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The term Old Law is used, by many, to refer to both the Ten Commandments of God, which are sometimes called the Mosaic Law, or Code, and to the Ritualistic Law, also called Levitical Law. The use of the title, Old Law, is misleading. The implication is that these two sets of laws have been set aside, or have been replaced. We know that according to Jesus' statement recorded in Mat 5:18, that this is not true,
- " For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled."
Jesus upholds the validity of the Law both the Mosaic & Ritualistic.)
Ritualistic, or Levitical Law can be broken down into the Sacrificial Law, or Law of Atonement and the Law of Purification. There are, among Christians, those who still subscribe to following one, or both, portions of the Law of Leviticus, Ritualistic Law. However, as we look at both portions of Levitical Law, it will become clear that the Child of God no longer need be concerned with the requirements of this Law. At the same time, it needs to be understood that the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments of God, God's standard of conduct for His people, must be followed.
The Law of Atonement, or Sacrificial Law, required that an offering be presented to God for a sin debt. This has carried thru to some of today's Christian Churches in the form of Penance. The whole concept in its basest form is,
" If you sin, you must give God something to show your sorry."
The Law of Purification had numerous requirements that had to be followed to make one acceptable before God. They ranged from ritualistic washings, or ablutions; who could be married or associated with; what manner of dress and grooming was acceptable; prohibitions against the ingestion of blood; thru, what foods could be eaten. Again, we find this Law being observed today among some groups of Christians.
All the requirements of Ritualistic Law, both Sacrificial & Purification, were met, for all time, by the Messiah, Jesus.
- "Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill."
(Mat 5:17)
- "For Christ (the Messiah) is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes."
(Rom 10:4)
- "So that the Law has become a trainer of us until Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But faith coming, we are no longer under a trainer."
(Gal 3:24-25)
Jesus, the Messiah, is the ultimate, perpetual, atonement for man's sin debt. There is nothing further that man can offer as atonement for sin; all such attempts belittle the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Further, it is God, who makes us acceptable, through faith in Jesus, something the Law of Purification could never do. Abstaining from certain foods, ablutions, etc. does not make one holy and/or acceptable before God, it never has.
- "- because by the works of the Law none of all flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law is the knowledge of sin."
(Rom 3:20)
- " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the Law."
(Rom 3:28)
- "- knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ; even we believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law. For all flesh will not be justified by works of law."
(Gal 2:16)
There are plenty of Deceivers running around the Christian Community. The simple fact is, that anyone proclaiming you need to follow the Law of Atonement and/or the Laws of Purification has no valid biblical basis for their teachings and requirements. You will never impress God, become justified, or pay for your sins, by anything that you do or don't do, aside from belief in Jesus. He has fully satisfied ALL the requirements of the Levitical Law portion of the Old Law for the believer.
Old Law
page updated 06/10/2005.