biblical commandments: do they apply to us?

It's not uncommon to hear: "Of course, we don't follow dietary or clothing laws prescribed in the Old Testament today." And, "Of course, we wouldn't dream of executing a child as punishment for disobeying a parent." So, how does one sort through what seems to be a myriad of Bible commands that seem contradictory, if not, absurd?

Here are a few questions with suggested answers to help sort through the confusion:

• Are there different types of laws and commandments?

Simplistically, the laws outlined in the Bible can be categorized as ceremonial or moral. Ceremonial laws are "signs" pointing to some event or person in the future. Ceremonial laws are only valid until they are fulfilled in the future by the designated event or person. At the time of fulfillment, the law no longer applies.

On the other hand, a moral law relates to relationships that humans have with God, with each other, with themselves, and with the environment. The Ten Commandments are examples of moral laws. Moral laws do not expire.

• Are the commandments given in the Old Testament and New Testament different?

Both ceremonial and moral laws are specified in the Old Testament. The ceremonial laws make the most sense when we understand them as pointing to some type of fulfillment at which time they would no longer apply. Dietary and clothing laws are just some of the ceremonial laws that no longer apply to us today. "Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat... or religious festival... These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Col. 2:16, Heb. 9:10-11 Because dietary laws were so important in the Old Testament, in the New Testament there are many passages that clarify that it is now wrong "to abstain from certain foods... For everything God created is good." I Tim 4:3-4

Moral laws are consistent throughout the Old and New Testaments and not rescinded as ceremonial laws are. In the New Testament, moral laws are reinforced, elaborated, and even extended by lists of negative behaviors (Gal. 5:19, Col. 3:5,8) and positive qualities such as the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22, Col. 3:12).

There is also a major difference in how moral laws are to be followed in the New Testament. The New Testament is clear that the requirements for following moral laws cannot be accomplished by individual effort and apart from the indwelling Spirit "who works in you to will and to act." Phil 2:12

• Are the punishments for breaking moral commands different under the new covenant of the New Testament?

The types of punishment prescribed for moral infractions in the Old Testament setting were severe. While governments are authorized to punish evil doers (Roman 13) and even wage wars within certain constraints, the individual is instructed in the New Testament to turn the other cheek, forgive one another, not to judge those outside the church (I Cor 5:12), love our enemies, and over come evil with good. It should be more than noteworthy that the Old Testament and even the Koran speak of God forgiving human beings but it is only the New Testament that also insists on human beings forgiving each other.

Why do Christians do evil things?

Why do those who identify themselves as Christians do evil things?

• •Many who identify themselves as Christian, are not, as Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23 (e.g., major historical church leaders, Inquisitions)
  
• •Many in today’s church sincerely believe they are Christians but are not born-again
• •Many believe that if they're a good person that makes them a Christian and will go to heaven
• •When Christianity becomes a power structure, individuals easily delude themselves and others to exploit it for their own purposes. That is, Christianity gets turned into a religion.
• •Real Christians do sin ("you do not do what you want" Gal 5:17) but should not habitually sin because the Spirit makes the believer too miserable to continue. Over time the believer becomes aware of more "subtle" sin and motivations that God gently addresses.
  

“I know that nothing good lives in me… For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing… When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” Romans 7:18

What is a human being?

We're made in the image of God (and "it was very good") but we are also fallen. Seems odd but best explains the evidence, no?

What are the implications and evidence for being made in the image of God?

• •Each person has intrinsic worth that we cannot measure – explains worth of each human apart from human relativistic, transitory reasons
• •Each person knows right and wrong – explains why people do good without believing in God
• •Each person feels guilt and knows there will be judgment
• •Each person knows there is a God and yearns to have that void filled
• •Each person is afraid of death and expends energy worrying about it and expends energy trying not to worry about it
• •Each person experiences existential angst
• •Each person experiences alienation from self, others, God, creation
• •Each person experiences beauty with joy and delight
• •Each person believes that love is more than deterministic biochemical reactions
• •and…
• •Every atheist acts as though there is a God (Schaeffer, Phillips…)

What are the implications and evidence for being fallen?

