By: Jim Umlauf
In Psalm 119, David writes, “O how I love your law.” What does he mean by that? The Old Testament wasn’t written in its completion, so was it the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses), or something more?
There are basically three kinds of Old Testament law.
Civil law is easy to understand because we have American laws just like the French and Italians have theirs. Jewish civil law became non-existent when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. Think about it. When the Soviet Union ceased to exist, so did their legal system.
Sacrificial law had to do with temple worship. Various offerings were made to God, such as burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. What happened to all of those? Fulfilled in Jesus Christ! He himself was the offering and there’s no need for any more. “It is finished,” remember? There’s no need for a priest or earthly mediator because Jesus is our great High Priest. So the sacrificial laws are no longer needed. The theological word is abrogated.
Moral law reflects God’s nature, and communicates to the Christian the reality of God’s being. Thus, it is unchanging and eternal. The moral law is summarized in the Ten Commandments (Ex.20, and Deut.5) and distilled further in the great commandment (Matt.22.34-40). God makes this wonderful covenantal promise to his redeemed:
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)
So to summarize, when a Christian says, “O how I love your law,” it is to say, “I want whatever you want. I’ll bend to your will. Change me into what you want in the power of the Holy Spirit.” For us, God’s law is anything he wants as he has revealed it in his word.
