I am reading this book, and would like to discuss it in the future, as I read it.
I am linking the pdf in case others would like to look at it also.
BY THIS STANDARD The Authority of God's Law Today
Greg L. Bahnsen
The Basic Thesis Fundamental to the position taken herein is the conviction that God's special revelation- His written word- is necessary as the objective standard of morality for God's people. Over against the autonomous ethical philosophies of men, where good and evil are defined by sinful speculation, the Christian ethic gains its character and direction from the revealed word of God, a revelation which harmonizes with the general revelation made of God's standards through the created order and man's conscience.
When we explore what the Bible teaches about the character of God, the salvation accomplished by Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit in making us holy in heart and conduct, or the nature of God's covenantal dealings with men, we see why the believer should take a positive attitude toward the commandments of God, even as revealed in the Old Testament. Indeed, the Bible teaches that we should presume continuity between the ethical standards of the New Testament and those of the Old, rather than abbreviating the validity of God's law according to some preconceived and artificial limit.
Because He did not come to abrogate the Old Testament, and because not one stroke of the law will become invalid until the end ofthe world, Jesus declared: "Therefore, whosoever breaks one of these least commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:17-19). Given this instruction, our attitude must be that all Old Testament laws are presently our obligation unless further revelation from the Lawgiver shows that some change has been made.
The methodological point, then, is that we presume our obligation to obey any Old Testament commandment unless the New Testament indicates otherwise. We must assume continuity with the Old Testament rather than discontinuity. This is not to say that there are no changes from Old to New Testament. Indeed, there are-important ones. However, the word of God must be the standard which defines precisely what those changes are for us; we cannot take it upon ourselves to assume such changes or read them into the NewTestament. God's word, His direction to us, must be taken as continuing in its authority until God Himself reveals otherwise. This is, in a sense, the heart of "covenant theology" over against a dispensational understanding of the relation between Old and New Testaments. '
To this methodological point we can add the substantive conclusion that the New Testament does not teach any radical change in God's law regarding the standards of socio-political morality. God's law as it touches upon the duty of civil magistrates has not been altered in any systematic or fundamental way in the New Testament.
Consequently, instead of taking a basically antagonlstlc view of the Old Testament commandments for society and the state, and instead of taking a smorgasbord approach of picking and·choosing among those laws on the basis of personal taste and convenience, we must recognize the continuing obligation of civil magistrates to obey and enforce the relevant laws of the Old Testament, including the penal sanctions specified by the just Judge of all the earth. As with the rest of God's law, we must presume continuity of binding authority regarding the socio-political commandments revealed as standing law in the Old Testament.
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/d...s_standard.pdf
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