Publisher's Synopsis
Generally Christians have different approaches to the Mosaic Law. Some view it as completely out of date in every sense and not even worth reading. Some would say that all the laws in the Old Testament should be ignored unless they are restated in the New Testament. Others take the Mosaic law even more seriously and break it into tidy divisions: moral, ceremonial (sacrifices, feasts, and food laws), and civil law. Yet others treat the ten commandments as completely separate from the other 600+ laws and say that only these ten commandments are relevant to Christians. This aspect of the issues is relevant to those who wish to keep the Sabbath. And finally, many understand that, while Christians are not under any of the regulations found in the Mosaic law, all of these regulations: case law, and even ceremonial and civil laws, contain principles which can be gleaned from the texts and applied in the Christian's life. The fact is that Jesus highly valued the Mosaic Law. Nevertheless, he recognized that it would have served its purpose by the end of his life; so he instructed his emissaries to make this clear in their letters of encouragement and teaching for the new followers. So this book analyses all these issues to get clarification and to show that the provision of the New Covenant, with its abundance of blessings, is the way forward for Christians, while not ignoring the value of the Mosaic Law. So did Jesus introduce new and much stricter laws, while overturning the principles contained in the Mosaic law? Or did he show how that law should always have been applied by the Israelites to their full benefit and therefore how Christians may benefit from it? A further factor is that if one ignores the principles contained in those laws one would be without much guidance from the New Testament on certain subjects e.g. sex outside of marriage, or on the seriousness of rape etc. Certainly this book references a wealth of Scriptures to get as clear a picture as is possible on this sometimes difficult subject.
