Leviticus: how does it apply to Christians today?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Madaglan
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Madaglan

Guest
I’m really confused why God in the Old Testament talks about certain animals being unclean or clean, whereas Jesus in the New Testament doesn’t seem to care so much about what animals are clean or unclean. God says in Leviticus 20.24-25: “You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for your to hold unclean.” But then, Jesus, who is God, says differently in the New Testament. He focuses on a clean heart rather than a clean appetite.

Why would God say something in the OT and then say the opposite in the NT? If Christ changed the rules, then what should we make of the Old Testament rules–other than the commandments of course?

The laws God mandates in the Old Testament are no longer held by Jews or Christians today. For example, how many Christians today would agree that practicing homosexuals should be put to death, as ordered by Lev 20.13? Or, better yet, how many would agree that an adulterer should be put to death, as God commands in Lev 20.10?

Could someone perhaps explain to me the different kinds of law in the times before Jesus, and how they apply to Christians today. In doing so, could someone please tell me *why *these things are no longer–not simply because Christ and the apostles said so, but the real reason why the Word of God in these verses of Leviticus are now without much binding influence?

Levitical law, Mosaic law, etc. Need help understanding these!
 
Just a quick thought, and I’ll leave it to someone more versed in the topic to expound on it. 🙂

The main thing to keep in mind is that the world was a much different place back then. In the Pentateuch, remember God is bringing his chosen people into a land that is inhabited by people who worship all kinds of different idols (Ba’als), and have all kinds of “unacceptable” customs. God set up this strict law basically to keep the people on the straight and narrow, and to not be corrupted by these other influences. For example, one of the dietary laws was to not eat any meat from the swine. The main reason that this animal was “unclean” is that one of the neighboring nations used to sacrifice it to their idol (this is similar to Exodus, where the Jews in captivity would not sacrifice to God in the presence of the Egyptians, since one of their main offerings were bulls, which the Egyptians worshipped). The bahavioral laws and punishments were for the same reasons, to protect and allow for the growth of the nation of Israel. This is why you see the verses describing punishments with something like “so that evil will be driven from Israel” (or something like that.)

Why doesn’t the law apply to Christians. Remember, Jesus came to fulfill the Law. Concerning dietary laws, remember he said “it is not what goes into one’s mouth that makes you unclean, but what comes out”… Behaviorally, most, if not all the laws are pretty much still to be adhered to (as they flow from the 2 great commandments). However, since we do not live in theocracies, we must obey the authority of those who govern us, us Jesus taught. Therefore the punishments are not the same as they were. In other words, the law is the same, the punishments are just different today.
 
Why would God say something in the OT and then say the opposite in the NT? If Christ changed the rules, then what should we make of the Old Testament rules–other than the commandments of course?
Click to expand...
You may be referring to the dream Peter had with all the unclean animals in a sheet. The purpose of that was not to make the illegal legal, but to broaden the gospel message to include the Gentiles.The law had been fulfilled, not abolished. Jesus also said what makes a person unclean is what comes out the mouth, not what goes in it.

This is from a Jewish web site:

The short answer to why Jews observe these laws is: because the Torah says so. The Torah does not specify any reason for these laws, and for a Torah-observant, traditional Jew, there is no need for any other reason. Some have suggested that the laws of kashrut(1) fall into the category of “chukkim,” laws for which there is no reason. We show our obedience to G-d by following these laws even though we do not know the reason. Others, however, have tried to ascertain G-d’s reason for imposing these laws.

In his book “To Be a Jew” (an excellent resource on traditional Judaism), Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin suggests that the dietary laws are designed as a call to holiness. The ability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, pure and defiled, the sacred and the profane, is very important in Judaism. Imposing rules on what you can and cannot eat ingrains that kind of self control, requiring us to learn to control even our most basic, primal instincts. Donin also points out that the laws of kashrut elevate the simple act of eating into a religious ritual. The Jewish dinner table is often compared to the Temple altar in rabbinic literature. A Jew who observes the laws of kashrut cannot eat a meal without being reminded of the fact that he is a Jew,

(1) kashrut from the Hebrew root Kaf-Shin-Resh, meaning fit, proper or correct. It is the same root as the more commonly known word “kosher”
jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

I would add that a Catholic cannot say grace before meals without being reminded of the fact that he/she is Catholic. The Mass is first and foremost a Sacrifice, but it is also a Meal. So what we share with our elder brothers/sisters is a concept: you are what you eat.
 
The Torah or Pentaeuch and how its laws pertains to our life today is an excellent reason why we need a church as we can see in the Book of Acts the authority of the church discenred what binded and loosed from the Jewish traditions. The Catholic church from a very early time carried over the 10 commandments to our tradition but changed the dietary laws and the day we observe the Lords day form the day of the Sabbath to the day of his ressurection. No other church had the authority to do such things as breakaway sects have from scripture alone condoned pologomy, murder, worship on the Sabbath, doing away with the 10 commandments err the law to them. And so much more. The complexities of how the Old relates to the New points us to the necissity of divine office to interpret such difficult decisions. Thank God for the Church!
 
