Myself, I separate the Laws of God from the laws of men. And some of what appears in the Bible were laws created by men. Not unlike how government agencies promulgate rules after Congress issues a law, the clerics and governments of old produced their own laws which supposedly flowed from the Ten Commandments.
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But what of the laws of men? How do we identify them?
Myself, I posit that any of the 613 laws that has been rendered obsolete by time was a creation of men. It is not a disobedience to ignore these laws anymore than it is the act of a scofflaw to refuse to hold a red lamp in front of their car when it is being driven at night. That used to be the law in much of the USA circa 1900-1915.
Here is where it seems that you are making the assumption that a certain amount of laws in the Bible are man's laws, rather than God's laws. While I wholeheartedly agree that many of these laws no longer apply to us today (for various solid reasons), I think the narrative portions of the Torah are clear that God did indeed give these laws directly to the people of the time. Whenever God gives a law in the Torah they are scriptural dictated from the perspective of Yahweh himself, implying he was indeed the one who gave those laws.
The Talmud? As christians, I think it is very clear that these ARE man's laws, especially concerning the perverse and immoral nature of many of them. But they are not the Torah. Christian theology hilds that the Torah was truly inspired by god, written for our edification and understanding, but to a people that pre-existed us. That is where we have to understand the nuance between different types of laws to see which do and don't apply to us still today (i.e. Moral law has and always will exsist, but ceremonial/cultural laws were for a specific historical people group).
The Jewish authorities were so stuck in their stupid laws that they preferred people should needlessly suffer as opposed to receiving physical and spiritual healing through Christ Jesus, the Son of God.
Jesus spurned those laws because they did not come from God.
I'm not sure that I would say spurned, per se, as Jesus said in Matthew 5:17:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
Fulfill is the key word there, as it respects the old laws themselves, while indicating a new covenant being set in place.
The Apostles followed Jesus and in Acts 5:29 they made clear that they followed the Laws of God and not the laws of men.
It follows then that in any situation where Jesus followed the Laws of God while spurning and often condemning the laws of men that He remained sinless. Breaking an unjust religious law can then be a Godly act.
I assert that God has instilled in His people a moral authority that urges us to follow a Higher Authority and to find God's Law in our hearts and not just in the law books or in the religious texts.
I partially agree with this in that God does indeed instill eternity and hearts of men, including special revelation and a personal relationship with him, but the Bible is a massively useful resource in understanding the overall will of God in that it is out basis of general revelation. Even the purest of Hearts can be lead astray, but even still, sin can still creep in by following General revelation/the law.
A la Romans 7:7-8:
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
There are a number of Old Testament laws that have been rendered obsolete by time.
- We no longer wear tassels (tzitzits) on our garments.
- We no longer concern ourselves of wearing mixed fabrics. Right now I am wearing cotton, spandex, satin, polyester, and no one cares.
- We no longer sacrifice animals, food, or wine at temples that no longer exist.
- We do not perform cleansing rituals partly because modern standards of hygiene and dress have obviated such practices. Most of us take a shower before worship anyway and performing a cleansing ritual would be redundant.
- We do not slaughter Passover lambs. We do not need to even though the law was never revoked.
- We do not circumcise male babies at birth as a rule.
- We do not sacrifice first born animals nor do we redeem first born sons.
- The laws regarding the treatment of slaves are ignored because we no longer have slaves.
- We do not tie phylacteries onto our foreheads.
- We eat pork and shellfish because we know how to safely handle them now. Bacon...mmmmmmm.
- Etc.
Meanwhile laws that came from God Himself stand the test of time and obeying them reveals their validity.
I think I generally agree with this, because, even though in this community we recognize the flaws of over-reliance on tradition, tradition can also be a useful tool in helping us get closer to God. I think the fact that so many Old Testament laws have fallen away in modern Christianity is a good thing, and indicative of the truth: however, we can't simply assume that tradition in and of itsself is righteous... Take monogamy-only for example
If we base our understanding of God solely on tradition, we are falling into the same pitfalls that the Catholic Church fell into and needed to be rendered by the Reformation. Yet on the other side of the juxtaposition, if we didn't adhere to Tradition at all, Christianity would likely have split up into a million different cults.
I'm just trying to say that it is a juxtaposition that we constantly need to balance while understanding the lord.
Those are some of my continued thoughts on this matter, especially where it comes to the notion that certain laws in the Bible came from Men, rather than God.
