The Noahide Laws
“The Animals Entering Noah’s Ark” by Jacopo Bassano (c. 1570), Wawel Castle (Accession No. ZKWawel 3257)(PD)
Social media has been abuzz with the Seven Laws of Noah or Noahide Laws. Most of us likely never heard of them.
A Ceremonial Resolution
Thirty five years ago, Pres. George H. Bush signed a ceremonial joint resolution (Public Health Law 102-14), acknowledging the historic significance of the Noahide Laws while designating March 26, 1991 as “Education Day” [1].
Terms of the Noahide Laws
The terms of the Noahide Laws are, as follows [2A]:
- Do not deny God or worship idols.
- Do not commit murder.
- Do not steal.
- Do not engage in sexual immorality.
- Do not blaspheme.
- Do not eat flesh taken from a living animal.
- Establish courts and legal systems to enforce these laws.
The Talmud (the collection of Jewish oral law and tradition) indicates that the first six of these precepts were given originally by God to Adam, and the seventh afterward to Noah [3][4A].
False Claims, Hysteria, and Antisemitism
Claims are being circulated online that the Noahide Laws permit the beheading of Christians and Non-Jews [3B]. These are entirely false, and being used to stoke antisemitism.
The Noahide Laws are merely ethical principles from the Torah, traditionally observed by “B’nai Noach” (righteous Gentiles). They do NOT have the force of law which is what all the hysteria has been about.
Religious Persecution and Capital Punishment
The Talmud does call for capital punishment for Gentiles who violate the Noahide Laws [2B]. Jewish opinion is split over whether Trinitarianism is idolatry or not [5]. However, the modern Jewish consensus is that Trinitarianism among Gentiles is acceptable [2C][6].
There are no Jews out hunting Christians. In fact, the reverse has been true throughout most of Christian history [7].
Biblical View
The Bible does not record what laws God may have given Adam, apart from commanding Adam to fill the earth and subdue it; and not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 1: 28 and 2: 17). According to the Bible, God did instruct Noah not to eat raw meat (Gen. 9: 4).
There is later mention in the Bible of abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood (ritual defilement), and from sexual immorality (Acts 15: 20-21, 29). This may be a reference to the Noahide Laws as applicable to early converts [2D].
Salvation
Should Christians keep the Noahide Laws? We are not saved by rulekeeping. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3: 18).
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[1] FedLaws, “Public Health Law 102-14: What It Says, Noahide Reference, and How It Passed”, 9/10/26, https://fedlaws.org/public-law-102-14-what-it-says-noahide-reference-and-how-it-passed/.
[2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D] Got Questions, “What are the Noahide Laws, and are they biblical?”, https://www.gotquestions.org/Noahide-laws.html.
[3] Chabad, “What Is the Talmud?” by Menachem Posner, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3347866/jewish/What-Is-the-Talmud.htm.
[4A and 4B] Watchman Willie Martin Archive, “A Law to Allow the Execution of Christians and Non-Jews in America Was Passed in 1991”, https://israelect.com/reference/WillieMartin/P.L.102-14.htm.
[5] Wikipedia, “Shituf”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shituf.
[6] Online Library, Modern Theology, “A Jewish View of Contemporary Ideas of the Trinity” by Alan Brill, 10/19/22, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/moth.12825?msockid=36f5a235063367c5102cb59b07576654.
[7] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Christian Persecution of Jews Over the Centuries” by Prof. Gerard Sloyan, https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/20070119-persecution.pdf.
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