The Laws Of God : Are Some More Important Than Others And Are They Still Relevant Today?

Everyone knows a bit about the laws of God. I don't think I know anyone who has not heard of the Ten Commandments. Most may not be able to recite all ten but they do know that there are ten specific laws that, when followed, keep a person free from sin.

God's laws are written of in many places of the Bible. As a matter of fact, one could say that there is not a part of the Bible where the law is not mentioned. But the bulk of the law, that is the details in the law that God gave to the Israelites, is recorded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Among the list of laws there are the well known ones and there are the not so well known ones. There are the loved ones and there are the laws that are not loved. There are even laws that make sense to most and laws that do not make sense to the majority. So, are there laws that are more important than others and are there some laws that we can forget about and others we have to remember?

The Ten Commandments is a list of ten commands that the Lord gave the Israelite people to follow. They are ten laws that they were ordered to obey. The Ten Commandments were spoken of in both the Old and the New Testaments and they are probably the best known commandments of God today.

They are found in The Book of Exodus Chapter 20 and among them are the ones that we are all taught not to do : Do not lie, do not steal, do not kill. These three are the ones that most people agree upon.

People generally agree that if these ten commandments are obeyed, then all of the laws of God will be obeyed.

Why is this?

Well, the first command is to have no other gods besides the Lord God. If the Lord God is the only god that people serve, and they serve Him as God, then they will obey Him. If, however, they do not see Him as God, or share worship of Him with other foreign gods, then it will be easy for them to disobey Him. Serving God as God makes it much easier to obey His commands.

Within the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we find the list of all the laws that, if broken, cause us to sin. We literally read God's list of things that are wrong. It is an extremely detailed list and God is quite specific about some things and adamant on others. There are words like 'abomination' which is the feeling of extreme disgust and hatred according to Noah Webster. There are chapters on cleanliness and what one should do if he is found unclean. There are passages concerning freedom and slavery, as well as marriage and single life. In short, there are laws for everything.

Some of the laws that people either have a problem with, do not understand, or dismiss entirely are:

• The laws concerning the priests
• The laws concerning what you should eat
• The laws concerning cleanliness
• The laws concerning slavery

Are these laws insignificant? Or do they matter less than others?

The answer is no.

Every law of God is important and when a law is broken, it is a sin.

In The Book of Exodus and in The Book of Deuteronomy, slavery and the laws concerning slavery exists. Many do not like to talk about these laws, and some Christians avoid them entirely because they think that God condones slavery.

The fact of the matter is, once there is sin in the world, slavery will exist. Slavery exists today and it will exist tomorrow too. People like to have charge over others and in some cases, people end up having charge over others through certain circumstances. God made laws concerning slavery because slavery existed and continues to exist. Consider the fact that mankind is slave to sin and the only thing that frees us from that slavery is salvation through Jesus Christ. We are released and free to be about our business. The only thing is, we make our business aligned with the Lord's and we choose to go and serve Him.

Since, according to my reasoning above, the only righteous slavery belongs to the Lord, then I would have to believe that the Lord does not condone slavery and indeed wants all men to be free from that type of life. Hence the jubilee:

"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." Leviticus 25:10 K.J.V.

The laws concerning the priests have everything to do with us. The priests and the way they dressed and presented themselves in the Holy of Holies was and is desperately important. If the priests did not follow the rules that God gave them and entered the place without His approval, they would suffer the consequences and so would the rest of the people as well. The sacrifice that they presented would not be acceptable to God and everything that they did wrong would be a sin on them and a sin on the people they represented. The priests' actions are what led God to be pleased with the people or displeased.

So What Does That Have To Do With Me Today?

Well, although it may seem so, God's law does not have an expiry date and so it is in effect today. These rules were and are very specific and according to the law of God a priest must fulfill these specifications so that his sacrifice can and will be accepted. Jesus fulfills these specifications and not only that, He is the sacrifice. That is what these laws have to do with you. every law concerning the priests and the sacrifice is a law that Jesus obeyed and fulfilled making His sacrifice acceptable to God for all eternity.

Yes, yes and yes. The Lord still hates sin and those who break the law are still under sin and slaves to sin if they have not repented and attained salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. What was an abomination to Him then, is an abomination to Him now. What He says we should not eat, we should not eat.

Do We Have To Obey Every Law?

We should. But we can't. This body is a fleshly one, prone to sin and there is no escaping it. Through grace, the Holy Spirit does prevent us from sinning often. We will slip because we are not Jesus Christ. He is the only human who never sinned. The laws of God are relevant and should be respected. What God says is wrong is wrong and there is no getting away from it. He does not bargain and He does not need your opinion on it. It is so and it is great because we have an advocate, sent by the Father, a Brother who has obeyed all and fulfilled all and it is on His ticket that we are able to have eternal glory.

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