Leviticus 19 · a question people ask
Do Christians keep every law in this chapter, like the ones about seed, cloth and hair?
The chapter puts all its commands under one heading: "You shall observe all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them. I am the LORD" (19:37). Some of them are quoted in the New Testament, such as "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Romans 13:9). Christians read how the rest, such as the laws on seed and cloth (19:19) or hair and beard (19:27), bear on them in two main ways. Both agree that Jesus said, "I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17), that loving your neighbor still stands, since "the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:14), and that the call to be holy still stands (1 Peter 1:16).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Moral commands still stand; laws that set Israel apart were for Israel
Those who hold this view read the law as having different kinds of commands. Leviticus ties some of them to Israel being set apart from the nations: "I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples" (Leviticus 20:24), "You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean" (Leviticus 20:25). They read Paul's words that Christ "broke down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:14-15) as ending those laws, while commands the New Testament repeats, like loving your neighbor (Romans 13:9) and not showing partiality (James 2:9), still bind Christians.
Leviticus 20:24-26 · Ephesians 2:14-15 · Romans 13:8-10 · James 2:8-9
The law of Moses as a whole, fulfilled in Christ
Those who hold this view read the law given at Sinai as one whole, and Christians as no longer under it as their code: "the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (Galatians 3:24-25). Paul describes himself as "not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ" (1 Corinthians 9:21), and writes, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). On this reading, Christians keep what Christ and his apostles command, which includes much of this chapter, such as loving your neighbor (Romans 13:9) and not showing partiality (James 2:8-9), and read the rest as Scripture written "for our learning" (Romans 15:4).
Galatians 3:24-25 · 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 · Galatians 6:2 · Romans 13:9 · James 2:8-9 · Romans 15:4
The verses
““‘You shall keep my statutes. “‘You shall not cross-breed different kinds of animals. “‘You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; “‘Don’t wear a garment made of two kinds of material.”
““‘You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your head or clip off the edge of your beard.”
““‘You shall observe all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them. I am the LORD.’””
““Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.”