While putting the Purim series together, I discovered I never finished the post about Frank Turek’s view of the Old Testament commandments. My apologies for my delinquency. If you want to read part one, you can do so here. And part two, below.
Frank’s standard for New Testament Christians is that we only have to live by the commandments that were repeated in the New Testament, not all of them in the Law of Moses. Is that what the Bible says?
First, let’s define the word standard. There are several definitions of standard depending on how the word is used. In this case, a standard is a level of quality or attainment, and it is an idea or thing used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative evaluations. There needs to be a standard in order to measure something and compare those things. As a carpenter, you wouldn’t just grab and use a board in a project unless you first checked the length. A tape measure is a standard used to measure the board to the desired length to ensure the project goes together correctly. So, what is the standard for Christian living?
Before time began, God had a standard. That standard is obedience. God gave Adam one commandment. Genesis 2:16-17 “And YHWH God commanded the man, saying, ‘From every tree of the garden you may freely eat, 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.'” Adam only had one commandment and still disobeyed. He didn’t measure up to the standard that God has. That standard hasn’t changed even today because God does not change.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of change.”
James 1:17
Psalm 33:11 “The counsel of YHWH stands for all time, The thoughts of His heart from generation to generation.”
The Old Testament tells us that His counsel stands for all time and the New Testament tells us that there is no change in Him. We should be able to trust God because He does NOT change. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” If that is true, then how can it also be true that God’s commandments changed from the Old to the New Testaments? Let’s examine this further.
Paul warned Timothy in his second letter that imposters of the faith would come in to deceive people, and then he wrote this: “You, however, continue in what you have learned and what you have become convinced of. For you know from whom you have learned, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to make you wise, leading to salvation through trusting in Messiah Yeshua.” (2 Timothy 3:14-15). Timothy had been taught the sacred writings from his childhood? Paul is talking about the Tanakh, the Hebrew Scriptures, what we today call the Old Testament. Paul told Timothy that what he was taught from the Old Testament is what leads to salvation through faith in Christ. And then Paul wrote a well-known verse in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. “All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the person belonging to God may be capable, fully equipped for every good deed.” The only Scripture they had at that time was the Old Testament. That is what Paul is calling ‘All Scripture’. Everything in the Old Testament is profitable for teaching, correcting and training. How could Frank say that we don’t have to listen to any of the commandments in Old Testament unless they are repeated in the New Testament if Paul is saying that ALL of the Old Testament is to be used? But there is more.
All authority has been given to Yeshua (Jesus). What He said is what we should heed. When His authority was questioned by some Jewish leaders in John 7, He said in verse 16 and 17, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on My own authority.” Stop. How would anyone know the will of God? By knowing God’s standard. And what is God’s standard? His standard is what He expects us to obey. And that would be found in the only Scriptures they had at that time. So, Yeshua is telling them to compare what He is teaching with God’s standard found in the Old Testament, then they will know that He is not teaching on His own authority. Now let’s bring up Frank’s standard that we only have to obey what was repeated in the New Testament. Does that equate to what Yeshua said? No, becaue He told us to compare it to what God said in the Old Testament. Just because something is not repeated, it doesn’t mean we can now ignore some of God’s commandments. And there’s a third witness to this.
The temptation of Yeshua is recorded in Matthew 4. It begins with the devil telling Yeshua to turn stones into bread so He can have something to eat. He replies, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (verse 4). This comes from Dueteronomy 8:3 where Moses is reminding the Israelites that God commanded them to obey everything He had said and that God gave them the manna in their hunger to show them “that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” We are to obey all the God said, not just what is repeated in the New Testament. The last chapter of Ecclesiates has Solomon saying that all the knowledge that is written in books can be good to study and know, but it can bring weariness because in “the end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
This is the standard of God. What Timothy learned from the Scriptures as a boy is what leads to salvation. All of Scripture is profitable. The teachings of the Messiah can be found in what God said in the Scriptures. We are to live by every word that God says. And the whole duty of man is to fear God and KEEP His commandments. I’m sorry, but Frank’s standard does not match God’s standard.
It’s time to raze our standard and raise God’s standard.
