Often times, I am faced with the idea from Christians that some of the commandments found within our bibles are now no longer required to be kept, or that they were simply for the Jews only this whole time. Much like Dr. Michael Brown’s ministry centers around answering Jewish objections to Jesus, or how John Hagee’s ministry centers around explaining end time prophecy to believers, my ministry is centered around teaching Christians how all of the commandments found within our bibles were not nullified by Jesus and that God continues to expect us to live by them today. Here I am going to take an approach that I shared with my Sunday school class this past week; the approach which shows that by nullifying biblical commandments, we are promoting a character progression of God.
“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.”
(Malachi 3:6-7 ESV)
The biblical description of God found here in Malachi, as well as the remaining entirety of Scripture, is that God simply does not change. This is to say that his character neither progresses nor regresses. If God was a God of change, nothing concerning him could ever be certain. If he was a God of change, anything he said in the Scriptures, including that Jesus is the only way to salvation, could one day be thrown on the backburner and we be given a new way to salvation; or he could even change his mind and say that salvation is no longer possible at all! For us to have complete reassurance in the validity and authenticity of the bible, we must accept the basic premise that God does not change.
How does this have anything to do with whether or not Old Testament commandments are still binding? Well, think of it this way: if something ever offended God at one point in time, he will forever be offended by that same thing; we are operating here in the understanding that all sins are hated by God. Let’s look at an example in logical form.
- God does not change (Malachi 3:6-7).
- God at one time hated murder (Exodus 20:13).
- Therefore, God will forever hate murder.
Here we have an example of an undeniable truth; that God hates murder. The bible clearly lays out this prohibition for God’s people and very few deny premises B and C. But what if we substituted “murder” for something else?
- God does not change (Malachi 3:6-7).
- God at one time hated eating unclean animals (Leviticus 11).
- Therefore, God will forever hate eating unclean animals.
Even though this is sound logic, many people will immediately think or say, “But that’s Old Testament laws! Jesus did away with those.” Maybe this is your initial reaction, but let’s think about this. What I just provided was sound logic back by biblical witness. In order to prove my conclusion wrong (C), one must deny and disprove one of my initial premises (A or B). If one cannot deny and disprove one or more of these premises, the conclusion proves to be true. Keeping that thought, let’s think about this as well: If something is not found within the New Testament, but only found in the Old Testament, does that mean it is automatically acceptable now? Also keeping that thought in mind, let’s look at this example:
- God does not change (Malachi 3:6-7).
- God at one time hated bestiality (Exodus 22:19).
- Therefore, God will forever hate bestiality.
I’ve met very few Christians who will admit that bestiality is no longer outlawed, but those who do believe that it remains as sin fail to grasp this one truth: bestiality is not prohibited anywhere in the New Testament; only in the Old Testament is it prohibited. So does that mean that God now see bestiality as acceptable behavior and no longer in the sin category? Absolutely not! Based upon our sound logic, God hated bestiality and will forever hate it. But what does that say about other commandments found only in the Old Testament? It’s simple; everything God ever prohibited continues to be prohibited based upon the fact that God’s character neither progresses nor regresses. If God now sees former sins like eating unclean animals as acceptable behaviors, then God’s character has progressed; he has changed his mind about sin! We know that cannot happen, so we must understand that nothing about sin has changed.
Yes, Jesus came and died for our sins, but he did not come and take away any of God’s commandments. Think of it this way: if you run a red light and are pulled over by a police officer and given a ticket for your crime, yet someone (Jesus) steps in and pays your fine for you, does the law which says that you cannot run a red light become abolished or nullified? Or does the penalty simply get paid by someone else out of abundant grace? The same goes for God’s commandments. God has given us commandments to live by that define his character. If we live lives against these commandments, we are proclaiming to the world the changing nature of our God. I don’t know about you, but that’s not something I want to be spreading through this world.
“Do not think that I’ve come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
(Matthew 5:17 ESV)
