Mosaic Law Discussion

By Jay Rohr

Mosaic Law Discussions Part 1

The main part of this discussion started for me when a biblical student said: "I know that Yeshua is our blood sacrifice for all time, but He also said that He didn't come to change the law, so why don't we have to observe the Mosaic Law?"

That got my attention. And the following answer from another biblical student got my attention even more:

"Because He fulfilled it. It is complete in Him, therefore, if we are in Him, we have fulfilled it too."

If we are in Christ, "we have fulfilled it, too". We should look into that statement with great care in order to ascertain its meaning. First thing that comes to mind, of course, is how we have fulfilled anything since our lives are still ongoing, and we are still capable of error, capable of falling. Once we are in Christ, we remain there? We are impervious to temptation? We no longer commit sin which is defined by the law?

This biblical student referenced this book. C.S. Lewis states, in MERE CHRISTIANITY, that "those who put themselves in His hands will become perfect, as He is perfect - perfect in love, wisdeom, joy, beauty, and immortality. The change will not be completed in this life, for death is an important part of the treatment." This helps clarify the situation of the Christian even more. It helps answer the question of our lives as still ongoing. Then Lewis adds an interesting statement: "How far the change will have gone before death in any particular Christian is uncertain."

Matt. 5:17-20: (Christ himself speaking)

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass one jot or on tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whoseoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness ahll exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (KJV)

Hum. So much for the scribes and Pharisees. Appears they don't have much of a chance, according to Jesus. (To the great merit of the Churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia, they warned about the Kenites the same as Jesus.) The Companion Bible gives these interesting notes on these passages and beyond,

5:17 through 7:12: THE KINGDOM (THE LAWS OF IT). Ref. vs. 5:17-20 just quoted, "They fulfil the Law and the Prophets." Ref. vs. 5:21-48, "They transcend the Law of Moses." Ref: 6:1 - 7:11, "They excel the Tradition of the Elders". Ref. 7:12, "The fulfil the Law and the Prophets".

Another biblical student voiced concerns when she quoted: "If you love Me, keep My commandments," (John 14:15) and said that that was "pretty cut and dry to me". She also mentioned that she struggled with the idea of the keeping of the sabbath, even though we had discussed this on the list previously.

Another student remarked on this passage from John that Christ did not say "keep my father's commandments . . . he said keep MY commandments." Then she noted that Christ had summed up the commandments into two, and asking whether or not he is referencing "those two here or to the 10 that our Father gave? Or is he referring to the spirit of the law rather than the letter?"

Well, we have to dig a little, then. Note that Matt. 17:19 says: ". . but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." It said "keep THE commandments" and not "keep MY commandments".

One student made a very good comment on the sabbath, one of the commandments. She said, "Don't let this day-keeping (observation of the sabbath on the 7th day) biz distract you from Christ . . ." For that's exactly what it does - distracts. Lily and I observed the 7th day for several years. But the churches made a whole doctrine and religion out of this one day with such a host of 7th day rules and regulations that it became just silliness. No shopping, no business on that day, no eating at restaurants, no going to amusement parks, no Christmas, no this, no that. Saturday was for rest in Jesus.

Now, sabbath for me means rest in Christ, stay in His Word, increase wisdom and understanding, learn the Father, love, honor, respect every single day, not just one day out of the week. I am free. I feel free. I understand the concept and the dream of God and Yeshua, and that I feel I am in Him, that He is guiding and that He is here and now, that on a daily basis I am more and more willing to be His servant and to listen to what He directs, to what He prompts, to His encouragement and inspiration. It's exciting and uplifting every day of the week.

Please check out Part 2. We have a way to go yet - and some surprises along the way.

In the love of Christ,
Jay

Mosaic Law Discussions - Part 2

Hello. Back again, and trying to keep everything as simple as possible on this subject of Mosaic Law.

