Back of the Envelope

I had the opportunity to go to a meeting of MIT's Graduate Christian Fellowship last night. I've missed those guys! Of course, it's been a year and a half since I've gone, so I hardly knew any of them. No matter, the new crop of GCFers are just as fun as the old.

What was really interesting was the talk given by Kevin Ford, the Intervarsity staffer at MIT. He talked about the Old Testament law, and the question of whether it's still applicable to us today. This is an important question, especially given how people love to use it against Christians. Obviously, if you believe that the Bible is God's Word and continues to have authority to today, you have to deal with the fact that a lot of it seems inapplicable, when not downright unpleasant. For an example, take this from the Queen of All Evil (no offense to Rosemary, whom I happen to like):

Ok. Homosexuality is wrong because the bible says so. Right? Answer a few of these questions for me then, will ya?

1. When selling your daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. How do you determine fair market value for her?
2. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
3. My husband insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself? Or should I get a man to do it?
4. All the men on my street get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

You guys are really tough. Super tough. I give you credit for it but I'd rather be a heathen. I'd rather be a heathen because I find many things advocated in the bible, like slavery, to be abominable and a bit contradictory.

I won't address the slavery question right now, although it's something that I've thought a lot about. In fact, I've thought a lot about all these kinds of questions. I try not to take too much offense at those who stereotype believers as ignorant and unthinking people who never seriously study the Bible they claim to believe. Listen, if you think the Bible bothers you, try looking at it from my point of view. I have to believe it.

Fortunately, I'm not the only one to worry about these things. Kevin Ford talked a bit about the Christian thinking on the Old Testament Law, and the first thing to realize is that the Law in the Pentateuch, which is what causes so much trouble, is not a monolithic whole. God was not merely stating what was right and what was wrong, he was establishing a nation. The Israelites had been slaves for centuries; they had no knowledge of government and no unique culture or religion. Thus in addition to the Moral Code, a statement of right and wrong, God had to establish a civil code and a priestly code. While it's hinted at even in the Old Testament, and the New Testament goes through some real thinking about it when it comes to Gentile believers living in heathen nations, I don't know where it's first clearly stated. I do know that the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1562 clearly delineates between the three. Let me sum them up, based on Kevin's talk yesterday.

1. The Moral Code — These are the principles considered to be universally applicable to everyone. It states what is right and what is wrong. The Ten Commandments are the first of these given, but it's not complete. What Jesus called the two great commandments (To love God and to love your neighbor) are clearly part of the moral code, but don't appear in the ten commandments. For example, the sixth commandment is "Thou shalt not murder." This applies to everyone.
2. The Civil Code — This is how the nation is supposed to be run. In many ways it is an elaboration of the moral code. Take the prohibition against murder. The corresponding Civil Code explains what happens when a murder is committed. What the penalty is (death) and what the difference is between an accidental death (manslaughter) and a murder, and how to deal with those who kill by accident (the cities of refuge).
3. The Holiness Code — The Holiness Code is also called the Levitical Code or the Priestly Code. This is where all the apparently "silly" laws come in, laws like not wearing clothing made with two types of fabric, not eating pork or shellfish, not trimming the hair around your temples, and all the rest. The main purpose of these laws is explained in Deuteronomy 7:6, "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." (NAS) "Holy" literally means set apart, or separate, and that is the purpose of the Holiness Code, to set apart the Israelites, to make them different, and give them laws to follow which no one else did. Many of these rules were specifically aimed to prevent the Israelites from adopting practices common among the Canaanites in whose land they were settling, making it impossible for them to live comfortably among them. Did it work? Well, after 3,500 years, 2,000 of which without a homeland, there are still people who identify themselves through the Levitical Code.

The three Codes are interrelated. There is overlap between the Moral Code and the Levitical Code, while the Civil Code was built upon them and encompasses the Moral Code and most of the Levitical Code as well. So what is still applicable today? Since the Moral Code is meant to be universal, it should be followed, even today. And while the Civil Code and the Levitical Code were meant for Israel, to make them a working nation and a religious and cultural identity respectively, it's still possible to learn about God's purposes through them.

So, now for the hard part. How do you tell them apart? The Pentateuch doesn't separate them with clear labels, but here are some indicators:

1. The moral code is usually stated as a command to do this or don't do that. The civil code explains how to deal with disobedience, what the penalties are and how the judgements are rendered.
2. The holiness code is concerned with "clean" and "unclean," and any time it talks about being clean, you can be pretty sure you're reading part of the Holiness Code. Important note: Unclean and defiled are very different things.
3. Sometimes it's very clear that a law applies only to the Israelites, such as when it doesn't apply to the alien living among them. Other nations aren't judged for disobeying the Holiness and Civil Codes, only for disobeying the Moral Code.
4. Worshiping God alone is, unfortunately for pluralists, part of the Moral Code.

Overall, it was a very good talk, and I'm thankful to Kevin for explaining these things. And boy am I glad to be back!