Are we called to do God’s will? Do Old Testament commands matter today?
I have heard many Christians tell me that we are saved by grace (Which is true!), so we don’t need to worry about following God’s commands in the Bible (Which is not true!). There is no way that we can be perfect, so why even try? …Well, because God calls us to!
2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (KJV).
What’s interesting about the above verse is that the only scriptures in existence when Timothy wrote this were those of the Old Testament. So, this verse tells us that everything in the Old Testament is profitable to us, and that it is good for correcting us and instructing us in righteousness.
In Matthew 7:21, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Hebrews 10:36 explains in more detail: “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God then you will receive the promise.” Jesus also said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15 ESV) and James said if we don’t have works, our faith is dead (James 2:17).
Many Christians will quote Romans 3:21-24, which talks about us being saved by grace, as a reason why we don’t need to follow the commands in the Old Testament. But this is a mistake because, if one keeps reading, they will see that Romans 3:31 says, “Do we then nullify law through faith? Absolutely not! No, we uphold law” (REV).
1 John 5:3 tells us, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (NKJV). Psalms 119:165-167 tells us, “Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. I wait for your salvation, O Lord, and I follow your commands. I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly” (NKJV). Many people are taught that God’s law was abolished at Christ’s death, but why abolish something that is not burdensome and brings us great peace?
Even more puzzling, why teach that Jesus got rid of the law when he specifically said that he did not, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, nor the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19, NIV).
We are often told that God’s commands are impossible to follow because we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God; that the law was only there to show us that we couldn’t follow it. God actually refutes this thought by revealing that His law is “not too hard” for us to follow in Deuteronomy 30:11, and I Peter 1:13-16 calls us to turn away from our former lusts and be holy like God:
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (NKJV).
*More verses on “Be holy, for I am holy” at the end of this article*
Why would we continuously be told to be holy like God if it weren’t possible? In Psalms 19:7 and 9, God tells us that His law is “perfect” and His ordinances “are sure and altogether righteous” (NIV). When asked in Matthew 19:16, “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” Jesus answered, “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17, NKJV).
Many believe they do not need to keep God’s law because Christ “fulfilled” it, but that is due to a misunderstanding of the meaning of Christ’s words. The word translated fulfill in this passage means “to make full, to fill to the full” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, “Fill”), and that is exactly what Jesus did. He explained the spiritual intent behind, and perfectly kept, God’s commands, completely filling up their meaning. For instance, He pointed out that rage equates with murder (Matthew 5:21-22) and that lust is adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). Jesus brought understanding to the law, as well as to our relationship with God as our father, but he didn’t get rid of it.
John warned us, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). And in Revelation 22:14 he explains, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”
Does this mean that we are to be perfect saints immediately? No, but 2 Corinthians 5:17 explains that we are a new creation in Christ, and it follows that our lives should reflect that change. We should always be growing closer to God and striving to be more like Him, for that is how we attain spiritual maturity. 1 Corinthians 3:1-5 explains:
“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.”
From these verses, we learn that we start our walk with God as newborns in Christ, needing to be fed milk rather than solid food, so to speak. However, as we choose God and His ways more and more, we become more like Him and less like who we were before we believed. We choose the spirit over the flesh more often, we begin to discover God’s plan for our lives and are more willing to choose it over our own desires. Growing out of the newborn stage, we eventually develop into followers who are spiritually mature and are able to put on the full armor of God, deflecting the attacks and temptations of the evil one.
+More verses on “Be Holy, For I Am Holy”
Leviticus 11:44 (NASB)
‘For I am the LORD your God Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.
Leviticus 11:45 (NASB)
‘For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.'”
Leviticus 19:2 (NASB)
“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
Leviticus 20:26 (NASB)
‘Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.
Leviticus 20:7 (NASB)
‘You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 23:14 (NASB)
“Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.
Matthew 5:48 (KJV)
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
I think you bring up some great points—especially when you mention that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 was written when only Old Testament Scripture existed. I also find it interesting that 2 Timmy authoritatively points to Scripture before that epistle was deemed to be Scripture itself.
I always considered myself to be a Gentile. Paul argued that although HE STILL OBSERVED THE LAW, Gentiles were exempt. I think it was less important to follow the law “to the letter” (almost ritualistically or as some might say legalistically) and more important to follow the intent behind the law or the “spirit of the law.” The Torah itself—which is often mistranslated to mean law, but is more accurately translated as teaching or instruction—was never observed by Abraham, either, because it came 400 years after him. Acts 15 also pretty clearly says that Gentiles don’t need circumcision—which I thought was a pretty “cut and dry” exclusion from the law.
Romans 13:8-10 had Paul talking about loving your neighbor as a fulfillment of the law, which seems to be a repeat of Jesus talking about the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, and soul AND love your neighbor as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Finally, I think Galatians 5:6 hits the nail on the head when it says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (ESV)
I don’t think that you can love your neighbor if you kill them. I don’t think you can love God if you worship idols. I don’t think you can love your neighbor if you covet the things they own. I don’t think you can love your neighbor if you are banging their wife. So if following “the law” means that—ultimately—we need to love our neighbor and love God, then I think every single point you bring up is beneficial for all of us to adhere to. But I do understand that it is impossible for Jews and Gentiles alike to actually follow every single law (or commandment) of God as written in the Torah—especially those that deal with sacrifice within the temple that was destroyed in AD 70. Some of those teachings dealt specifically with separating Jews from Gentiles. That makes it even harder for a Gentile to follow Jewish law.
