Barnett OBST 590 Hays Essay
Application of Old Testament Law in Today’s Society
Bobby Barnett
OBST 591 – Old Testament Orientation 1
Professor Keith Lester
5/31/2012
Introduction
Christians today are divided along the lines of the Old Law recorded in the Old Testament, and the New Law recorded in the New Testament. The majority of lay persons regard the Ten Commandments with reverence, as do the majority of Churches. How does today’s Church decide whether to follow the law or to trust in the saving Faith of God’s Grace as presented in the New Testament? J. Daniel Hays provides a framework in his essay “Applying the Old Testament Law Today”.
Hays’ Essay Daniel Hays discusses two approaches to applying Old Testament Law. The first approach is the Traditional Approach. Essentially the traditional approach divides the old law into three separate types of instructions: moral, civil, and ceremonial laws. While the laws that fall into one of these three categories sometimes can be clearly defined, Hays points out that the classification of certain laws into one of these three categories is quite arbitrary. Several deficiencies are pointed out in the essay: distinctions between types of laws are arbitrary, Legal Material is embedded in the text and should be interpreted accordingly, and the traditional approach does not consider the Law’s theological context. These deficiencies point to one fact; that the traditional approach allows the believer to choose which laws God wants them to observe and which laws the believer need not be concerned with. The problem with this is that according to the Old Law itself any law that was not observed constituted sin, the Apostle Paul wrote extensively about this in his Epistles. Hays’ article points out another approach to understanding Old Testament Law, the principlism approach.
Principlism
Principlism is an approach to understanding Old Testament Law that best fits the criteria given by Hays as one that: treats all Old Testament Scripture as
Bobby Barnett
OBST 591 – Old Testament Orientation 1
Professor Keith Lester
5/31/2012
Introduction
Christians today are divided along the lines of the Old Law recorded in the Old Testament, and the New Law recorded in the New Testament. The majority of lay persons regard the Ten Commandments with reverence, as do the majority of Churches. How does today’s Church decide whether to follow the law or to trust in the saving Faith of God’s Grace as presented in the New Testament? J. Daniel Hays provides a framework in his essay “Applying the Old Testament Law Today”.
Hays’ Essay Daniel Hays discusses two approaches to applying Old Testament Law. The first approach is the Traditional Approach. Essentially the traditional approach divides the old law into three separate types of instructions: moral, civil, and ceremonial laws. While the laws that fall into one of these three categories sometimes can be clearly defined, Hays points out that the classification of certain laws into one of these three categories is quite arbitrary. Several deficiencies are pointed out in the essay: distinctions between types of laws are arbitrary, Legal Material is embedded in the text and should be interpreted accordingly, and the traditional approach does not consider the Law’s theological context. These deficiencies point to one fact; that the traditional approach allows the believer to choose which laws God wants them to observe and which laws the believer need not be concerned with. The problem with this is that according to the Old Law itself any law that was not observed constituted sin, the Apostle Paul wrote extensively about this in his Epistles. Hays’ article points out another approach to understanding Old Testament Law, the principlism approach.
Principlism
Principlism is an approach to understanding Old Testament Law that best fits the criteria given by Hays as one that: treats all Old Testament Scripture as
Bibliography: Hays, J. Daniels, “Applying the Old Testament Law Today”, Bibliotheca Sacra 158: 629 (2001): 21-35.