A lot of us grew up in organized church and were taught that we needed to live by the 10 commandments to be pleasing to God.
Fortunately, I have come to realize that this just isn’t true. Many well meaning people over the years taught this, but I am finding that they were mistaken. Christians today still want to combine the New Covenant with the Old Covenant, and that just don’t work.
There are a few places in the New Testament that refer to following Christ’s commands, but we need to take a look at just exactly what are His commands. We find that Christ’s commands in the New Testament are something different from the 10 commandments of the Old Testament.
Another thing we need to remember is that the New Covenant doesn’t start where men have divided up the Old from New Testament. The New Covenant starts at the death and resurrection of Jesus. For the 33 years that He lived on this earth, He was following the Old Covenant laws, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law ” Galatians 4:4 (NASB). I think this is where a lot of us get confused.
Once Christ lived and fulfilled the Old Covenant, He became the perfect sacrifice needed to provide forgiveness to us. We were unable to live up to the standards set by God, and we still cannot do it. It is by grace that we are saved, and because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we are new creatures in Him. We now have an inner man that is righteous in God’s sight because of grace. We are no longer required to try and live up to the 10 commandments and all the law, rules and regulations of the Old Covenant. In fact, under the New Covenant we are told that if we try to follow the law, we are under a curse, “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Galatians 3:10 (NASB)
The Old Testament Commands have been fulfilled in Christ. The New Testament Commands we are told about are John 6:28, 29 “They said therefore to Him, what shall we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”; John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another”; John 15:12 “This is My commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you”; and John 15:17 “This I command you, that you love one another.” (NASB)
Jesus Commandments continue in 1 John 3:23 “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us”.
The commandments of Christ are based on the grace He provided for us at the cross. We never could live up to the Old Covenant with its rules and regulations. Christ did live up to the law and fulfilled it. He is the only one who could ever do so. It is because of His grace that we no longer follow the Old Covenant teachings. Once we accept Him and the grace He provided, we become new creatures and no longer have the sin nature controlling us. Our inner man is now perfect and righteous in His site, we have become the righteousness of God, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB).
Enjoy the freedom you have in Christ. We don’t have to worry and strive to fulfill any law other than the law of loving God and loving others. Don’t worry that this freedom with lead you to sin. We have died to the law and the power of sin. We now live for Christ out of love, not out of obligation, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13, 14. (NASB). This gives us a new freedom from the sinful lifestyle. We are new creatures in Christ.
Very true. Man-made denominations and the mixture of law and grace have done a lot of damage to the message of Jesus. The Gospel is good news of God’s love for us and that we are to share that love with others. Thanks for the comment.
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To many divided denominations have been built on the shifting sand of mixed covenants. Very few voices are calling for unity based on mixed covenants, most are saying doctrine does not matter if you love. This young man makes a good point in the video on the basic church course https://basicchurch.teachable.com/courses/491083/lectures/9066988
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Indeed – love involves many imperatives, both spoken and implied. The written law was not only prepratory, it was incomplete – it did not go far enough. There was no – “Thou shalt lay down one’s life for God and for others” – for example. There as no – “Who does not take up his cross and follow me is unworthy of me”. So in Christ the Father is asking for so much more, but He also give us so much more – the very life that fulfills all righteousness.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:2)
A “law of the spirit of life in Christ” – Hmmm. Interesting. Law and life in one phrase – here is the secret then of God;s ultimate intent in sending down His Son. And for the OT commandments spelled out one by one. – They lead to the place where one realizes that another law is necessary, one accompanied by life and power –
“…but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”
Everything, as you say brother before Christ led to Him, and everything after Him, flows from Him. He is the pivot upon which everything in the heart of God turns.
Yet even in the OT law there are glimpses of the Lord’s ultimate intent and purpose – this is why He chastened the scribes and teachers, for they saw not beyond the words, beyond the earthly application. God the Father is not pleased by law-keeping, He is only pleased by that which is worthy of His own life – His Son in other words. All is an expression of His life, old and new, and in this life we find everything the Lord is after. We are condemned as sinners under the Law that we might ultimately be saved to live a new life that fulfills all the law in Christ Jesus. The end is not law but life, and yet this life expresses a reality that fulfills all righteousness, all that is worthy of God Himself.
Good post brother-
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