The Books of the Old Testament
Give Us The Foundation
For True National Reform

Recommitment to the books of the Old Testament came before every instance of national reform recorded in the Bible. Thus, the modern concept of separation of church and state is exposed as a sham.

The two institutions must remain independent. But it is suicidal to divorce the civil government from its responsibility to the Bible.

The book of Nehemiah is a great example. This book describes the return of a band of Jews to Jerusalem under Nehemiah and their rebuilding of the city walls.

After the work was completed in the face of great opposition, Ezra the scribe led the people in a reading of the Law of God. Chapter 8 describes a great assembly of the congregation to worship and read the books of the Old Testament. The Levites assisted Ezra in the reading and interpretation.

This resulted in great sorrow and conviction of sin among all the people (Neh. 8:9). Again in Chapter 9 there is an assembly of the people to read the law of God. This led to repentance and renewal of the national covenant.

But that was then and this is now. These things don't apply to us today under the New Testament, do they?

The Lawful Use of Law

In our handling of Scripture we should assume continued applicability between the Old and New Testaments. In other words, the commands in the books of the Old Testament continue to be authoritative unless specifically modified or annulled by later revelation. For example, we are told specifically in the New Testament that the Old Testament ceremonial observances were “a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ” (Col. 2:17).

Thus, such ritual ceremonies as sprinkling the blood of goats and bulls, circumcision, and the Jewish new moons and Sabbaths have been fulfilled; they no longer apply to us as they did to ancient Israel. All of these have been replaced or transformed in the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

On the other hand, we should assume that judicial case laws such as the requirement of double restitution for theft continue to be authoritative (see Ex. 22:4). Nowhere does the New Testament or any subsequent revelation rescind laws such as this in the books of the Old Testament.

Sometimes we find that the Mosaic judicials are repeated in the New Testament. For instance, in a single verse (Mark 7:10) Jesus mentioned one of the Ten Commandments and one of the case law illustrations as both being part of the command of God not to be rejected. These were the positive commandment to “honor thy father and thy mother” (Ex. 20:12) and the negative case law illustration: “Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death” (Lev. 20:9).

In addition, we find other New Testament writers appealing to case law recorded in the books of the Old Testament without apology. For example, the apostle Paul applied the case law regarding the ox treading out grain to pastoral pay in 1 Timothy 5:17–18. This is sometimes referred to as the “general equity” of the law, which is deduced from its specific cultural setting in Israel and applied to the present.

However, it is not necessary that a command found in one of the books of the Old Testament be repeated in order to be obligatory. We have, for example, no law against bestiality in the New Testament. We should rely instead on the injunction against this crime found in the books of the Old Testament.

Legalism vs. Obedience

Seeking to conform our personal and national life to Old Testament law is not legalism. On the contrary, it is obedience. Legalism has reference to a variety of manmade traditions, as per the Pharisees. There is a popular misperception that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees so harshly because of their attempted conformity to the law found in the books of the Old Testament.

Rather, Jesus reprimanded the Jewish religious leaders “for laying aside the commandment of God.” In its place they substituted their own traditions: “In vain do they worship me; teaching as doctrines the precepts of men . . . ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mk. 7:7–9, RSV).