Why don't we follow Levitical Law?

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smp501

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Since we consider the Old Testament to be the Word of God, why don’t we follow Levitical law? I’ve always heard people say that Jesus fulfilled the Law, but nobody has ever explained what that actually means for us. If God Himself gave the Old Testament Law to the people, why are we so quick to disregard it? Now, I realize that there are some really funky laws in there (shellfish/pork, can’t trim your beard, etc.), but I’m wondering more on a matter of principle. Why would God give so many Laws on how to live and then not expect us follow them years later?
 
The old law wasn’t abolished by Christ, but fulfilled by him.
 
My understanding is this. Since Jesus Christ was without sin. He obeyed God perfectly. Then He died for our sins. Hence, fulfilling.
 
We were suppose to do away with the customs and rituals of the OT, not the commandments (written law) but the physical laws were to be done away with,
as Christ is the new convenat and shed his blood on the Cross for us.
 
Because of the Authority of the Church! Read Acts 15. This is first recorded case of the Church coming together to decide on these issues. Specifically circumcision.
 
smp501 said:
Since we consider the Old Testament to be the Word of God, why don’t we follow Levitical law? I’ve always heard people say that Jesus fulfilled the Law, but nobody has ever explained what that actually means for us. If God Himself gave the Old Testament Law to the people, why are we so quick to disregard it? Now, I realize that there are some really funky laws in there (shellfish/pork, can’t trim your beard, etc.), but I’m wondering more on a matter of principle. Why would God give so many Laws on how to live and then not expect us follow them years later?
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As I see it, Christians consider the Law (Jews call it Torah, which means teaching, or Law, rather than Mosaic Law or Levitical Law) as fulfilled by Jesus. That is why there is a New Testament in the first place. The Old Testament is viewed as a preparation for the coming of Jesus. Jews, of course, don’t use the term Old Testament since they believe there is only one divinely inspired Testament; instead, they call the OT, the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). The Law itself is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Torah/Pentateuch), and the remaining books of the Prophets, while imparting much wisdom, don’t really add anything to the Law. (Deuteronomy, the last book of the Law, is a kind of constitutional recapitulation of the other Torah books.) In the time of the Hebrews, Gentiles were not required to follow all of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot (commandments is a poor translation), but only the seven Laws of Noah. So from the Jewish perspective, Christians are also not required–or even permitted–to follow the complete Torah Law, only the Noahide Law. I believe that from the Christian perspective, Christians are also not permitted to follow the Torah Law in its entirety (only about half of the original 613 commandments can be followed today anyhow), since doing so would deny the fulfillment of much of the Law by Jesus and is thus thought of as Judaizing. The “funky” laws, as you call them, are designed to make commonplace activities into something holy. They also serve the purpose of enabling Jews to practice a morality that cannot be explained entirely by means of humanistic principles. The notion of separating Jews from gentiles is correct as well, but only insofar as the Jewish people are regarded as a priesthood designed to lead by example the rest of humanity toward a way of life in keeping with G-d’s Will. The Chosen People idea does NOT mean Jewish people are better loved by G-d than anyone else.
 
Warloff said:
The old law wasn’t abolished by Christ, but fulfilled by him.
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Actually, no. The 10 Commandments are part of the Logistical Law, and those were certainly not invalidated.

Rather, certain laws were placed upon the Jews for their disobedience. Prior to the Gold Calf, Jews could eat bacon. The laws of clean vs unclean were only for a time to bring the Jewish people into obedience, and to reinforce the concept of the people of Israel as a people set apart.

The Moral as articulated in the 10 Commandments and others, has existed for all time and will always exist. An offence against God is always an offense against God.
 
Matthew 5:17
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Matthew 5:18
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.

Luke 24:44
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
And he said to them: These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Luke 24:27
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things that were concerning him.

At the last supper, Jesus, Who is the purpose of each prior covenant; Who is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, instituted the new covenant, which superseded the Mosaic covenant. A covenant defines a relationship. New covenant, new rules.
 
