Keeping The Mosaic Law

"If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:21).

"This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3).

"If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Galatians 5:18).

"Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Galatians 3:23-25).

"Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:6).

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:1-4).

"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they" (Acts 15:10-11).

"Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment" (Acts 15:24).

"By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:20-24).

"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Galatians 2:14-16).

"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free" (Galatians 4:21-31).

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Old Covenant Abolished

I believe that the Old Covenant has been abolished:

"For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God... a better testament" (Hebrews 7:18-19, 22).

"[Jesus] is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second" (Hebrews 8:6-7).

"He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second" (Hebrews 10:9).

"For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Hebrews 7:12).

"There is no more offering for sin" (Hebrews 10:18).

"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man" (Ephesians 2:15).

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Colossians 2:14).

"If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished" (2 Corinthians 3:7-13).

"I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Galatians 2:19).

"Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ... Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:4, 6).

Isn't it true that Paul and the writer of Hebrews don't refer to the oral traditions of the Pharisees being abolished, but to the covenant law given by God through Moses himself?

Doesn't Hebrews address the replacing of the entire Mosaic covenant: "[Jesus] is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old" (Hebrews 8:6-13)?

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Till All Be Fulfilled

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18).

Could Matthew 5:17-18 mean not that heaven and earth would pass away before the Mosaic law passed away, but that the Mosaic law had to be fulfilled before heaven and earth passed away?

Could Jesus' statement in Matthew 5:17-18 be related to his subsequent statements: "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:44-48); "But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause" (John 15:25)?

Could Jesus' statement in Matthew 5:17-18 regarding the necessity of the fulfillment of the law also be related to his and Paul's subsequent statements:

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:12).

"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Galatians 5:14).

"He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8).

"Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10)?

Didn't Jesus fulfill the Mosaic law and the prophets just as he said he would (Luke 24:44-48), and so was able to abolish the Mosaic law through his sacrifice on the cross (Hebrews 10:4-10, Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14)? Wasn't the Mosaic covenant disannulled by the new covenant (Hebrews 7:18, 12)?

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Meat And Drink

"The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17); "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink" (Colossians 2:16-17); "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:4-5); "Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man" (Mark 7:18-20).

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Holy Days

"Let no man therefore judge you... in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Colossians 2:16-17).

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Lawless?

Note that the new standards given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are far stricter than the old standards given through Moses on Mount Sinai (Matthew 5:21-48).

While we are no longer under the Mosaic law (Hebrews 7:18), we are "not without law to God, but under the law to Christ" (1 Corinthians 9:21).

"Fulfil the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).

"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).

"The law of faith" (Romans 3:27).

Some ask, because so many evil practices are specifically prohibited in the Mosaic law, but aren't specifically prohibited in the New Testament, are we now free to engage in them? If not, and the Mosaic law has been abolished, on what basis can we say they are wrong? On the same basis on which we can say that many evil practices not specifically prohibited in the Mosaic law are wrong.

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New Covenant = Old Covenant Written On Our Hearts?

We do not have the old Mosaic letters written on our hearts, but the new law of the Spirit of Christ: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2); "The law of faith" (Romans 3:27); "Fulfil the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2), which is the commandments given not by Moses but by Christ, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17); "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16).

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We Establish The Law

Some quote Romans 3:31, which says "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." But the context shows that we do not establish the old law by doing the deeds of the old law, but by keeping the new law of faith in Christ, which alone can make us as righteous as the old law required: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ... That he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:20-22, 26-28). To turn this on its head and say it means we are to do the deeds of the old law is absurd.

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The 10 Commandments

Which of the commandments of the Mosaic covenant do you feel we who are under the New Covenant must obey?

For example, how must Christians keep the Sabbath day, according to Paul?

What was the "one day" or "the" day that Paul was referring to when he said: "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it" (Romans 14:5-6)?

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Colossians 2:16-17).

Do "the sabbath days" include the Sabbath?

Is there a new type of Sabbath rest under the New Covenant?

"For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his" (Hebrews 4:4-10).

What was "engraven in stones" which "is done away" and "abolished"?

After what event did Moses place the vail over his face?

"He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face" (Exodus 34:28-33).

"Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire" (Hebrews 12:18).

"The ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire" (Deuteronomy 10:4).

Are we still in bondage to the covenant, the ten commandments, of Mount Sinai?

If 35 mph speed limit signs on our street were removed and replaced with automatic speed control in our cars of 25 mph, would we in any way still be under the old speed limit signs of 35 mph which were removed? Even if we were no longer under them, would we be breaking them? Wouldn't we be doing even better than they had required?

