Thursday 19 July 2018

Believers today and the Old Testament Law

As believers in the new Covenant, our relationship to the Law of the Old Testament is another of the radical tensions of our faith. 

On the one hand, the Law of the Old Covenant has been ‘abolished’ by Jesus ‘blood’ on the Cross (Ephesians 2:13-15). As a rigid system of rules and regulations, it has ended and been done away with (Romans 10:4; Hebrews 10:1-9). Galatians 3:24-25 says that ‘the law was our guardian until Christ came’ and ‘now that faith has come, we are no longer under the guardian’.

On the other hand, God’s Law is also ‘established’ or upheld in the New Covenant (Romans 3:31). Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Matthew 5:17, ESV). ‘Fulfil’, translates the Greek word, ‘plēroō’, and means both to ‘end of’ and ‘to fill up’. And we see Jesus filling out the law’s full meaning in his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 to 7.

Paul shares his own experience of this tension in relation to the law in 1 Corinthians 9:20-21, where he says that on the one hand he 'not under the law’, but, on the other hand he is ‘under the law of Christ’.

'The law of Christ' is Paul’s way of referring to the republishing and fulfilling and giving fullest meaning to the law in the New Testament. We find examples of this republishing and filling out of the law in passages like Matthew chapters 5-7, Ephesians chapter 4-6; John 13:34 and Romans 13:8-10.

A careful look at the New Testament will show that the Ten Commandments are republished and given fullest meaning the New Testament. 

(Below I have listed where the New Testament republishes each of the Ten Commandments.)

The New Testament reveals that the fullest meaning and intention of the law is love. 

Jesus taught that to love God and to love neighbour are the greatest and second greatest commandments, upon which all other commandments depend (Matthew 22:36-40). Mark 12:33-34 commends as wisdom that loving God and neighbour ‘is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices’.

Paul sums it all up, saying; ‘Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8-10, ESV)



Here are some examples of where the Ten Commandments get referred too and republished in the New Testament:

Commandment 1 - Exodus 20:1-3 - No other gods -1 Corinthians 8:4-6; Acts 14:15.

Commandment 2 - Exodus 20:4-6 - No Idolatry - Galatians. 5:18-21; Romans. 1:22-23; 1 John 5:21.

Commandment 3 – Exodus 20:7 - No blasphemy - James 5:12; 1 Timothy 6:1.
       
Commandment 4 – Exodus 20:8-11 - Sabbath keeping - Matthew 24:20; Colossians 2:16-17.
       
Commandment 5 – Exodus 20:12 - Honour father and mother - Ephesians 6:1-3.
   
Commandment 6 – Exodus 20:13 - No murder - Romans 13:8-10.

Commandment 7 – Exodus 20:14 - No adultery - Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.
       
Commandment 8 – Exodus 20:15 - No stealing- Romans 13:8-10; Ephesians 4:28.
       
Commandment 9 – Exodus 20:16 - No lying - Colossians 3:9; Revelation 21:7,8, 22:15.
       
Commandment 10 – Exodus 20:17 - No coveting  - Romans 13:8-10; Ephesians 5:3, 5.



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