Why another post about interpreting the Old Testament law. Because so many Christians struggle to understand it when they read the Bible. I have come to see, as a pastor, that this is one of the biggest barriers keeping believers from reading and studying the Bible more. They just don’t understand what to do with it and they give up because they don’t get anything out of it to feed their soul.
This is why RC Sproul wrote the following article, Which Laws Apply? In it he relays a story that I hope will capture your attention and make you want to read the whole piece (Read it all here.) and study the Bible more. Here’s his eye-opening story.
Several years ago, I was speaking in Rye, N.Y., at a conference on the holiness of God. After one of the sessions, the sponsors of the conference invited me to someone’s house afterward for prayer and refreshments. When I arrived at the house, there were about twenty-five people in the parlor praying to their dead relatives. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I said, “Wait a minute. What is this? We’re not allowed to do this. Don’t you know that God prohibits this, and that it’s an abomination in His sight and it pollutes the whole land and provokes His judgment?” And what was their immediate response? “That’s the Old Testament.” I said, “Yes, but what has changed to make a practice that God regarded as a capital offense during one economy of redemptive history now something He delights in?” And they didn’t have a whole lot to say because from the New Testament it is evident that God is as against idolatry now as He was then.
All believers need to grow to see that all of the Bible was given to them by God to feed their soul by His grace. Read and study it all. Ask God for understanding. And ask your fellow church member for more understanding or your spouse, LIFE Group leader or one of your elders. You will see God continually opening your eyes more and more to love all the Bible. And you will grow to treasure God more than ever!
“For I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.” Psalm 119:47-48
