The Bible Project

In this episode, Tim and Jon go deeper into the themes introduced in our video, “The Law.” What is the purpose of the Old Testament law, and what does it have to do with Christians today? The guys will talk about how the laws were given to the ancient Israelites and how they contribute to a larger narrative about human nature and God’s plan for creation. There’s a lot to unpack here, and there’s definitely something we can learn by understanding these ancient commands. In the first part of the episode (01:28-22:02), the guys talk about some of the issues with calling the first five books of the Bible, or the Torah, “the law.” These books contain laws for the people of Israel, but “torah” actually means teachings or guidance. Even the laws that you do find are usually in a narrative structure. In the last part of the episode (22:16-47:03), the guys talk about the purpose of the law. The law wasn’t given to the whole world; it was given for the covenant people of Israel. The reason they exist was so that Israel