The Laws and the Covenants
Have we thrown away the old testament and hung that on the cross?
The Laws and the Covenants
All quotes are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Added emphasis is mine. Note numbers have been removed for clarity.
Luke 16:16-17 “The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped. ([N]RSV)
Notice from the above verses, the old law is not removed but just no longer in effect. It is still needed to show how we came to our present state of grace.
Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. ([N]RSV)
Here Paul tells us we are no longer under the law but instead under grace.
Romans 7:4-6 In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. ([N]RSV)
We have died to the law through the body of Christ, we are no longer held by the law and it enslaves us no more.
Romans 8:1-5 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ([N]RSV)
We are free from the law of sin and death! We have new commandments and no longer have to be slaves to the old written laws.
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. ([N]RSV)
Jesus put an end to our having to be slaves to the old written law.
Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ([N]RSV)
Here is the new law (commandment).
Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. ([N]RSV)
Again we are reminded of the new law (commandment). This is now written in our hearts. Our old stony hearts are now fleshy hearts just as the old law was written on stone, the new law is written in our hearts. (see the parallel)
1 Corinthians 9:20-21 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ([N]RSV)
Here Paul tells how he is only bound by Christ’s law. The law of Jesus is easy to remember. It is in our hearts and not written on paper or stone.
Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ,and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. ([N]RSV)
We are not justified by the works of the law but through our faith in Jesus the Christ.
Galatians 3:5 Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? ([N]RSV))
Are we justified by the written law or by believing (faith) in what we heard?
Galatians 3:10-13 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” 12 But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us -- for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” -- ([N]RSV))
If we remain under the works of the law, then we are under a curse! We can no longer observe all of the things written in the book of the law. Even when there was a temple and the ability to have sacrifices, those of the old covenant were not even able to do so.
Galatians 3:23-24 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. ([N]RSV)
Jesus set us free from the guardianship of the law. There is no need for the tutor after we have graduated to being justified by faith.
Galatians 4:10 You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years. ([N]RSV)
Paul was disappointed by those who after he had been with them were still keeping the ‘Holy Days’ of the old covenant laws.
Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? ([N]RSV)
Those who would be subject to the old covenant laws did not listen to those laws nor do them. Now, instead of listening to the new law Jesus has given us, they continue to cling to the old laws.
Galatians 5:3-4 Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. 4 You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ([N]RSV)
Those who would continue on with the old covenant laws have fallen away from grace.
Galatians 5:14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ([N]RSV)
Here is the law we are to have written in our hearts. There are actually two…. The first one is to love God with all your heart soul and strength. These two are the laws (commandments) Jesus wants us to keep. These are the commandments referred to in the book of Revelation.
Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. ([N]RSV)
If we are truly led by the spirit, we should not subject ourselves to the written law of the old covenant.
Ephesians 2:15-16 He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. ([N]RSV)
I urge you to check what the above verse implies for yourself.
Titus 3:9 But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. ([N]RSV)
We are told to avoid controversies about the old written law and such as they are not profitable for anything. (something many of us are guilty of at this time)
2 Corinthians 2:17 - 3:8 For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence. 1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; 3 and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, 8 how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? ([N]RSV)
This confirms the stone tablets are also part of the old covenant written law.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt -- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ([N]RSV)
We may see from these verses, there is nothing new in what Paul is saying. The new covenant was prophesied in the book of Jeremiah.
Hebrews 8:10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ([N]RSV)
Paul is showing how the prophecy has been fulfilled .
Hebrews 8:13 In speaking of “a new covenant,” he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear. ([N]RSV)
The old covenant became obsolete when Jesus died and then later it disappeared with the destruction of the second temple. It was no longer able to be followed. All of the sacrifices were unable to be observed nor any of the temple services of the old covenant.
Hebrews 9:1-4 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. 2 For a tent was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Holy of Holies. 4 In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; ([N]RSV)
Again it is confirmed the tablets of stone were of the old covenant. This old covenant is finished and we are now living by the new covenant.
Hebrews 10:16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds," ([N]RSV)
Just as God said He would, He sent His son and made a new covenant with His people. He confirmed it with many in the last of the seventy weeks. He wrote it in their hearts and not on tablets of stone as before.
Please be aware, I am not saying the Sabbath was not sanctified by God as a Holy day. It was sanctified by God right after the sixth day of creation. What I am saying is we should not keep the old covenant laws concerning how it is to be observed. One may work, build a fire or anything else one normally would do, even on the Sabbath. What we must do is remember it is sanctified by God as Holy! I am not saying we should observe a pagan day rather than the Sabbath for the day we should have church services we may have church on any of the days of the week as long as we don’t acknowledge that day of the week as being sacred to a pagan god.
We have but one what may be called ‘Holy Day’ now. This day is the day when we observe what may be called the ‘Christian Passover’. By eating the bread and drinking the wine we are to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us and the reason He made it. This day is not just to be observed once a year as may have told us but rather as often as needed to remind us of the sacrifice God made when He gave His son as the final sacrifice to save us from slavery. This freedom is not just to the slavery of sin, but also from the slavery to the laws of the old covenant. Continuing to keep the old written laws of the old covenant is refusing to accept the grace Jesus died to give us through His body and blood. Refusing to accept the new covenant, we curse ourselves by rejecting His gift.
We are now free from all of the burdens of slavery to laws and sin. We have in us a heart not of stone but of flesh and written in or on our hearts and minds are the commandments of our Lord Jesus the Christ. We are not subject to any of the old laws written on stone or by Moses on paper. Instead, we have the Holy Spirit as our guide and know in our hearts what is righteous and thus what we should do. If perhaps we slip, we know it is our flesh that has made the slip and not of our spirit. Yes, we are to remember the old laws, written on the tablets, for if we did not know what they said, we would not have known sin.
Should we continue to sin because we are free from the law? Of course not!
