prefigure what israel will enjoy under the new covenant in the future so there in principle is the nature of the law it is unified it is seen as a whole and as a whole it functions within the covenant is enveloped by the covenant it finds it finds its purpose it finds its role within the mosaic covenant and with the mosaic covenant no longer being that which regulates god's relationship to his people during this age then that covenant no longer has that regulatory sense as far as the commandments are concerned and so it is a unified whole that functions within the the covenant with the change of covenant there is by necessity a change of legal requirements all right well that certainly probably has provoked a few questions and we'll take about 10 minutes and then we'll take a break and and you know come back so in other words and here's our problem today that the law in the old testament is a law that is law in the old testament the mosaic standards for believers in jesus christ have more of an educational role than the legislative role that's a good way to put it they're instructional they're educational they teach us about in a sense who god is and what it means to be the people of god that they're educational but they're not legislative i'm not called to obey them because i'm not israel under the mosaic covenant but they give great instruction and and i learn a lot from the old testament when it comes to hearing imperatives that are given to believers in jesus christ in the new testament some of that through christ teaching when he was here upon the earth to his disciples whatever he said his disciples would transpire after he had departed obviously that still is is incumbent upon you and i today but that's in the gospels but then we get to the epistles and then we don't have to worry about seeing a fine line did he speak this to his disciples as a continuing mandate even after the spirit came etc because it's clear the new testament epistles were all given and all those commandments so so i've got to figure that out too i mean fall told the corinthians to drink one another with a holy kiss i got to figure out what that meant for the corinthians because what it meant for the corinthians is exactly what it's to mean and i'm to put into practice now so this is a corinthians class and i'm going to answer that question necessarily but but it does it does it does say that when i see the seriousness of how israel had to obey the law in the old testament and the curses that came upon them if they didn't i get some idea of the importance these commandments given to me in the new testament are in my relationship with god and how he's going to hold me accountable that's what i mean about the educational rather than the legislative purpose well before he said to love one another he said something else well yeah well you shall love the lord your god with the totality of your being and the second like unto it and by the way at that point he was summarizing the mosaic legislation that if you really want to get to back here if you really want to get to the moral law it's not the 10 words if you want to know what is really essential according to jesus christ out of all of this he says two things are essential love the lord totally and love your neighbor totally and consistently with everything you've got that sums up the old testament torah now that also sums up the law of christ because it is christ and we don't think about this christ the lawgiver who says those the two essentials of the mosaic and when you think about that you can take every command that is given to the church in the new testament and doesn't it fall under either loving god completely or loving your neighbor as yourself so there is a sense in fact i don't have to i that's a true exegesis because paul says that in romans 13 that you shall love the law and love your neighbor summarizes everything that he says too that's the summary of both the stipulations of the old covenant and the stipulations of the law of christ so so if someone wants to say yeah all i'm called by christ to do is love god and love my neighbor and how do you do that well how do you love your neighbor well herews 10 by not neglecting the assembling of yourselves together so every time the church gathers together to worship the lord to learn from the lord and the place where we can provoke one or you want another love and good deeds giving exaltation until following the lord till the day comes are you following i mean that's what it means to love your neighbors yourself there i mean you can get from that general you can start to go and you can go through the new testament you can you can lay every commandment and it falls under either loving god completely or loving your neighbor as yourself do you think that john wrote the epistle of first john in large part to try to to give a fuller understanding of loving god loving people in fact i would just say that about first john ultimately that's true of everything from romans the third john or jude i guess is in the canon i think third john was written after jude but i mean can yeah even even even the imperatives of the book of revelation you know the christ's call to the churches in revelation two and three that's that's imperative for you and i as as believers in jesus christ just as ultimately the law in israel was addressed not just to corporate israel but to every individual in israel in the same way but as in the new testament is given to the church and is given to every individual who is a part of the church every individual believer so both and neither or because the only way the church as a whole can obey is if each individual part obeys same thing with israel israel is a nation you know could not obey unless every israelite took to heart and obeyed what god said now i i understand when it comes to preaching gotta be very very careful and we don't have the time in this class but last right took some took some time and dealt with the biblical law now you don't have to you're not called to marry your you know sister your your brother so it would be your sister-in-law you're not called to marry your sister-in-law to raise up seed you know to to to your brother's name i mean do that today i mean do that today it was you know go go down to the court and say you know well my brother died and he didn't have any any children so um so i've i've i've i've kind of had a relationship with his widow and and she just gave birth but it's it's it's it's my son's child not mine well you're gonna have a hard time convincing you know uh well with everything taking place today in america you might not have a hard time convincing a county clerk but you should have a hard time convincing a county clerk and you said but god required of it no he didn't because romans 13 is also there you'd obey you'd obey the the state and the state doesn't have levitical law today now is there a principle and the principle is true which is you are to be concerned about your your brother you have to be concerned about your brother's estate your brother's concerns in fact if you're not you bring shame upon the family and is almost the first timothy five that he who does not take care of his own household is worse than an infidel now it's not it's not in the same particular that is given in the mosaic legislation but the same principle is true that you cannot say i'm you know i'm worshipping god therefore i don't need to take care of my family yeah oh too bad i gave that money to god i can't help you well god doesn't want your money if it's at the expense of taking care of your