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Each covenant has
its own laws and regulations. If you buy a new
home you have to sign a new contract and you
have to live by the terms of that contract,
not the contract from a previous home.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 says, “Behold, the
days are coming, declares the LORD, when I
will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of
Judah, 32 not like the covenant
that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt, my
covenant that they broke, though I was their
husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, declares the LORD:
I will put my (new covenant)
law within them, and I will write it on
their hearts. And I will be their God, and
they shall be my people.”
(cf. Heb. 8:7-13; 10:15-18).
The law God writes on our hearts and
minds is the New Covenant, law of Christ.
Jeremiah said the New Covenant would not
be like the Old Covenant (Jer. 31:32). New does not mean the same as the old!
The Holy Days of Judaism and the entire
system of laws given at Mount Sinai have never applied to
the Christian Church!
The New Covenant
is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant.
The New Testament writers point out
repeatedly that the New Covenant fulfills
the Old. By this they mean that God brings
to completion the plan he had been working
out for the human race through the history
of Israel. There is a pattern in God’s
activity, a repetition of his acts of
judgment and salvation. This pattern reaches
its completion and fulfillment in the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
(Deut. 4:25-31; Judg. 2:13-16;
1 Kings 8:33-34; Ps. 81:7-10; 89:29-37; Isa. 1:16-20; Acts 2:36-39;
Rom. 3:21-26).
Paul clearly told his
converts that Christians are no longer under
the rule of the Mosaic law. This is stated
in various ways and in no uncertain terms
(Rom. 6:14; 7:1-14; Gal. 3:10-13; 3:24-25;
Gal. 4:21; 5:1-4; 5:13; 2 Cor. 3:3-18; cf. Acts 15:1-20).
The New
Covenant that Christ gave us has its own
legal code.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 says, “For though I am free from
all, I have made myself a servant to all,
that I might win more of them. 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 not being myself under the
law) that I might win those under the law.
To those outside the law I became as one
outside the law (not being outside the law
of God but under the law of Christ) that I
might win those outside the law. To the weak
I became weak, that I might win the weak. I
have become all things to all people, that
by all means I might save some. I do it all
for the sake of the gospel, that I may share
with them in its blessings.”
Paul was
saying that he adopted certain Jewish
customs when he was among the Jews, even
though he was not under the Old Covenant law
anymore; and that he adopted some of the
customs of the Gentiles when he was with
them so he could win as many people as possible to
Christ. Then he went on to say that he is
not without a law to live by, because he was
under the New Covenant, “law of Christ" which is the law
of love.
The
law of Christ is the law that is written on our hearts.
Look at how clearly the New Covenant
describes the end of the Old Covenant Law.
Hebrews 8:13 says, “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.”
The Law was added because of our
sin.
Romans 3:20 says, “For
by works of the law no human being will be
justified in his sight, since through the
law comes knowledge of sin.”
Galatians 3:19 says, “Why then the law?
It was added because of transgressions,
until the offspring should come to whom the
promise had been made, and it was put in
place through angels by an intermediary.”
Galatians 3:21-24 says, “Is the law then
contrary to the promises of God? Certainly
not! For if a law had been given that could
give life, then righteousness would indeed
be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned
everything under sin, so that the promise by
faith in Jesus Christ might be given to
those who believe. 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.”
The Law arouses our
sinful passions and increases sin in our
lives which produces death.
Romans 7:5 says, “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.”
Romans 7:8 says,
“But sin, seizing an opportunity through the
commandment, produced in me all kinds of
covetousness. For apart from the law, sin
lies dead.”
The Old Covenant
Law was a death sentence for us because it
requires perfect obedience.
2 Corinthians 3:6-8 says, “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. Now if the ministry of death,
carved in letters on stone, came with such
glory that the Israelites could not gaze at
Moses’ face because of its glory, which was
being brought to an end, For if there was
glory in the ministry of condemnation, the
ministry of righteousness must far exceed it
in glory.”
The Law was week
and had to be set aside.
Hebrews 7:18 says, “For on the one hand, a
former commandment is set aside because of
its weakness and uselessness.”
The Law HAD to change for Jesus to
become our new High priest.
Hebrews 7:12 says, “For when there is a
change in the priesthood, there is
necessarily a change in the law as well.”
The Law that was brought to an
end included the Ten Commandments.
