Do This and Live: Leviticus 18:5

Leviticus 18:5 looms large in law-grace discussions. The verse states, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in [or, by] them: I am the Lord.” Given the Bible’s emphatic teaching that salvation is a gift, the reader naturally struggles with this verse. Is it saying that under the Mosaic Covenant God promised eternal life as a reward for obedience to the Law?

The context leads to a negative answer. Leviticus 18 catalogs over twenty prohibited sexual activities that were prevalent among the Egyptians and Canaanites. Yahweh explains that His intent is to spare the Israelites from the kind of destruction the Canaanites were about to suffer (v. 28). So the chapter concerns physical protection and blessing in the Promised Land.

This emphasis concurs with other OT statements. In Deuteronomy the motivation for obedience is “that ye may live … and possess the land” (4:1), “that ye may live … and that ye may prolong your days in the land” (5:33), “that ye may live … and possess the land” (8:1). Note the consistent reference to a prosperous life in Canaan. This concept is developed at length in the covenant curses and blessings (Lev. 26; Deut. 28) and reinforced by the connection between Leviticus 18:5 and the Babylonian exile (Ezek. 20:11, 13, 21; Neh. 9:29).

Another factor is the general structure of the Mosaic Covenant. Yahweh introduces His law only after graciously choosing Abraham and then delivering his descendants from Egyptian bondage. Obedience does not make the Israelites God’s people. Rather, obedience is to be a response of love and gratitude to the God who bore them on eagles’ wings and brought them to Himself (Exod. 19:4). Through obedience each generation of Israelites has the opportunity to enjoy the earthly blessings of the covenant (Exod. 19:5, 6). But the ultimate basis of the covenant itself is grace, not merit (Deut. 7:6–8; 9:4, 5).

The real difficulty with Leviticus 18:5 is not its contextual meaning but the way the NT uses the verse. When a lawyer asks Jesus how he can inherit eternal life, Jesus asks him what the Law has to say. The lawyer quotes Deuteronomy’s command to love God wholeheartedly. Jesus replies in terms of Leviticus 18:5: “This do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:28). In this context “live” clearly refers to eternal life.

Here Jesus is presumably appealing to an element within intertestamental Judaism that understood passages such as Leviticus 18:5 with reference to ultimate salvation. For example, the pseudepigraphal Psalms of Solomon (first- or second-century BC) speak of “the law which He commanded us that we might live.” Then follow these comments: “The pious of the Lord shall live by it for ever; the Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are His pious ones. Their planting is rooted for ever; they shall not be plucked up all the days of heaven” (14:2–4).

Jesus does not discount the idea that the principle of Leviticus 18:5 applies to eternal life. Instead He grants the lawyer’s assumption and then addresses his attempt to “justify himself” (Luke 10:29). Through the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus shows the man that he is far from loving God and neighbor.

The Spirit guided Paul to elaborate further. In Romans 4 and elsewhere the apostle contends that in OT times salvation was by faith not by works. This countered the Judaizers’ teaching that salvation is conditioned on personal Law-keeping. They evidently used Leviticus 18:5 as a proof text, and Paul turns it against them on two occasions. In Romans 10:5 he cites the verse as a description of “the righteousness which is of the law,” in contrast to “the righteousness which is of faith” (v. 6; cf. Phil. 3:9). Likewise, Galatians 3:12 quotes Leviticus 18:5 to prove the point that “the law is not of faith.”

Paul may be directly applying Leviticus 18:5 to eternal life. For instance, he may be arguing from lesser to greater: if obedience was necessary to live in Canaan, how much more is it necessary to live eternally. Or he may be thinking that Canaan is a type of Heaven. But even if Paul is not taking Leviticus’s “life” with reference to eternal life, his concern is the Law’s overall emphasis on obedience or “doing.” For the Judaizers to make such “doing” the condition to eternal life is to put people in an impossible situation.

Several truths inform Paul’s use of Leviticus 18:5. First, depravity renders human beings incapable of the required obedience (Rom. 2:17–3:20). Second, the Law stands as an inseparable unit, and a single offense makes one guilty of breaking the entire code (Gal. 3:10; 5:3; cf. James 2:10). Third, Christ’s atonement abrogates the Mosaic Covenant (Gal. 3:19–5:12). This includes the sacrificial system. Consequently people subjecting themselves to the Mosaic Covenant have no means by which to seek forgiveness of sins.

Let’s summarize our conclusions regarding Leviticus 18:5. (1) A blessed life in the Promised Land was conditioned on Israel’s obedience. (2) This principle may be applied to the issue of eternal life. (3) The point of this application is not that under the Mosaic Covenant justification was by personal works but that self-justification is impossible. (4) This leads to the greater truth that justification and eternal life are available through faith in Christ, who fulfilled God’s requirements in our place!

Dr. Ken Casillas is professor of Old Testament at Bob Jones University Seminary and pastor of Cleveland Park Bible Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He is the author of The Law and the Christian: God’s Light within God’s Limits (Bob Jones University Press).

(Originally published in FrontLine • May/June 2013. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)