The Function of the Law in the New Covenant

what standard of morality would qualify as being righteousness though?

 

Correct, but the Sabbath Day of Saturday was not brought over, but the principle of a day unto the Lord was ...

 

Christ.

 

Jesus appealed to the scriptures though for the morality standards to adhere with, correct?

 

JonShaff,

You might have those thoughts, but not many share in it. The ten commandments when drawn out provided a complete law code in the theocracy. All ten ...law words were expanded in detail in Deuteronomy.

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You are branching off here....the discussion is concerning...LAW
Both you and Dave are drifting off.

Before I go any further.....let's clarify something...

All the people who lived prior to Moses.....the sinners.....
Did they sin?
What specific laws did they break when they sinned?
At the White Throne judgment......what kind of sins will they be found guilty of?
What boundary did they live under?
What could we call that boundary?
Does God supply a name for this boundary?
What standard are we told the unsaved even do almost by conscience alone?[rom2]

 

"1689Dave,

[/QUOTE]

Dave,
Here are the same questions I posed to JON S....

All the people who lived prior to Moses.....the sinners.....
Did they sin?
What specific laws did they break when they sinned?
At the White Throne judgment......what kind of sins will they be found guilty of?
What boundary did they live under?
What could we call that boundary?
Does God supply a name for this boundary?
What standard are we told the unsaved even do almost by conscience alone?{romans2}

 

He hated the feast days because they did them in vain and were all about them and none of Him.

 

1 John 1:9 It let's us know what to confess.

 

I would suggest this;ibid
The Moral Law is epitomized in the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, and answers to the law ontologically embedded in man’s nature at creation as the image–bearer of God (Rom. 2:11–16). The Moral Law was neither formulated nor instituted at Sinai; rather, it was codified and epitomized at Sinai in the Decalogue. The Moral Law expresses the moral self–consistency or absolute righteous character of the triune God. The Moral Law was codified as part of the progressively–revealed redemptive purpose (Rom. 5:20–21). [All post–Fall Divine revelation is essentially redemptive in nature]. The Moral Law was revealed to Moses and given to Israel in a codified and epitomized or summary form. Israel, as the covenant people of God, formed the repository of the Divinely revealed and codified Moral Law until the gospel took the true knowledge of God and his moral self–consistency to all the nations of the earth.

 

You may have mistaken the intentions of my posts. Law was given to restrict "lawless-ness"--and SHOW God's Holiness. Law does not promote morality--God's Righteous Character does. Do you not agree with that? You can not legislate Morality/Godly Character (whatever term you want to use--so many are hung up on morality--even though the Bible does not speak of Morals).

 

From Steven Smith's Book--Recapturing the Voice of God

 

Standards of Righteousness.

 

Well I never heard of Albertus Pieters. He may well be (or have been) a scholar, but I question that he's Reformed if he shares your view.

We can certainly agree that the Ten Commandments occupy a higher position than the civil and ceremonial laws. I have agued that above. However, the Decalogue and the Sinaitic Covenant are not identical for three reasons:
1. Jeremiah 34:13-14; Ezekiel 44:6-8; Hebrews 9:1 & 9:18 are Biblical commentaries on the Sinaitic Covenant , but clearly identify that covenant with other things than the Decalogue.
2. Jeremiah 31:31ff says that the Ten Commandments will still function in the New Covenant.
3. All the commandments in the Decalogue pre-date that covenant (Exodus 19ff).

1. You shall have no other gods before Me. Genesis 17:1.

2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image. Genesis 35:2.

3. You shall not take God's name in vain. Exodus 5:2.

4. Remember the Sabbath day. Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 16.

5. Honour your Father and Mother. Genesis 9:22; 26:34-35.

6. You shall not kill. Genesis 9:5-6.

7. You shall not commit adultery. Genesis 39:9.

8. You shall not steal. Genesis 31:32.

9. You shall not bear false witness. Genesis 3:4-5.

10. You shall not covet. Genesis 3:6.

Also, I suggest to you that when Adam took the apple, he put Satan's word before that of God, made an idol of his stomach, dishonoured his heavenly Father, coveted that which God had withheld from him and stole it, and killed all his progeny. That's six of the ten Commandments broken 2,500 years before the Sinaitic Covenant.

I hope we can. It's a fascinating subject.

 

This is an important text which I will try to address shortly (I have three sermons to prepare in a week and a half). Right now I will only say that if the law is not for a righteous man, it certainly is for Paul, since in 1 Timothy 1:15 he describes himself as the chief of sinners. But at least we agree that the law is good.

 

I don't think we are so very far away in our understanding, but our difference is that I do not see the law as in any way restrictive. I can only suggest that you read Psalm 119 looking for how the psalmist finds the law restrictive. He doesn't!

Actually, he didn't say that. He said that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). I expect you, like me, had schoolmasters whom you respected. When you left school, you didn't (I hope!) instantly forget everything they taught you, but you continued to honour and respect them and remember their teaching. So it is when we have come to Christ. He is the 'end' of the law in the sense that He is the purpose of it and where it was always heading. But now, in Christ, and in the power of the Spirit, we love the law of God. Instead of saying, "This is a hard saying; who can receive it?" We say, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3).

Amen! But that does not mean that we abandon the law. The law does not condemn the Christian; it guides him (Psalm 119:105).

Well it has rather seemed that way, brother. I'm glad to learn that it isn't the case.

Amen!

 

point two on the page on the right is where it goes wrong big time.

 

Thanks Martin for taking time on this. The hierarchy of Law as I understand places the two great commandments on top. These are eternal, written on the hearts of all. But clouded by spiritual death in Adam. In this way, they condemn all of sin. But God circumcised the hearts of all believers of all time making these laws discernable. This would include Abel, Job, Abraham Paul, James etc. And these two commandments Jesus fulfilled on the cross as our representative. It is the love for God and neighbor that led to the crucifixion, and drives Christian ethics according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13.

God gave the Ten Commandments as a synopsis of the two great commandments at a level the unregenerate could obey. Paul calls them menstealers, disobedient whoremongers and so on. By them, God harnessed their evil promising material gain for obedience and threatening loss, even death for disobedience. These were not good people, but obeyed having ulterior motives. God did not need to tell the born again not to steal, it wasn't in their nature. The civil laws and ceremonies were an inseparable part of this Old Covenant. And served the purpose to control the wicked and to illustrate spiritual truth to the believers.

In fulfilling the two great commandments on the cross, literally loving his Father, and his enemies for whom he died, giving body, soul and strength, Jesus also fulfilled the Ten Commandments. Abolishing them and circumcision. Therefore officially ending the physical State of Israel. And leaving the spiritual in place under Jesus.

Jesus and the NT writers imported some of the moral aspects of the Ten Commandments into the NT, but only as commentary and instruction. And we use it for a guide. But interestingly enough, if we do the exact opposite of what the Ten Commandments forbade, we end up living the love motive found in the two great commandments. Instead of stealing, we give. Instead of killing enemies, we love them etc. But the Old Covenant was the ten commandments and that entire system passed away, being replaced by the new. Had the Ten Commandments continued, the ceremonies and civil laws would too, because you cannot separate them. James and Paul say if you keep one part, you must reject Christ and keep it all.

 

Remember, the Ten hung from the Two. The Two preexisted the Ten.

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40) (KJV 1900)