Romans 7:7 says, “What then shall we
say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet
if it had not been for the law, I would not
have known sin. For I would not have known
what it is to covet if the law had not said,
“You shall not covet.”
Hebrews 8:13 says,
“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.”
Hebrews 9:1, 4 says, “Now even
the first covenant had regulations for
worship and an earthly place of holiness… 4
having the golden altar of incense and the
ark of the covenant covered on all sides
with gold, in which was a golden urn holding
the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded,
and the tablets of the covenant.”
Christians have died to the law
through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Romans 7:4 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.”
Christ
is the end of the Law for all those who
believe in Him.
Romans 10:4
says, “For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believes.”
2 Corinthians 3:11 says,
“For if what was being brought to an end
came with glory, much more will what is
permanent have glory.”
Hebrews 10:9
says, “then he added, “Behold, I have come
to do your will.” He does away with the
first in order to establish the second.”
We have been released from the
law to live by the Spirit.
Romans 7:6 says, “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.”
If you don’t go
to the temple in Jerusalem and offer animal
sacrifices for your sins then the Law of the
Old Covenant has come to an end.
Under the New Covenant, where is anyone
commanded to keep the seventh day Sabbath,
circumcision, or the dietary restrictions
from Leviticus 11? Where is anyone told to
keep the Levitical Priesthood, new moons
celebrations, Holy days, annual feasts, or
offer animal sacrifices that the Old
Covenant commanded?
The New Covenant
is not the Old Covenant all over again
(Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:1; 3:6-11;
Heb. 8:8-13; 9:1-4; 9:15; 12:24).
The law
written on our hearts is not the Mosaic Law
with the Ten Commandments (Heb. 8:8-10).
God never intended the Old Covenant to be
permanent. It was given for Israel’s
benefit, but it failed to produce the
promised blessings, because the people
failed to obey its commandments (Rom. 9:1-8; 9:30-33; 11).
Under the New Covenant, God’s law of love is written on our
hearts. It depends totally on God’s grace
where the Holy Spirit changes His people
from the inside out to be more like Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ came into this
world to show us the meaning of love.
God’s love for us was revealed in the death
and resurrection of His one and only Son.
Christ died for us so we could have peace
with God and have eternal life.
Jesus
said, “Greater love has no one than this: to
lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
(John 15:13 NIV)
And Romans 5:6-11
says, “For while we were still weak, at the
right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous
person—though perhaps for a good person one
would dare even to die— but God shows his
love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
Since,
therefore, we have now been justified by his
blood, much more shall we be saved by him
from the wrath of God.
For if while we
were enemies we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son,
much more,
now that we
are reconciled,
shall we be saved by his
life. More than that, we also rejoice in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have now received reconciliation.”
The hostility that existed between us
and God has been crucified with Christ.
There is no sin remaining to block our relationship
with him. Having peace with God was only
made possible because Jesus paid the price for
our sins on the cross.
The New Covenant is not an
external set of rules and regulations like
the Old Covenant was. The Holy Spirit
reminds us of Christ’s words which guides
our hearts and consciences. It is the Holy Spirit who
influences our motives and desires and
makes us want to obey Christ out of love (Gal. 5:16-25).
We now have the desire to do God’s will with all our
hearts and minds, not because we are
striving to follow a set of rules. God gives His
people the inner spiritual strength to do his
will (Heb. 8:8-10; Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 9:21; John 13:34; 1 Jn. 3:23; 5:3).
Christ made a complete
atonement for our sins.
Hebrews 10:9-10 says, “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 made a complete remission
of sins for all who believe in Him. He paid
the price for our redemption with His own
blood (1 Pet. 1:18, 19) and freed us from
sin’s curse and the demands of the Old
Covenant law to become the children of God
when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior
(Gal. 3:13; 4:5). The Old Covenant
sacrifices were never able to completely
atone for sin. The sacrifice Jesus made sets
aside all of the Old Covenant practices and
secures total forgiveness and sanctification
for God’s people through
His blood (Heb. 10:1-18).
The death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ changed everything! The New
Covenant that Christ offers us is a “better”
covenant than the Old Covenant was and is the only
covenant that Christians are told to live by.
When someone tells you to keep the
laws from the Old Covenant they are telling
you to keep a law that never applied to you.
Christians need to understand that the Old Covenant
was made with Israel alone and has come to a
complete end.
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