CHAPTER 13 THE LAW OF CHRIST IN RELATION TO THE LAW OF MOSES: CONTINUITY

Having seen that there is a heavy dose of discontinuity, we will now look at the continuity between the law of Moses and the law of Christ. So, although new covenant believers are not under the Mosaic law, with Jesus and the new covenant Scriptures as our hermeneutical filter, every command in Scripture remains applicable. 1 In this sense, we can receive principles from the old covenant law. 2 A common example is that of bestiality. Some argue that New Covenant Theologians have no theological grounding for excluding such a practice. While the word sexual immorality (porneia) is probably broad enough to include such a practice, I have no problem appealing to Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 18:23, 20:16. I interpret these passage, like all Old Testament commands, in light of Jesus Christ. I think a legitimate application of Deuteronomy 22:8 (When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it) for a new covenant believer would be to ensure that their property is not a danger to their neighbors. The common example is to build a fence around your swimming pool. Exodus 22:25 calls Israel not to charge interest when lending money to fellow Israelites. For us, we can apply this by being generous and open-handed with fellow believers (and obviously not charge interest when lending). 3 Doug Moo writes, A Christian reading the laws about personal injury in Exodus 21 might well concluderightly, I thinkthat the killing of an unborn baby falls into the category of those takings of human life that are prohibited by both the Decalogue and by the New Testament. The detailed stipulations of the Mosaic law often reveal principles that are part of Gods word to his people in both covenants, and believers continue to profit from what the law teaches in this respect. 4 Most of us do not have a field and hence cannot leave the fallen grapes for the poor and for the
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Frank Thielman writes that the Mosaic law continues to be authoritative when interpreted through the eschatological lens of the gospel, The Law and the New Testament, 35. Kruse writes, While believers were not obliged to carry out all the demands of the Mosaic law, they could nevertheless draw from the OT, read paradigmatically, lessons for Christian living, Law, NDBT, 636. David A. Dorsey, The Law of Moses and the Christian, 333. Moo, The of Law of Christ as the Fulfillment of the Law of Moses, 376.

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sojourner (Lev 19:9-10), but we obey the principle behind this command: care for the poor and be hospitable to strangers, which is another way of saying we should love your neighbor (Lev 19:18). Examples such as these could go on and on. Paul seems to be principalizing the law in 1 Corinthians 9:9-10a: For it is written in the Law of Moses, You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? 5 Here Paul draws out a principle from Deuteronomy 25:4. Paul is not imposing the law on new covenant believers. In fact, he is remarkably free with his use of the passage. He is using it to summarize a principle: the worker should reap material benefit from his work. 6 We find nine of the Ten Commandments reiterated in the New Testament. The Sabbath command is the issue that divides theological systems. But as we have seen, the Ten Commandments cannot be extrapolated from the rest of the old covenant. The quotation of the Fifth Commandment in Ephesians 6:2 demonstrates that while there is significant discontinuity, there is also continuity. In this same letter, Paul had already said that Christ had abolished the law of commandments expressed in ordinances (2:15) yet he can go on later to quote this very law. The command to honor ones parents is both part of the law of Moses and part of the law of Christ (because, as we will see, it is part of Gods natural law). 7 It should also be noted though, that the Fifth Commandment does not come over unchanged. As Peter OBrien notes, Significantly, when Paul reapplies the commandment to his Christian readers, he omits any reference to the land of Israel and universalizes the promise: that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.8 As we have seen, even though we are no longer bound to the Mosaic law, the whole canon, the Decalogue included, is relevant for new covenant believers. It witnesses to Christ. It shows us our sin. It reveals the character of our great God and king. In his important article, David Dorsey writes,
Legally, none of the 613 stipulations of the Sinaitic covenant are binding upon NT Christians, including the so-called moral laws, while in a revelatory and pedagogical sense all 613 are binding upon us, including all the ceremonial and civic lawsthe Mosaic Laws, though not legally binding, comprise a treasure of insights and information regarding the
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See also Pauls use of the OT in 1 Cor 14:34 and Gal 4:21-31. Deidun, New Covenant Morality, 158. Fee, The Epistle to the Corinthians, 407 n59; Moo, The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ, 216; Westerholm, On Fulfilling the Whole Law, 232 n12; idem, Perspectives, 435 n64. Moo, The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ, 216; idem, The Law of Christ as the Fulfillment of the Law of Moses, 370; OBrien, Ephesians, 444. OBrien, Ephesians, 444. Paul is probably here referring to the new creation, the new earth, not a small piece of real estate with national boundaries. See Frank Thielman, Ephesians, in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old, 830.

very mind and ways of God it was tailor-made by the One we seek to know and serve. It is here that the point of profound applicability for the Christian is found. A law reflects the mind, the personality, the priorities, the values, the likes and dislikes of the lawgiver. Each law issued by God to ancient Israel (like each declaration by God through the prophets) reflects Gods mind and ways and is therefore a theological treasure. 9

The law and the prophets are applicable to new covenant believers interpreted in light of Christ. 10 Jason Meyer puts it well: The coming of Christ has caused a paradigm shift that calls for recalibrating all former commands in the light of His centrality. This approach recognizes that the law of Moses in its entirety has come to an end in the sense that the believer does not start by asking, What did the law teach? The believer begins at the point where his Christian life began: Christ. The believer found new life in Christ and so now comes to Christ to find out how to live out his new life. 11

David A. Dorsey, The Law of Moses and the Christian, 325, 332. C.G. Kruse similarly writes, The law continued to have an educative role for them, but it was no longer the regulatory norm under which they lived. Christians were not bound to the actual demands of the law but had much to learn from the principles and values underlying them, Law, in NDBT, 636. Meyer writes, The law remains as a vibrant demonstration of Gods character and wisdom, The End of the Law, 286. Moo writes, The law remains authoritative for the disciple of Jesus only insofar as it is taken up into his own teaching, Law, in DJG, 461. Elsewhere he writes, The whole law, every jot and tittle, is fulfilled in Christ and can only be understood and applied in light of that fulfillment, in The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ, 218. Meyer, The End of the Law, 283.

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