4th Semester / Week 7
We’ve seen that what was given to Moses has been made “obsolete” and has been replaced by something greater, but what about the 10 Commandments? When many believers are asked what they should do to be holy, it’s not uncommon for them to say that we must keep the 10 commandments. Surely obeying the 10 Commandments is the ultimate definition of a Christian, right? Surely those haven’t been replaced too? This might appear to be a shocking question, but let’s continue to allow Scripture to speak for itself. Let’s study to see what the Bible tells us about what God Himself had written on tablets of stone.
As we’ve seen with a pendulum that swings too far in one direction, we should note that there are hyper-dispensationalists who believe that only the words written by Paul are for Christians and everything else is for people who have Jewish DNA. Likewise, on the other end of the spectrum, an example of someone who holds to hyper-Covenant Theology would be Theonomists/Reconstructionists who believe that the 10 Commandments should not only be enforced on each nation, but for the penalties to be enforced as well. A prime example is the Sabbath (which is Saturday) and if we’re being honest we’ll see that not only has the Sabbath day never been changed to Sunday, but the penalty for breaking the Sabbath is death (Numbers 15:35). Consequently there are a few Theonomists/Reconstructionists who actually look forward to nations implementing the death penalty for Sabbath breaking. Yet if that’s not God’s intended purpose, then wrongly putting someone to death would be murder, just like how we’ve learned about the Anabaptists who were murdered by the founders of Covenant Theology. This is a very serious issue and highlights why it’s critical to properly interpret God’s Word and to know the proper Biblical balance.
We’re about to study one of the most convincing passages declaring that not only has the New Covenant already begun for Christians, but the Old has passed away. We must be able to appreciate the “newness” of the New Covenant and see that God now leads and guides His people in an entirely new, different and better way. According to this chapter in 2 Corinthians, the prophesied ministry of the Holy Spirit is “more glorious” than the Old Testament Law that was “written and engraved on stones” (ie, the 10 Commandments). Here are these powerfully convincing words:
“our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, NOT OF THE LETTER BUT OF THE SPIRIT; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the MINISTRY OF DEATH, WRITTEN AND ENGRAVED ON STONES, WAS glorious… how will the ministry of the Spirit not be MORE glorious? For if the MINISTRY OF CONDEMNATION HAD glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory… For if WHAT IS PASSING AWAY WAS glorious, what remains is much more glorious… But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY,” (2 Corinthians 3:6-17).
By simply allowing Scripture to speak for itself, we learn from that passage that the Law was the ministry of “death” and “condemnation” (so that no man apart from Christ could be justified), but what was written on stone (the 10 Commandments) has “passed away” and was replaced by something better (the ministry of our indwelling Holy Spirit).
We should remember that the Mosaic Old Covenant Law was given to a mostly unregenerate, hard-hearted nation, but is too low a standard for a believer who is filled with the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:18 declares: “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” On our own, we will never be able to conquer sin. There’s nothing we can do to clean ourselves up to make ourselves presentable to our Father in Heaven. We’re completely and utterly dependent on God to do the necessary work. But the Good News is that this is precisely the glory found in the New Covenant. This New Covenant is our new agreement, our new contract with God, which contains the empowerment we need to have a redeemed relationship with God. Not only has the work been done by Christ to cover our sins, but the New Covenant also contains the empowerment of our indwelling Holy Spirit which continues to work in us to change us from within and to lead and guide us to do the Father’s will, as He molds us into His image.
The New Testament tells us that we shouldn’t attempt to put new wine back into old wine skins (Matthew 9:17), which means that we aren’t supposed to try to put Christianity back into Judaism. But before someone can learn how to live a Christian life, they need to appreciate the new standing we have with God through His New Covenant, and only through this knowledge will our behavior be able to match our righteous standing we’re given. For example, “Let us consider the overall structure of Paul’s letters. It is Paul’s practice to lay out the doctrinal foundations before turning to “ethics”… Ephesians… can be nicely divided into two sections: chapters 1-3 and chapters 4-6. Chapters 1-3 lay out the spiritual blessings in Christ for the individual and the community. After laying out a lot of doctrine, Paul urges them “to live a life worthy of the calling” they have received (4:1). The first half is about the creation of the new humanity, and the second half is about the conduct of the new humanity… This sort of “gospel logic” is found throughout Paul’s writings,” (New Covenant Ethics by Blake White, pg. 43-44).
This is the route we’ve undergone through our study. In the beginning we learned how to read the Bible and the empowerment of our standing with God. Because of what Jesus has done for us as our representative high priest, we’re all empowered priests of the New Covenant and all together we’re the Israel of God, the people of the King of Israel, King Jesus. Properly understanding this knowledge will empower us to know how to live a life for our Savior and Creator by submitting to His Holy Spirit that permanently indwells inside us when we’re regenerated (born again with the Spirit).
To conclude, just because the 10 Commandments have passed away, there isn’t lawlessness, because something better has replaced it. The Decalogue [10 Commandments] given to national Israel was mostly “thou shall not..” and was for a mostly unregenerate people, but New Covenant life in the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit, and to naturally have good works flow from us because (and only because) we’re connected to the vine, the root, the true Israel of God, Jesus. The Old Covenant was based on fear, while the New is based on love, and love is a much more powerful motivator than fear.
Our key passage, 2 Corinthians 3, has taught us that the 10 Commandments have passed away and have been replaced by something better, but before someone gets the wrong idea from this study, it’s important to point out that 9 of the 10 Commandments were reaffirmed in the New Testament. All except the Sabbath day were reaffirmed (we’ll soon study this topic), and a Christian doesn’t have the liberty to freely break one of those other 9 Commandments, because not only do they fall under the category of “My Commandments” given by Jesus, but more importantly, our indwelling Holy Spirit would be screaming out inside of us and wouldn’t give us peace if we broke one of those Commandments. For example, a true believer filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t need a written Law telling them they shouldn’t murder. It’s not only redundant, but is below us, because we have something greater that guides us into the higher standard of a much holier life.
And this brings us to the next topic that we’ll study in the next lesson from Hebrews 12:
How does God teach His children how to do what’s right? (A hint is that it’s the same way that most parents teach their children)
“Helping People See Jesus and Exploring All That He Has Fulfilled” 