A Response To Barack Obama's Questions About Scripture
By Paul Tatham
tatham47@hotmail.com
During the run-up to the 2008 Democratic convention, Barack Obama suggested that it would be impractical to govern based solely on the word of the Bible, noting that some passages suggest slavery is permissible and eating shellfish is disgraceful.
He added, "Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy?
"Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination?
tatham47@hotmail.com
During the run-up to the 2008 Democratic convention, Barack Obama suggested that it would be impractical to govern based solely on the word of the Bible, noting that some passages suggest slavery is permissible and eating shellfish is disgraceful.
He added, "Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy?
"Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination?
Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?
"So before we get carried away, let's read our Bible now," Obama said, to cheers. "Folks haven't been reading their Bible."
Good eye, Barack. The answer to the issues he raised lie not so much in reading the Bible as understanding its order.
The Old Testament (OT) in the Bible contains some procedures, practices, and prohibitions that we no longer believe are at least fully applicable today, if at all:
Some of these involve food (Ex 34:26; Dt. 14:8; Lev. 11:7), clothing (Lev 19:19; Dt. 22:12), respect (Lev. 19:32; 24:16), farming (Lev. 19:9, 19, 23).
How do we distinguish which are and which apply for today? The explanation is that there are four categories of OT law:
1. Moral laws - timeless truths such as the Ten Commandments, “love your neighbor,” etc.
2. Civil laws - Israel’s legal system such as Sabbatical Year, taxes, interest, punishing sin, etc.
3. Ceremonial law as in Israel’s religious system such as sacrifices, priests, feasts, etc.
4. Dietary laws - Israel’s food guidelines and prohibitions such as dealing with pork, cooking, etc.
Most evangelicals believe that only the first category applies today. The thinking is these laws are still in effect, because they are a reflection of God’s moral character, and that does not change. The other three categories apply only to Old Testamnent Israel.
Categorizing can sometimes be difficult. For example, the command to “love your neighbor as yourself,” in Lev 19:18 - a moral law - is followed, in the very next verse, by “do not wear clothing woven with two kinds of materials” - a civil law. These laws are not always neatly arranged.
The following guidelines may clarify what in the OT is still applicable today:
1. Was the OT law validated in the New Testament (NT)?
"So before we get carried away, let's read our Bible now," Obama said, to cheers. "Folks haven't been reading their Bible."
Good eye, Barack. The answer to the issues he raised lie not so much in reading the Bible as understanding its order.
The Old Testament (OT) in the Bible contains some procedures, practices, and prohibitions that we no longer believe are at least fully applicable today, if at all:
Some of these involve food (Ex 34:26; Dt. 14:8; Lev. 11:7), clothing (Lev 19:19; Dt. 22:12), respect (Lev. 19:32; 24:16), farming (Lev. 19:9, 19, 23).
How do we distinguish which are and which apply for today? The explanation is that there are four categories of OT law:
1. Moral laws - timeless truths such as the Ten Commandments, “love your neighbor,” etc.
2. Civil laws - Israel’s legal system such as Sabbatical Year, taxes, interest, punishing sin, etc.
3. Ceremonial law as in Israel’s religious system such as sacrifices, priests, feasts, etc.
4. Dietary laws - Israel’s food guidelines and prohibitions such as dealing with pork, cooking, etc.
Most evangelicals believe that only the first category applies today. The thinking is these laws are still in effect, because they are a reflection of God’s moral character, and that does not change. The other three categories apply only to Old Testamnent Israel.
Categorizing can sometimes be difficult. For example, the command to “love your neighbor as yourself,” in Lev 19:18 - a moral law - is followed, in the very next verse, by “do not wear clothing woven with two kinds of materials” - a civil law. These laws are not always neatly arranged.
The following guidelines may clarify what in the OT is still applicable today:
1. Was the OT law validated in the New Testament (NT)?
If something from the OT is reiterated in the NT, it is likely still in force, at least in principle.
This is illustrated by the Ten Commandments. All but one of the ten - the Sabbath - were reaffirmed in the NT.
This is illustrated by the Ten Commandments. All but one of the ten - the Sabbath - were reaffirmed in the NT.
The early church met on the first day of the week (Sunday), not Saturday, out of deference for the resurrection of Christ.
The NT concept that the “workman is worthy of his hire” is based on the analogy of the unmuzzled ox (Dt 25:4).
