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Thoughts from the Well
Commandments Change
at Different Time Periods
The solution
distinguishes between a code and the commandments
contained therein.
The Mosaic Law was one of several codes of ethical
conduct that God has given throughout human history.
That particular code contained 613 commandments.
There have also been other codes. Adam lived under
laws, the sum of which may be called the code of
Adam or the code of Eden. Noah was expected to obey
the laws of God, so there was a Noahic code. We know
that God revealed many commands and laws to Abraham
Genesis 26:5. They may be called the Abrahamic code.
The Mosaic code contained all the laws of the Law.
And today we live under the law of Christ Galatians
6:2 or the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Romans 8:2. This code contains the hundreds of
specific commandments recorded in the New Testament.
The Mosaic Law was done away in its entirety as a
code. It has been replaced by the law of Christ.
The law of Christ contains some new commands 1
Timothy 4:4, some old ones Romans 13:9, and some
revised ones Romans 13:4, with reference to capital
punishment). All the laws of the Mosaic code have
been abolished because the code has. Specific Mosaic
commands that are part of the Christian code appear
there not as a continuation of part of the Mosaic
Law, or in order to be observed in some deeper
sense, but as specifically incorporated into that
code, and as such they are binding on believers
today. A particular law that was part of the Mosaic
code is done away; that same law, if part of the law
of Christ, is binding. It is necessary to say both
truths in order not to have to resort to a
nonliteral interpretation of 2 Corinthians 3 or
Hebrews 7 and in order not to have to resort to some
sort of theological contortions to retain part of
the Mosaic Law.
An illustration of this idea: As children mature,
different codes are instituted by their parents.
Some of the same commandments may appear in those
different codes. But when the new code becomes
operative, the old one is done away.
So it was with the Mosaic
Law when our Lord became the end of the Law for
righteousness to all who believe. (From: Basic
Theology – The End of the Law)
In Him,
Bill Fritz
December 8, 20191
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