Why did God gave some laws in the OT?

[Lea101]

So a muslim friend of mine brought up the fact that the bible said we cannot eat pork (as a way to prove that islam is true) and I told her that it applies to people of that time and that we are not bound to those laws. But then she asked why would God give those laws but then “take it away”. And I was stumped. There are certain laws that made sense (like the ones relating to hygiene) but why did God gave the laws to them? What was the point of giving them specific laws that are meant for them only?

What I thought was that before Jesus died for us, we were “far away” from God, and we had to follow all of these laws to make up for our sins. But I’m guessing I’m wrong bc I don’t see how this explanation helps! Forgive me if there’s alr such a thread!

 

[dshix]

So a muslim friend of mine brought up the fact that the bible said we cannot eat pork (as a way to prove that islam is true) and I told her that it applies to people of that time and that we are not bound to those laws. But then she asked why would God give those laws but then “take it away”. And I was stumped. There are certain laws that made sense (like the ones relating to hygiene) but why did God gave the laws to them? What was the point of giving them specific laws that are meant for them only?

What I thought was that before Jesus died for us, we were “far away” from God, and we had to follow all of these laws to make up for our sins. But I’m guessing I’m wrong bc I don’t see how this explanation helps! Forgive me if there’s alr such a thread!

In the Old Testament, there were ceremonial, judicial, and moral laws.

The ceremonial laws defined how the Jews would worship.
The judicial laws defined the laws by which the Jews would abide (not eating pork was one of these).
The moral laws defined what was morally wrong.

With Jesus’ arrival, he “fulfilled” the Old Law, and taught the laws of the Church. The old ceremonial and judicial laws of the Jews passed away, but the moral laws stayed and were expanded upon by Jesus.

We are not bound by the ceremonial and judicial laws because Jesus replaced them with His Church and His Laws.

 

[jeffrey_erwin]

A muscle must be exercised if it is to remain strong. A captain on a ship will enforce petty rules as a way of providing “exercise” for his captain’s authority.
Likewise YHWH gave His Chosen People over 600 individual laws as a way of exercising their obedience to Him.
Our teacher defined the most important of these laws and endowed His Church with the authority to emphasize those and to disregard the application of others for the non-Jewish peoples.
So those of us who are not Jewish, i.e. not of he Children of Israel, are only bound by the Laws that YHWH gave to Noah and to those that our Church has singled out for us.

 

[bsy]

Because there used to be a distinction between Jews and Gentiles; between those under the law and those who were not; between the clean and unclean. Prohibition to eat unclean animals was a discipline Gal 3:23-29 until faith comes. When Jesus comes, He fulfills the law. He makes everything new; now, there is no longer a partiality between Jews and Gentiles, between the clean and the unclean – what He makes clean, we should not call unclean. A new law is written in our hearts, that is, “faith working though love.” Thus, it is no longer the works e.g., circumcision, ritualistic offerings, and the discipline that make one “children of God.” The “children of the promise” are no longer defiled by what we eat. Jesus said in Matt 15:11 “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”

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[Lea101]

Because there used to be a distinction between Jews and Gentiles; between those under the law and those who were not; between the clean and unclean. Prohibition to eat unclean animals was a discipline Gal 3:23-29 until faith comes. When Jesus comes, He fulfills the law. He makes everything new; now, there is no longer a partiality between Jews and Gentiles, between the clean and the unclean – what He makes clean, we should not call unclean. A new law is written in our hearts, that is, “faith working though love.” Thus, it is no longer the works e.g., circumcision, ritualistic offerings, and the discipline that make one “children of God.” The “children of the promise” are no longer defiled by what we eat. Jesus said in Matt 15:11 “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”

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So what makes certain things unclean? Or is it just God telling people to not do stuff so that others will know who js a Jew? I’m sorry, I really want to understand but I can’t, I don’t see why some laws are no longer applicable to us, and why Jesus’ death/resurrection takes these laws away from us. he takes on the “punishment” for our sins, right? So those laws were there as a ‘punishment’, bc the Jews weren’t saved yet?

 

[bsy]

So what makes certain things unclean? Or is it just God telling people to not do stuff so that others will know who js a Jew? I’m sorry, I really want to understand but I can’t, I don’t see why some laws are no longer applicable to us, and why Jesus’ death/resurrection takes these laws away from us. he takes on the “punishment” for our sins, right? So those laws were there as a ‘punishment’, bc the Jews weren’t saved yet?

Hi Lea,

Do not overthink it; sometimes, what seems difficult to understand has the simplest answers.

There are many theories regarding the unclean, one of them is that it may be health-related; but if it were so, pigs today still eat anything including carcasses and their own feces; and crabs, lobsters, shrimps, clams still feed on remnants of other fish.

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It is a “discipline” for the Jewish people in order a preserve a remnant until Salvation came. God wants His chosen to remain faithful to His commandments. Similarly, we who are redeemed by the Blood of Christ, must follow God’s Will and endure to the end.

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