LIVING THE LAW DISCUSSION

Are there parts that are still relevant for today?

There are several truths we can take away from the book of Leviticus. First, God is still
Holy. He is majestic, powerful and wise, and we as believers should stand in awe of His
goodness. He commands us to be holy because He is holy and by his grace, He empowers to
make progress in holiness, not toward us. Second, we are called to a life of obedience to God's
Word. The Bible is the guidebook God has given us to navigate through life, and we would do
well to read and follow its teachings so that we do not lose our way and lose sight of our goal.
Third, although most of the laws in the book were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the moral law
concerning how we treat others applies in any society. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We need to radiate God's goodness, mercy, and love to the hurting world around us. By doing so,
we become His eyes, ears, hands, and feet, drawing others to faith and salvation. These are just
some of the ways we see that Leviticus does have relevance today. As with the Israelites, it
teaches us that God wants us as His holy people, to live lives of dedicated service to Him. Every
law commanded by God in the Old Testament was moral in the sense that it had moral
significance to it. We are still bound by moral law.

Are there parts that are not relevant for today?

We make distinctions among the ceremonial law, the dietary law, the civil law, and the
moral law. It is a useful distinction to distinguish the moral law from the ceremonial law,
because we know that the ceremonial law has been fulfilled in the perfect work of Christ. And
we know that the dietary laws have been set apart. They had a historical significance that differs
from the moral law of the Old Testament. We’re not antinomians, because we believe in the
commandments of Christ. We don’t believe that the Old Testament ceremonial law is relevant to
us, but the New Testament law is or just the moral law is.” The laws that govern Israel, govern us
today. As Christians we are not under the sacrificial laws or ceremonial laws, but we are still
bound by moral laws. So, these sacrificial laws or ceremonial laws are irrelevant for us today
because the blood of Christ set us free. However, we are relevant with moral laws.
How do we determine this?
Studying Leviticus today gives us an extremely important understanding of the sacrifice
that Jesus made as the Christ when he died on the cross. The animal sacrificial system may be
totally foreign to us now, but this enables the 21st century reader to understand why Christ’s
sacrifice is one of salvation. All the sacrificial law or ceremonial law are gone by the shaded of
Christ’s blood on the cross. However, the moral law is still relevant to every one of us. This book
helps us to know the holiness of God and the attributes of God so that we could live holy like
Him; the characters of God and His holiness, His sinlessness, and His will to bless the people.
So, we also need to live holy like him and obey him and worship him through his laws.