Articles
The Removal of the Old Law
The Removal of the Old Law By Derek Long
God made a covenant with the Israelites at Mount Sinai and gave them a law to live by (Deuteronomy 5:1-5). God expected the children of Israel to keep the law He gave them at Mount Sinai. When the children of Israel would disobey God’s law, punishment was brought upon them (Hebrews 2:2). While the old law was in force, it became evident no man would be justified by the Law of Moses because no one kept it perfectly except Jesus (Galatians 3:10- 12). The law, “confined all under sin,” (Galatians 3:22; Romans 3:9- 20) and helped show us our need for a New Covenant. The Old Testament predicted the coming of the New Covenant. Moses told the people, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19, NKJV). Moses had given the children of Israel a law from God. A Prophet (Jesus) would come like unto Moses who would also give a law from God. Jeremiah 31:31-34 is another passage which reminds us of God’s intention to remove the Old Covenant and make a New Covenant. Hebrews 8:6-13 reminds us we live in the days when God has removed the Old Covenant and now we live under the New Covenant. In considering the topic of the removal of the Old Covenant, a question may arise: When was the Old Covenant removed and the New Covenant established? The Bible provides us an answer to this question as we will see in the following passages. The Bible in several passages points out for us the Old Covenant was removed at the death of Christ. • Matthew 5:17-18 says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (NKJV). Jesus did not come to simply destroy or abolish the Old Law. Jesus came to fulfill the Old Law or to bring it to its completion. The Old Law had been pointing people to Christ and once Christ came there would no longer be a need for people to live under the Old Law (Galatians 3:23-25). • Romans 7:1-6 uses the marriage relationship to demonstrate the fact one can only be under one law at a time. A person cannot be still bound to someone and married to another without committing adultery. We cannot still be under the Old Law and yet married to Christ. Verse 4 says, “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you might be married to another - to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (NKJV). Christ’s sacrifice is what sets us free from the Old Law and allows us to be joined to Him. • Ephesians 2:14-16 says, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (NKJV). Christ removed the barrier which stood between the Jews and Gentiles. The barrier He re- moved is identified in verse 15 as the Old Law. He removed the Old Law by His sacrifice upon the cross. • Colossians 2:14 says, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (NKJV). The handwriting of requirements refers to the Old Testament law. It is said to be against us and contrary to us because as we noted earlier it confined all under sin. Christ has taken the Old Testament law away by nailing it to the cross. The death of Jesus set us free from keeping the Old Testament law. • Hebrews 9:16-17 compares the New Testament to a person’s last will and testament. A person’s testament does not go into force until after the person dies. In a similar manner, Jesus’ Testament did not come into force until after He died. Jesus’ death is what removed the Old Law as the law we must live by today and established the New Testament as the law we must follow today. Since the Old Testament law is no longer the law we are under today, we ought not to go back to it to find answers to questions such as how to be saved today, how we are to worship today, etc. The Old Testament is still valuable as it contains great examples which we can learn from (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11). Let’s remember though we are no longer under the Old Law but under the New Testament law today!
- Bulletin_-_10_4_20213.pdf (50.06 kB)
