As always, there is plenty more that could be said on this topic, but I do hope this entry will be helpful in shedding some light on this tricky topic and ultimately be presented in a loving, Christ-like manner, always seeking to point people to The Light Himself, Jesus Christ. (John 8:12)
This is an interesting piece- a nice
and concise summary of some key Christian teachings and I like a lot of what it
has to say. (And let me say from the outset that I do not intend this response to come across as just a criticism of the author and his writing. I do not wish to mar his work here, but rather use it as a springboard to point out some discrepancies I noticed and that come up at times in discussion on this topic of Old Testament law versus New Testament grace.) However, I do have some observations on it. Was this in response to
something that the author was reading? And while I gather that the author was
offering his take on Jesus' statement about coming to fulfill the Law rather
than abolish it (Matthew 5:17), I am not sure that I see exactly where he was
going with his conclusions. I looked at the Bible passages mentioned as I read
the article and it seems to me that they are all in agreement with the fact
that Christians are no longer bound to the Old Testament Law as the Hebrews
were. The overarching point I wish the author would have mentioned is that when
the New Testament Scriptures speak of this fact, the context is generally in
response to a bigger question that has been struggled over in the Christian
church and that is the question of faith vs. works for salvation.
(This can be a complex matter in itself, but essentially- The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone- see Ephesians 2:8-10. However, when you read verse 10, you will see that we are saved to do the good works God intended all along for us to do. The order of operations is very important here though. Because we are sinners by nature who have no good in us of ourselves, and even the good things we do are considered as filthy rags in comparison to God's perfection [Isaiah 64:6], we cannot do any good works to save ourselves. We must rely solely on Christ's righteousness and His death and Resurrection to save us. Of course, if we have truly put our faith in Christ's saving work on the cross, then we should be transformed by God's Spirit to obey His commands and do good works (such as loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves). James 2 makes it quite clear that faith without works is dead. [As I have mentioned before, this is one reason why Christ calls people to count the cost of following Him beforehand. Some people mistakenly get the idea that salvation is nothing more than asserting a mental belief in Christ as God and His death and Resurrection. Yet Jesus states that following Him involves a full surrender of the will and all rights to Him. [see Luke 9:23] Thus, the good works performed after putting faith in Christ are the sign of a living faith that is true. As Jesus Himself said, why do people call Him, 'Lord, Lord' and don't do what He says? (Luke 6:46) And in even starker terms, in Matthew 7, He clearly warned that many would call unto Him, 'Lord, Lord' at the judgment day that will not be admitted into Heaven but rather they will be sent away into Hell, because they did not do the will of God the Father. [i.e. While they may have made the mental assertion of Christ's divinity and even called upon His Name, their hearts were not truly changed and they did not truly seek after Christ or obey Him.] In the end, faith and works come together in tandem, but faith always leads the way and is foundational, whereas good works are just the fruit.)
And all of that was mainly to say that if people are seeking to uphold the Old Testament Law (or the New Testament laws, for that matter) in an attempt to appease God and earn His favor, it is a misguided attempt that will never work. This is the whole reason for Christ- He came and did for us what we could never do on our own. He fulfilled all The Law and died to pay for our wrongs and rose again. So we don't look to the Law anymore for salvation, but rather the New Covenant of Grace that Jesus has established through His work at Calvary on the cross.
And while I agree that we don't necessarily find the OT laws neatly divided into various categories as such, it is fairly easy to distinguish at least some dietary and ritual laws from moral laws. (In the Old Testament there would be no reason for there to be any such distinctions because all of it was The Law together- it was a moral reflection on the Israelites if they failed to keep any one part of it.) When we get to the New Testament, we find that God Himself has rescinded the dietary laws, when He gives Peter his vision of unclean animals upon a cloth and commands him to get up and eat. (See Acts 10). (There are other supporting passages for this too, of course- a number of which the author mentioned- such as Colossians 2:16-17.)
