How SHOULD WE View OT LAW With NT Grace?

[convicted1]

OT Covenant, to the people of isreal, NOT given unto us in the new Covenant per say!

To quote Arthur Fonzarellie(sp?),"Correctamundo"!!

 

[convicted1]

I think it should be pointed out that the OT Law was also a covenant of grace. There was obviously a looking forward to a newer covenant (Jeremiah & Ezekiel talk about this)

Noah found Grace in the sight of God YEARS before the Law was set up. Any covenant that was between man and God has the Grace of God included....God IS full of Grace.

But...Adam and Eve in the Garden were the only humans really under a covenant of works. They did not keep it, and so were expelled and God set up a new covenant based on grace, that is based on God keeping his word whether or not people obeyed.

Well, under the Law, it was they(OT Jews) who had to observe/keep it in order to be in good standing with God. If anyone broke it, they were to be stoned. There was no second chance, they died. Now, under Grace, we have Jesus as our Advocate, and He pleads our case before the Father whenever we stumble.

Gen. 3:15 - God's promise to crush satan stands no matter what any human does.

God crushed satan when Jesus came out of the tomb, victorious over death, hell, and the grave.

Gen. 12 & 15 - God's promises to make Abraham a great nation are unconditional, not based on abrahams obedience.

Abraham believed God and it was imputed/accounted unto him as righteousness.

God's promise to make David's seed an eternal king are not based on David or his children's obedience.

God told Samuel there was a son of Jesse, a man after "My Own heart." So, inessence, some of the covenants God set up with mankind was based upon His foreknowledge. He knew who would believe and who wouldn't from the foundation of the world.

Even the Ten Commandments were a grace to the Israelites, not a code that they had to follow perfectly or be rejected by God. Remember the Order of events: 1st God rescued the people from slavery, 2nd he Gave them the law as a gift to them so they would know how to live. (sound familiar?)

The Ten Commandments were our sins on a "billboard". The Law was/is our schoolmaster that brought us unto and not into Christ. Moses, was a type of the Law, in that he could bring them to the Promised Land, but not into it. God was the One who did that, bring them into the Promised Land.

So it is with us today, God saves us not based on works, then he shows us how to live. There are still consequences when we disobey, but our standing in God's covenant is not based on perfect obedience like it was for Adam and Eve.


SO I would say it's not entirely accurate to say OT = covenant of works and NT = covenant of grace.

Now, here is where it is spoken of the coming of the New Covenant that God would make with His people:

Jeremiah 31

31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Under the Law, God remembered their transgressions, therefore the need of the yearly sin sacrifice was necessary. Not so under the Grace Covenant.

Here is where it is found in the NT:

Hebrews 8

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Hebrews 10

9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.



Now, what do you think the saying "after those days" was referring to? I believe it was talking about the time when Jesus was here on earth to fulfill the Law. After He died, arose, and seated by the right hand of the Father, you see where the Grace Covenant blots out our sins, where the Law never could.

 

[JesusFan]

I think it should be pointed out that the OT Law was also a covenant of grace. There was obviously a looking forward to a newer covenant (Jeremiah & Ezekiel talk about this)

actually, the law points towards the coming messiah, who would usher in the new Covenant between God and man...

the law could not/did not serve the purpose of "saving", but did point to the One who would bring in grace to us, messiah jesus!

But...Adam and Eve in the Garden were the only humans really under a covenant of works. They did not keep it, and so were expelled and God set up a new covenant based on grace, that is based on God keeping his word whether or not people obeyed.

actually, think that is ;read into: but some Covenant theology believers...
They lived by faith, as 'the just shall by faith"

When they sinned, it was due to not believing in what god said, "lack of faith" in Him saying the Truth!



Gen. 3:15 - God's promise to crush satan stands no matter what any human does.
Gen. 12 & 15 - God's promises to make Abraham a great nation are unconditional, not based on abrahams obedience.
God's promise to make David's seed an eternal king are not based on David or his children's obedience.

Even the Ten Commandments were a grace to the Israelites, not a code that they had to follow perfectly or be rejected by God. Remember the Order of events: 1st God rescued the people from slavery, 2nd he Gave them the law as a gift to them so they would know how to live. (sound familiar?)

They were given to regulate the behaviour of new nation, to show them as "peculiar" people unto true God, and that it was to convict the people that their salvation could NOT come by keeping law, but by having faith in God and His promise of the messiah to come!

So it is with us today, God saves us not based on works, then he shows us how to live. There are still consequences when we disobey, but our standing in God's covenant is not based on perfect obedience like it was for Adam and Eve.

Their 'perfect obediene" was a direct result of keeping "perfect faith" in what God told and showed them!

SO I would say it's not entirely accurate to say OT = covenant of works and NT = covenant of grace.

I would say that God method of salvation was/is Grace both Covenants, just that Isreal under OT had the law given to her due to above listed reasons, while those of us in New Covenant have Grace in sense 'full realised" now here, NOT looking towards as in the OT!