This is a paper I wrote based off the essay on the link provided. http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_law_hays.html
For years there has been debate on how a Christian is to interpret and apply the Old Testament laws set forth within the Pentateuch. Many Christians, in this day and age, will take certain laws and apply them while throwing out other laws as unimportant. How should a believer view the law of the Old Testament? How should the Old Testament law be applied today? This essay will look at the strengths and weaknesses of two hermeneutical methods; view the reconciliation of the Old and New Testament laws, as well as sympathetic application of an Old Testament law for a New Testament believer.
Hays points out in his essay that there are two different hermeneutical methods that can be applied to understand the Old Testament laws. The first that is discussed is the traditional view which perceives the Old Testament law under three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial. It is understood that some of these laws are “universal and timeless”[1] Hays says, “Moral laws, according to this system of interpretation, are universal and timeless. They still apply as law to Christian believers today. Civil and ceremonial laws, on the other hand, applied only to ancient Israel. They do not apply at all to believers today.”[2] There are a number of reasons that Hays believes that this hermeneutical standpoint is flawed. To understand the laws in these three categories make them “arbitrary and without any textual support, it ignores the narrative context, and it fails to reflect the significant implications of the change from Old Covenant to New Covenant.”[3] The other method, mentioned by Hays, is the hermeneutical method called principlism. This method is beneficial to the New Testament believer for a number of reasons. It allows the believer to take the broader understanding or principle from an Old Testament law and apply it in one’s life without taking the law out of its original context. Hays uses the example of a person unknowingly touching a dead carcass and process of justification for his offense in Leviticus 5:2-6. The literal understanding of the law does not apply to the New Testament believer, yet, its principle of being unclean and its process of justification is the same.
The question then becomes how do the Old Testament and New Testament reconcile? The example, used by Hays in the previous paragraph, displays a perfect picture of the reconciliation of the two covenants. While we as believers are not under the old law, the principle of being unclean still applies. We still need justification for our sin but we do not find it in an animal sacrifice but in the sacrifice of Christ. Since Christ fulfilled the law as foretold in Matthew, He became the one time justification for our sin. Also, like the unclean man in Leviticus who confesses his sin, we are to confess our sins as well. We are a people that are now set a part and to be holy has God is holy.
Leviticus 19: 9-10 describes in the Mosaic law that the person is not to harvest his field to the ends of the corners nor is his vineyard to be gleaned or have its fallen fruit be picked up for they are to be left for the needy. God then declares that He is the Lord their God. In specific context of this passage, this would be a command for a person to apply to his daily living in the times of the culture. I, personally, do not own a field that needs to be harvested nor do I own a vineyard that needs to be gleaned? Still, the principle of the verse can still be applied to my own life as a New Testament believer. While I do not own a field or vineyard, I still work for a living and my income represents my harvest or fruit. The principle, found in these verses, is that I should not be selfish with my income but recognize the needs of others and how my income can help those who are in need. This is a new testament teaching as well (James 5:1-6; Matt. 6:19-21; 1 Tim. 6:9-10). I am not to love my money and hoard it for myself. I am to faithfully pursue God’s heart and love the poor, feed those who are hungry, and meet the needs of those in need.
While the 631 laws that are given in the Old Testament may be confusing, the principles that lay behind them are very applicable for a New Testament believer. The laws given in the Old Testament are the words of God and shall forever be His words. This means that they are timeless. We are called to understand both covenants that are given within the Word of God and see how they reconcile with each other. Yet, we are not to just take them and leave them, they need to be applied to daily living for we, as New Testament believers, are called to be holy and set a part. [1] Hays, Daniel J. “Applying the Old Testament Law Today.” Bibliotheca Sacra 158: 629 (2001): 22.
[2] Ibid. 22.
[3] Ibid, 30.
Bibliography
Hays, Daniel J. “Applying the Old Testament Law Today.” Bibliotheca Sacra 158: 629 (2001): 21-35. http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_law_hays.html (accessed January 12, 2011).
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