Hebrews 10 is an excellent chapter to look to in reading as to why the ritualistic laws (of sacrifices and festivals and not wearing clothing made of more than one fabric, etc.) are no longer needed. As the author mentioned in the article, 1 Corinthians 8-9 are also good chapters for this topic, where Paul speaks of giving up his rights and conforming himself to the Law in places where it might make a brother or sister stumble from the Gospel if he did otherwise. (In the context, he is speaking of dietary laws and/or ritual laws- never the moral law as he states that he is under the law of Christ in 1 Corinthians 9:21). Also, in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 (which I believe the author also mentioned), The Bible states that neither circumsion nor uncircumsion counts for anything, but rather-keeping the commandments of God. Thus, since circumsion would be a ritual law (as this is one of the things Israelites did to set themselves apart from the rest of the world), the ritual law is nullified, but the moral law is upheld. Galatians 4 and 5 also speak well to this point. Note that in Galatians 5, after Paul (under The Holy Spirit's inspiration) notes that anyone who accepts circumsion [as an effort of pleasing God] is obligated to keep the whole law. They are severed from Christ because they are seeking justification through keeping the law, rather than from grace. (This verse- Galatians 5:4- is actually where we get the phrase "fall away from grace".) But as we go on to read in 5:16, we must walk by the Spirit and then we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And if we're led by The Spirit, we are not under the law. Verses 19-26 tell us a list of things that are the works of the flesh- a list of sins that we fall into- but, in contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control- against such things there is no law.
That is the New Covenant we live under- Christ's grace which compels and empowers us to live by the Spirit (as the Holy Spirit indwells believers in Christ) and the fruit of the Spirit are the results- some of the good works we are called to do after putting faith in Jesus.
While I appreciate the author's call for Christians to remember Christ's summary of the greatest Laws of the Old Testament for us to follow (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18) in Matthew 22:34-40, I am still not sure as to his purpose in this conclusion. If the goal is to say that it is no longer necessary for Christians to follow out the dietary and ritual laws of the Old Testament, I wholly agree. However, in telling us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength first and foremost, Jesus certainly expected us to obey God's commands- His moral law, a point which Jesus makes very clear in passages like Matthew 7, Luke 6:46 and John 14:23-24 and 15:10-14, among others.
In conclusion, the main thing I want to remind people of here is that as we are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. (As Jesus told us in Matthew 22:34-40). And as Ephesians 4:15 tells us, we must be speaking the Truth in Love. If we can keep these things in mind, it helps everything else fall in place. Jesus has kept all the Law for us- and we rely on His obedience to justify us for salvation. (And of course, as Philippians 2 tells us, His obedience took Him to the cross and to His glorious Resurrection, which brings us our salvation.) And after justification, Jesus continues to work in us to make us holy for our sanctification, which ultimately results in glorification in Heaven. (Philippians 1:6) In obedience to Christ, we seek to obey His commands out of gratitude to Him, but we never rely on our own deeds to obtain God's favor. It's all through Him- and even faith itself is His gift.
(This can be a complex matter in itself, but essentially- The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone- see Ephesians 2:8-10. However, when you read verse 10, you will see that we are saved to do the good works God intended all along for us to do. The order of operations is very important here though. Because we are sinners by nature who have no good in us of ourselves, and even the good things we do are considered as filthy rags in comparison to God's perfection [Isaiah 64:6], we cannot do any good works to save ourselves. We must rely solely on Christ's righteousness and His death and Resurrection to save us. Of course, if we have truly put our faith in Christ's saving work on the cross, then we should be transformed by God's Spirit to obey His commands and do good works (such as loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves). James 2 makes it quite clear that faith without works is dead. [As I have mentioned before, this is one reason why Christ calls people to count the cost of following Him beforehand. Some people mistakenly get the idea that salvation is nothing more than asserting a mental belief in Christ as God and His death and Resurrection. Yet Jesus states that following Him involves a full surrender of the will and all rights to Him. [see Luke 9:23] Thus, the good works performed after putting faith in Christ are the sign of a living faith that is true. As Jesus Himself said, why do people call Him, 'Lord, Lord' and don't do what He says? (Luke 6:46) And in even starker terms, in Matthew 7, He clearly warned that many would call unto Him, 'Lord, Lord' at the judgment day that will not be admitted into Heaven but rather they will be sent away into Hell, because they did not do the will of God the Father. [i.e. While they may have made the mental assertion of Christ's divinity and even called upon His Name, their hearts were not truly changed and they did not truly seek after Christ or obey Him.] In the end, faith and works come together in tandem, but faith always leads the way and is foundational, whereas good works are just the fruit.)