If I may, this was also something of a tough one for me to understand, so I decided to study it my self. What I found out is that to understand what the Dietay Laws mean, you have to understand what “Clean” and “Unclean” mean;
*
And that you may have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean:
(Leviticus 10:10 DRB)*

You see, the animals were called “Clean” and “Unclean” not Holy and Unholy because they were not created in the image of God.

I posted my take on it at my website; Dietary Laws

God Bless, Joao
 
Maccabees writes;
*"The Catholic church from a very early time carried over the 10 commandments to our tradition but changed the dietary laws and the day we observe the Lords day form the day of the Sabbath to the day of his ressurection."

*Maccabees, I must disagree with you on this. The Sabbath is still and always has been the Seventh Day of the week, otherwise known as Saturday. The Lord’s Day is a NEW Day of worship, the Sabbath is for the Israelites only,;

Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: See that you keep my sabbath; because it is a sign between me and you in your generations that you may know that I am the Lord, who sanctify you. keep you my sabbath: for it is holy unto you: he that shall profane it, shall be put to death: he that shall do any work in it, his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people. Six days shall you do work: in the seventh day is the sabbath, the rest holy to the Lord. Every one that shall do any work on this day, shall die. Let the children of Israel keep the sabbath, and celebrate it in their generations. It is an everlasting covenant Between me and the children of Israel, and a perpetual sign. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and in the seventh he ceased from work.
(Exodus 31:13-17 DRB)

Sunday is a “Type” of Sabbath and is for Christians, the adopted Children of God. You can read my take on it on my web site as well.

Sabbath or Sunday

Joao
 
40.png
Maccabees:
The Torah or Pentaeuch and how its laws pertains to our life today is an excellent reason why we need a church as we can see in the Book of Acts the authority of the church discenred what binded and loosed from the Jewish traditions. The Catholic church from a very early time carried over the 10 commandments to our tradition but changed the dietary laws and the day we observe the Lords day form the day of the Sabbath to the day of his ressurection. No other church had the authority to do such things as breakaway sects have from scripture alone condoned pologomy, murder, worship on the Sabbath, doing away with the 10 commandments err the law to them. And so much more. The complexities of how the Old relates to the New points us to the necissity of divine office to interpret such difficult decisions. Thank God for the Church!
Click to expand...
The Jews didn’t need a “church” back then. In Moses’s day he could speak to God himself. They did quite well with their writings.
 
40.png
Madaglan:
I’m really confused why God in the Old Testament talks about certain animals being unclean or clean, whereas Jesus in the New Testament doesn’t seem to care so much about what animals are clean or unclean. God says in Leviticus 20.24-25: “You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for your to hold unclean.” But then, Jesus, who is God, says differently in the New Testament. He focuses on a clean heart rather than a clean appetite.

Why would God say something in the OT and then say the opposite in the NT? If Christ changed the rules, then what should we make of the Old Testament rules–other than the commandments of course?

The laws God mandates in the Old Testament are no longer held by Jews or Christians today. For example, how many Christians today would agree that practicing homosexuals should be put to death, as ordered by Lev 20.13? Or, better yet, how many would agree that an adulterer should be put to death, as God commands in Lev 20.10?

Could someone perhaps explain to me the different kinds of law in the times before Jesus, and how they apply to Christians today. In doing so, could someone please tell me *why *these things are no longer–not simply because Christ and the apostles said so, but the real reason why the Word of God in these verses of Leviticus are now without much binding influence?

Levitical law, Mosaic law, etc. Need help understanding these!
Click to expand...
You really have to look at each book individually to get the big picture on what’s going on. I had these same questions (and still do sometimes).

Go to Genesis, read the whole book and get a grasp on what’s going on. Then go all the way through Deuteronomy. Then, go to Matthew. It should all come together. I want you to see it for yourself.
 
BS’D

Shalom,

It helps to look past the practical uses of the Mitzvahs ( Commandments ) of the Torah and how we can apply them today.

For example, take the commandment of not yokeing two unequal animals for the purpose of farming ( A Ox and a donkey for example). On the surface this is seems like outdated farming advice, but what if it’s dual message is that, like animals, we are all different? That we should strive to recongnize our strengths and weakness and use them for a better purpose instead of just plowing ahead? (hehe)

Peace 🙂
 
40.png
Madaglan:
I’m really confused why God in the Old Testament talks about certain animals being unclean or clean, whereas Jesus in the New Testament doesn’t seem to care so much about what animals are clean or unclean. God says in Leviticus 20.24-25: “You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for your to hold unclean.” But then, Jesus, who is God, says differently in the New Testament. He focuses on a clean heart rather than a clean appetite.

Why would God say something in the OT and then say the opposite in the NT? If Christ changed the rules, then what should we make of the Old Testament rules–other than the commandments of course?

The laws God mandates in the Old Testament are no longer held by Jews or Christians today. For example, how many Christians today would agree that practicing homosexuals should be put to death, as ordered by Lev 20.13? Or, better yet, how many would agree that an adulterer should be put to death, as God commands in Lev 20.10?

