In a recent discussion at Bible study we considered which of the 600+ laws from the Books of Law are applicable to Christians. Many felt that only the 10 commandments applied. The more I study the lessons in the Gospel of Matthew, the more I think perhaps we are subject to most of the laws - excluding blood sacrifice laws which were fulfilled by the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hi donaldjerry and welcome to the forum.
I understand where your concerns are coming from. As a follower of Jesus you want to make sure you are obeying Him according to His will. And I have in the past contemplated those same very issues. So I will share some things with you that helped guide me through the problem of the old law.Jesus said that He came to fulfill the law not to abolish it.
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
What does it mean to fulfil something? Strongs renders the word this way,
fulfil-1) to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full
a) to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally
1) I abound, I am liberally supplied
2) to render full, i.e. to complete
a) to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim
b) to consummate: a number
1) to make complete in every particular, to render perfect
2) to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some undertaking)
c) to carry into effect, bring to realisation, realise
1) of matters of duty: to perform, execute
2) of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, accomplish
3) to fulfil, i.e. to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God's promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment
Jesus said that He came to cause God's will to be obeyed AS IT SHOULD BE. God doesn't want an external show of piety that has no moral or righteous foundation. So Jesus gave us a way to make that happen. We were made free in Jesus so that not through our works but through God's perfect and complete work we might have life everlasting. To try and add to that would be to demean God's completed work.(more on that later) The apostles expounded on our freedom in Christ in their episteles.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Hbr 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need [was there] that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
The point is that if the law were sufficient to grant us any salvation Jesus' sacrafice would have been unecessary. However, we are under the law of Christ, which is not some formalized outward religious show of piety. We are free of the letter of the law so that we might abide in the spirit of the law.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.
Paul understood that the true intent of the law was deeper than the letter.
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Jesus Himself told us in what way all of the law was made complete.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Paul went on to reiterate this point.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Ultimately the 613 mitvoh as we have come to know them were devised later in Judaism and they are not without disagreement now. And this list is a compilation of expositions of a basic set of commands. This means that at there core there are significantly less actual commands.
From wikipedia
The rabbinic support for 613 is not without dissent and, even as the number gained acceptance, difficulties arose in elucidating the list. Some rabbis declared that this count was not an authentic tradition, or that it was not logically possible to come up with a systematic count. Not surprisingly, no early work of Jewish law or Biblical commentary depended on the 613 system, and no early systems of Jewish principles of faith made acceptance of this Aggadah (non-legal Talmudic statement) normative. The classical Biblical commentator and grammarian Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra denied that this was an authentic rabbinic tradition. Ibn Ezra writes "Some sages enumerate 613 mitzvot in many diverse ways [...] but in truth there is no end to the number of mitzvot [...] and if we were to count only the root principles [...] the number of mitzvot would not reach 613" (Yesod Mora, Chapter 2).
As I said Jesus, the greatest expositer of the law, told us the whole point of the law and how to fulfil it. If you were to look at the list of 613 mitsvoh you would notice most of them either cannot be kept or that by observing the two Jesus laid them all on you will naturally keep them. For example...
139.Not to have sexual relations with your mother Lev. 18:7
140.Not to have sexual relations with your father's wife Lev. 18:8
141.Not to have sexual relations with your sister Lev. 18:9
142.Not to have sexual relations with your father's wife's daughter Lev. 18:11
143.Not to have sexual relations with your son's daughter Lev. 18:10
144.Not to have sexual relations with your daughter Lev. 18:10
145.Not to have sexual relations with your daughter's daughter Lev. 18:10
146.Not to have sexual relations with a woman and her daughter Lev. 18:17
147.Not to have sexual relations with a woman and her son's daughter Lev. 18:17
148.Not to have sexual relations with a woman and her daughter's daughter Lev. 18:17
149.Not to have sexual relations with your father's sister Lev. 18:12
150.Not to have sexual relations with your mother's sister Lev. 18:13
151.Not to have sexual relations with your father's brother's wife Lev. 18:14
152.Not to have sexual relations with your son's wife Lev. 18:15
153.Not to have sexual relations with your brother's wife Lev. 18:16
154.Not to have sexual relations with your wife's sister Lev. 18:18
155.A man must not have sexual relations with an animal Lev. 18:23
156.A woman must not have sexual relations with an animal Lev. 18:23
157.For men not to use sex to gain 'ownership' over other menLev. 18:22
158.Not to have sexual relations with your father Lev. 18:7
159.Not to have sexual relations with your father's brother Lev. 18:14
160.Not to have sexual relations with someone else's wife Lev. 18:20
If you love others as yourself would you do any of these things?
