Lesson 5: The Old Law

Bible Ages

The Bible story covers three periods of God’s authority: the Patriarchal Age, the Law Age (or Mosaic Age), and the Christian Age. In each of these periods God dealt with His people in different ways. In the Patriarchal Age, God spoke directly to the patriarchs—the heads of the families. He spoke to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. During this period, God made promises to Abraham and his descendants that they would become a great nation, they would inhabit the land of Canaan that Abraham journeyed through, and that one of his descendants would bless all nations. The patriarchal age spans the book of Genesis and the beginning of the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus records God’s command to Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. Moses led the people to Mount Sinai where they agreed to make a covenant with God to be His people and He would be their God. God gave them the Old Law as part of the covenant. When the Jews accepted the Law, the Law Age began. The Jews were under the Old Law until Christ abolished it and established His law. The Law Age covers Exodus through the rest of the Old Testament. The events recorded in the gospels also take place in the Law Age. The Christian Age is the last age. We are living in this age which began on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. When Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, He put an end to the Old Law and established a new kingdom and a new covenant with a new law. The New Testament contains the law of Jesus. We will discuss Jesus’ law in the next lesson. The Old Testament law was a covenant between God and the Jews. Exodus 24:3-8 and Deuteronomy 31:20-21 record the covenant, or agreement, between the people and God. The Jews could accept or reject God’s offer. Upon acceptance, the covenant was binding on the Jews at Mount Sinai and their descendants. Even if the Old Law were still in force, it would only be binding on the Jews, not the Gentiles. The Old Law contained more than the Ten Commandments. The laws in Leviticus – Deuteronomy (Luke 2:22-24) and the Psalms (John 10:34 – Psalm 82:6) are considered the Law. Luke divided the Law into three parts: Law, Psalms, and Prophets (Luke 24:44). The Purpose of the Law The Old Law defined sin and its punishment and proper obedience, Galatians 3:19-20. Ultimately, the Law was to prepare the Jews for the coming of Jesus, Galatians 3:22-25. The Law prophesied of Jesus and the Law itself manifested the need for a savior. However, when Jesus came, many of the Jews held onto the Law, the tutor, and would not listen to the Master Teacher. The Temporary Nature of the

Law

Jesus said that the Law would pass away when it was completed, or fulfilled, Matthew 5:17. Paul wrote that the Law was to abide until the Seed, Jesus, came to fulfill its promises, Galatians 3:19. He further wrote that the Law could not justify man before God, Galatians 2:16. The Hebrew writer said that the Law was a shadow of the things that God would reveal, Hebrews 10:1. Finally, Hebrews 8:7-13 points out that their had to be a new covenant for the people did not keep the old covenant. The Hebrew writer quotes Jeremiah who spoke of the need of the new covenant. The second covenant would make the first one obsolete. The Law of Moses was a covenant made between God and the Jews, not all men. It was a temporary law to identify sin and prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. The Old Law could not take away sin, could not justify man, and condemned all of the Jews because they did not keep it completely. Man needed a new covenant that could take away sin and justify him before God.

The Old Law Is Not Binding

Today

The New Testament explicitly declares the abolishment of the Old

Law. In Ephesians 2:11-16, Paul

writes that Jesus abolished the Old Law so that He could make one people from the Jews and Gentiles. He further wrote, in Colossians 2:14, that Jesus nailed the Old Law to the cross, taking it out of our way. In Romans 7:4-6, Paul wrote that we are dead to the Law through Christ, delivered from the Law, and now serve Jesus. The Hebrew writer, in Hebrews 10:9, wrote that the first law was removed to make way for the second. Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews demonstrate the difference and superiority of the New Law of Christ over the Old Law of Moses and warned people not to return to the Old Law. In Acts 15, some Jewish Christians were trying to bind ordinances of the Old Law on the Gentile Christians. This caused great confusion but the apostles declared that the Old Testament ordinances were not binding on Christians. In Galatians 5:1-4, Paul told the Galatians that if they sought to keep part of the Old Law, they were obligated to keep the whole Law. Keeping part of the Old Law would separate them from Christ. Some today want to bring part of the Old Law into worship or bind selected commandments on men today (use of instruments in worship, binding the Sabbath day). However, if we want to take part of it, we must take all of it and resume animal sacrifices, incense burning, the tabernacle, journeying to Jerusalem to worship, the law of the surviving brother (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), etc. In doing so, we would separate ourselves from Jesus.

Conclusion

Christ removed the Old Law to make place for His covenant: a better law, with a better priesthood, a better sacrifice, remission of sins, and justification. In studying this, Phil realized that he could learn much from the Old Testament but its ordinances were not binding today. He knew that if he wanted answers, he needed to study the New Testament, the New Covenant of Jesus.

Questions for Discussion & Study

1. What is a covenant? Who were the two parties to the covenant at Mt. Sinai?

2. How did the Old Law prepare Israel for Jesus?

3. Why did the Old Law have to be abolished?

4. According to Galatians 5, what were the consequences of keeping the Law?

5. Why can we not use the Old Law as authority for what we practice?