Could someone perhaps explain to me the different kinds of law in the times before Jesus, and how they apply to Christians today. In doing so, could someone please tell me *why *these things are no longer–not simply because Christ and the apostles said so, but the real reason why the Word of God in these verses of Leviticus are now without much binding influence?

Levitical law, Mosaic law, etc. Need help understanding these!
Click to expand...
I’ll try to address at least some of what you’re asking.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see God making covenants with His people, the Israelites. The Israelites were called upon to keep covenant with God and reach out to the other nations - their brothers and sisters outside the covenant. As part of their covenant, the Israelites were given specific regulations to set them apart from other nations. For example, they were forbidden to eat certain kinds of meat. But the meat was not forbidden because it was bad, but because other cultures around them used that kind of meat as a sacrifice to their immoral gods. The Israelites were to be set apart and a light to the nations, and these regulations were to help them do that. But the Israelites inevitably mess up and break the covenant since they were human and sinful.

Jesus came to fulfill the covenant on part of the people, as he and no one else could do. His sacrifice opened up God’s covenant to all people, not just the Jews. Consequently, many of these old covenant rules and regulations no longer applied. For one, because Jesus made a new and everlasting covenant. The regulations of old covenants no longer applied. Second, the Israelites no longer needed to be set apart as God’s kingdom was directly opened to all through Jesus.

Another example is that circumcision was required in the OT through Mosaic law as a sign of being inside God’s covenant. That covenant was broken, and the covenant made through Jesus focused on circumcision of the heart (which is why you see more references to the heart and changing one’s self on the interior in the NT, and less references to the outside rituals seen in the OT for purification.)

Hopefully that helps somewhat…sorry if it’s confusing. A great book to learn more about this is “Our Father’s Promises” by Scott Hahn. It’s an easy read and will explain the answers to your questions much better than I can. 🙂
 
40.png
ahimsaman72:
The Jews didn’t need a “church” back then. In Moses’s day he could speak to God himself. They did quite well with their writings.
Click to expand...
Yeah they did quite well in their writngs but not their actions read the OT again the Jews were always a mess a required an authority figure that they usually ended up rebelling against whether it be Moses, the Judges, the Prophets,the High Priests etc they had authority figures to guide them in interpreting the Law they never went a period without formal relgious instruction from an authority until the destruction of Jerusalem .
THe Jews were not sola scriptura people they always had a guide until 70AD. By that time there was a new guide in town the keys were handed over to Peter and his church.
Interprettting all that law was not never that easy thus the Jews had someone to help them with the abundance of law.
 
40.png
JoaoMachado:
Maccabees writes;
"The Catholic church from a very early time carried over the 10 commandments to our tradition but changed the dietary laws and the day we observe the Lords day form the day of the Sabbath to the day of his ressurection."

Maccabees, I must disagree with you on this. The Sabbath is still and always has been the Seventh Day of the week, otherwise known as Saturday. The Lord’s Day is a NEW Day of worship, the Sabbath is for the Israelites only,;

*Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: See that you keep my sabbath; because it is a sign between me and you in your generations that you may know that I am the Lord, who sanctify you. keep you my sabbath: for it is holy unto you: he that shall profane it, shall be put to death: he that shall do any work in it, his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people. Six days shall you do work: in the seventh day is the sabbath, the rest holy to the Lord. Every one that shall do any work on this day, shall die. Let the children of Israel keep the sabbath, and celebrate it in their generations. It is an everlasting covenant Between me and the children of Israel, and a perpetual sign. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and in the seventh he ceased from work. *
(Exodus 31:13-17 DRB)

Sunday is a “Type” of Sabbath and is for Christians, the adopted Children of God. You can read my take on it on my web site as well.

Sabbath or Sunday

Joao
Click to expand...
I agree with you I just didn’t communicate that clearly enough. What I meant to say is that we observes the Lord’s day as our type of Chistian Sabbath. You put it so much more clearer than I did.
 
40.png
Madaglan:
The laws God mandates in the Old Testament are no longer held by Jews or Christians today. For example, how many Christians today would agree that practicing homosexuals should be put to death, as ordered by Lev 20.13? Or, better yet, how many would agree that an adulterer should be put to death, as God commands in Lev 20.10?
Click to expand...
Madaglan

To say, “certain laws are no longer held by Christians today”, really, is not correct. We have to consider the meanings of “life” and “death” with respect to the Old and New Testaments.

In the Old Testament, when someone lived faithfully to God’s commandments, his reward was a long and fruitful life. With the breaking of a law that was punishable by death, death meant the ending of the person’s earthly life. And, when a person died, his soul did not go to heaven, but to the “Land” of the dead (Sheol or Hades).

Remember that Jesus said “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Mt 5:17). With His resurrection and ascension, Jesus opened the gates of Heaven for all believers, and thus, fulfilled (or perfected) “life” and “death”. So, now, the “reward” for a faithful life is life perfected, or eternity in Heaven. The failure to uphold God’s laws is still punishable by death, but it is death perfected, or eternal damnation. And that is a punishment that only God can execute.

Dying, You destroyed our death. Rising, You restored our life.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top