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1. 5 Reasons We Should Still Read Leviticus Today By Kim Anderson

2. It’s the Enemy’s Favorite Book to Tear Apart (Think Shellfish, Polyester, Tattoos, and Homosexuality) • They, the enemies of Truth, call it a book full of contradictions and hypocritical living. This is generally because they don’t understand the book in context any more than we do, but they can read the obvious to make stupid arguments like Christians still eat pork and wear polyester, therefore homosexuality is not a sin (see Homosexuality, Polyester, and Shellfish for reasoning behind this tired debate). • Apologetically speaking, we should know what this book says, because it is used as an excuse for everything under the sun in the 21st century. The book has a great narrative that is often overlooked by the fact that it is a list of laws. These “laws” range from capital punishment for adultery, to not cutting your hair, to laws on homosexuality, to not getting a tattoo because it follows the evil Canaanite tribal practices. Why is it acceptable for Christians to get a tattoo, or eat pork, but not put adulterers to death? Understanding this book in proper context shows exactly why some laws are historically customary for their culture and time, and why some are moral obligations that transcend time.

3. The key here is understanding cultural context, something we toss aside today, perhaps because we don’t even understand our own cultural context, but it does matter. Understanding that objective moral truths do exist, such as murder has always been wrong no matter the culture or time, and some laws and customs are no longer historically accurate for our time in redemptive history, such as the atrocity of owning slaves. There is a difference between cultural historical laws and moral laws that transcend time. • [I will briefly say here, that part of the debate on homosexuality in our day is directly due to the difference in what some see as cultural, historical laws and others see as moral laws. Our culture is still fighting for the view that this lifestyle is an historical inaccuracy, one that needs to be, and is being, corrected. Those who take an orthodox, contextual, view of scripture will almost never see this issue as anything other than a moral law. As a moral law, it is therefore immovable, unable to be “corrected,” as truth is unable to be anything other than itself. This is mainly because in scripture homosexuality is always mentioned within the context of other moral laws. The pluralistic change our culture is achieving at this point is the ability to adjust what is an objective moral law to be seen as an historical law, thus seeing a red door and wanting to paint it black.

4. The Theological Holiness Code Developed in Leviticus is Still Used Today • In 1 Peter 1.15–16 the Apostle Peter says, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” That is a direct quote from Leviticus 11.44, which is then repeated several times such as in Leviticus 19.2. In seminary circles this is called the “Levitical Holiness Code” from chapters 17–27. It mainly deals with the idea of sanctification, the idea of holiness affecting how one lives in the covenant community. • For Christians today living in the 21st Century, the New Testament applies to Christians using the same principles of life stated in 11:44, and many of the “holiness codes” still show us what is displeasing to God (cf., 19:11–18, 35–36). On the other hand, as noted above, there are also symbolic aspects of the holiness code we no longer follow such as prohibiting garments of two different kinds etc.

5. To Understand How the Work of Christ Saves the Soul • Studying Leviticus today gives us an extremely important understanding of the sacrifice that Jesus made as the Christ when he died on the cross. The animal sacrificial system may be totally foreign to us now, but this enables the 21st century reader to understand why Christ’s sacrifice is one of salvation.

6. The Festal Calendar of Israel in Leviticus Shaped the Christian Calendar We Still Use • The three main festivals, or sometimes called the national pilgrim feasts of Israel, are the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Booths. Most of our modern day church denominations from Baptist to Catholic still follow these festivals. These celebrations today find their climax in the corresponding days known as Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost.

7. Because Without Leviticus the Other 65 Books Don’t Make Any Sense • Every book is intertwined with every other book. This is a huge reason to me. If you are reading Kings or Nehemiah, or one of those other “important” books, you are reading part 11 or part 16, but you never read part 3. Knowing and understanding Leviticus is crucial to understanding any of the other books, just the same as reading and studying Kings is important to reading Matthew. • What sense does Christ being crucified on the cross make without knowing how the sacrificial system works? I understand you can watch the Lord of the Rings or the Star Wars movies out of order and you can still understand them individually, but don’t they make a whole lot more sense as a whole? • So there you have it. Five reasons why Leviticus is important for us to read today. I know these points aren’t developed very extensively, but it that wasn’t really the point.

8. For more information go to • https://www.facebook.com/Uplifting-verses-and-prayers-by-Kim-Anderson-2414785651929309