In the same way, when we walk in "the ministration of the spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:8) and no longer walk in "the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones" (2 Corinthians 3:7), does this mean that we break the 10 commandments? Don't we far exceed their requirements, "for if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory" (2 Corinthians 3:9), "for I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20)?

Could "these commandments" in Matthew 5:19-20 be the new commandments of the kingdom of God, for "the law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16), commandments given not by Moses but by Christ, "for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17), which commandments follow immediately after in the same Sermon on the Mount, and which not only fulfill the law and the prophets -- "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:12) -- but far exceed them, for now not only can we not murder, we cannot even hate (Matthew 5:21-22, 1 John 3:15), and now not only can we not commit adultery, we cannot even look on a woman with lust (Matthew 5:27-28), and now not only can we not take revenge greater than what was done to us, we cannot take any revenge at all (Matthew 5:38-41), and now not only must we love our neighbor, we must love our enemies as well (Matthew 5:43-48)?

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The Curse Of The Law

Some Christians are trying to keep the Mosaic law. But it brings a curse if it isn't perfectly kept (Galatians 3:10). Didn't Peter himself admit the futility of trying to keep the law? (Acts 15:10)

Do they have fringes and a blue ribbon on all their clothes? "Fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue" (Numbers 15:38). I read these as things that are added to all their garments -- so that they can always see and show the fringes and the blue ribband wherever they go and whatever they do.

Are all of their clothes 100% of one material -- "Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together" (Deuteronomy 22:11) -- even the elastic band of their underwear and the leather tag on their jeans and the nylon label in their cotton shirts? Could nylon thread have stitched their cotton shirts together? How will they know? And how do they keep all of the sacrificial laws which are such an integral part of the Mosaic law?

"Who hath bewitched you... This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?... For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:1-3, 10).

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The Eternal Covenant

Some say the Mosaic law must be kept by everyone forever. But did Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob keep the Mosaic covenant? Was the Mosaic covenant made after the Lord spoke Isaiah 55:3 and Ezekiel 16:60, which are in the future tense? Didn't God himself disannul the temporary Mosaic covenant (that man broke) with the everlasting new covenant of the blood of Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 31:31-32; Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 13:20, 8:7-13)?

Some believe Hebrews 10:28-31 means the old covenant is still in operation. But there the writer of Hebrews was making clear that the judgment of the new covenant far exceeds that under the old, which he made quite plain has been disannulled (Hebrews 7:12, 7:18, 10:9, 10:18).

Some point to Psalm 119:142, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." God's law is truth, whether the old Mosaic law or the new law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). But the old Mosaic law is not forever insofar as man being under it is concerned, as the New Testament makes quite clear.

Some point to Psalm 119:160, "Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." The old covenant ordinances are not everlasting insofar as man being under them is concerned, for "There is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof" (Hebrews 7:18), for "Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Galatians 3:23-25). My 2nd grade teacher might live forever if she's a Christian, but am I in the 2nd grade forever?

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Did Paul Keep The Law?

Some point to where Paul kept the law in Acts 21:26. But Paul in no way did this for his own relationship with God, but only so that some of the old-law-loving Jews might come into relationship with Christ: "Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law" (1 Corinthians 9:20). As elsewhere he circumcised Timothy only for the sake of the old-law-loving Jews: "Him [Timothy] would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek" (Acts 16:3). When Paul was among Gentile believers, he did not keep the law, as neither did Peter: "When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" (Galatians 2:11-14)

Acts 18:18 was not a Nazarite vow, for Cenchrea was not "at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation" (Numbers 6:18). Paul went to the feast in Jerusalem in order to salute the church there (Acts 18:21-22) and possibly in order to give them the money he had collected for them from the Gentile churches (Romans 15:25-31).

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Mosaic Law In The Millennium?

Some point out that we will keep the feast of tabernacles in the millennium (Zechariah 14). But I don't believe Zechariah 14 and Ezekiel 40-48 refer to the Mosaic law, but to a millennial law that is not yet in effect.

Some point out that "the law" shall go forth from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). But "the law" does not always have to mean the Mosaic law. When a policeman today says "Stop in the name of the law!" does he mean "Stop in the name of the Mosaic law?" When Paul said "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2) did he mean "The Mosaic law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Mosaic law of sin and death?" Does the New Testament preach the Mosaic law or the law of the grace of Christ? "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). "Fulfil the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).

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OT Sacrifices Purified The Flesh Only

"Gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience" (Hebrews 9:9).

"The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect" (Hebrews 10:1).

"It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4).

"If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance" (Hebrews 9:13-15).

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39).

"For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:21).

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Eating Bread

Aren't we still commanded to eat bread under the New Covenant, whether in regular meals or the bread of Christ in communion?

"We command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (2 Thessalonians 3:12).

"So let him eat of that bread" (1 Corinthians 11:28).

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