But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all…and to Jesus… Hebrews 12.22-24

We have seen that the Ten Commandments and the civil laws of ancient Israel still have binding validity on the followers of Jesus Christ. But there are some qualifying criteria which we must understand before we go out and start building railings around our roofs, stoning our recalcitrant children, or driving an awl through some employee’s ear.

Simply put, the Church is not ancient Israel; rather, the Church is new Israel, a new community established on the foundations of the old one – and, thus, having some similarities with it – but identified by new traits and characteristics which guide it in understanding how to follow the Law of God today.

What are the implications of this? Ancient Israel represented a unique combination of priestly and civil rule. It was designed to be, in the purest sense, a theocracy, in which God ruled His people directly through the work of magistrates and priests.

Moreover, ancient Israel occupied a unique setting of time and place. While some of Israel’s laws can seem harsh and unyielding, they put pagan laws to shame with their practical concern for justice, righteousness, and neighbor-love.

But, most important of all, ancient Israel lacked the heart – the Spirit, we should say – for obeying God’s Law (Deut. 5.29; Jer. 31.31-34; Ezek. 36.26, 27). One important implication of this is that the laws of ancient Israel were especially harsh in exacting certain kinds of justice; otherwise, the unbridled hearts of the people would run rampant with passion – as in the Book of Judges.

We may expect that, in this season of grace, in which the Holy Spirit of God dwells within the followers of Christ, some mitigation of the penalties of ancient Israel’s laws is to be expected. This is precisely what we find, for example, in 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul substitutes excommunication for the death penalty, thus leaving room for grace to work repentance and renewal in the sinner.

The Church is not ancient Israel, and the times we live in are times of grace and the Spirit. That will definitely affect how we understand and apply the Law of God to our situation today.

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