To continue . . .
One biblical student requested we read and understand Hebrews 7, and she was correct going to this important passage. She wrote: "He didn't change the Law by BREAKING it. He fulfilled it in His death and resurrection. . . and it WAS changed via the change of Priesthood..." A great observation, and many of us miss this very important point.

Heb. 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

There it is! Right before our eyes. Verses 13 and 14, which bruiser also quoted, goes on to say that Christ was of Judah, a different tribe than the Levites. It was indeed a change of the priesthood as well as a change of the law. Now, please check out, as a follow-up, verses 15 - 19 from Paul.

15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another Priest.

16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. (i.e., speaking again of the Kingdom of God.)

17 For He testifieth, "Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did (Christ); by the which we draw nigh unto God. (through Christ)

There is an oath involved here from the Lord, as the later verses reveal - an oath that was not made before, but is made now. Jesus was indeed a better testament, Paul wrote. Unchangeable Priest. Our Savior.

Another biblical student quoted an article about the keeping of the sabbath, and stated that she recognizes the seventh day with her family. Another student commented that "doing His will and knowing His Word is keeping the sabbath and all other laws, the law was summed into 2 commandments."

We note throughout the N.T. that Christ himself broke what were formerly known as sabbath laws. But did he break them or amplify them, giving them their real meaning?

We believe in the deity of Christ. Several prominent major cults out there in the world do not, and blaspheme our Savior by their antics. Believing and knowing our Savior, are we to take him at his word or not? After all, he IS the Word. When he states in the N.T. that he came for fulfill the law, he became our law, our high priest. And he gave us the two major commandments, which, by the way, embody all of the ten commandments. THE LAW WAS CHANGED from blood sacrifices and accompanying ordinances. We're under a New Priesthood. Jesus Christ.

A biblical student also touched upon the Code of Hammurabi which predated Mosaic law. I had intended to bring this up but, like she wrote, Bullinger makes very good comparisons between the two laws in The Companion Bible appendices.

GALATIANS 4

Faith is our innermost prime mover and hope. Paul explains to us that the heir doesn't differ at all from the status as a servant even if the heir is the greatest of all. The "fullness of time" came with Christ and his sacrifice. Before that time we were under bondage. Christ freed us. Yet verse 4 said that Christ himself, born physically, under a woman, was also under (made of) law. He came to redeem those "that were under the law" that we might receive the inheritance. We are an heir of God through Christ, the Priest.

Gal. 4:9-11

9 But now after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

10 Ye observe days, and month, and times, and years.

11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

He did not want a misinterpretation of the law and observances. That is, he did not want us to be in bondage because of the law, but wanted us to be free in Christ. Verse 31 says, "we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free." This refers to the previous verses starting with verse 21.

21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

He describes Abraham. There were TWO covenants. Abraham had a son by a servant and another son by a free woman.

23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

Paul himself states in no uncertain terms that THIS was an ALLEGORY for all of us - an allegory relating to the TWO COVENANTS. The one was Agar, which is mount Sinai in Arabia "and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children," Paul said in vs. 25.

26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Now check out vs. 28:

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

The next two verses are so important that they cannot be overstated:

29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

30 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."

Read these verses over and over, and it will clarify so many questions in our minds. We know more clearly than ever the story of Abraham and his two sons, and why the one was sent out, and the other was kept with him - because he was the child of promise. That is us. God wants us to understand that.

Thus we place our reliance on God, on His grace, His gift to us. God wants our faith and our courage to deal with it. He doesn't want cowards and fearful people, but a faith that will rely on the Lord, a kind of faith that trusts the Lord. In Part 3 we'll touch upon just a few more specific ideas tied in with faith that will hopefully hammer home the ideas expressed in these studies of Mosaic Law.

In the love of Christ,
Jay

Mosaic Law Discussions - Part 3 (End)

This should be brief. For this Part 3 study, I am indebted to Dr. W. euGene Scott's paper, GALATIANS 4: The ABC's of Faith.

