Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 149:595 (Jul 1992)
Article: Periodical Reviews
Author: Anonymous

BSac 149:595 (Jul 92) p. 370

Periodical Reviews

“The Law of Moses and the Christian: A Compromise,” David A. Dorsey, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 34 (September 1991): 321-34.

This article discusses the controversial issue of the applicability of the Old Testament Law to New Testament believers. Dorsey summarizes (but does not critique) the views of Marcion, dispensationalism, covenant theology, Seventh-day Adventism, reconstructionism, and the Worldwide Church of God before suggesting his own solution to the problem. His view is that “legally, none of the 613 stipulations of the Sinaitic covenant are binding upon us, including the so-called moral laws, while in a revelatory and pedagogical sense all 613 are binding upon us, including the ceremonial and civic laws” (p. 325).

Dorsey argues convincingly that the Old Testament Law was given to a particular nation in a distinctive time and place, maintaining that much of it would be “inapplicable, unintelligible, and even unfulfillable” to Christians living in different areas and cultures. He goes on to demonstrate, following Ryrie, that the popular tripartite division of the Law into moral, ceremonial, and judicial categories lacks adequate biblical support. Dorsey writes, “Which of the 613 laws is not ‘moral’? The Sabbath, the parapet law, the prohibition against muzzling of the treading ox—all the so-called ‘ceremonial’ and ‘civic’ laws embody or flesh out eternal moral and ethical principles. Conversely a number of the laws popularly categorized as ‘moral’ contain time-bound and culture-bound elements” (p. 330). These arguments, together with New Testament statements about the Law, provide strong support for the idea that “the Mosaic law in its entirety be removed from the backs of Christians” (p. 331).

Dorsey recognizes that this conclusion must be tempered by the fact that the Old Testament is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). For this reason he argues that “all 613 laws are profoundly binding upon Christians in a revelatory and pedagogical sense” (p. 331). What he means by this is that believers can learn a great deal from the Law as it is studied “over the shoulder of the

BSac 149:595 (Jul 92) p. 371

Israelite.” Even though the Law was “tailor-made for another people in another situation, it was tailor-made by the One we seek to know and serve…. Each law issued by God to ancient Israel (like each declaration by God through the prophets) reflects God’s mind and ways and is therefore a theological treasure” (p. 332).

Dorsey concludes the article with several hermeneutical sug...