• •

• Explains why people do evil
• •Explains why we feel guilty
• •Explains why there is suffering
• •Explains why we are fearful and anxious about non-being and death
• •Explains our desire to hide and control
• •Explains why the non-believer can do good things but cannot be good (Warren)

“There is… no one who seeks God… no one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10, Psalms 14:1, 53:1
"...even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." Gen 8:21

“Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight… I was sinful at birth, sinful even from the time my mother conceived.” Psalms 51:4

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)

“Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.” Psalms 58:3

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” Matthew 15:19

“All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.” Mark 7:23

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” Romans 6:12

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children…” Luke 11:13, Matt 7:11

“I know that nothing good lives in me… For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing… When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” Romans 7:18

"Certainly nothing offends us more than this doctrine [of original sin], and yet without this mystery, the most incomprehensible of all, we are incomprehensible to ourselves." Blaise Pascal

What is a Christian?

A Christian is someone who:

• •Knows their sinfulness
• •Wants forgiveness
• •Wants what Jesus did to pay for what they did
• •Trusts God to change and make things right

• • A Christian is spiritually born again (John 3:3, 1:13, 14:17, Eze 36:26, Deut. 30:6, Rom 8:9-11, I Pet 1:23, Titus 3:5, Eph 2:22, 3:16-17, 4:24)

• •God puts his Holy Spirit in us and we are justified once and for all
• •We die unto self daily and are sanctified moment by moment (Luke 9:23)

•A Christian wants to do God’s will because:

• •The Christian is grateful that God provides everything
• •It is the Spirit of God “who wills and does” (Phil 2:12) in the Christian so that Paul says he is "struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me." (Colossians 1:29)
• •We love ourselves within the context of greater love for God and others
• •We are no longer a “slave of sin” but free to live for God

What is the evidence of being a Christian?

• •A Christian loves God and others (Matt 22:37). To love God is to obey his commandments (I John 5:3)
• •We’ll know Christians by their love for each other and others (John 13:13, Gal 6:10, I Thess 3:12, John 17:21)
• •The fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22)
• •A growing recognition and distaste for sin in one’s life
• •A growing desire to do the will of God over our own
• •A growing desire to read and study the Bible
• •A growing desire to be in mutually accountable relationships with other Christians
• Christians restrain themselves to only say and do in love. If not in love, we are wrong even if technically correct (my mother)

What is Christianity?

• •Necessarily, Christianity is not a religion
• •Christianity means to be in relationship with God, ourselves, others, and the created order
• •Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ
• •the essence of Christianity is be in relationship with Jesus and through Him, relationship with all that we would otherwise be alienated from
• •Christianity is possible because of forgiveness, His substitutionary death for our sins, resurrection, and our resurrection through Jesus
• •We, finite personal moral human beings, have access to the infinite personal loving God because of the finished work of Christ in space, time and history
• •We are made to be in relationship with God, to love Him and others, to represent Him, and to be holy and glorify God.
• Faith is "to put ones weight down on the trustworthy character of God based on reasonable evidence" - Dr. Earl Palmer

What is religion?

A human construct to meet human need by human effort. Our human need (that arises from being made in the image of God together with our fallen-ness) is expressed as religion - a device of manipulation to make God into an image of our own creation. Thus, religions are evil in that they disrupt our opportunity for relationship with God and give license to the worse aspects of our nature. Moreover, religion can be far worse than merely being the “opiate of the people”.

In fact, over the last hundred years unimaginable brutality and death came by way of non-theistic religions based in naturalistic philosophy led by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, and Pol Pot.

"I don't see Jesus Christ as being in any part of a religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves - and people devise a set of rules to fill the space."
-Bono