The NT injunction to love our enemies (Mt. 5:44; Rom 12:20) is a reaffirmation of the same OT principle in Ex. 23.
The NT indictment of homosexuality (Rom 1:26-27) reinforces its condemnation in Lev. 18:22; 20:13.
Christ validated a number of OT commands, thus endorsing their legitimacy for today. Furthermore, sometimes an OT law is not only reiterated but embellished.
The NT concept that the “workman is worthy of his hire” is based on the analogy of the unmuzzled ox (Dt 25:4).
The NT injunction to love our enemies (Mt. 5:44; Rom 12:20) is a reaffirmation of the same OT principle in Ex. 23.
The NT indictment of homosexuality (Rom 1:26-27) reinforces its condemnation in Lev. 18:22; 20:13.
Christ validated a number of OT commands, thus endorsing their legitimacy for today. Furthermore, sometimes an OT law is not only reiterated but embellished.
The act of adultery, for example, is now not only wrong, but thoughts of it are also (Mt. 5:28). Not only are we to love one another, but we are to do it “as I have loved you.”
2. How do we know what OT law is invalidated in the NT?
Wisdom suggests if something from the OT is abrogated in the NT, or at least not reiterated, it no longer applies.
Israel’s dietary laws were done away with in Acts 10 (Peter’s vision of the sheet), which confirmed the words of Jesus in Mark 7 when “He declared all food clean.”
Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law. The OT sacrificial system was fulfilled by Christ’s sacrifice (“it is finished”).
2. How do we know what OT law is invalidated in the NT?
Wisdom suggests if something from the OT is abrogated in the NT, or at least not reiterated, it no longer applies.
Israel’s dietary laws were done away with in Acts 10 (Peter’s vision of the sheet), which confirmed the words of Jesus in Mark 7 when “He declared all food clean.”
Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law. The OT sacrificial system was fulfilled by Christ’s sacrifice (“it is finished”).
And since we now have direct access to God through Christ, we no longer need intermediary priests.
Israel’s civil law was meant only for OT Israel, the world’s only true theocracy.
All world governments today are secular, including modern Israel, which ceased to exist as a theocracy when it repudiated its Savior at Calvary by declaring “away with him . . . we have no king but Caesar.” The Jews are still God’s chosen people, but they have been temporarily set aside until their restoration during the Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom.
3. What is the principle behind the law?
Although a specific law or procedure itself may be defunct, there could be a timeless principle behind it that is still alive and well.
Israel’s civil law was meant only for OT Israel, the world’s only true theocracy.
All world governments today are secular, including modern Israel, which ceased to exist as a theocracy when it repudiated its Savior at Calvary by declaring “away with him . . . we have no king but Caesar.” The Jews are still God’s chosen people, but they have been temporarily set aside until their restoration during the Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom.
3. What is the principle behind the law?
Although a specific law or procedure itself may be defunct, there could be a timeless principle behind it that is still alive and well.
Many of the strange OT co-mingling prohibitions, or those that deal with ceremonial defilement, for example, have at their core the overarching principle that believers should not soil themselves with “the things that are of the world.”
Although some of Israel’s dietary laws were mandated for health reasons, the underlying point was that Israel to was to be distinct people within a decadent society.
Although some of Israel’s dietary laws were mandated for health reasons, the underlying point was that Israel to was to be distinct people within a decadent society.
Their dietary regulations were part of their special identification. Modern believers, likewise, are to be a “peculiar people” (I Peter 2:9).
The fact that a rebellious teenager could be stoned in the OT under Israel’s now obsolete civil code carries with it the principle for today that God takes rebellion seriously and unsympathetic punishment may be its only cure.
OT justice was swift and, by today’s standards, unarguably harsh. Although ancient Israel’s approach to dealing with society’s transgressors does not directly apply to modern cultures, the principle behind it does.
The fact that a rebellious teenager could be stoned in the OT under Israel’s now obsolete civil code carries with it the principle for today that God takes rebellion seriously and unsympathetic punishment may be its only cure.
OT justice was swift and, by today’s standards, unarguably harsh. Although ancient Israel’s approach to dealing with society’s transgressors does not directly apply to modern cultures, the principle behind it does.
Any nation today that is serious about reigning in rampant lawlessness may need to reconsider the fact that extreme problems require extreme measures.
