How To Profit From The O.T. Case Laws - Exodus (Part 36)

How to Pro t from the Case Laws fi Exodus 21-23 Let’s read Exodus 21:1-11 What are your initial impressions of Exodus 21:1-11? • boring • irrelevant • lost/confused/bewildered • con icted fi fl 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and pro table for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for 17 training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Range of usual Christian responses to Mosaic laws • avoidance • theonomy • hyper-Christocentrism Many Christians avoid the Old Testament in general and the Mosaic laws in particular because of certain verses. Romans 7:4a, 6a (ESV) Likewise, my brothers, you also have 6 died to the law through the body of Christ . . . But now we are released from the law . . . Galatians 2:19 (ESV) For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. Romans 6:14 (ESV) For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace Galatians 5:18 (ESV) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Examples of Avoidance • Christians who never read the Old Testament. • Christians who read only Genesis, Psalms, and Proverbs from their Old Testaments. • Pastors who never preach from the Old Testament. • Pastors whose Old Testament preaching is limited to the Psalms, Proverbs, narratives, and isolated Messianic prophecies. Some Christians advocate bringing back the civil and moral parts of the Mosaic law for modern nations. “Theonomy holds that a Christian society based on God’s law should be established in order to in uence society so that a new Christendom might emerge from the rubble of any impending calamity.” bolding mine; Tom Hicks, “Theonomy Primer: What Is It and How Does It Work?” April 28, 2023 9Marks Journal fl https://www.9marks.org/article/theonomy-primer-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work/. accessed 5 August 2023 What verses might theonomists use to support their nationalistic use of the Mosaic Law? Psalm 33:12 (ESV) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! Romans 7:7a (ESV) What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Romans 7:12 (ESV) So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 1 Timothy 1:8 (ESV) Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, Case laws that Theonomists would make the law of the land without modi cation. Exodus 21:15–17 (ESV) “Whoever strikes his father or his 16 mother shall be put to death. “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be 17 put to death. “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. fi fi Exodus 22:18–20 (ESV)“You shall not permit a sorceress to 19 live. “Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death. 20“Whoever sacri ces to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction Range of usual Christian responses to Mosaic laws • avoidance • theonomy • hyper-Christocentrism Hyper-Christocentrism properly understands that the Mosaic Law points to Christ but jumps to Christ too quickly. Example: Exodus 21:6 (ESV) then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. “his master shall bore his ear through with an awl” “Genuine Christians have had their ears bored. That is to say, they are such Christians that they could not be anything else. And when they have their choice—and they do have it every day, for temptation gives them many opportunities —they will not go out but are obliged to remain the servants of God. One of the awls with which God has bored their ears is past mercies. Forsake the Lord Jesus Christ? How can I? He loved me. He bought me.” “his master shall bore his ear through with an awl” “Some of us were in great distress, and Christ gave us peace. We were ready to destroy ourselves, and he gave us joy and liberty. And since that day he has led us into green pastures and beside still waters. He has supplied us night and day. We cannot leave him. I think our ears are also bored by a sense of our present helplessness. Leave him. Ah, but where to? We cannot do without him.” What do you think of that interpretation and application of Exodus 21:6? Was it a warm, spiritual blessing to you? Would Moses’ original audience have been thinking of their relationship to their future Messiah when Exodus 21:6 was given to them? Is leaving your slave master after 6 years generally desirable? Is leaving your slave master the same as leaving Christ? fi How do NT believers pro t from case laws like Exodus 21:1-6? How do you get maximum enjoyment from a 15km hike? By preparing well! Basic questions to prepare for a 15km hike Where is this hike? • What country? • What part of the country • What’s the topography? When is this hike? • What season of the year? • What time of day/night? Other questions to prepare for a 15km hike How long will this hike take? Who is going on this hike? What are the risks? What might we encounter between the starting point and the end point? What supplies are necessary? What are we meant to see on this hike? How do you get to the starting point of the hike? Parallels Between Reading OT Case Laws and a 15 KM Hike •both require preparation •both are foreign territory •both can be dangerous •easy to get lost in both •both have a payoff if done well Questions to pro t from an OT law Questions adapted from Jason S. DeRouchie, How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2017) 422-31. fi Where is this particular law found? •Is it part of a subsection of similar or related laws? •Is this subsection part of a larger section of laws, a covenant, or multiple chapters of laws? •How does this law relate to the verses before and after? •Is this law located in the covenant that I am under? Questions to pro t from an OT law fi Who was this particular law given for? •Every single person in the world? •Only Israelites? •A certain demographic (e.g., children, fathers, slaves)? •An institution (e.g., the priesthood)? Questions to pro t from an OT law fi What was this law originally concerned with? •Social interactions? •Financial matters? •Family relationships? •Theology and worship? •An individual’s relationship with God? Questions to pro t from an OT law fi Which of the 10 Commandments does this case law apply? Which of the 2 great commands does this law come under? •Matthew 22:37 (ESV)And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. •Matthew 22:39 (ESV) And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Questions to pro t from an OT law fi fi What does this law tell us about God and His ways? •God is concerned about _________________. •God highly values ______________________. •God hates _____________________________. •God is nuanced about __________________. •God makes consequence ____________ t the crime of ___________. •God balances the rights of ___________ with the rights of _______________. Questions to pro t from an OT law fi fi fi How does Christ and the New Covenant affect our application of this command? •Does the NT quote or allude to this law? •Is this law transformed into a related but different application by the New Covenant? •Did Christ’s ful lment of this law free His disciples from it? •Did Christ’s ful lment of this law bind His disciples to also obey it? •What does the NT say about the concern behind this law? The Law’s Ful llment through the Lens of Christ Law of Christ fi From chapter 10 of Jason S. DeRouchie’s forthcoming Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024). Why do Christians believe that Christ ful lled the Law? fi fi Matthew 5:17 (ESV)“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to ful ll them. Why do Christians believe that Christ ful lled the Law? Romans 10:4 (ESV)For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. fi fi Note: End in “Christ is the end of the law” is the word telos which sometimes indicates conclusion or termination but in other contexts ful lment or goal. The Law’s Ful llment through the Lens of Christ Law of Christ fi From chapter 10 of Jason S. DeRouchie’s forthcoming Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024). What is the law of Christ? 1 Corinthians 9:21 (ESV) To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. fi Galatians 6:2 (ESV) Bear one another’s burdens, and so ful ll the law of Christ. What is the essence of the law of Christ? Galatians 5:14 (ESV) For the whole law is ful lled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” fi John 13:34 (ESV) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. News ash Among other things, the case laws show us what it looked like to “love your neighbour as yourself” under the Old Covenant. fl Therefore, the case laws point us in certain directions toward “loving our neighbour as ourselves” today. The Law’s Ful llment through the Lens of Christ fi From chapter 10 of Jason S. DeRouchie’s forthcoming Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024). Resources Theonomy Primer: What Is It and How Does It Work? Relating Moses’s Law to Christians