The simple answer will be because we (Gentile Christians) are not priests of the house of Levi, and not even a Levite.
That is not mean what contained within is of totally meaningless, we can still hear God’s voice within.
But the Levitical laws are very specific: for the priests of Israel from the line of Levi for the purpose of sacrificial worship in the Tabernacle.

The question will be different for a Hebrew Christian of Levi line, although one thing for sure they will see it anew, interpret them according to the New Testament.
 
Another helpful verse (and read the surrounding chapter as well to put in context):
Ephesians 2:15
15] by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
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The Old Law was abolished when the Temple was destroyed. That was when the Church became a visible and public institution and the rites, rituals and laws of the Church were those that bound man, not the laws of the old religion.

The moral law is the same though, as God cannot change.
 
The question remains, why would we want to, unless one is an Orthodox Jewish person who’s converted to Catholicism and one has been following the Levitical Law since childhood? Do you really want to:

–Circumcise your sons (and yourself, if you’re male)
–Follow all the stipulations of the kosher laws
–Follow all the ritual purity laws (as a for-instance: if a woman in your family is having her monthly, you can’t sit in a chair that she’s used until the chair has been ritually cleansed, otherwise, it makes you ritually impure).

Canon law has plenty of rules to be followed. What would be the purpose be in adding six hundred thirteen more laws?
 
We do not follow Levitcal law because Christ founded His Church outside of that law, and at the completion of that law.
 
The laws of the OT are essentially broken down into 2 categories: cultic laws/customs and moral laws.
The moral laws apply to everyone, the cultic laws/customs only apply to the old covenant.
 
Link0126 said:
Because of the Authority of the Church! Read Acts 15. This is first recorded case of the Church coming together to decide on these issues. Specifically circumcision.
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This was the First Council of Jeruslem. It was decided that Gentiles did not need to follow the Jewish law. With the old lw fullfiled, the new covenate is with Jesus. Peter who Jesus appointed to have the keys of heaven and head of the new Church. What is bound on earth is bouond in heaven, what is loosed on earth os loosed in heaven, and so it has been ever since.
 
smp501 said:
Since we consider the Old Testament to be the Word of God, why don’t we follow Levitical law? I’ve always heard people say that Jesus fulfilled the Law, but nobody has ever explained what that actually means for us. If God Himself gave the Old Testament Law to the people, why are we so quick to disregard it? Now, I realize that there are some really funky laws in there (shellfish/pork, can’t trim your beard, etc.), but I’m wondering more on a matter of principle. Why would God give so many Laws on how to live and then not expect us follow them years later?
Click to expand...
Many of these laws had a figurative or spiritual meaning that are really actualized in the New Law; for example, the discrimination between meats can be taken as a figure for the discrimination between (true and false) doctrines, which the Apostles so insisted upon. St. John, for example, is reported to have eaten a book in the Apocalypse, though we do not take this literally, but understand it as his digestion of the doctrine or truth contained figuratively therein.

Another example is the Apostle’s insistence that the workman is worth his wages, which is of course from the Old Law, but now being fully applied in the person of God’s workmen, the Apostles and their successors and associates.

Yet another example can be found in Church History where bishops considered their diocesan territories as being synonymous with the laws regarding fences, borders and property in the Old Law, such that they should not trespass into each others jurisdiction.

Etc., etc.
 
Levitical Law, like other Old Testament Laws, are very important. We need the Old Testament to lead us into the New Testament.

The* “ceremonial laws”* (observing the Sabbath, certain ways of worship like animal sacrifice, circumcision, etc…) and the “dietary laws” (not to eat pork, shell fish etc…) are no longer valid. These laws have been “fulfilled” by Jesus.

The “moral laws” are still valid (10 commandments, sexual sin, etc…). The moral laws will apply as long as morals last.

So the ceremonial and dietary laws we no longer need to follow since they have been “fulfilled” by Jesus. They were part of the Old Covenant and applied to the Jews of that time.

Now, we are in the New Covenant and we are to follow the moral laws of the Old Testament, the entire New Testament, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
 
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