In our teaching text for tonight (Deu 17:14–20), part of the text includes instructions that every king of Israel had to handwrite his own copy of the law of Moses—the Torah. Can you imagine? Seriously. What a task! There are 187 chapters of the Law (Gen–Deu) in the English Bible. One chapter a day would take six months; two a day would take 93 days. Working 3 hours a day, a person could copy the entire Torah in 30 days. The Law is a big deal throughout the Bible, so what should a New Covenant believer’s perspective be on the Law of Moses and the OT?
Here are six ideas I have for you to consider:
- The OT is just as inspired as the NT.
- The OT is God’s Word just as surely as the NT (2Ti 3:16–17). It remains profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
- The Torah reveals the character and nature of God.
- The Law reflects Yahweh’s holiness, justice, wisdom, faithfulness, and righteousness. While believers are not under the Mosaic Covenant, the God revealed in the Law has not changed (Mal 3:6).
- The OT provides the necessary backstory for the Messiah and His gospel, pointing to Christ and finding its fulfillment in Him.
- Creation, the Fall, the covenants, Israel’s history, the sacrificial system, and the promises of redemption all prepare the way for Christ. Without the OT, the significance of Jesus’ person and work cannot be fully understood.
- Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (Mat 5:17; Luke 24:27, 44). The believer reads the OT through the lens of Christ’s completed work.
- New Covenant believers learn theological and moral principles from the OT.
- While the specific covenantal obligations of Moses are no longer binding, the OT provides wisdom, examples, warnings, and principles that instruct believers in godly living (Rom 15:4; 1Co 10:11).
- The OT and NT together reveal God’s unified plan of redemption.
- Believers connect the dots between promise and fulfillment, seeing the unfolding story of redemption centered on Christ.
- The Old Testament demonstrates humanity’s need for a New Covenant.
- Israel’s repeated failure under the Mosaic Covenant reveals the inability of sinful people to achieve righteousness through law-keeping. The Law exposes sin and points to the need for a better covenant, sacrifice, and mediator (Jer 31:31–34; Gal 3:19–24; Heb 8).
- NC believers honor the Law without placing themselves under the Law.
- Christians respect, study, and learn from the Torah while recognizing that they are under the authority of Christ and the NC, not the Law of Moses (Rom 6:14; Gal 5:18; 1Co 9:21).
The New Covenant believer treasures the OT as inspired Scripture that reveals God’s character, explains humanity’s need for redemption, points to Christ, and provides wisdom for faithful living. While believers are not under the Mosaic Covenant, they study the OT to better understand God’s redemptive plan, culminating in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Will you come back at 5p tonight and study Deuteronomy with me?
And next Sunday evening, we will both stay home for a sabbath rest, with it being Father’s Day. Do you see how I did not use an uppercase S in sabbath, and even added the word “rest”? That was intentional. Why? Because when we take a Sunday night off (13 a year), we are honoring the timeless principle behind the Sabbath of the law of Moses. But we don’t call the Lord’s day the Sabbath because Christ is our Sabbath from striving to please God for our salvation (Heb 4).
