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Galatians 3:23-27
says, “Now before faith came, we were held
captive under the law, imprisoned until the
coming faith would be revealed. So then, the
law was our guardian until Christ came, in
order that we might be justified by faith.
But now that faith has come, we are no
longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus
you are all sons of God, through faith. For
as many of you as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ.”
Romans 10:4
says, “For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believes.”
And Hebrews 9:11-15 says, “But when
Christ appeared as a high priest of the good
things that have come, then through the
greater and more perfect tent (not made with
hands, that is, not of this creation) he
entered once for all into the holy places,
not by means of the blood of goats and
calves but by means of his own blood, thus
securing an eternal redemption. For if the
blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling
of defiled persons with the ashes of a
heifer, sanctify for the purification of the
flesh, how much more will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without blemish to God,
purify our conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. Therefore he is the
mediator of a new covenant, so that those
who are called may receive the promised
eternal inheritance, since a death has
occurred that redeems them from the
transgressions committed under the first
covenant.”
Those who truly
follow Jesus Christ have died to the Old
Covenant Law.
Romans 7:4-6
says, “Likewise, my brothers, you also 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. For 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. But
now we are released from the law, having
died to that which held us captive, so that
we serve in the new way of the Spirit and
not in the old way of the written code.”
The Old Covenant has served its
purpose. Jesus Christ, our great High Priest
has given us His new, sanctifying covenant
to live by.
Hebrews 10:8-10
says, “When he said above, “You have neither
desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and
offerings and burnt offerings and sin
offerings” (these are offered according to
the law), then he added, “Behold, I have
come to do your will.” He does away with the
first in order to establish the second. And
by that will we have been sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.”
Jesus Christ
has set us free from the Old Covenant law of
sin and death to live by the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4 says, “There is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of
life has set you free in Christ Jesus from
the law of sin and death. 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 for sin, he
condemned sin in the flesh, in order that
the righteous requirement of the law might
be fulfilled in us, who walk not according
to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
We are said to be ministers of
the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant Law
that came to an end.
Luke
22:19-20 says, “And he took bread, and when
he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it
to them, saying, “This is my body, which is
given for you. Do this in remembrance of
me.” And likewise the cup after they had
eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out
for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Hebrews 8:6-7, 13 says, “But as it is,
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as
much more excellent than the old as the
covenant he mediates is better, since it is
enacted on better promises. For if that
first covenant had been faultless, there
would have been no occasion to look for a
second. . . In speaking of a new covenant,
he makes the first one obsolete. And what is
becoming obsolete and growing old is ready
to vanish away.”
And 2 Corinthians
3:4-6 says, “Such is the confidence that we
have through Christ toward God. Not that we
are sufficient in ourselves to claim
anything as coming from us, but our
sufficiency is from God, who has made us
sufficient to be ministers of a new
covenant, not of the letter but of the
Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit
gives life.”
When the Bible
says the Old Covenant Law has come to an
end, it means all of the 613 laws of the
Mosaic Covenant. All of the commandments,
statutes and laws ended with the New
Covenant that Jesus Christ gave in its
place.
Telling people to
keep some of the laws from the Old Covenant
is teaching the same false message that the
Judaizers preached in Jesus and Paul’s day.
You cannot mix laws from the Bible without
any regard for the covenant they appear in.
When you tell people to keep some of the
laws from the Old Covenant you are preaching
a false gospel! The New Covenant contains
everything we need to know about salvation
and eternal life that is only found in our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (cf. Gal.
1:6-9; 3:1-5; 3:10-14; 5)
You have
the choice to live by the law of the Spirit
of life or, the law of sin and death. Which
do you choose?
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