family do you still use the moral law to hold unbeliever accountable to god oh boy your answer yeah do you hold the moral law or do you use the moral law to hold unbelievers full unbelievers accountable before the lord and i even though i know this is popular i can't go there the mosaic law was given to israel um the the can you offer solution to i have the solution the problem is uh is gentiles and particularly romans chapter one are to be are to be confronted with the fact that they have suppressed the truth of god's revelation through their sin through their unrighteousness and that's that's really genesis three through eleven so i'm not saying you shouldn't confront a gentile with sin but that sin of the gentile is a sin of rejecting their creator and turning away and falling into idolatry not giving glory not giving thanks to the creator suppressing that truth about the creator and turning to idolatry that's the gentile sin that's what they're to be held accountable for in fact the of the any stipulations that they're to be held accountable for stipulations under the noah covenant of genesis chapter nine because that's the covenant is made with all flush not the mosaic covenant so i i know there's been a lively blog debate about this uh through some of our graduates and uh and i guess some of them got their ideas from me and um and hopefully they have developed them into their own understanding was in the bible but uh obviously you cannot give the gospel without confronting people with their sin the specifics i think biblically uh you know for a gentile is you suppress the truth of god and unrighteousness that's what god holds you accountable for not because you haven't kept the sabbath you know not because you've even committed adultery anything like that now we live in a what used to be a christianized america i mean we've been still places in you know the midwest where they have the ten commandments posted you know in the civic center i don't think the supreme court has gotten rid of all the you know ten commandments that you can see in fact when they have i mean private people have gone ahead and got a you know things and you can go so americans even american non-christians know the ten commandments um and and they know that they have failed to keep them but uh specifically in scripture that's not you know what we confront a gentile unbelievable with now a jewish unbeliever yeah confronted with the ten words you've broken them because you said in covenant faithfulness all the lord has said we will do in fact i can confront them with the fact um have you ever taken a sacrifice to the altar through the priest for for forgiveness well no we can't do that anymore we don't know who the priests are and there's no there's no altar of jurism yeah whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa you got to be careful whoa whoa whoa whoa you're reinterpreted i mean it's very very clear well no we haven't well i understand the why not but has god taken that away from you because of judgment is he trying to say there's there's here is a stipulation you haven't fulfilled so you you better find a lamb and you better go and offer sacrifice well i can't what if i tell you that god has provided a lamb who has given the ones that for all sacrifice well who is it well it's the person you rejected as messiahs jesus i mean i to me that's the way you're even evangelize a jewish person confront them with uh with the fact of how they have broken the mosaic standards if they know the mosaic standards they know they've broken them and that's the rationale they were used well i can't well you have to i can't you have to well you better find someone who can help you that should be you know then writing the gospel for a jewish person okay a gentile you just say hey are you uh worshipping and honoring your creator uh huh well i can tell you this you're not all right so and that's what it means to be a sinner and and you need forgiveness that's my understanding all right all men even on the faculty do not have the same faith so you know you're going to have to you're going to have to study and you're going to have to come to your own conclusions on these matters so so i only offer you answers on my settled convictions based upon my study and as good barians you are to you are to study through the implications for yourself one more and then we'll take a break and confronting Gentiles with the law how would we reconcile well when i say that i mean mosaic legislation right right so even the ten commandments then yes because that's mosaic legislation okay so how about romans 215 where it says they show the work of the laws written on their hearts what law would that be referring to well that is a and who is it who's he talking to yeah is a naughty interpretive issue and i'm not dogmatic i lean in that place uh to to um seeing that as unregenerate Gentiles who by nature going back to the fact that God has made clear his righteousness among them romans one so that uh and and because of that by nature they do certain things you know because of of this subconscious understanding and um and God at that point it's an object lesson to Israel that they not having the law show an obedience to a law that is not there yet ultimately God will either excuse or not excuse them based upon how they followed that with the emphasis being upon he's going to ultimately bring Gentiles into judgment too for their non-law compliance but certainly at the end of chapter two he is talking about regenerate Gentiles in uh verses 27 28 29 of chapter two and some take that those Gentiles in in uh 214 and 15 are also regenerate Gentiles that he's talking about new covenant uh benefited believers those are the Gentiles who obey the the law and it's it's all by you know by nature where does you know where does that go what does that modify and so there isn't you can read you can read both i believe Murray and Cranfield's commentaries on uh robes i think Murray in the end takes the old traditional viewpoint Cranfield takes a new position that these are New Testament uh believers that are being referred to there so um um yeah and Romans and i will tell you this you've got to know your Old Testament before you start to study Romans too many people study Romans without knowing the Old Testament and read things in the Romans that are not there so understand the Old Testament and you'll understand Paul a lot better particularly in Romans and and even Galatians and and i think predominantly uh Romans 118 all the way through chapter 839 yes Paul is talking to all believers at Rome but predominantly at that point is is interacting with Jewish believers and Gentiles are listening in he educated chapters 9 through 11 he turns to Gentile believers and of course Israel learns a lot about what God has has done his doing will do for them but that's all an object lesson for uh for uh Gentiles then he comes and brings it all together 12 one and following where with a great imperative the end except one another as Christ has accepted you and that's circumcision nonsense gentile Jews and Gentiles in the church there at Rome so um so it's interesting because this is a well-taught group and even Galatians because uh Paul had taught them there's there is there is a tremendous understanding of the Old Testament you have to have to understand those letters and understand those letters and rightly so so even for Romans the Old Testament law the law given through Moses the legislation associated the mosaic covenant has an educational role for New Testament believers both Jews and Gentiles