LAW-OLD COVENANT

But the Gordian knot is easily undone when it is understood that Jesus is to Moses what the butterfly is to the caterpillar. Moses is not struck down. Moses did not "fail" (Lk. 16:17). Nor was he "destroyed" (Mt. 5:17). Moses was "fulfilled." In Christ, Moses reaches maturity and emerges in full bloom. Moses' law still has relevance, but only as it comes to us from the hands of the Lord Jesus. Christians today must still read Moses, and for great profit, but when they read him they must be careful to wear their Christian lenses. Moses' law is not simply incorporated into the New Covenant as it was revealed through Moses-it is fulfilled, advanced, and brought to completion.

Fred Zaspel

Taken from "New Covenant Theology" by Tom Wells and Fred Zaspel, © 2002 New Covenant Media, Used by permission of New Covenant Media, 5317 Wye Creek Drive, Frederick, MD 21703-6938. http://www.newcovenantmedia.com/home.php

In hermeneutical debate it is often asked whether it is right to assume that all of Moses' law remains unless it is specifically abolished, or if it is right to assume that it is all abolished unless it is specifically stated to remain. In one sense the question is irrelevant, for it is the entire Old Covenant that is abolished (2 Cor. 3) and not just certain categories of the law. But in another sense the question is wrong, for Christ's claim (Mt. 5:18-20) is that all of Moses is to be continually taught and observed-only, in the new form He gives it. It is all of the law that remains, but it is to be obeyed as interpreted by Christ.

Fred Zaspel

The stipulations of the ceremonial law are only a shadow of what was to come in Christ (Col. 2:17; cf. Heb. 10:1). The law…is in every respect a pointer to and a prophecy of the new order of life, which only Christ can inaugurate. The law declares only one day out of seven to be holy unto the Lord, the Spirit sanctifies all seven of them. The law sets apart one tribe out of the twelve to be priests, the Spirit declares that the whole congregation has to fulfill the priestly office (1 Pet. 2:9). The law demands a tenth part of His people’s possessions, the Spirit translates us to become God’s possession with all that we have. Everything belongs to Him. We are but stewards who will have to give account of all we possess.

Pieter Verhoef

The Books of Haggai and Malachi, NICOT, Eerdmans, 1987, p. 311.

The law of God had a definite function in the history of redemption. It still has a function, but it is not the same function as it had in Israel’s experience. The law that worked wrath in Israel’s conscience has been fully silenced and does not work, in any sense, either wrath or blessing in the Christian. The law of God can neither curse nor bless a Christian. It cannot curse a Christian because Christ has endured every curse the law threatened, and it cannot bless a Christian because even with a new heart, the child of God cannot earn the blessing that is the reward for perfect obedience. However, just as Christ endured every curse the law threatened, he also earned every blessing the law promised. If you read the law and feel guilt and despair, you do not understand justification, and if you read the law and feel good about your progress in sanctification, you are a deceived, self-righteous hypocrite.

John Reisinger

Studies in Galatians – Part 24, Sound of Grace, April 2009. Used by Permission.

The law…is not for the righteous. Righteousness comes by faith, not by performing works of the law. Therefore, it is wrong to make the law our “savior or judge,” as Bunyan affirmed. However, it is not wrong for us to allow the law to “instruct our minds,” as long as we filter that instruction through the New Covenant. The final, authoritative, yardstick that validates any truth or law for the child of God is the gospel.

John Reisinger

Studies in Galatians – Part 24, Sound of Grace, April 2009. Used by Permission.

The Law’s purpose was never salvific. True, it held out the promise of salvation for those who fulfilled its demands, but it couldn’t deliver on that promise due to human sin. Indeed, God never gave His people the law so they could earn eternal life. Instead, He gave it to a people already His own (based on His promise to Abraham, who was saved by faith) whom He called out of Egypt by a gracious act of deliverance. Its function was to supervise and reveal sinfulness, acting as a provisional custodian until Christ (Gal. 3:24-26).

Scott Klusendorf

Cherry Picking the Commandments, www.prolifetraining.com, Used by Permission.

The Law’s purpose was temporary. Unlike God’s unchanging covenant with Abraham, the Mosaic one was at risk due to Israel’s persistent rebellion (Dan. 9:7-14; Hos. 6:7; 8:1). The solution God promises is not a renewal of what He gave at Sinai, but a new arrangement “not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke” (Jer. 31:34). That promise of something new was not lost on its intended audience.

Scott Klusendorf

Cherry Picking the Commandments, www.prolifetraining.com, Used by Permission.

While the Law defines righteousness, only grace delivers it. The Law was never intended to be a means of obtaining grace; it was given to demonstrate to men that grace was desperately needed.

Bob Deffinbaugh