Which parts of God's Old Testament
law should be kept today?

Which parts of God's Old Testament
law should be kept today?

Q. I believe that the Sabbath and God's Holy Days, both found in the Old Testament, should be kept today. However, what about the other parts of the Old Testament law such as sacrifices and sin offerings. Are Christians suppose to be practicing these things as well?

A. The apostle Paul agrees with your overall assessment of God's law:

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." (Romans 7:7,12, KJV)

There are three parts of the Law of God:

1. The spiritual law, codified in the ten commandments, which tell a person how to conduct their spiritual lives and which also teach us how to deal with our fellow man;

2. The "civic" or government laws that dealt with the running of civil society with God as the head of that society and literally dwelling with the children of Israel;

3. The Levitical or ceremonial laws that included all the animal sacrifices and other ceremonies associated with the Levitical priests.

Since we do not live under a civil government headed by God, we cannot enforce the civil parts of the Law, although many of them have been passed down through English common law to our American justice system.

As for the Levitical laws, Paul explains in Hebrews chapters 7 though 10, that we have had a change of priests under the New Covenant, doing away with all human priests and recognizing only Jesus as our High Priest.

"Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever." (Hebrews 7:23-28, NIV)

"But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:12-14, NIV)

Paul directly answers your question about whether we should keep other parts of the law such as sacrifices and sin offerings:

"For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law." (Hebrews 7:12, NIV)

We are not obliged to keep any of the law associated with the Levitical priesthood such as the the "ceremonial law."