How to Study the Law

A couple of weeks ago I posted a discussion about what the Law is. The goal of that post was to show just how important the Law is to us today and to put the New Testament conversations about the Law in context. I ended that post with this statement; knowing that the Law is important doesn't necessarily help us study it.

Today's post is aimed to help with just that issue; how do we study the Law? We have reached a place where we don't even know how to read the legal codes in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. When we do read them we skim through as quick as possible to get back to the narrative. Well today we are going to look at how we, who are no longer under the Mosaic Law, can study it.

Before that there is an important clarification that needs to be made. When the New Testament refers to the Law, it can mean one of two things. It can refer to the legal codes found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, but it can also mean the first five books as a whole; aka the Torah. It is important for us to realize that the same word is used for both. It is also important to realize that the distinction between the legal codes and the Torah as a whole wasn't nearly as strong in their minds as it is in ours.

We like to draw a big distinction between Leviticus and Genesis. We tend to see them as distinct books that are separate from each other. The Jewish people do not see them this way, nor have they ever seen them that way. They look at the Law as one big book. It all is contained on one scroll. Yes the book divisions are there, but they are not nearly as significant to them as they are to us. Keep this in mind as it will come up later.

How to Study the Law

Step 1: Read It

It may seem silly to have this as step one, but it is a very important step. One of the great problems with studying the Law is that we haven't read it. We don't actually know what it says. Yes we could probably list off some of the restrictions and rules within the Law, but we don't really know the meat of it. So first things first; read the Law.

Step 2: Context

Context is perhaps the single most important element of Bible study that there is. You cannot properly study a passage, book, or anything in the Bible without first establishing the proper context. The context of the Law is the rest of the Torah. The legal codes found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are embedded within the narrative of God and Israel. You cannot separate Leviticus from Exodus that came before or Numbers that comes after. The Law was given in a specific point in time to a specific people for a specific purpose. 

Going even further, you cannot separate the rest of the Torah from the narrative of Scripture. The first five books are connected to Joshua that comes after it, which connects to Judges and Ruth, which connects to Samuel, and so on all the way to the Gospels. When put in this context, the Law is put in the proper perspective. It shows that the Law was given as an aid to faith. It was given to reveal God, and by extension sin.

Step 3: Jesus

Yes, Jesus is a "step" in the process. Really coming to know Jesus IS the process of studying the Law. We as Christians look at the Law not with the anticipation of what it points to, but as something that has already been fulfilled. Jesus has fulfilled the Law. So what exactly does that mean?

Well there are two primary ways that Jesus has fulfilled the Law. The first is that Jesus is the fruition of certain concepts the Law teaches. The most obvious example is that of a blood sacrifice for sins. The Law introduced the concept that in order for sins to be forgiven, a sacrifice was required. As we learn in the book of Hebrews, Jesus is the fulfillment of this concept. He is the ultimate sacrifice for sin. There are other such concepts in the Law (laws about kings, the coming prophet like Moses, etc.,) that Jesus fulfills. These are things that specifically point to Christ.

The other primary way that Jesus has fulfilled the Law relates to the purpose of the Law. The purpose of the Law was to reveal a holy God and help the Israelites grow in their faith. Jesus is the fulfillment of both of these goals. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God to man. Jesus is also the goal to which the Law was aiming; a human being who lived entirely by faith and dependence on God. 

Step 4: Application

So we have the first three big steps to studying the Law. First is actually reading the text. Without reading the Law you can never study the Law. Second is placing the Law in its context. As we've looked at in previous weeks, when Israel received the Law they were basically infants when it came to matters of faith. They didn't know God. This helps understand what the Law is and what it was intended to do. The third step is examining the Law through the lens of Jesus. Seeing how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law helps us see what the Law's purpose is.

Now comes what many would consider the tricky part; application. Bible study is no good if you don't apply what you have learned about God to your life. To do this we are going to look a specific part of the Law; specifically Leviticus 19:19. 

"You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two different kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material."

Step 1 is reading the passage. Hopefully you have just done that. Step 2 is placing this specific law in context. Now this isn't quite the same as a letter of Paul. Paul's letters are each unified documents that flow together to form one overarching argument. There you read what came right before and right after. In the legal codes sometimes that is true, but other times it is simply a list of laws. 

The context I'm referring to here is that of the whole book of Leviticus. What is the main theme of the book? Holiness. What is holiness? Being untainted by sin. God is seeking to make Israel holy. He doesn't want them to mix both the holy and unholy lifestyle. How do you teach a people this concept? By working it into the very fabric of their lives. 

The Israelites were farmers and shepherds. They understood the rules of farming and taking care of livestock. They also wore clothes that, just like today, got ripped up and needed patching. So God chose to use these basic elements of life that they were around every day to teach them holiness. Don't mix cow breeds. Why? Because God is holy. Sin and God do not mix. Don't mix types of seed. Why? Because God is holy. Sin and God do not mix. Don't mix types of fabric. Why? Because God is holy. Sin and God don't mix. 

Step 3 is seeing how Jesus fulfilled this piece of the Law. Jesus lived a holy life. He did not allow himself to be tainted by sin. He revealed God's holiness in his life of faith and dependence on God. Jesus remained holy because sin and God do not mix.

So how can we apply this lesson of holiness to our lives? Well how often do we mix sin into our daily routine? A good exercise for this is to imagine if the Law had only just been given today. What aspects of our daily lives would God instruct us to keep unmixed? For the Israelites it was farming and livestock. For us maybe it would be listening to music while driving. There is nothing inherently wrong with it, like there was nothing wrong with mixing types of seeds. But what if God commanded us to not mix music and driving? Try doing this for one day. Each time you are about to turn on the radio, remember that God is holy and that sin and God do not mix. 

This is the kind of lesson that the law in Leviticus 19:19 was trying to teach. When we live our lives we are called to holiness. We can't simply mix sin and holiness together; it doesn't work. We can't live a holy life and watch trash on TV. We can't live a holy life and gossip about others. We can't live a holy life and watch pornography. The list goes on. Jesus is an example of how to live a holy life; one that is entirely dependent on faith in God.

Conclusion

I pray this post gives some assistance in studying the Law. This is a tricky subject to study simply because we aren't used to it. The other thing that gets in the way of studying the Law is our preconceptions about it. The Law was never intended to be a means of salvation. It was always intended to be an aid for faith. This is how we should study the Law.