162.Not to marry non-Jews Deut. 7:3
163.Not to let Moabite and Ammonite males marry into the Jewish people Deut. 23:4
164.Not to prevent a third-generation Egyptian convert from marrying into the Jewish people Deut. 23:8-9
165.Not to refrain from marrying a third generation Edomite convert Deut. 23:8-9
166.Not to let a mamzer (a child born due to an illegal relationship) marry into the Jewish people Deut. 23:3
167.Not to let a eunuch marry into the Jewish people Deut. 23:2
168.Not to offer to God any castrated male animals Lev. 22:24
169.The High Priest must not marry a widow Lev. 21:14
170.The High Priest must not have sexual relations with a widow even outside of marriage Lev. 21:15
171.The High Priest must marry a virgin maiden Lev. 21:13
172.A Kohen (priest) must not marry a divorcee Lev. 21:7
173.A Kohen must not marry a zonah (a woman who has had a forbidden sexual relationship) Lev. 21:7
Can you even keep these? Well unless you are a Jew you cannot or unless you can readily identify an Ammonite, Egyptian or unless you are a levitical priest. Do you begin to see how hopeless such a case Judaizers have when endorsing this doctrine. That is 34 blown out of the water right there. However, I will not tell you to not observe any law you feel God wishes you to observe. Paul told us to be persuaded in our own mind (Romans 14:5) I will share some other things for you to consider.
From Dr. Michael L. Brown, Messianic Jew
Believers today, without exception, are not under the binding authority of the Mosaic Law. This, however, is an overly simplistic answer, so, for the moment, let us make a distinction between Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus, looking first at the question in two different ways: (1)"Must Gentile Christians keep the Law? If no, then (2)"Should Gentile Christians keep any part of the Law?" After answering these questions, we'll return to the issue of Jewish believers and Torah observance.
The answer to the first question, "Must Gentile Christians keep the Law?" is quite simple: Certainly not! Nowhere does the New Testament require Gentile believers to observe the Torah. To the contrary, when the Gentiles first started coming to faith in the book of Acts, some Jewish believers argued, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses" (Acts 15:5). After all, this was a Jewish message about a Jewish Messiah. Wasn't it necessary, then, for these Gentiles to live like practicing Jews? The emphatic answer from the apostilic community was summed up by Peter: "No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are" (verse 11) Paul's letter to the Galatians addresses this issue quite forcefully, and he warns the believers there in no uncertain terms: "You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4)
In other contexts, Paul made it clear that believers are not under the supervision of the Law (to bring them to the Messiah; see Galatians 3:23-25);that believers do not recieve the Spirit by observing the Law (see Galatians 2:21);that believers are not under the Law but rather under grace (see Romans 6:14); and that the circumcision that really counts is a spiritual, internal circumcision (see Philippians 3:2-3; Colossians 2:11-12; see also Romans 2:28-29; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 6:15) Although scholars have suggested different interpretations for verses such as these-and many more could be cited-the plain sense is quite compelling: Gentile believers are not required to obey the Mosaic law, and for a believer to put himself or herself under the Law is to go backward, not forward.
I will stop there. If you wish to read more on this subject you can order his bood What do Jewish people think about Jesus? Or you can visit his website here.
http://askdrbrown.org/homeI hope that helps. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask.
