Ever felt confused as to why stringent rules and laws in the Old Testament seem to be inconsistent with more benevolent teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament?
Celebrated Christian pastor and author J.D. Greear explained that believers no longer need to strictly follow all of the laws stated in the Old Testament, and this is because of one simple yet touching reason: Jesus Christ already fulfilled these teachings for us.
"What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the Law? It means that every law pointed to him, and he completed everything they pointed to. Thinking of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Law helps us see why we keep some of the Old Testament commands and 'ignore' others," the theologian explained in his blog.
To explain his point, Greear, who recently published the book "Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary," discussed that there are three types of laws in the Old Testament, all of which have already been followed by our Saviour.
The first ones are called Civil Laws, or rules that prescribed behavior and specified punishments for the people of Israel during the early times.
Greear explained that Christians in the modern times are no longer bound by these civil laws, because Jesus "started a new Israel—a spiritual Israel, the Church."
"We're no longer bound by the civil codes of Leviticus because God doesn't have a nation-state on earth anymore. Of course, we may wisely look at some of the principles in Israel's civil laws as we think of our own societal politics (principles about public health, caring for the poor, etc.), but the specific rules were all fulfilled in Jesus," the Christian pastor said.
The second type are called Ceremonial Laws, which specifies how sacrifices and various temple practices should be carried out, in order for a believer to be "clean."
According to Greear, these ceremonial laws no longer need to be strictly adhered to by Christians in the modern times because Christ already made the ultimate sacrifice by dying on the cross.
"As the book of Hebrews shows us, the sacrifices were all fulfilled in Jesus' perfect life and death. If we accept Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice, we don't need the lesser sacrifices anymore. In fact, it would actually be offensive to go back to them, because that would communicate that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't sufficient," the Christian author said.
Lastly, there are Moral Laws like the Ten Commandments, which states what things God think are right and wrong. As with the two other types of laws, Jesus also already fulfilled these moral laws.
"He kept all of them perfectly, every day, always, for his entire life," Greear said.
