TV: How much of this relate to us, today?

MM: Some of them apply in principle but not in particular. In other words, the principle behind it still applies but the exact details no longer apply. The difference has to do with being a chosen nation as opposed to be a being a chosen church.

Would you mind giving this reply specifically relating to the chapter identification I made?

TV: Would you mind giving this reply specifically relating to the chapter identification I made?

MM: Sure. Here is a sample of what I mean (of course, it goes much deeper):

Leviticus chapters 1-7 Laws on offerings.

MM: The manner in which offerings were made is symbolic of the death of Jesus. It verifies that Jesus is Messiah. Today it encourages us to offer our very best for the Lord.

Leviticus chapters 8-9 The anointing of the tabernacle and priesthood.

MM: It illustrates how holy and sacred Jesus is, and how important holiness and faithfulness are.

Leviticus chapters 10 The unclean fire of Nadab and Abihu

MM: Same thing as above.

Leviticus chapters 11 Laws on food animals

MM: It teaches us how important health is, that our bodies are the temple of God.

Leviticus chapters 12-15 Laws on uncleanness before the Lord

MM: Same as above.

Leviticus chapters 16 Laws for the priest for the day of atonement

MM: It teaches us how God will eliminate confessed and pardoned sins in order to save sinners and to restore paradise lost.

As far as I can see, you are saying that the first 16 chapters of leviticus are usefull to us by what they tell us about God and ourselves/our relationship with God. I agree. What I do not see is any indication that the contents of leviticus chapters 1-16 is still binding law for us today. Again I agree.

Thomas

The dietary laws still apply (chapter 11).

But previously you said:

"Leviticus chapters 11 Laws on food animals

MM: It teaches us how important health is, that our bodies are the temple of God."

So does chapter 11 contain teaching to help us understand how important health is, or does it contain law which if broken will be punished as it is written down? Cant be both at the same time. Either it is teaching us something or it is comanding us something.

Tomas what law do you think was written on Christ's heart if it was not the Law of Moses? Isn't it true that the principles of the Ten Commandments are accurately reflected throughout all of the Mosaic Law? Isn't is true that this same moral law originates in the heart and character of Christ, the Word? Do you think the Law of Moses creates Pharisees? Pharisees create themselves by greiving away the Holy Spirit and refusing submission to God and to the "weighier matters" of His Law.

The Mosaic Law is full of human and divine compassion and justice. Christ was able to pour out the character of God into it because His sacrifice is eternal. The character of God didn't improve with age so that we serve a new and improved, post-Calvary God. The law is as eternal as His sacrifice. Since His sacrifice is eternal, His character was the same at Sinai as it was at Calvary.

Mark, I don't think you're responding to the spirit of Thomas' point. His (obvious to me) intention in speaking of an emphasis of the law is an emphasis of the law itself (devoid of God; like a bunch of rules) might produce good conduct, but will produce neither love or compassion. He's not speaking against the law, but against an unadvised emphasis upon it.


Tom

Mark:
Hos 6:6 For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings. [says the Lord]

Rom 3:20 Therefore, no human being will be justified in God's sight by means of the works prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the full knowledge of sin.
Rom 3:21 But now, apart from the law, God's righteousness is revealed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets-
Rom 3:22 God's righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
Rom 3:23 since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory.
Rom 3:24 By his grace they are justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Rom 3:25 whom God offered as a place where atonement by Christ's blood could occur through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past.
Rom 3:26 He wanted to demonstrate at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the person who has the faithfulness of Jesus.
Rom 3:27 What, then, is there to boast about? That has been eliminated. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on the principle of faith.
Rom 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works prescribed by the law.
Rom 3:29 Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the gentiles, too? Yes, of the gentiles, too,
Rom 3:30 since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised by that same faith.
Rom 3:31 Do we, then, abolish the law by this faith? Of course not! Instead, we uphold the law.

Rom 7:1 Don't you realize, brothers-for I am speaking to people who know the law-that the law can press its claims over a person only as long as he is alive?
Rom 7:2 For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning her husband.
Rom 7:3 So while her husband is living, she will be called an adulterer even if she lives with another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from this law, so that she is not an adulterer if she marries another man.
Rom 7:4 In the same way, my brothers, through Christ's body you also died as far as the law is concerned, so that you may belong to another person, the one who was raised from the dead, and may bear fruit for God.
Rom 7:5 For while we were living in the flesh, sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies to bear fruit for death.
Rom 7:6 But now we have been released from the law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old written code.
Rom 7:7 What should we say, then? Is the law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn't have known sin if it had not been for the law. For I wouldn't have known what it means to covet if the law had not said, "You must not covet."
Rom 7:8 But sin seized the opportunity provided by this commandment and produced in me all kinds of sinful desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
Rom 7:9 At one time I was alive without any connection to the law. But when the commandment came, sin sprang to life,
Rom 7:10 and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
Rom 7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity provided by the commandment, deceived me and used it to kill me.
Rom 7:12 So then, the law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, just, and good.
Rom 7:13 Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the commandment sin might become more sinful than ever.

Rom 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin. He condemned sin in the flesh
Rom 8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 To set our minds on the flesh leads to death, but to set our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace.
Rom 8:7 That is why the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God. For it refuses to submit to the authority of God's law because it is powerless to do so.

Tomas you quoted this:
That quote summarizes my point. The law has no power to convert. But it does have power to convict. That is its purpose. What I'm advocating is that we allow it to do its intended work in our hearts so we can live the spirit filled life - the law of the Spirit of life. The only way that will happen is if we begin to have some of the same appreciation for the law - its beauty and wisdom and balance - that the great men and women of scripture did, including all of the Apostles.