Thank you for your response! You bring up some good points that I would like to address.
I first want to say that just because the written law came 400 years after Abraham’s time, doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a law and that Adam, Noah, and Abraham didn’t observe it. The Bible doesn’t explicitly say one way or the other. But we can deduce that it was followed, if you’ll bear with me. Adam and Eve, Abraham, and many others spoke directly to God, which would be a perfect way to relay the law. The Sabbath, in particular, was established as a holy day in Genesis 2:2 and 2:3. Adam and Eve would have been directly aware of this as they were still in the Garden of Eden at that time. Cain was cursed for killing his brother even though there was no official written commandment against murder at the time. And if God didn’t somehow tell Adam and Eve that murder is against the law of God, how can a God of Justice hold Cain accountable for his action? The implication of the story of Cain and Abel isn’t that Cain didn’t know God’s Law, but that he willfully broke it. Likewise, Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to Yahweh in Genesis 4 long before the written laws on sacrifices were established with Moses. There’s no record in Genesis or anywhere else that Yahweh commanded Cain and Abel to bring offerings to him. Logically then, I would argue that the law was well-known by those who walked with God, and they were then alive for nearly 1,000 years to tell the story to countless others. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, the sacrificial system was introduced to them (the animal that was sacrificed to make a tunic for Adam and Eve out of the animal’s skin in Genesis 3:21 also served as a sin offering) and passed down through the generations orally. Prior to Adam and Eve sinning, nothing died, including the animals, and it wasn’t until after the flood that we were commanded to eat meat.
Second, I’m not suggesting that we can be absolutely perfect in following the law to the point where we never make a mistake our entire lives (and also, it isn’t us that is following the law, but the holy spirit in us that enables us to. On our own, we have no chance, just to be clear.), but I don’t believe that excuses us from trying. I don’t believe that Yahshua came and suffered the way he did and died on the cross so that we could have a free pass to sin. Hebrews 10:26-31 supports this point by making it clear that Yahweh does not tolerate willful sin:
“For if we keep on sinning deliberately after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but only a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire, which is about to devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has considered the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy to be a common thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, vengeance belongs to me; I will repay.[From Deut. 32:35] And again, the Lord will judge his people.[From Deut. 32:36] It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
As you mentioned, some of the laws cannot be followed. All the laws on sacrifices cannot be followed, as there is no temple to sacrifice in, which was conveniently destroyed shortly after the ultimate sacrifice was made by our savior. But if the law cannot be followed, then there is no sin there. Also, laws on separating Jews and Gentiles would not apply in the way you are suggesting because believing Jews and believing Gentiles become one with Yahshua; Gentiles are grafted into Israel (Romans 11). Now there are still similar thoughts in the New Testament for believers (Jews and Gentiles who believe) vs. unbelievers (Jews and Gentiles who do not believe) in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, so that part was confirmed in essence.
There is a difference in being legalistic and in trying your best to grow with God and become more like Him. Following His law will only benefit us in the end and prove our faith, as my article mentions. It’s not about doing works to earn your salvation, it’s about showing you have faith by your works, as James said. It’s the same as when you are in a relationship with someone and because you love them, you try to do the things that please them. That’s how our relationship should be with our Father in heaven, and the Bible is very clear that following His commandments pleases Him. 1 John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” As you mentioned, Yahshua says that all of the law can be summed up in the two commands of loving God and loving people. That doesn’t abolish the law; that simply states that everything in the law is about loving God and loving people.
And lastly, I disagree that Paul exempted Gentiles from following the law. I believe that as they were new believers, Paul directed their focus away from learning hundreds of commands overnight (people take time to change), and instead had them focus on stopping the offenses that would affect their relationship with the Jewish Christians so that they could have fellowship with them and learn from them. Similar to how when we first become believers, we are still quite wordly and living in our sin. It is a progression that eventually, often after many years, we get to a place where we are walking closely with God. At that time, we’ve read enough of our Bible and researched enough to have a better understanding of what’s expected of us. At first, we are sinning in our ignorance, but once we know better, it becomes willful sin, and that’s when there is a problem (1 Peter 1:14). The Bible says that Yahweh has written His law on our hearts with the new covenant. I believe that would be a silly thing to do, if the law was done away with. Also, Sabbath-keeping, another part of the law, is prophesied in Isaiah to be enforced during the 1000-year reign. That, in addition to Yahshua’s words that no part of the law has been done away with (mentioned in my article above), is evidence enough to suggest that the laws are still relevant today. Even in Revelation, it identifies true Christians as those who “keep the commandments of God, and their faith in Jesus” (Revelation 14:12 and 12:17 come to mind).
In regard to the circumcision issue, this article is an excellent resource: https://nazareneisrael.org/book/nazarene-scripture-studies-vol-3/making-sense-of-circumcision/
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דירות דיסקרטיות בחיפה Sharyn Menghini
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