Everything that belonged to the Old Covenant theocracy is now spiritualized in Christ. It was not merely the types, shadows, and ordinances. It was the ceremonial and civil laws belonging to the Mosaic economy. This is substantiated exegetically by the way in which the Apostles utilized Old Covenant civil laws in their letters to the New Covenant churches. In his excellent JETS article, “The Scriptures Were Written For Our Instruction,” George Knight persuasively asserts that everything in Scripture, including the Old Covenant theocratic case laws, now has a spiritual application to the New Covenant community. He wrote,
In 1 Cor 9:8 ff., [the Apostle] appeals to the theocratic case law that specifies that oxen must not be muzzled when threshing (citing Deut 25:4 in 1 Cor 9:9). Paul is persuaded that this law, like others, reflects God’s view of how people should relate not only to animals but also to human beings when those human beings are involved in laboring for our benefit. . This is not the only situation in which Paul appeals to the theocratic case laws. He does it also earlier in 1 Cor 5:13. There he refers to one or more of the passages in Deuteronomy in which God in his written word instructs the people of God to remove the unrepentant wicked man from their midst (which in the OT context is done by stoning him). And therefore Paul’s entire description of the action to be taken is that of removing the man from their midst and not associating with him, not even eating with him. We note however that the action Paul enjoins is not that of stoning but rather of putting him out of the fellowship with a view to his repentance (cf. 1 Cor 5:5). That this spiritual action becomes the NT principle for church discipline in general, rather than the act of stoning, is borne out by his comments in 2 Cor 2:6–8 where he urges that one who had been disciplined should be forgiven, comforted and restored (impossible if he has been stoned to death). Paul’s utilization of this theocratic case law shows that he regards it as teaching an important principle that must be followed by the Church, even though not in the theocratic form of stoning to death but rather in the form appropriate to the non-theocratic, non-national spiritual entity that the Church is in distinction from the Israel of the OT. Here the apostle takes account of the difference that fulfillment has brought about and at the same time maintains the principle of continuity for the instruction as it relates to the Church, and in doing so he also has written for our instruction.
Those who have been swept up with various forms of theonomy (or Christian Nationalism) should reflect deeply on the redemptive-historical role of the Old Covenant civil law as well as on how the Apostles spiritually applied it to the New Covenant church. To move beyond these things is to impose an artificial, underdeveloped, and over realized worldview on the Scriptures rather than to allow Scripture to determine our understanding of the precise relationship between the Old Covenant theocracy and the New Covenant church.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
