Old Testament laws and Christianity

Pace2008

As I'm sure you've all noticed, in debates involving biblical guidelines non-believers will often point to seemingly arbitrary laws, typically from Leviticus, regarding unclean foods, choice of garments etc, which are not followed by Christians, in an attempt to highlight what they claim are inconsistencies in Christians behaviour. Christians will generally point out that this is an incorrect view of theology. My crude understanding from the responses I've seen is that these laws applied to the Jewish people who lived before before Jesus, but Christ's death fulfilled their covenant with God and the rules are no longer binding.

I'd just like a bit of claricication on my understading, and some expansion if possible - namely, which specific parts of the Old Testament are still applicable to modern-day Christians, and which can be disregarded.

I guess I'm looking for Christian-spirited responses here, but as I'm not the almighty arbiter of Boards thread content I'm sure there will be input from both sides.

tommy2bad

All of the Old Testament is applicable as context for the New Testament.
To understand what Jesus said you need to know the context He spoke in.
As to which laws apply? We're Christians not Jews so none of them unless they are moral principals like the big 10.
I duno if your asking how to read the OT or which parts can be ignored but I say read it all as it's a story and skipping to the end isn't the way to get the best from it.
Spoiler Alert

He dies in the end and ...comes back, like ET

philologos

All Scripture is useful (1 Timothy 3:15-16).

Christians however read the Old Testament while considering what Jesus has done in the new. The New Testament has implication for how we read the old.

For example dietary laws are discussed in Leviticus 11. Dietary laws were fulfilled by Jesus Christ in Mark 7. This doesn't mean we ignore Leviticus 11, rather we consider the role that Leviticus 11 had in marking the Jews as distinct from the Gentiles, and we can begin to think about how we as Christians are meant to be distinct from the world (see 1 Peter for a lengthy discussion on that).

Another example, animal sacrifices - Jesus is the all sufficient sacrifice for sin, therefore why would I need to offer a sacrifice? (Hebrews 10).

Another example - death penalty - If Jesus has shown me mercy by His death on the cross, how can I expect death from another person? (See Matthew 18 for a parable concerning this).

There are many many more. Simply put, it is by reading the New Testament that we understand what has been fulfilled. Even the Old Testament tells us of a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and even the Torah implies it when it speaks about the Messiah in Deuteronomy 18 (around vs 18).

Non-believers who argue in the way that you've described are ignoring the fact that this is how Christians have read the Bible from the beginning. Paul shows us this in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

I can still learn plenty from reading Leviticus or Deuteronomy though, I learn about a gracious and a faithful God who led His people out of slavery into freedom, much as King Jesus led us out of the slavery of sin into freedom through Him. I think the Torah in many ways is exemplary even to Christians in terms of conduct. I think people who go fishing for things out of context are ignoring the broader picture of the Jewish law in the Old Testament. It shows mostly that people aren't bothered to actually read what the Bible says, but need cannonfodder for the debate

bonniebede

one of the Church fathers talked about the new testament being hidden in the old, and the old testament being revealed in the new. As was already stated here, we read the old testament with the lens of seeing how jesus is there.

reccommend a book by scot hahn 'a father who keeps his promises' as a good place to start.