The content and structure of the book of Deuteronomy may be foreign to many congregants. The sermonic structure of Moses’s three primary speeches alongside the idea that law and grace may exist in an interdependent reality, rather than in opposition, may challenge modern assumptions. Teaching Deuteronomy as a pastoral exhortation arising from the gospel requires addressing three important topics that follow the developmental nature of the content. First, the theological constructs relating to covenant identity and its relationship to the gospel lays the foundation for understanding the book of Deuteronomy. Second, the pragmatic constructs pertaining to relational obedience and its relationship to the gospel builds upon an understanding of covenant identity. Finally, the canonical intentions that look back to the central event of the exodus and look forward to the new covenant properly locates the Deuteronomic content arising from the gospel.

The Gospel according to Moses

The theology of the book of Deuteronomy hinges upon a correct understanding of covenant identity and its relationship to the gospel. Much of the content of the book of Deuteronomy flows from the mouth of Moses in three important speeches. Daniel Block highlights the purpose of the speeches by stating that “Moses ‘puts in force’ YHWH’s covenant with the generation about to enter the land promised to the ancestors long ago and to the exodus generation.”^[1] The covenant Moses puts in force stems from the promise that Yahweh made to Abraham, which included making him a great nation, a nation through whom all the nations will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3). The covenant was then ratified in Genesis 15 and extended to the nation of Israel in Exodus 6:6-7, where Yahweh, in a beautiful extension of grace, tells the Israelites that He is claiming them as His people and delivering them from slavery.

In Moses’s first speech, he takes the roles of historian, administrator, spokesman, servant, and pastor-teacher who reminds the Israelites of Yahweh’s grace.^[2] Specifically, Moses highlights God’s grace by reminding them how they received the Ten Commandments, and how they were miraculously delivered from Egypt (Deut 4:1-31). Moses then proclaimed that “He [Yahweh] will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them” (Deut 4:31).^[3]

The ancient Israelites would have had a basic idea of the covenant relationship referred to by Moses because of their knowledge of other suzerain-vassal treaties throughout the ancient Near East. Although similar, John Walton explains that the type of covenant extended to Israel was distinct from their neighbors due to the unique ancient construct of co-identification whereby, “Israel is made holy because Yahweh is holy.”^[4] Grace emanates from Moses in Deuteronomy 7:6 as he confirms the people’s co-identification through the recognition of the Israelites as a holy people chosen as Yahweh’s treasured possession. Far from the legalistic overtones assumed by Luther during the Reformation, the Israelites did not and could not have earned the holy status conferred or the relationship extended to them by Yahweh through any sort of obedient behavior. The Israelite’s covenant identity was a completely unmerited extension of God’s grace, a message of good news indeed, to a chosen people.

In Moses’s second speech, numerous statutes, ordinances, and regulations take center stage beginning with the recitation of the Decalogue. The direction of the book of Deuteronomy takes a pragmatic turn. However, to suggest that Moses’s second speech is about following rules misses the point. Rule following is built on a foundation of legal codes, but relational obedience is built upon the foundation of covenant identity. Holiness is not a behavioral attribute when placed within the context of covenant identity. Instead, holiness is an attribute of conferred identity, and, as a result, holy people behave holy (cf. Luke 6:43-45). It is within a grace-filled relationship between Israel and Yahweh that obedience occurs.

Block asserts that a community governed by covenant differs than one governed by laws: “Covenant relationship inspires fidelity; laws coerce conformity” (cf. Deut 10:16).^[5] Block then suggests that the basis for the inspiration is gratitude, which is a popular theological notion that requires clarification.^[6] If a covenant relationship inspires fidelity, then the relationship may easily morph into one built upon the pagan notion of quid pro quo.^[7] In other words, since Yahweh rescued the people from Egypt, then, in return, the people should be thankful and return the favor by conjuring up the strength to follow the rules. Alternatively, co-identification with Yahweh does not so much inspire fidelity as it empowers it.

Practically speaking, not committing adultery has little to do with gratitude, and if it does, then it risks conformity. For example, a believer might think that since God provided redemption  and a spouse, then out of gratitude he or she will work hard to manage sin and stick with the marriage to conform to the rules, a recipe for relational disaster. Alternatively, if the believer identifies with Yahweh rather than his wife, then the stereotypical relational markers that feed identity, such as meeting needs and extending respect, are not required to complete the believer’s identity. Accordingly, averting adultery is empowered by not needing to find one’s identity from being an object of another man or woman’s desire, either a spouse or an adulterer, because the righteous identity of Yahweh has already been conferred to His holy people, which is very good news indeed (cf. Gen 15:6). When the Israelites understood the good news of God’s grace, obedience was empowered by their relationship with the God of the universe.

When legal codes are set within the context of covenant identity and relational obedience, directives can be recognized as a gift of love. Accordingly, when the consequences of breaking oneself against the laws are seen within the context of covenant identity and relational obedience, the subsequent exile can be recognized as a reclamation of love. In the light of Yahweh’s love, the canonical location of Deuteronomy looks back at Israel’s history, the receiving of the Ten Commandments and the deliverance from the Egyptians, to highlight the grace of God, which is good news. Although these events are unforgettable, Deuteronomy’s canonical location also intends to look forward to another prophet (Deut 18:15-16), which had not yet occurred upon the compositional completion of Deuteronomy (Deut 34:10), but was, according to John Sailhamer, an example of Deuteronomy’s “messianically tinted canonical shape.”^[8] Accordingly, both covenant identity and relational obedience continue to live within a newly inaugurated cosmic reality of grace in Christ, which will be fully realized when Christ returns, good news indeed.

The rich theology and thoughtful pragmatism of the book of Deuteronomy provides ample opportunity to teach the book as a pastoral exhortation from Moses that arises from the gospel. By focusing on the theological construct of covenant identity and its relationship to the good news of grace, a foundation can be laid for students to overcome lingering Reformation biases that may dichotomize the Testaments. By focusing on the pragmatic construct of relational obedience, students have the opportunity to engage in the important distinction between following the rules of conformity and living in relationally empowered obedience. Accordingly, the practical applications for committed students appear limitless, during a time when conformity seems to be trumped only by hypocrisy as the greater risk of evangelicalism’s potential demise. Finally, just as students can look back with Israel at their grace-filled events when they received the Ten Commandments and experienced the Exodus, students can also look back at God’s abounding grace in their own lives as well. Finally, just as students reading Deuteronomy can look forward with the Israelites to the hope-filled messianic reality in Christ, the student also can look forward to their own future eschatological resurrection in Christ.

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[1] Daniel I. Block, The Gospel According to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy (Eugene: Cascade, 2012), 78.

[2] Ibid., 82–87.

[3] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008).

[4] John H. Walton and J. Harvey Walton, The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019), 92.

[5] Block, The Gospel, 89.

[6] Ibid., 90.

[7] See the implications of the pagan worldview of continuity in John N. Oswalt, The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2009), 49–56.

[8] John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 1995), 17.

Bibliography

• Block, Daniel I. The Gospel According to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy. Eugene: Cascade, 2012.
• Oswalt, John N. The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature? Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2009.
• Sailhamer, John H. The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 1995.
• Walton, John H., and J. Harvey Walton. The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.