Christian Living

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BY COMMENTING
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE As A Member OR Visitor
Message Writer
Hire Writer
Report Article

Track Writer

Add to Favorites

by Clive Campbell
12/26/19
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

In working through the Westminster Confession of Faith, I think that I have come to a slightly different view of the Law than Westminster presents. It suggests that we are under, but not as a covenant of works, the Old Testament moral law of God--summed up in the 10 commandments and Sunday replacing Saturday for the Sabbath, but not under the ceremonial law (though it says it is partly moral; and isn't the Sabbath ceremonial?) and not under the judicial law of Israel which passed away with that State, except for the aspect of "equity" in it. I think that gets somewhat confusing and doesn't jive with Romans 6:14 and 15. We are not under law--any of the OT law--but under grace, the grace of the new covenant, where the Holy Spirit not only regenerates our spirits, as He did in the OT, but He writes the law of God on our hearts, not on tablets of stone.

33 “But (CB)this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “(CC)I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and (CD) I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31

And I will take the (AB)heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a (AC)heart of flesh, 20 that they may (AD)walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be (AE) My people, and I shall be their God. Ezekiel 11

26 Moreover, I will give you a (AM)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the (AN)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will (AO)

put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. Ezekiel 36

2 (C)You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, [a](D)cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of (E)the living God, not on (F)tablets of stone but on (G)tablets of [b](H)

human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3

Of course the Old Covenant was a covenant of grace too, depending on the grace of Christ to come. But the OT Jews were under all the OT law. The 10 commandments were written on 2 tablets of stone and the OT Jews' hearts were hearts of stone. The Holy Spirit regenerated some of them, but it seems that He did not operate on them in as gracious a manner as He does under the New Covenant.

The new law written on our hearts in some ways is stricter than the old law. It is not just the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law as well. E.g., unrighteous anger is murder, lust is adultery, etc. In other ways, the letter of the law is done away with as it was only a shadow of Christ. E.g., it is the spirit of Sabbath that matters, not the letter of Saturday, for Christians made it their practice to worship on Sundays and there is no letter on that. There is a Christian liberty in the law of the Spirit.

16 Therefore no one is to [n](AN)act as your judge in regard to (AO)food or (AP)drink or in respect to a (AQ)festival or a (AR)new moon or a (AS)Sabbath [o]day— 17 things which are (AT)a mere shadow of what is to come; but the [p]substance [q] belongs to Christ. Colossians 2

Jesus was a Jew who was under the law--all the OT law--and He fulfilled it. He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. His fulfillment of it is imputed to us.

2 For (D)the law of the Spirit of life [a]in (E)Christ Jesus (F)has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For (G)what the Law could not do, [b](H)weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in (I)the likeness of [c]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the (J)requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who (K) do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

One more good verse on the Sabbath:

5 (I)One person [c]regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be (J) fully convinced in his own mind.

In the OT, the Holy Spirit regenerated people but only occasionally filled and gifted them. Perhaps it is in this filling and gifting that He Himself becomes the law within their spirits.

What I have struggled with in the past was particularly the Sabbath commandment and trying to understand if that was part of the moral law to be obeyed and trying to reconcile that with how Saturday got replaced with Sunday and yet there are the NT liberty verses on the Sabbath.

Now I think that I have solved it: that it is whatever law the Spirit has written on my own personal heart that I am to obey. Of course this will be in line with whatever of God's moral law is revealed in the OT and NT, e.g., not just the letter of the moral law, but the spirit of the moral law that Jesus speaks of in the Sermon on the Mount. And the Saturday ceremonial aspect of the OT Sabbath law I ignore, but the moral aspect of it, the resting and honouring the Lord (Ex 35.2), I personally like to do publicly on Sunday in our culture, as most weekly Christian public worship services happen then.

I'm certainly glad that the law of the Spirit in me does not prohibit me from 39 activities on the Sabbath as the Talmud does:

The 39 Prohibited Sabbath Activities

Anyway, this is where I am in my thinking on this. I find it freeing.

Here's another good verse, supporting what I wrote:

6 But now we have been (I)released from the Law, having (J)died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in (K)newness of (L)the [d]Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Romans 7

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR

Reader Count & Comments

Date

Phyllis Inniss

04 Jan 2020

There are two laws in the Old Testament - The Moral Law, the Ten Commandments, which Jesus said not one jot or tittle shall pass away from it until all is fulfilled. He said He came to fulfill the law not to destroy it. The other law - the Mosaic Law - God gave Moses instructions to write this law in a book and put it at the side of the Ark of the Covenant, not in front where the Decalogue was placed. This law contained all the sacrifices, offerings, new moons, etc. that God gave the Israelites to keep until the Messiah was crucified on the Cross and all sacrifices came to an end. The veil of the Temple was torn in two signifying the end to sacrifices and the Mosaic Law was done away with.
The Sabbath - No where in the Bible was the Saturday Sabbath changed. The Roman Catholic Church has admitted to the change from the Saturday Sabbath (Look at Church history and you will find their admission to this fact.) This was done at the instigation of Constantine in the fourth century to accommodate the Pagan sun worship and amalgamate it into the Christian services. Also they stated that they were not willing to keep the Jewish day of worship which was Saturday. The Saturday Sabbath predated the Jews so they were quite wrong in their thinking. Read carefully the Old and New Testaments and new insights will come to you.

Ramona Cook

26 Dec 2019

I kinda SEE what you are saying and agree in some areas of thought; but not in all the 'FREEDOM" from the Old Testament.

Maybe you didn't say "none of the Old Testament applies to us today." Maybe it is only that I communicate with some folks who poo poo things said in the Old Testament, EXCEPT for the Promises.

Actually, The 10 Commandments were given for the identification of sin to humankind and to tell them and consequently us, what God expects of us. Even today that is the way we identify that we ARE a sinner and need to be saved.

Jesus DID indeed fulfill the Law and when we receive Him as own Savior, His righteousness from having kept the Law IS indeed imputed to us, as belonging to us. His righteousness "covers" us in God's eyes.

However, we STILL have the "flesh" that continues to need discipline and "crucifying" and denying of it's sinful appetites.

At this particular juncture is where I see a serious problem in the Church of our day, and in part due to the confidence that our SINS are all covered, when IN FACT it was our ADAMIC flawed gene that has been covered, and thereby we are given The Blessed Holy Spirit to assist us in the denying of the SINS that so easily beset us.

Many, with whom I associate feel that "condemnation" is being spewed if the teachings of the Epistles are taught or preached.

What I see in the Epistles is education and encouragement about HOW TO live as a disciple of Jesus, continuing on to sanctification and final salvation. NOTHING of WORKS...JUST OBEDIENCE that SHOWS we belong to Him.

This is a pertinent discussion for today, but from where I am it has become the beginning and the end of salvation. I see it causing Christians to be careless about the activities of their lives because after all, "I am covered."

I fear many who embrace this truth of imputed righteousness as the beginning and the end will be among those to whom Jesus warns He will say, "Depart from Me, I never knew you."

Because, ALL of Scripture, Old and New teach us to CONTINUE and to obey the teachings of God through to the end.

Ramona Cook

26 Dec 2019