“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” – Galatians 3:1-3

Most Christians agree that they do not want to be responsible for the Old Testament law.  Most Christians also agree that they aren’t, or, they assign themselves partial responsiblity to the law. Others seems confident that we are only responsible for the Ten Commandments.  They may also say that we are only responsible for the “moral” laws and not the judicial or ceremonial laws. 

Many more have never really thought about it. So who is right? How should believers view the Old Testament?

Before we find middle ground, let’s begin by defining what the law is and what its purpose is:

1. Old Testament law was given to the Israelites by God through Moses. (See the Pentateuch)

2. The law directs our steps and gives light in our darkness. (Psalm 119:105)

3. The law is holy, good and righteous and good because God is holy, good and righteous. (Romans 7:12)

4. The law shows us what sin is. (Romans 7:8)

5. Where there is no law, there is no sin. (Romans 4:15; Romans 5:13)

Are we under the law?

• “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” – Romans 10:4

• “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” – Galatians 3:23-25

• “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”- Ephesians 2:14-16

• “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” – Romans 7:6

Some might be confused at this point. It seems that the law is being praised and belittled in the same breath. 

Many fair questions are left unanswered at this point:

• How can the law be good and also our captor? 

• Why would God write the law, only to abolish it? 

• Are we not required or wise to heed the guidelines God sets forth in the Old Testament?

• If the law is dead, do the Ten Commandments mean nothing?

Paul answers all of these questions for us in 2 Corinthians 3:  

“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,  who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” – 2 Corintians 3:5-6

In these two verses, Paul begins to compare and contrast the old covenant, written in words, with the new covenant, established by the Spirit.  He continues…

“Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,  will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.” – 2 Corintians 3:7-11

God, in establishing His new covenant with believers, is not spitting upon the old covenant and laughing at those who were bound to it.  He is establishing a much greater covenant. This new covenant, being the fulfillment of His perfect will and a promise made to Adam and Eve, is so much better than the old covenant, that it is as if the old covenant is completely worthless.  Paul is comparing and contrasting these two works of God.  We see this technique used many times elsewhere in the Bible. Isaiah 64:6, for example, says that our righteousness is like filthy menstrual rags compared to God’s holiness.

Why does Paul, through the inspiration of the Spirit, call the old covenant the “ministry of condemnation” and the new covenant the “ministry of righteousness”? He does so because of the way each works in the life of believers.

“…ministry of condemnation…“

The law, as we previously stated, was a tool to identify sin. It defined righteousness and it defined sin. It said “Do this right thing because it is pleasing to God.” and “Do not do this wrong thing because it displeases God.”

In this way, the law acted as condemnation to those who were under it.  It was a constant standard with only one purpose: to show us we can never measure up.

“…ministry of righteousness…”

By contrast, the new covenant has a much different effect on its adherents.  God, through His Spirit, indwells us and changes us from the inside out. He replaces our desire for sin with the desire to be holy. He does not ask us to avoid doing the sinful things we want to do, He asks us to not do what our regenerated heart already doesn’t want to do and to do the things our regenerated hearts already desire to do.  In this, God continues the work of righteousness.  He not only wills change in us, but equips us with the desire to work in concert with Himself. (Phillipians 2:13)

How do we put all of this together?

The same God who lives in us and has established His new covenant with us through the Holy Spirit also wrote the law.  It would be a mistake to decide that there are no overlapping purposes between these two covenants.  While the law, as a taskmaster, is abolished for the believer,  there is much we can learn from the law.  It is true that we are no longer required to observe the Sabbath, circumcise our children, make yearly sacrafices, or celebrate passover, but we may if we want to.  As for morality, the Old Testament expressions of what is sin are still valid. We should not covet, sleep around, steal, murder, beat our children, etc.

It is clear that the authors of the New Testament believed in the inspiration and relavence of the Old Testament.  This is taught directly (2 Timothy 3:16) and also implied by the myriad of times they quote the Old Testament and praise those who check what they say against the Old Testament.  Jesus even went so far as to say that the Old Testament is about Him. (John 5:46)

While we learn from the law, we are not enslaved by it. It does not decide whether we receive eternal life. Jesus does.

We, as believers, should not neglect the Old Testament.  Neither should we let it enslave us.  We have been purchased with a price. We should follow Him in Spirit and truth. (1 Corinthians 6:20; John 4:23)

 ”Where the Spirt of the Lord is, there is liberty.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17b