(Scriptures NASB, some emphasis) by Matt Sacra
It is unfortunate how often people today reject the words of Jesus, the New Testament, and the entire Bible itself. Some of us have noticed a recent rejection trend among those who have come to believe in one God, the Father of our lord and savior Jesus the Messiah. This rejection I want to address is one by those who are against the use of the phrase “law of Moses” or “the law of Moses” because they say it is only “the law of God.” Although it is true that there is only one Lawgiver (Jas 4:12), the hearts of these people are no different than the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They place their faith and trust in an obsolete covenant (Heb 7:11-12, 18-19, 8:13, 9:9-10), and disregard the new. And because of this, they carry on today the Pharisees’ works in placing heavy yokes of bondage on all others that which they themselves cannot bear (Matt 23:4, Acts 15:10). They sadly have no problem subjecting professing Christians under Mosaic law, and they have no problem rejecting the law of Messiah in the New Covenant.
No, in fact many of those uncomfortable with the phrase “law of Moses” place themselves and all of Christianity under the Old Covenant. They often tout phrases such as “I hate calling it ‘the law of Moses’ because it is the law of God” or “Stop calling it ‘the law of Moses!’ It is God’s law, not Moses’!” But is this rational? More importantly, is it biblical to say such things? What is the spirit behind those who speak in these ways?
Is it rational? Is it rational to be bothered by the phrase “law of Moses?” We know it was God who commanded circumcision to Abraham in Genesis 17, and yet Jesus says in John 7:22 “Moses has given you circumcision” followed by either Jesus’ or John’s comment “not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers”, alluding to the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After all, these three and Moses were agents used by God to convey His truths and commands. John used this agency concept in John 4 to describe what reached the Pharisees’ ears, namely that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (the Baptist). John’s gospel comments “although Jesus himself was not baptizing; rather his disciples were” (4:2). We see agency at work with the Roman centurion in Luke 7:6 who “sent friends” to Jesus – friends who spoke for the centurion “I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.” Matthew 8:5 and 8:8 share the same incident with “a centurion came to him” and “the centurion replied.” Whether it was the centurion himself as Matthew records, or his friends as Luke records, the result is the same – the words came from the centurion originally. In fact, just before this in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus himself told the healed leper to “present the offering Moses commanded.”
Considering these agency truths and examples, it seems quite irrational to split hairs and reject the phrase “law of Moses” as the Sinai Covenant came from God by or through Moses. I calmly suggest that those bothered by those of us who say, “the law of Moses” in contrast to “the law of Christ” (1 Cor 9:21, Gal 6:2) are irrationally attempting to elevate Mosaic law through their words to a higher status – and they are attempting to correct or control our words by eliminating the phrase from our messages. They want us to either remove “the law of Christ” and “the law of Moses” from our lips, or they wish us to completely replace them with “law of God” (as an elevated term for Mosaic Law).
Is it biblical? Is it biblical for anyone to tell us to stop calling it “the law of Moses?” Not according to the Old Testament. Although the Old Testament does refer to “the law of Moses” as “the law of God” (or “LORD/YHWH”) on occasion (Joshua 24:26, cp Ezra 7:6, 10), it records 14 occurrences of the phrase “the law of Moses” (or b-torah mosheh in Hebrew). Joshua mentions it thrice (8:31, 32, 23:6), the authors of Kings and Chronicles say it five times (1 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 14:6, 2 Kings 23:25, 2 Chronicles 23:18, 2 Chronicles 30:16), Ezra uses the phrase twice (3:2, 7:6), and Nehemiah once (8:1). Daniel has no problem recording the phrase “the law of Moses” twice (9:11, 13), and God Himself says via Malachi 4:4 to those under the Old Covenant “Remember the law of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.” If God Himself had no problem calling it “the law of Moses” – we dare not correct anyone else saying the phrase! Also note God’s point here in Malachi that this law was “for all Israel” with no hint of the rest of the world or nations in mind.
This should be enough to convince us there is nothing wrong with calling Mosaic law “the law of Moses”, but let’s quickly examine the New Testament for the phrase (“nomon/nomo/nomos Mouseos” in Greek). Luke 2:22 is the first gospel occurrence. Both Luke and John even record Jesus using the phrase. In Luke 24:44 Jesus reminds his disciples of his previous words that those things “written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets must be fulfilled.” Jesus also tells his listeners in John 7:23 “If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken…” indicating again, that he has no problem calling it such. Neither Jesus nor his disciples insist upon calling it “the law of God” instead of “the law of Moses.” Paul in Acts 13:39, not only shares with his listeners how they have more freedom in the New Covenant through Christ, but specifically states they “could not be freed through the law of Moses.” Strangely enough, in Acts 15:5, even some Pharisees who wrongly insisted upon new gentile converts being circumcised and directed to “observe the law of Moses” didn’t think the phrase was too ‘lowly’ for God’s Old Covenant law. Luke concludes the book of Acts with Paul persuading his hearers about the kingdom of God, and Jesus from “both the law of Moses and from the prophets” (Acts 28:23). Finally, Paul quotes it as “the law of Moses” in 1 Corinthians 9:9, and the Hebrews author contrasts the punishment for those who formerly “ignored the law of Moses” (Heb 10:28), with those who in verse 29 receive a worse punishment for trampling the Son of God underfoot, and regarding the blood of the covenant as unclean. The Hebrews writer not only uses the phrase some suppose as ‘wrong’, but explicitly elevates Christ’s blood and the New Covenant above the law of Moses here.
What spirit are they of? So what spirit are they of – those who despise the phrase “the law of Moses” and despise its inferiority to the New Covenant Law of Christ? Some people may still be searching out these matters, and some people may be easily influenced by those trumpeting all Mosaic law commands as a salvation or obedience issue. Yet there are still those who reject the rational and biblical use of the phrase because they are anti-Christ. No, I don’t mean the antichrist figure of the end times, but simply that some people hate the law of Christ so much, they simply merge it with the law of Moses or dismiss it entirely. They want the law of Moses to be the only law of God ever, rather than the law of God now being the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21) in the New Covenant.
When Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume people, it was from God in the Old Covenant (2 Kings 1:10). Yet the Messiah who preached the New Covenant rebuked his disciples for such a fire-consuming mindset, as some manuscripts record in Luke 9:55 with the words “you do not know what spirit you are of.” Jesus came to save lives, not destroy them. His goal was to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17), to bring it to its full meaning, not merely repeat it. According to Jesus, he did just that – he fulfilled it as he explained to his disciples in Luke 24:44. So what spirit are we of, if we insist on banning a phrase which occurs 22 times (14 Old Testament – one of which is God himself, 8 New Testament – two of which are Jesus himself)? Would we correct the authors of these verses below? Would we correct Jesus or God? If not, why would anyone correct those of us who preach the New Covenant and call the Old Covenant by one of its biblical, rational, and proper names – “the law of Moses.”
-Joshua 8:31, 32, 23:6
-1 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 14:6, 23:25
-2 Chronicles 23:18, 30:16
-Ezra 3:2, 7:6
-Nehemiah 8:1
-Daniel 9:11, 13
-Malachi 4:4 (God Himself)
-Luke 2:22, 24:44 (Jesus himself)
-John 7:23 (Jesus himself)
-Acts 13:39, 15:5, 28:23
-1 Corinthians 9:9
-Hebrews 10:28
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