If God condemned something in the past does that mean the law remains?
Question:
Hello!
I came across a website today about Leviticus and homosexuality. At the bottom it said the following: "Now, if God never changes and never goes back on His word, what He says in Leviticus stands for all time. Thus, what He condemns in the Old Testament remains condemned into the New Testament and to the end of time itself. Therefore, with very simple biblical logic we can show that God condemned homosexuality in the past, and continues to condemn it in the present and into the future. Ignorant 'Christians' do not have the freedom, or the biblical sanction, to change what God says!" Does this mean that Leviticus is still in effect?
On your website, you wrote: "Moses was inspired by God to reveal the Old Covenant to Israel, but God speaks to us today through his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). We obey these principles not because they are in the law of Moses but because God has placed them in the new Covenant." So is the Law of Moses still in effect?
Also on your website, you wrote: "God cleansed the animals used for food (Acts 11:6-9). All meats are now sanctified (I Timothy 4:4-5). Nothing is unclean of itself, but it can become an unclean thing for an individual (Romans 14:14)." What did you mean by that? If God cleansed the animals used for food, does that mean we can eat foods like pork, etc.? What does "but it can become an unclean thing for an individual" mean? According to the New Testament, what can Christians eat and what can't Christians eat?
Thank you very much! God bless you!
Answer:
The reason homosexuality is wrong today is that it is condemned in the New Testament:
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due" (Romans 1:26-27).
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (I Corinthians 6:9-11).
"Knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust" (I Timothy 1:9-11).
"And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 6-7).
Because the New Testament says homosexuality is wrong, we can turn to the pages of the Old Testament and illustrate it. "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4). Thus, as Jude illustrated his point by going to the events in Genesis, we too can illustrate exactly what is meant by homosexuality and why it is wrong by going to the Law in Leviticus that makes it clear why God said it was wrong for the Israelites. "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22). But we are not saying Leviticus is the current law because under that same law the penalty for homosexuality was death. "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them" (Leviticus 20:13). The Christian religion doesn't impose death penalties, that is left to secular governments to decide (Revelation 13:4).
There are no unclean meats today. "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (I Timothy 4:3-4). If someone comes from a Jewish or Muslim background and just can't bring himself to eat pork, there is nothing wrong with him choosing not to eat pork. But his choice doesn't make food unclean for everyone. "I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ... Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense" (Romans 14:14, 20). Here again is something that is different under the Law of Christ than it was under the Law of Moses. But as Christians, we are not under the Law of Moses. "But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (Galatians 3:23-25).
