Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_n_Tenn
Dual covenant theology is:
Believing the Jews can still find salvation in the law... that God still maintains His original covenant with the Jews. The RC church believes this, as well as some (few) other Christian faiths.
The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults:
I'm not looking for the blasphemic nature or questioning ones belief system, but rather opinions about covenants, and has the first ended or do they both still apply. Please feel free t write what you feel as opposed to dogma.
In a simpler form... does the new covenant nulify the old? and can you supply scipture to suggest this is true?
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Here's what scripture says. Bear with me. This is long. But it is needed to
get the point across. There's plenty more texts to reaffirm all this...
Ok, Here we go...
Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destructions, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt 7:13-14)
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will
write them" (Heb 10:16)
Ofcourse there was two great laws mentioned in the Bible....
The Law of Moses.
And the Law of God.
Paul wrote: "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse..No one is jusified by the law..The law is not of faith...Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law" (Gal 3:10-13)
But Paul also wrote this: "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law..Therefore the law is holy,
and the commandments holy and just and good." (Rom 3:31, 7:12)
Why do these contradict?
The first one (Gal) is talking of the 'Law of Moses'
The second one (Rom) is talking of the 'Law of God'
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the
man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16-17)
Some say the NT cancels the OT. Paul disagrees here. He said God inspired "all Scripture" to equip us for good works.
The OT contains a volume of equipping scripture five to six times larger than the NT. It's impossible to interpret one without the other
The OT contains the New and the NT explains the Old.
The resurrected Christ told His disciples, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me" (Lk 24:44)
Jesus also said, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure 'things' new
and old" (Mt 13:52)
So there are spiritual treasures in the Old and New Testaments. The Old and New Testaments agree, "The soul who sins shall die..For the wages of sin
is death..."(Ez 18:20 and Rom 6:23)
Its impossible for sin to exist unless there is a law that defines it.
This principle was at the beginning of time. "you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil" (Gen 2:16-17) God warned they would die if they sinned by ignoring this simple law. And what happened? they suffered spiritual death
immediately and physical death eventually. That the wages of sin! Sin can't exist unless there is a law in place to define it.
When Moses reviewed the 10 commandments with the people, he said, "These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mt from the midst of the fire,
the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; He added
'no more'. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me (Deut 5:22)
he added
NO MORE. God's law was perfect and He was satisfied to add nothing more to His Ten Commandments.
"...He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God" (Ex 31:18) HIs OWN FINGER! He didnt leave it up to man.
and after Moses threw them down and broke them he got a second set from God...
...And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments....(Deut 10:1-4) then they were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant,
in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle. The Ark represented God's throne of authority. God instructed Moses to place His Ten Commandment Law in a
permanent place, inside the ark (Deut 10:2)
It was God who spoke the Ten Commandments to all the people before etching them in stone.
The Old Covenant was an expression of God's commitment to rescue the world from sin through Israel. Moses wrote the covenant terms in the 'Book of the Law'
But when the conditions of the special covenant contract between
God and Israel were announced to the nation, Moses stood in as the mediator between them.
..when Moses completed writing the words of this law in a book,...he commanded the Levites.."take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the
covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you" (Deut 31:24-26)
Unfortunately, the Jewish nation began to apply the Book of the Law as a means by which to obtain righteousness-twisting God's purpose to their own
destruction. Centuries later, Paul commented on this by saying if righteousness could have been obtained through the Law of Moses, then Christ died in
vain (Gal 2:21)
The only kind of righteousness that has ever existed form God's viewpoint is righteousness by faith. Even under the Old Covenant, the true followers of God
knew they could not earn righteousness. Jeremiah declared God's name to be this: " THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer 23:6)
The only salvation that has ever existed from God's viewpoint is 'salvation by grace through faith'
Under the Old Convenant each time a lamb was slain for the sacrifice of sin, the sinner looked 'forward in faith', knowing the lamb's blood was symbolic of the
atoning blood of the coming Messiah.
(((Now, we look 'back in faith' to the same atoning blood of the Lamb of God Who was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8)))
The Law of Moses described ceremonies and practices given to Israel that pointed forward to Jesus as the true Lamb of God. Because of this, it sometimes
was referred to as the 'Ceremonial Law', and had a limited time of effectiveness attached to it.
The NT writer of Hebrews points out its purpose- "it was symbolic for the present time in which both gift and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him
who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience-concerned 'only' with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until
the time of reformation" (Heb 9:9-10)
Simply put, the Law of Moses was merely a lesson book to prepare God's people for the time when Christ would come to bring reformation.
The Law of Moses was a special contract God made with the Israelites. Paul clearly defined the 'Old Covenant as Moses' writings (the Book of the Law)
...For until this very day at the reading of the old covenant [literal Greek translation] the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.
But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." (2 Cor 3:14-16)
The Book of the Covenant and the Book of the Law are one and the same.
THE OLD COVENANT WAS CONTAINED IN THE WRITINGS OF MOSES-'the Book of the Law'-NOT THE TEN COMMANDMENT LAW OF GOD ALONE.
