Old Testament Law for Christians: Original Context and Enduring Application, by Roy E. Gane. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2017. xvi + 448 pp. $32.99.
The New Testament believer’s relationship to the Mosaic Law remains one of the most challenging theological and hermeneutical issues. Roy Gane, professor of Hebrew Bible and ANE languages at Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, proposes a new paradigm for approaching this complex question. He is uniquely credentialed to explore the topic, having studied under the tuition of leading Jewish Torah scholar, Jacob Milgrom, and having published widely on the Levitical cult. Gane’s stated purpose is to guide Christians, especially those who teach, in grasping how “OT laws reveal wise and enduring values and principles, even when certain laws do not directly apply to us today” (xiv). Familiarity with the OT Law is desirable because the Law’s prescriptions are grounded in divine love, hold continuity with NT revelation, and remain profitable for the sanctification of the Christian (ibid.).
The book divides into four parts. Part 1 (chaps. 1–3) surveys the relevance, nature, and purpose of the Law. Here Gane makes a case for the continued significance of the Mosaic Law due to Jesus’s and Paul’s posture toward it and the essential background it provides for understanding the NT. Gane defines the Law as “normative, exemplary, covenantal divine instruction” (19) that provides absolute moral standards (19–25). The Law purposes to reveal God’s character, specify the terms of divine covenant grace, provide wisdom for a fallen world, and construct a model society (Israel) as a light to the nations (40–57).
Part 2 (chaps. 4–6) explores the genre/sub-genres and ANE backgrounds of the Mosaic Law to situate it in its historical and literary contexts. He explains the nature of Torah as “instruction” by surveying an array of genres that convey legal material. He contends that the Law functions to inculcate values and to motivate listeners toward compliance. One interesting conclusion is his argument that the OT language of being “cut off” constitutes a forfeiture of the afterlife with one’s people (96–97). He compares/contrasts the Mosaic Law with other ANE legal codes, including Mesopotamian law collections (c. 2100–1930 b.c.) and the Laws of Hammurabi (c. 1750 b.c.), to situate the Pentateuch in its cultural-historical context. This portion of the book—to the reviewer—is the most insightful, especially Gane’s eight distinctions between the OT Law and other ANE law codes (129–33).
Part 3 (chaps. 7–10) analyzes and critiques the ways in which the Law is applied in contemporary Christian settings. Gane proposes a novel tack he designates the Progressive Moral Wisdom approach. Readers familiar with Five Views on Law and Gospel (Zondervan, 1999) will find resonance with Walter Kaiser’s moral-principle approach to OT Law, although Gane nuances his view in a more sophisticated manner and tries to distance himself from this method. Gane draws heavily from the redemptive-movement model espoused by William Webb (see Slaves, Women, & Homosexuals [Paternoster, 2003]). This approach argues, in sum, that God has codified transcultural divine values into cultural forms within the context of Scripture. The contemporary interpreter must move beyond these cultural restrictions by extracting the principle(s) which God intends believers to apply in a more definitive fashion as time progresses. The example of slavery is seminal to Webb’s approach: although the Bible does not condemn slavery due to cultural limitations, it sets believers on a trajectory of preliminary movement toward the ultimate ethic—the abolition of slavery—that believers must apply in a later milieu. Gane adopts this hermeneutical lens in championing his Progressive Moral Wisdom model: The Law, when understood properly in its literary and historical contexts, articulates divine values that move believers from a preliminary to ultimate ethic consummating with the new creational ideal (200–202). His example concerning divorce is enlightening: Scripture moves from no divorce (original creation) to divorce for indecency (Mosaic Law) to divorce for only sexual immorality (NT) to ultimately no divorce in the resurrection (new creation). The Mosaic regulations thus evolve to reflect more thoroughly the character of divine love exhibited in the renovated creation.
Part 4 (chaps. 11–16) investigates the moral values latent in the Decalogue and social-justice laws, wrestling with issues of theodicy arising from these regulations along with questions about their continuing authority. This section is quite helpful in answering common objections to the OT Law in its allegedly draconian treatment of women, slaves, and immigrants.
The book’s conclusion offers an extended reflection on the value of obedience to God’s will, tying together Gane’s inferences concerning the continued applicability and authority of the Mosaic Law.
The book has several strengths. Gane’s treatment of ANE backgrounds decisively clarifies the context of OT Law and illuminates many prescriptions that would otherwise remain unclear. His approach to the application of OT Law is highly sophisticated, evidencing concern to handle Scripture carefully. Also, he persuasively demonstrates that the Law champions the rights of the least powerful in society, including women and slaves, rather than the inverse.
There are, however, a few weaknesses. The book suffers somewhat from a lack of consistent focus, as much of the material is repetitive or does not follow a clear sequence. At more than 400 pages this shortcoming makes for difficult reading at times (e.g., the first 50 pages might have been abridged). More importantly, Gane’s Progressive Moral Wisdom fails to deal adequately with the NT believer’s relationship to OT Law. This reviewer concurs with interpreters who understand the Mosaic Law as abrogated in Christ and no longer binding on the NT believer. Gane’s approach, however, tends to blur this important distinction and to foist the rather scant biblical material concerning the nature of creational/new-creational life upon a much larger body of clear directives. In the end, his method tends to over- or underemphasize important aspects of the OT and subtly undermines the sufficiency of Scripture.
The book provides a helpful introduction for advanced students with limited exposure to the complexities of OT Law. Although this reviewer finds deficiencies in Gane’s approach, the book may be read with profit by those who seek a more robust understanding of the nature and context of OT Law.
