Gods Laws in the New Covenant.

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Many people including some Christians try to claim that in the new covenant that Gods Law or the 10 Commandments are done away with or no longer in effect. The problem with this conclusion is we have texts like Rom 3:31 which says very clearly that we do not make void the law thru faith we establish the law. If you look at what establish really means it certainly is not anything like "thrown away" or "nailed to the cross" , i.e. done away with. So either we have a clear contradition in scripture or we are misinterpreting what Paul is actually saying in the texts used to say the law is done away with. I think the latter is most likely the case. It seems to me that a lot of folks think that a new covenant means new laws when in fact the old laws are still in place for the new covenant. The only thing that has changed is the place they are written now.

To show evidence that this is the case lets look at two sets of texts that I think shows the 10 Commandments laws are definetely part of the new covenant that Paul was describing to us.

Lets look at Jer 31:31-33 and Heb 8:8-11, 10:16. When looking at these texts you will find that they are nearly identical in what they say almost word for word.

Jer 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: 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. 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."

Heb 8:8-11 " 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: 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.
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 minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they sahll be to me a people. "

Now from about any reasonable perspective one has to come to the conclusion that the wording in the texts in Hebrews comes directly from the texts in Jeremiah because :
They are nearly identical in wording, the Old Testament text and the New.
The author of Hebrews was very well studied in the Old Testament books of scripture.

So what specific laws was Jeremiah speaking of for this new covenant? It would be the 10 Commandments law of God and to be written on their inward parts and in their hearts instead of on stone. The ceremonial laws of Moses was a shadow to be fulfilled at the cross of Christ, but Gods Moral Law or 10 Commandments continue as long as He exists.

Therefore the law spoken of in Hebrews was also the 10 Commandments law of God.

 

[ripplecutbuddha]

Look at the section of the New Testament known as the Sermon on the Mount. In it, Jesus said many things that seemed to indicate the Law of Moses no longer being necessary. However, on closer examination we can see he's actually protecting the 10 Commandments by simplifying the rules.

For situational background, the Law of Moses was under siege from a 'hedge' that had been set about it. For example, one of the commandments is to keep the Sabbath day holy. Well, the Law went on to say that on that day, no work was to be done. It was to be a day of rest from one's labors. Okay, fine, but to many of the rulers of the time, that wasn't clear enough. What constituted 'work'? Just how much could you do without your actions being considered 'work'?

In answer, a vast multitude of rules and limits were added to the Law of Moses in just this one regard, keeping the Sabbath day holy. You could only walk so far, you could only tie/untie a knot with one hand (two hands being regarded as over the line and seen as actual 'work'), and so on. It was a very unwieldy system in that state.

So here comes Jesus and he does the same thing, but in a perfectly elegant manner. In reference to the commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery" he went one step further and forbade even entertaining the thought of adultery. Thus if you can prevent yourself from entertaining adulterous thoughts, you surely will be hard pressed to actually commit the sin itself.

What he did was raise the standard of obedience on all parts, but in a spiritually focused way that was far simpler to understand and to observe than the current Jewish codes. Thus the law stops being focused on the strict observation of outward actions, and changes to an inward law, and governance, of one's heart, or the true desires and intents within us that lead us to act. As we govern our thoughts and intents properly, controlling our actions becomes easier, and the Law as represented in the 10 commandments is preserved and upheld.

 

[Desert Snake]

Hi, I keep various Torah laws.

 

[Desert Snake]

Look at the section of the New Testament known as the Sermon on the Mount. In it, Jesus said many things that seemed to indicate the Law of Moses no longer being necessary. However, on closer examination we can see he's actually protecting the 10 Commandments by simplifying the rules.

Agreed.

For situational background, the Law of Moses was under siege from a 'hedge' that had been set about it. For example, one of the commandments is to keep the Sabbath day holy. Well, the Law went on to say that on that day, no work was to be done. It was to be a day of rest from one's labors. Okay, fine, but to many of the rulers of the time, that wasn't clear enough. What constituted 'work'? Just how much could you do without your actions being considered 'work'?

This might be fine, even necessary to an extent, but it has to make sense. As soon as the 'rules' start deviating into idle speculation or even arbitrary additions, we need to take a step back and examine the 'authority' on which said rules are being proposed.

In answer, a vast multitude of rules and limits were added to the Law of Moses in just this one regard, keeping the Sabbath day holy. You could only walk so far, you could only tie/untie a knot with one hand (two hands being regarded as over the line and seen as actual 'work'), and so on. It was a very unwieldy system in that state.

We can take this criticism further. The idea of what constitiutes 'work' should be examined to figure out if the proposed 'rules' are even in understanding with scripture.

So here comes Jesus and he does the same thing, but in a perfectly elegant manner. In reference to the commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery" he went one step further and forbade even entertaining the thought of adultery. Thus if you can prevent yourself from entertaining adulterous thoughts, you surely will be hard pressed to actually commit the sin itself.

What he did was raise the standard of obedience on all parts, but in a spiritually focused way that was far simpler to understand and to observe than the current Jewish codes. Thus the law stops being focused on the strict observation of outward actions, and changes to an inward law, and governance, of one's heart, or the true desires and intents within us that lead us to act. As we govern our thoughts and intents properly, controlling our actions becomes easier, and the Law as represented in the 10 commandments is preserved and upheld.

Technically, although an argument can be made that we are not obligated to follow any of the rules (an argument can be made for this position using scripture), I think that it is not a 'commandment' to change all the rules, or to literally not keep any of the laws. Even in the epistles we have law related verses, and in fact, we should use our conscience to figure out which OT laws we observe, and which ones are either not necessary, ie outdated, or not in compliance with our other Xian works/understanding.