“for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:19).
When faced with a malfunctioning device, a substandard work product, or an incomprehensible set of operating instructions, it’s not unusual to hear people respond with the old saying, “Well, nothing’s perfect…” In one sense, this phrase is also true of the Old Testament Law.
As we continue with our look at the question of a perfect God who enacted an imperfect Old Testament Law, we now come to the insights offered by the following Biblical scholar…
HEBREWS 7:19—Was the Law of Moses perfect or imperfect?
PROBLEM: The psalmist declared that the ‘law of the Lord is perfect’ (Ps. 19:7). It reflects the very character of God (cf. Lev. 11:45). Yet the writer of Hebrews insists that ‘the law made nothing perfect’ (7:19), and thus God brought in a ‘better covenant’ (v. 22). This, he contends, would not have been necessary ‘if that first covenant had been faultless’ (Heb. 8:7). So, who is right? Is the law perfect or imperfect?
SOLUTION: The law was perfect in its nature, but imperfect in its results. It was a perfect expression of God’s righteousness, but an imperfect means of making man righteous. Of course, that is not the fault of the law itself or the purpose for which God gave it. For the law was never given to redeem sinners (Titus 3:5–6; Rom. 4:5), but to reveal sin. As a standard and means of revealing sin, the law was an impeccable norm and teacher. But it was only ‘our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith’ (Gal. 3:24).
Like a mirror, the law was intended to reveal our imperfections as we look into it; but it, no more than the mirror, was intended to correct our imperfections. So the law is perfect in itself, as a rule and revealer of sin, but it is imperfect as a means of empowering us to overcome sin.” (1)
Therefore, we can close our look at this question by remembering that Jesus’ sacrificial offering did not simply cover sins in the same manner as a sacrificial offering administered by an Old Testament priest. Instead, He takes those sins away. The author of Hebrews will explore this work of Christ at greater length in chapters nine and ten. But first, he will return again to a familiar personality to reinforce his argument that Jesus’ ministry is superior to that of the Old Testament sacrificial system.
Image Credit: Mtunzini1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
(1) Norman L. Geisler and Thomas A. Howe, When Critics Ask : A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1992), 516.