There is no doubt, however, that the Ten Commandments were the central part of the 'Old Covenant' The Bible says Moses wrote all the words spoken by the
Lord in his book. And Moses confirmed this when he said- "So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and
He wrote them on two tablets of tone. And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statues and judgements, that you might observe them in the land
which you cross over to possess" (Deut 4:13-14) And Moses called the tablets of stone the "tablets of the convenant" (Deut 9:11)
GODS TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE THE HEART OF THE COVENANT
Many Christians think the Ten Commandment Law of God was nailed to the cross. They base the belief on Colossians 2:14, "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 the cross"
The GREEK word for ordinances is dogma. According to 'Strongs Greek and Hebrew Dictionary', dogma refers to 'the rules and requirements of the law of Moses;
carrying a suggestion of severity and of threatened judgment."
"So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments." (Ex 24:3) According to Strongs, judgments is mishpat, which translates
to 'ordinance' and 'law'.
Strongs also equates the 'handwriting of ordinances' that Christ nailed to the cross with the Law of Moses.
"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished
in His flesh the enmity, that is,
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them
both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity." (Eph 2:14-16)
Paul is referring to the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. and explains that Christ abolishes the enmity, the commandments contained in ordinances,
"
in His Flesh" -which is similar to language he uses in Colossians 1:20-22, referring to Christ's death on the Cross.
Its clear he's saying the 'handwriting of ordinances' which Christ nailed to the Cross and the 'law of commandments contained in ordinances' that Christ
abolished in His flesh, were the same thing- nothing less those written in the Law of Moses.
WHAT CHRIST NAILED TO THE CROSS WAS OUR OLD NATURE AND THE OLD CONVENANT (Rom 6:6) -"the handwriting of ordinances that were against us"
AT THE SAME TIME HE BECAME THE SURETY OF A BETTER COVENANT (Heb 7:23) BY SHEDDING HIS EXPIATORY BLOOD FOR OUR ATONEMENT.
IT IS THE BLOOD OF CHRIST-THE BETTER SACRIFICE OF THE BETTER COVENANT-THAT BLOTS OUT OUR SINS AS WE CONFESS AND TURN AWAY FROM THEM.
In that same Collisions 2:14 passage of Scripture, Paul says "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,
which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (Col 2:16-17)
All of the cermonial ordinances, including the special annual sabbaths (not to be confused with the weekly, 7th day Sabbath) were merely a shadowy symbol
of the ministry of Christ.
Paul wrote that Christ was the end- the aim or the goal- of the Law. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, 'The man who does those things shall live by them" (Rom 10:4-5)
Paul clarifies he is speaking of the Law of Moses when he speaks of the writing of Moses.
He's saying Christ was the end of the Law of Moses-the Old Covenant.
CHRIST IS OUR NEW COVENANT
AND ITS NO DOUBT THE NEW COVENANT CONTAINS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
"...Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. ...This is the covenant...I will put My laws in their mind and write them
on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (Heb 8:8,10) also (Jer 31:31-33)
THE TEN COMMANDMENT LAW OF GOD IS THE HEART OF THE NEW COVENANT, JUST AS IT WAS IN THE OLD.
Within the same chapter and context, Paul explains that God's plan of salvation has always been by grace, through faith. Then he explains why the Law of Moses
was instituted in the first place --"And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was
confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God
gave it to Abraham by promise. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise
was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator" (Gal 3:17-19) just like Gal 3:10-14, Paul is referring to the Book of the Law.
THE LAW OF MOSES WAS A TEMPORARY LAW, PUT INTO EFFECT THROUGH ANGELS BY MOSES, ACTING AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL.
THERE WAS NO MEDIATOR WHEN GOD SPOKE HIS TEN COMMANDMENTS TO THE ENTIRE ASSEMBLY.
THE LAW OF MOSES DID NOT SET ASIDE THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM OF SALVATION BY FAITH. THE BOOK OF THE LAW WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS (SIN)
Its not possible for sin to exist unless there is a law in place.
SINCE GODS TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE IN PLACE BEFORE THE LAW OF MOSES, WE CAN CONCLUDE THAT MOSES' LAW WAS ADDED BECAUSE GOD'S MORAL LAW HAD BEEN VIOLATED.
---ALSO-----
We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Just as the Ten Commandments-which were the heart of the Old Covenant-are still binding
today, there were other things mentioned in the Book of Moses which were principles God had given to His people before He spoke the terms of the Old Covenant
to Moses.
Tithing, and unclean foods are mentioned in the Old Covenant. Tithing was practiced in Genesis 14:20, 28:22 and Christ clearly approved of this
practice in Luke 11:42, when he commended the Pharisees for paying their tithe, while denouncing their lack of justice and the love of God.
God established the principle of clean and unclean animals before the Flood. The Lord gave Noah instructions on this. Seven each of every clean animal and
two unclean. Genesis 7:2
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"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth
pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments,
and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew 5:17-19).
Christ came to "fulfill" the Law. In Greek, the word used here means to fill it full--to reveal God's fullest intentions.
What was nailed to the cross. The Old Covenant-the ordinances of the Law of Moses
Christ is our New Covenant.
The Ten Commandment LAW OF GOD- written in our hearts and minds- is the heart of the New Covenant, just as it was with the Old.
All Ten Commandments (not nine)
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15)
We're saved by grace through faith. Faith without works is dead.
We don't keep the commandments to be saved. We love God, and therefore want to keep them.
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I was hoping for less dogma and precepts and more doctine with priciples.
