Exodus 22 · a question people ask
Do these laws, and their death penalties, apply to Christians today?
These laws were given to Israel: "Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them" (21:1). Three in this chapter carry death: the sorceress (22:18), the one who has sex with an animal (22:19), and whoever "sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD only" (22:20). In the New Testament, at Ephesus (Acts 19:17), "Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all" (Acts 19:19), and Paul tells the church, "those who are outside, God judges" (1 Corinthians 5:13). Christians agree that what these three laws forbid is still sin: Paul lists "sexual immorality" and "idolatry, sorcery" among "the deeds of the flesh" (Galatians 5:19-20). They differ over how the law as a whole applies to believers.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Its moral commands still stand
Those who read it this way note that Jesus said, "Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17), and Paul, "the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good" (Romans 7:12). They hold that the moral commands behind these laws still bind believers, while penalties like these were given to Israel as a nation (21:1).
Matthew 5:17-19 · Romans 7:12 · Exodus 21:1
Fulfilled in Christ and in love
Those who read it this way note that Paul tells believers, "you are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14), that "the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ" and "now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (Galatians 3:24-25), and that "the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’" (Galatians 5:14), for "Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10). They hold that believers are not bound by the law of Moses as a code, its penalties included, and that what it asks is kept in love for one's neighbor.
Romans 6:14 · Galatians 3:24-25 · Galatians 5:14 · Romans 13:8-10
The verses
““Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them:”
““You shall not allow a sorceress to live. “Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death. “He who sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD only, shall be utterly destroyed.”
“This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Many also of those who had believed came, confessing and declaring their deeds. Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.”
“For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within? But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.””