We talked about faith being courageous enough to act, and to do so requires our trust in our Lord. Dr. Scott puts faith on a level above belief, his contention being that "faith involves action, based upon belief, sustained by Confidence that that which is believed is true." That is, a trust and confidence that God's Word as stated is true, and always will be. "Belief involved the mind, and faith involved the mind plus the will and action. It also involves the emotions, confidence to sustain faith," Dr. Scott wrote.

Later on in the article, he makes some crucial statements that support these ideas. He said that it does not matter what your object of faith is, "it's still faith, equal in merit and value in the abstract." Then he goes on, as a matter of instruction, by saying, "since your choice is among the objects, plan your life and carefully examine that which you are going to believe, have confidence in, and hang your body on..." But that's just the beginning, just the start. He concludes by stating, "you're not faithing until you attach your body in action to what you believe and what you have confidence in." Thus, faith is the most crucial part of all, which puts emphasis and seals everything else because it involves acting on your beliefs and trust.

God's presence whose omnipresence is implanted in those with faith "occurs the moment that the grip of faith kicks in and, at that instant, God gives the gift of salvation - seating you in Christ in heavenly places," Dr. Scott suggests. And concludes with this beautiful analogy: "God puts on the spectacles of Jesus Christ and looks at you as though you were Jesus."

That took my breath away.

I hope most of you can understand the following:
". . . when Faithe takes hold of God's promise, the kaporeth or covering (which is what 'atonement' means) is there in place, and between you and God's Law is that fulfilled Law incarnate in Christ which died on Calvary; and we, our old man (as Paul was fond of saying), died with Him. God now looks at you . . . as though you were Christ. That's justification. You're taken as just like God, and imputed to you is the righteousness of Christ. . ." Scott adds later that "God can, through the same Word that raised up Christ from the dead, place a deposit of Himself in You."

Christ broke the wall between us and God - the wall that Ephesians talks about. The veil was ripped apart. That's what all this means. "And God places in you, the moment faith connects, a deposit of His life," Dr. Scott wrote. He said that as long as faith is active and working, no one can sever your relationship with God.

The Bible says that "that which is created of the spirit cannot sin; there is a new life in you incapable of sinning; there is an old life in you dominated by the desires of the flesh," Scott said. Paul called it trench warfare, which it certainly is. Scott write: "The outcome is pre-determined: let God's life stay in, the flesh will be displaced and the new life will bring forth fruit. You don't get the fruit of the spirit by will-power copying of the dead Law any more than you can get apples by shaking a tree. It comes from within; it is an out-growth."

Scott suggests that we are the Spirit's person, hence the real meaning of spiritual person. We belong, and it will change us, and we cannot stop it if it's there. Many, many times we have to renew our connection to keep God there, to keep the Spirit within us. We are fighting a battle. (I've mentioned this before, and it's very scriptural. We have to arm ourselves for the fight to the finish.)

Paul said that "Christ is formed in your heart by faith." God will take care of the righteousness, but we have to take care of our faith. "When righteousness wanes," Scott wrote, "instead of beating yourself to death, finad an object of faith in God's Word, get out on that front line with courage, and go for it! Forget about your righteousness. The more righteous you become, the less you'll be aware of it."

And getting back once again to the children of bondage discussed in this chapter - the children of law - and the children of the free discussed by Paul in his comparison, using Abraham as an example, Dr. Scott writes with tremendous clarity: "Then as now, the children of bondage (which many Christian churches cannot even understand to this day), who have resurrected off Sinai new rules to add to your relationship to God, will persecute the children of the free. They cannot live in the same house together."

The scriptures themselves tell us to cast out these enslaving bonds. We are to separate from them. Why? Because they will persecute us. "...they cannot live in the same house together with those who derive righteousness from FAITH and are the children of the free (Isaac's)," Scott said. And concludes with, . . ."Christ has set us free."

In the love of Christ,
Jay