Old Law

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Can someone tell me exactly what the old law is and if Christians are supposed to follow it? From what I understand the old law is the law that was meant for the Jews and when Jesus came he fulfilled the old law and made a new covenant with us. There are a lot of harsh rules in the OT like:

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)

All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)

As for the male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves. You may also acquire them from among the aliens residing with you, and from their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property. You may keep them as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property. These you may treat as slaves, but as for your fellow Israelites, no one shall rule over the other with harshness. (Leviticus 25: 44-46)

Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)

Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.’ (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)

So my question is don’t we not have to follow these rules as Christians? And if we don’t have to follow the old law for the Jews, then what moral principals can we draw from the old testament? I know that the act of Onan in Genesis is normally used to show that birth control is immoral because God killed Onan for wasting his seed. What is the standard for which we follow moral precepts of the old testament? Is it only the Law that God gave the Jews that we don’t follow? I’m asking this question because I’m in a debate with a nonbeliever and I’m not too sure about any of this. Thanks!
 
Curious_Hobbit said:
From what I understand the old law is the law that was meant for the Jews and when Jesus came he fulfilled the old law and made a new covenant with us.!
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I’m not sure what your debate is about, but I’d say your understand is correct. The law was given at Sinai as a special covenant to the Israelites. (See St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which is pretty short and should be easy to refer to in your discussion; it’s clear that Gentile converts to Christianity are not to take on the Israelite law in any way, shape or form.) You could also refer to Jesus’ new commandment: that we love one another (John 15:12, 17).

That having been said, there are moral principles that can be derived from Israelite law, as Jesus points out (see the Sermon on the Mount; Matt 5-7). These moral principles are not about “following the rules,” and are often even much MORE challenging that simply following the letter of the law.

There’s really no law at all in the Onan story. The law about levirate marriage comes much later (Deuteronomy, I think).
 
I’ll be sure and read the letter to the Galatians and the other things you referred me to. So far what I’ve gathered is that Christ came and fulfilled the old law, but I’m not 100% sure on exactly what that means. We’re still expected to follow the 10 commandments, but we aren’t bound to them by law. Christ came and sacrificed himself for us so we don’t do animal sacrifices anymore. We are now aloud to eat pork. I guess I’m just trying to be sure about which verses in the old testament that we don’t have to follow (like the stoning, being put to death, slavery, passages in Deuteronomy and Leviticus).
 
=Curious Hobbit;7172298]Can someone tell me exactly what the old law is and if Christians are supposed to follow it? From what I understand the old law is the law that was meant for the Jews and when Jesus came he fulfilled the old law and made a new covenant with us. There are a lot of harsh rules in the OT like:
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The Old Law was voided by Christ with the New Covenant which was the 300 PLUS rules and regulations imposed by men and added to the ten Commandments.

Heb.8: 8, 13 ** "For he finds fault with them when he says: "The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. **
So my question is don’t we not have to follow these rules as Christians? And if we don’t have to follow the old law for the Jews, then what moral principals can we draw from the old testament? I know that the act of Onan in Genesis is normally used to show that birth control is immoral because God killed Onan for wasting his seed. What is the standard for which we follow moral precepts of the old testament? Is it only the Law that God gave the Jews that we don’t follow? I’m asking this question because I’m in a debate with a nonbeliever and I’m not too sure about any of this. Thanks!
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NO! They were man made law NOT God made laws. They have been voided by the New Covenant.

Some advice friend: don’t make up any answers. If you don’t know tell them you’ll get back to them after you verify the answer.
 
So these laws about slavery, stoning, etc. are man made laws? All the harsh sounding laws in leviticus and deuteronomy are not the laws of God but the law of man? So when someone takes a quote from leviticus that says we should kill someone for working on the sabbath, this was just a man made law of the time? I’m only asking to make sure I’m clear on what you mean. Do these man made laws count as the old covenant, or only the 10 commandments? Thank you for your help!
 
=Curious Hobbit;7180753]So these laws about slavery, stoning, etc. are man made laws? All the harsh sounding laws in leviticus and deuteronomy are not the laws of God but the law of man? So when someone takes a quote from leviticus that says we should kill someone for working on the sabbath, this was just a man made law of the time? I’m only asking to make sure I’m clear on what you mean. Do these man made laws count as the old covenant, or only the 10 commandments? Thank you for your help!
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Yep, that the crust of your question. However understand that prior to Christ, these laws applied with God’s favor. Not so different from the Power of the Pope an magisterium today.

It was a different time; different levels of grace and understanding. This point is critial to our understanding '“The [OLD] Law”
 
You may also want to look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 121-123. This should be available on line.
 
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