Re: The Law of Christ
Jesus also sums up the law in Matthew 22:34-40 as loving God and loving neighbor so this could be the law of Christ.
Another clue is that Paul states multiple times in his epistles that we should still follow the moral portion of the ten commandments in verses like Galatians 5:19-21
If you think about it, the attributes described above are all opposed to love-- so the moral commandments could be seen as under the umbrella of "love". And in Jesus sermon on the mount He even brings the moral law higher to our hearts by teaching we should not hate our brother (OT version: murder).
So in a sense we do follow all Ten commandments in the New Covenant but at a spiritual and heart level-- and not of ourselves but through the Holy Spirit by being born again (1 John 4:7). The law of Moses was nailed to the cross, but the commandments related to love carried over.
I think there was a misunderstanding by the LCs regarding the moral commandments not being carried over to the New Covenant and this has caused a lot of problems in the church.
1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.[/QUOTE]
Hi bear bear,
I'm afraid I don't agree that the so-called 'moral commandments' were carried over into the new covenant.
First of all, while I accept that there are 'carnal ordinances' contained in the LAW (tithing, for example, is identified as a "carnal commandment" in the epistle to the Hebrews), Paul tells us in his epistle to the Romans that the LAW is 'spiritual' (Romans 7: 14).
And what you call the 'moral commandments' are those commandments' that I would say fall into the category of the 'spiritual' aspect of the LAW.
In spite of this apparent dichotomy between the spiritual and carnal aspects of the LAW, the LAW itself is a complete whole and cannot be disintegrated.
James upholds this view when he writes:
"For whosoever shall keep the WHOLE LAW and yet offend in [just] ONE POINT shall be guilty of [breaking them] ALL. For He that said 'Do not commit adultery', said also, 'Do not kill' (Jas 2: 10-11).
And the Lord Jesus said the following regarding the same matter:
"..till heaven and earth pass ONE JOT or ONE TITTLE shall in no wise pass from the LAW..." (Matthew 5: 18).
It therefore figures that you absolutely cannot subdivide the LAW into 'moral commandments' on the one hand, and into commandments that are of a 'ceremonial' character on the other.
Such classifications only serve narrow academic objectives and are -or at least should be- intended only to enable learners and academics to better understand Scripture. They are a hermeneutic tool in much the same way that the number 'Pi' is useful to architects and engineers.
The LAW is an integer: a monolithic standard. It is NOT kept piecemeal. And was never intended to be.
And so no part of it is 'carried over' into the New Covenant.
"Christ is the END of the LAW for righteousness to everyone that believes" (Romans 10: 4)
But Jesus does give us a NEW COMMANDMENT. It is 'new' and is not something that has been 'carried over' from the Old Covenant.
Crucially, after letting his disciples know about his impending glorification, he says:
"..a NEW commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13: 34)
A good number of Bible scholars often make the mistake of claiming that what Jesus says to his disciples here is a reiteration of the answer he gave to the lawyer-pharisee in Matthew 22: 36-40. That is not the case.
Firstly, his audience is quite different (verse 35 states explicitly that the lawyer was trying to "tempt" him). Secondly, in contrast to the exhortation to his disciples to love one another, with the lawyer Jesus simply quotes from what is written in the Old Testament. He does not even invite him to try and keep the two great commandments (he knows nobody can). He only explains that the whole LAW hangs on these two.
The 'love' spoken of in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 is completely different from the 'love' that the Lord prescribes as a 'new commandment' in John 13: 34. The difference between them can be compared to that between the blood of bulls and goats, and the blood of Christ.
God's blessings
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