How to Read
the Bible for All It’s Worth, Session IX
The Law
A teaching by
based upon the book by the same title,
written by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
INTRO:
A. Review: Purpose of the course
1. Interpreting task: done automiatically
…need
to be self-conscious and intentional about it
2. Goal of interpretation: to get to the plain meaning of the text
3. Working definition of scripture:
“The Bible is the Word of God, expressed in
human words in history.”
4. 2 essential tasks of interpretation
a. exegesis: deciphering what it meant there and then
“What
was the intended meaning of the original writers to their original audiences?”
b. hermeneutics: bridging from the there and then to the here
and now
“How
does the original meaning apply to us?”
B. Key
to the course: Different Kinds of genre
1. Some were written as direct teaching for believers of the time
esp.:
letters/epistles
OUR
task: to reconstruct the original situation
à intent of writer
AND then, using common sense
à Distinguish between teachings that are emphatic &
central, vs. teachings that are situational
& peripheral.
2. Some are more narrative: stories
Realize
that they may be illustrating teachings and principles
…but
they do not introduce teachings directly
They
may be setting a precedent that may be repeatable
…but
those precedents carry over to our time only if followed consistently in biblical history and are
taught as such
3. Some:
Gospels
a. Intentionality is
two-fold:
Jesus’
intentionality when encountering people
each writer’s intention when writing about such encounters
b. each writer did
have a particular audience in mind when writing and did have particular goals in mind when
writing.
c. so we read
vertically …each gospel from beginning to ending
AND
we read horizontally, comparing each gospel w/ the others
to look for distinctives
4. Within those gospels: Parables
a. stories that evoke
a response
like a joke with a punchline
b. THEREFORE:
1)
find the points of reference
2)
Identify the audience
3)
Listen for the “Punch”
C.
Today: Back to the OT: THE LAW
1. As with other
biblical texts: key Q: What’s the context?
2. For the Law of Israel, like the Constitution
of the
The constituting documents formed within the constituting events of a nation
3. For
a. FIRST, the patriarch stories in Genesis
b. SECOND, in Exodus
1)
miraculous emancipation from slavery in
2)
return of the Presence of God as distinguishing them
as God’s people apart from all other
peoples on earth
(Ex.
33, 40)
3)
God reconstituting them as a people for his name at the foot of
4. The
challenge of forming a nation of just-emancipated slaves living for centuries in
a foreign land—Egyptian culture—cannot be overstated.
The
challenge of forming them into GOD’s PEOPLE is even
more daunting.
This
is the heart of the matter for the handing down of the Law of
I. What is the Law?
Three matters to be considered
A.
The meaning of the word “Law” has at least 5 connotations:
1. in the plural: “Laws” = 600+ commandments the Israelites
were commanded to keep
2. in the singular: can = taking all of these laws collectively
3. in the singular: can = the Pentateuch
4. in the singular in NT: can = complete OT religious system
5. in the singular in NT: can - #2 AS INTERPRETED by the RABBIS
NOTE: Jews today would largely agree with #5
B. Regarding Def. #3 = Most of Israel’s laws do
appear in Exo, Lev., Numb., & Deut …but
are embedded in narrative contexts:
That’s
because the law cannot be understood apart from the living out of that story.
C. The
Big Question for us: “How do these
specific legal formulations apply to us, or do they?”
WE
WILL TACKLE THE EXEGETICAL QUESTIONS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THIS KEY HERMENEUTICAL APPLICATION
II. Christians and the
Old Testament Law
A. Thesis: P. 165 - “Christians
are not expected to express their loyalty
to God by keeping the Old Testament law(s), since we are related to God under a
new covenant.”
This
is somewhat self-evident in so far as we do not do animal sacrifices …and if we did, we’d get
arrested for animal cruelty
BUT
then again, it is not so self-evident in other ways
B. Six Initial Guidelines
1.
