Old Testament

Dear Victorious,

I heard a preacher on the radio recently, talking about homosexuality. The Bible verses he was quoting were in the Old Testament. He quoted them as if they were still valid. Doesn't the new covenant that Jesus gave us mean we can pretty much disregard the laws of the Old Testament? Isn't the New Testament where our focus should be?

Angela R. - Richardson, TX

Dear Angela,

No, the New Testament is not "where our focus should be." Our focus should be on what God's perfect will is. And that is expressed in both the Old and New Testament. It is often thought that the Old Testament is irrelevant because so many of the things like animal sacrifices or killing our disobedient children no longer apply.

However, if we look at the facts, the only thing Jesus changed with the new covenant is the punishment and payment for sin --- which is how we relate to God from whom we are separated from sin.

Animal sacrifices were to atone for sin and to reconcile us to God. Jesus took the place as the perfect sacrifice. And because Jesus is the perfect sacrifice - which makes us holy and acceptable to God, the things that make us unclean in the Old Testament are no longer applicable. Thus we gained the freedom to eat whatever we want, touch a menstruating women or a dead body, etc.

Virtually all of God's other laws are still applicable from the Old Testament. Consider that Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

Study the differences between the Old and New Testaments. Other than the change in the sacrifice and the things that make us unclean and unpresentable to God, absolutely nothing else has changed. Even the New Testament tells us that nothing has changed. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness ..." (2 Timothy 3:16) That includes both the Old and the New Testament.