Old Testament Passages Good for Everyone to Know, Part 8
by Doug Jacoby

The 8th passage in the series of 20 comes from Deuteronomy 30, where the Lord calls his people to be faithful to the covenant. First, some background:
• Deuteronomy called the Israelites to demonstrate their love for Yahweh by obeying his commandments.
• This book, with its emphasis on covenant obedience and disobedience, is written especially for the Jews taken into exile in Babylon (6th century BC). Please read Deut 28, if that chapter isn't already familiar.
• Thrust of the passage: the life-and-death decision to obey the Lord.
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands... Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life... (Deut 30:11-20).
• Following the Lord is doable. It's not an impossible ideal, but a life choice.
• There are echoes of Deuteronomy in John 14, where Jesus insists that only those who obey him truly love him.
• Paul cites this very passage in Rom 10 to explain how the Jews of his day were taking a wrong approach to the Law (Rom 10:3-4). Heartfelt obedience, not ritualistic rule-keeping, has always been God's desire.
• Like the 1st-century legalists, we too—with our rules, regulations, and traditions—may miss Christ. (Note: Rom 10:9-10 is not about conversion, but the necessity of faith.)
• Deut 30:10 is the 1 John 5:3 of the O.T.—or 1 John 5:3 is the Deut 30:10 of the N.T.
• Thus loving obedience is hardly a N.T. concept. It's bedrock biblical teaching.
Let's reject any interpretation of the Bible that pits the O.T. against the N.T. No one in Old Covenant times was saved without faith, and no one in New Covenant times will is saved apart from obedience. Further, just as Christians are saved only by grace, so it was in O.T. times. In our thinking and in our sharing with others, do we promote a balanced view of the Old Testament?

Next week: A key text from Joshua that binds together the whole Old Testament, and connects nicely to the New.