And all of that was mainly to say that if people are seeking to uphold the Old Testament Law (or the New Testament laws, for that matter) in an attempt to appease God and earn His favor, it is a misguided attempt that will never work. This is the whole reason for Christ- He came and did for us what we could never do on our own. He fulfilled all The Law and died to pay for our wrongs and rose again. So we don't look to the Law anymore for salvation, but rather the New Covenant of Grace that Jesus has established through His work at Calvary on the cross.
And while I agree that we don't necessarily find the OT laws neatly divided into various categories as such, it is fairly easy to distinguish at least some dietary and ritual laws from moral laws. (In the Old Testament there would be no reason for there to be any such distinctions because all of it was The Law together- it was a moral reflection on the Israelites if they failed to keep any one part of it.) When we get to the New Testament, we find that God Himself has rescinded the dietary laws, when He gives Peter his vision of unclean animals upon a cloth and commands him to get up and eat. (See Acts 10). (There are other supporting passages for this too, of course- a number of which the author mentioned- such as Colossians 2:16-17.)
Hebrews 10 is an excellent chapter to look to in reading as to why the ritualistic laws (of sacrifices and festivals and not wearing clothing made of more than one fabric, etc.) are no longer needed. As the author mentioned in the article, 1 Corinthians 8-9 are also good chapters for this topic, where Paul speaks of giving up his rights and conforming himself to the Law in places where it might make a brother or sister stumble from the Gospel if he did otherwise. (In the context, he is speaking of dietary laws and/or ritual laws- never the moral law as he states that he is under the law of Christ in 1 Corinthians 9:21). Also, in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 (which I believe the author also mentioned), The Bible states that neither circumsion nor uncircumsion counts for anything, but rather-keeping the commandments of God. Thus, since circumsion would be a ritual law (as this is one of the things Israelites did to set themselves apart from the rest of the world), the ritual law is nullified, but the moral law is upheld. Galatians 4 and 5 also speak well to this point. Note that in Galatians 5, after Paul (under The Holy Spirit's inspiration) notes that anyone who accepts circumsion [as an effort of pleasing God] is obligated to keep the whole law. They are severed from Christ because they are seeking justification through keeping the law, rather than from grace. (This verse- Galatians 5:4- is actually where we get the phrase "fall away from grace".) But as we go on to read in 5:16, we must walk by the Spirit and then we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And if we're led by The Spirit, we are not under the law. Verses 19-26 tell us a list of things that are the works of the flesh- a list of sins that we fall into- but, in contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control- against such things there is no law.
That is the New Covenant we live under- Christ's grace which compels and empowers us to live by the Spirit (as the Holy Spirit indwells believers in Christ) and the fruit of the Spirit are the results- some of the good works we are called to do after putting faith in Jesus.
While I appreciate the author's call for Christians to remember Christ's summary of the greatest Laws of the Old Testament for us to follow (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18) in Matthew 22:34-40, I am still not sure as to his purpose in this conclusion. If the goal is to say that it is no longer necessary for Christians to follow out the dietary and ritual laws of the Old Testament, I wholly agree. However, in telling us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength first and foremost, Jesus certainly expected us to obey God's commands- His moral law, a point which Jesus makes very clear in passages like Matthew 7, Luke 6:46 and John 14:23-24 and 15:10-14, among others.
In conclusion, the main thing I want to remind people of here is that as we are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. (As Jesus told us in Matthew 22:34-40). And as Ephesians 4:15 tells us, we must be speaking the Truth in Love. If we can keep these things in mind, it helps everything else fall in place. Jesus has kept all the Law for us- and we rely on His obedience to justify us for salvation. (And of course, as Philippians 2 tells us, His obedience took Him to the cross and to His glorious Resurrection, which brings us our salvation.) And after justification, Jesus continues to work in us to make us holy for our sanctification, which ultimately results in glorification in Heaven. (Philippians 1:6) In obedience to Christ, we seek to obey His commands out of gratitude to Him, but we never rely on our own deeds to obtain God's favor. It's all through Him- and even faith itself is His gift.
Good points, Nate!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kevin. :-)
ReplyDelete