The Old Testament is a Covenant = a binding contract between 2 parties, both of whom have obligations specified in the covenant
a. in OT times,
covenants often were between unequals:
1)
an all-powerful overlord, called “suzerain”
2)
a dependent servant, called “vassal”
b. the vassal gained
prosperity and protection
c. the suzerain
gained peace and loyalty
d. KEY: the vassal was required to maintain loyalty
…&
punishments for disloyalty would be specified in the covenant
e. God used this
well-known form of covenant-writing to constitute the people of
f. In structure: the
covenant would have 6 parts
1)
preamble – defined parties of the covenant:
e.g.,
“I am the Lord your God’
2)
prologue – brief history of how the parties came
together
e.g.,
“I brought you out of
3)
stipulations – the laws
4)
witnesses – who will enforce the covenant
e.g.,
God himself, or “heaven and earth”
5)
sanctions – blessings and curses: incentives for keeping covenant
6)
document clause – provision for regular review of the covenant, so it won’t be forgotten
g. IT IS IN THE LIGHT
OF ALL THIS: that we need to see that the Laws of Israel are all given within
this covenantal structure We cannot understand the Law or the
Prophets if we do not hear these writings in this context
And
we cannot adequately interpret when and how some of these
texts apply to us and others do not, without understanding this context.
2. The Old Testament is NOT our testament, i.e., our covenant
THAT
IS: The Abrahamic
covenant of the OT—stipulations of grace thru faith—does carry over to us
BUT: The national covenant of Moses, a subset of
the Abrahamic Covenant, does not carry over to us:
AND
the key: We can assume that their laws
do NOT apply to us, unless they are affirmed in the
New Testament!
God still expects loyalty from us NOW,
but the acts w/ which we express that loyalty are different.
3.
Two kinds of Old Covenant stipulations clearly have NOT been renewed
in the New Covenant
Israelite
civil laws
Israelite
ritual laws
Civil laws = penalties for
particular crimes
Ritual
laws = huge body of laws, re., how they worshiped
à shedding of blood …Jesus the
final sacrifice
SO
WHAT about Jesus saying, “no jot nor tittle, not the least stroke of a pen, would will drop out of the
Law?”
Stuart
(p. 168): “What [Jesus] said was that
the Law cannot be changed.
Jesus came to establish a new covenant, and in so doing
‘fulfilled’ the purpose of the old, thus bringing its time to an end.”
ANALOGY: renegotiated labor contract:
salaries change, changes in working conditions,
some things stay the same, e.g., seniority
BUT
loyalty and service are still promised by labor (vassals)
AND
employment is still promised by mgmt. (suzerain)
4.
Part of the Old Covenant is renewed in the New Covenant
OT
ethical laws are largely renewed
5.
All of the OT law is still the Word of God FOR us even though it is not still the command of God TO us.
It
shows us aspects of God’s character we better understand by reading it.
It
shows us aspects of living as God’s people we better understand by reading it.
6.
Only that which is explicitly reaffirmed from the Old Testament law can be considered to be part
of the New Testament “law of Christ.”
III. The Role of the Law
in
A. We need to understand the Law if only because
it was the schoolmaster that drove
B. NOTE:
For Israel, the Law was never the means of Salvation
It
always was a gift from God to help the people live out their loyalty to God.
And the
problem of
C. Two kinds of laws
1. Apodictic laws: Direct commands “do this” or “don’t do that”
but the laws were not always exhaustive: IF it said, “Don’t harvest your land to the edge of the fields so the poor and strangers
may be fed
by harvesting the edges” …also carried over to similar applications for
shepherds, carpenters, etc.
2. Casuistic laws: conditional laws, can be lived out in various
ways
more situational laws, and require a lot of interpretation
by the courts
These
laws clearly are NOT binding upon us, but they may still grant us insight into God’s character, and
God’s ways with humans
IV. The Old Testament
Law and Other Ancient Law Codes
BUT:
and mutual respect across class lines
V. The Old Testament Law as Benefit to
The Law did
bring great practical benefits to the people of
e.g., Food
laws: kept them healthy
Other
examples, pp. 177-79
VI. Finally, some Dos and
Don’ts
p. 180
NEXT WEEK: The
prophets