The LGBT Old Testament Challenge

In my last post Did the Church Get it Wrong on Gay People?, where I addressed the recent article in USA Today that affirmed that very question, I made the recommendation that every Christian today needs to be able to answer a frequent challenge from the LGBT community.  That challenge goes like this, “Since the Old Testament has laws you do not obey, such as certain dietary regulations against pork, aren’t you illegitimately picking and choosing what you want to obey from the Bible?”  The essence of the challenge is to take away an authoritative position.  If the Bible is not being used consistently, then you have no legitimate grounds for using it at all.  And if you can’t use the Bible, then your opposition against LGBT issues is not from a position of authority but of personal preference.  Personal preference will rightly receive the charge of bigotry, and it will also rightly be seen as having no bearing upon any other person. 

So how does the Christian answer this challenge of cherry-picking the OT?  You need to prepare yourself because the answer requires explanations that touch on several really large issues of God’s redemptive plan.   Simple statements, if left by themselves will leave a lot of holes that most will not be satisfied with. 

Let me try to give you the simplest statement I can for a good starting place.  Here is that statement: The only laws that Christians need to observe from the Old Testament are the ones that are carried over and stated in the New Testament.  This is a good place to start, but it immediately demands explanations such as OT laws in play during the four Gospels, questions about the 10 commandments, and why Christians should continue to keep the OT in their Bibles. 

As a quick aside, let me deal with that last follow-on issue.  Why should Christians keep the OT in their Bibles if we only need what carries over into the NT?  In a sense you could call this macro cherry-picking.  If the whole Bible is God’s word, aren’t we still picking what we want (the NT) and ignoring the rest (OT).  Sadly, practically speaking, this is what many Christians do and it is the very reason this challenge from the LGBT carries so much weight.  Many Christians simply don’t know what to do with the OT and so they never touch it.  The Christian church needs the OT because it is so much more than just a set of laws.  Just the book of Genesis alone frames our whole worldview regarding the events of creation, the nature of man as male and female in God’s image, the work of man, the nature of marriage and family, the nature of sin and the fall of creation, the introduction of the good news of grace and a redemption, the physical situation of the earth after the flood, the nature of government, and God’s redemption through covenants with Abraham.  On top of all of that, through the rest of the OT you have countless displays of God’s power, God’s holiness, God’s grace, God’s wisdom, how God’s communicates, principles for living, prophecies about the messiah, and prophecies about the end times.  Therefore, we need every word of the OT.  Every law, every example, and every work of God instructs the NT Christian in countless ways, without which Christian maturity would be practically impossible to achieve.  Most assuredly, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable… 2 Timothy 3:16

So what about the laws?  That is where the challenge arises because it is in the Mosaic laws where we find the explicit command forbidding homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22) and cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22:5), alongside commands forbidding eating and regulating clothing.  Let me give you the next simple statement that will need to be filled out.  The Mosaic law was given to distinguish God’s chosen people, the Israelites, from all other peoples.  The Israelites were called through the Mosaic covenant to be distinct in every area of living so that they would represent God’s holiness, display God’s power, trust God’s redeeming grace, and hope in God’s covenant promises.  Additionally, since God promised a Messiah would come through this people, there needed to be a way to exactly know who this people was.  Therefore, God defined what every aspect of their life should be like, from food to clothes to worship, so this distinction would be clear.  Yet, the Israelite people failed constantly in all of it.  Their distinction from other nations was regularly lost as Israel acted like the nations around them.  This displayed their need for a Messiah and for a new covenant which could change their hearts.  Yet, God always preserved a remnant, and because of God’s faithfulness there was still an Israel for Jesus to be born through. 

Therefore, after Jesus accomplished redemption and ascended back to heaven, the NT church did not need the Mosaic law like the Israelite nation needed it.  Jesus had obeyed every law perfectly, fulfilled every prophecy completely, and became the reality that every type and shadow had pointed to.  And so, the Mosaic Law is set aside because all of that law, including the Ten Commandments has been fulfilled.  God is no longer trying to distinguish a certain ethnic nation by defining every aspect of their lives.  Now His people are from every culture of the world and are marked by being indwelt by the Spirit and members of the church. 

It will be helpful to say a few words about the 10 Commandments.  They were a part of Mosaic Law and therefore are also set aside.  Most people probably think we use the 10 Commandments in the NT church, right?  Not technically.  Only nine are stated for us in the NT; the Sabbath law was connected directly to the Israelite people and we in the church do not observe the Sabbath which is on Saturday.  We celebrate the resurrection on Sunday, and rest in the completed work of Christ, not in the end of the work of creation.  What about the other 9 commands?  The other 9 are carried over not because they are the 10 Commandments, but because they are connected to God’s holy character.  They reflect who God is and how all people everywhere should operate.  They are the law of Christ and fulfill what it is to love people and to love God (Romans 13:8-10).

Therefore, we are not cherry-picking the OT when we eat our bacon but reject homosexuality and transgenderism.  Sexuality and marriage are together a part of the creation order, pointing to the gospel realities of Christ and his bride the church, and apply universally.  It is not something that was only for the nation of Israel to observe.  This is why Jesus points to God’s creation of Adam and Eve when asked about marriage, and it is why homosexuality is still forbidden in the NT letters. 

Let me summarize this again and hopefully get it crystalized in your mind.  You need to explain to our LGBT-sympathizing friends that the Bible teaches us the OT law was for a specific people and for a specific purpose.  It was for the Israelites, and its purpose was to set them apart from the world and wholly for God.  They failed, but success was found in Christ.  He was so perfectly obedient, that he can now make us, by the transforming grace of the gospel, the people of God.  The church is therefore not under those laws.  Many of the OT laws are given again in the NT because they reflect God’s character, much like two states can have overlap in their separate legal codes.  The commands about sexual practice are a part of those universal morals that reflect God’s design.  Additionally, marriage and sexuality were established in Genesis 1 and 2, before the law, as one man and one woman in a one-flesh life-long commitment.  This is reiterated in the Bible from beginning to end and, importantly, has been reiterated in Christian history and doctrine from the beginning to the late 20^th century.  The sexual revolution of the 60’s and blind-eye toward divorce has opened the floodgates of acid upon God’s design for sex and marriage. 

We must not stand by and leave the floodgates open.  God’s people, the church, must speak the truth, speak it love, call people to life-giving repentance and faith in Christ, and be a place where a refuge of renewal and restoration can be found at the hands of those who have already been renewed and restored by grace.  Love rejoices with the truth (1 Cor. 13:6) and we will only be loving when we defend and declare the truth of God’s design for marriage and family.