There was a man who cleaned the kitchen for his wife. He scrubbed it from top to bottom, sink to window seal. His wife walked in, said, “thanks” and then proceeded to re-do the work he had just done.
The husband was crushed. Her “thanks” did not reflect genuine gratitude. His work was not validated, if barely acknowledged. Though his wife often said her heart was filled with gratitude, love and respect for him, it was evident it was not. In her eyes his work was not good enough. It was lacking and insufficient.
I wonder how many of us are like the wife re-doing the work Jesus has already finished for mankind? At Sinai, Israel agreed with God they would obey His commandments. God in the flesh, Jesus, born a Jew under Jewish law was the only man able to fulfill that obligation in every way. When believers return to the Law to redo what He has done, what are we saying about the work of Jesus? What does it mean when we contradict His Word and say that He only partially fulfilled the Law (ie: only the “ceremonial” laws)?
Many of us have lost sight of what God was teaching in the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant law was a type of Christ. Each command was a mini “picture” of His righteousness and what He would one day accomplish for man, in man. But the Old Covenant was inferior in every way to the reality and greater righteousness of Christ Himself (2 Cor. 3, Col. 2:13-17). By His perfect design, God ultimately used this system to reveal sin and to show how ineffectively man could deal with it. While the system and laws were extremely meaningful to Israel as they looked for their Messiah’s arrival; they pale in comparison to the greater glory of the risen Christ. The book of Hebrews shows us that in the end the Old Covenant was ineffective in the removal of sin and as a means of righteousness. We’re told that if this Old Covenant had been sufficient for this, there would be no need for a new one (Heb. 8:7).
Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law (including the 10 commandments) does not mean God’s eternal laws no longer exist nor does it mean we shouldn’t be obedient. It simply means He did for us what we never could do for ourselves. Jesus fulfills for us the righteous obedience God demands both in the Old and in the New Covenant. The Law is not God’s highest standard of righteousness (Mt. 5). Jesus is God’s highest standard of righteousness and we are found righteous only if and because we are found in Jesus and Jesus is found in us (Rom. 8:9-10).
The big deal with Jesus having fulfilled the Law for us is that in doing so He reveals a greater work than the works of man. His work alone is holy, righteous and all sufficient. One can be judged by the work of Christ or the work of self. By whose work do you wish to be judged? How do you show your Husband, Christ, gratitude for the work He has done for you?
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”—Gal. 2:21
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DSCN0187_2_2.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Cherie Skrivan was born and raised in the Seventh-day Adventist church and school system. She spent nearly 10 years working for the SDA church in publishing and communications. In 2005, Cherie’s life was changed forever as she was born into a new life with Christ. By the grace of God she exchanged her knowledge of Christ for a relationship with Christ alone as her Savior. Today she is happily married to Jim and is a stay-at-home mom to their three kids —Kai, Mila and Marika. They live in Omaha, NE where they are members of Christ Community Church. Cherie is passionate about encouraging and helping people grow their faith and relationship in Christ and enjoys helping teach a discipleship class at their church.[/author_info] [/author]
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I’d be interested to know what your views are on the historic creeds of ‘mainstream’ or ‘orthodox’ Christendom, that divide the Torah into moral, ceremonial and civil/sundry components. For example, would you agree with the Westminster Confession of Faith (1643) (see cl.19.1-19.5) (Presbyterians), Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 100 (Roman Catholics) or Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1563) (Anglican/Episcopalian)?
These historic creeds all seem to uphold the perpetuity of the Decalogue as God’s eternal moral law. Or do you advocate Antinomianism, which is actually a type of Gnosticism?
Hi Simon,
God’s Word stands alone and is in a class all by itself. I would contend that dividing the Old Covenant (OC) Law into categories is not a clear-cut Scriptural teaching. I have to suppose because their was no divine purpose in doing so. Dividing it up into moral, ceremonial and civil laws is a man-made categorization. I don’t necessarily have a problem with it if it helps one better understand the shadows and systems as they related to Christ and His fulfillment of the Law. But to use this categorization to say that only some of the Old Covenant was fulfilled by Christ undermines the work of Christ and does not do justice to His word.
NO! I certainly don’t hold to antinomianism nor Gnosticism. God’s laws are moral because He is eternally moral. That’s really the point isn’t? God’s laws reflect His perfect, moral and eternal righteous character. When we compare ourselves against His character we are found lacking and discover we fall far short of the glorious moral and eternal character of God! The OC Law revealed this to Israel, the Living Law, the Holy Spirit reveals this to us today (John 16:8).
But I believe there is a more important question to ask. Does the 10 commandments BEST reflect the eternal, moral character of God? The Bible tells us, “NO”! The OC Law, (including the 10 commandments) was a shadow and as glorious as it was in revealing the coming Messiah to Israel, it is surpassed in it’s glory by the reality of Christ (2 Cor. 3, Gal. 3:23-24, Col 2:17, etc…). What the Law revealed to Israel about the character of God pales in comparison to the reality of Christ. Unfortunately when we focus on the Law, we are at risk of not seeing the greater glory of our Savior Messiah who lives today. If He was overlooked by the Judaizer’s of that day as they shook the Law in Jesus’ face; what makes us think it’s not possible to overlook Him now—particularly when we stay focused on His shadow (Law)?
Israel agreed to keep God’s Laws—they had a moral obligation to fulfill the contract/covenant they made with God at Sinai. And yet they found themselves utterly unable to do so. Jesus, God in the flesh, became man. He perfectly fulfilled the Law for Israel. The contract/covenant had a beginning and end date. It was to last from Sinai, until Jesus (Gal. 3:17, 19). Though the Law, in part, revealed to Israel the righteous, eternal, moral character of Christ to come, the OC Law itself was not eternally binding.
The Law pointed to Jesus and His character (the Bible calls it a “shadow” or a “tutor”). Post the Cross, and because of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), the reality of God’s eternal moral laws explode in the face of the OC Law. Jesus started teaching a higher standard of righteousness, apart from the Law, during His ministry on earth. A quick read of Matthew 5 reveals this higher standard of righteousness something the the decalogue could not illustrate. Every time the Jews pointed TO the Law, Jesus pointed AWAY from it—back to Himself—the reality of eternal, moral righteousness. The story of the Rich Young Ruler reveals the point perfectly. He asks Jesus “What must I do to be saved”? Jesus, tests him. “you know the commandments”. The Young Ruler responds, “I have kept them from my youth”. Jesus cuts to the the man’s core sin—which is not in the decalogue. “Sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and come follow me.” The Rich man walks away sad for it was easier to keep the written Law, then to obey the spoken commands from Jesus Himself.
The thing is, we can cling to the Law, saying it is good and moral (and it is) and even eternal in the sense that Jesus and His moral, righteous character is eternal. But as good as the Law is, it only serves to charge us guilty of sin and condemn us (Rom. 5:13). The Law can not give us new life, it can not bring us eternal salvation, and even if we could obey it perfectly, it can not make us eternally moral, nor most importantly righteous.
As believers when we look to the Law—which keeps us in bondage to condemnation—what does that say about the blood of Jesus? Did He die that we might continue to live in a state of condemnation or did He die so we could be freed from condemnation (Rom. 8:1)? Surely He didn’t fulfill the Law for us, die a sacrificial death to free us from condemnation—all to provide the way for us to return back to the Law and redo what He has already done. This is what SDAs believe—that the Holy Spirit is given to us to enable us to keep the OC Law/10 commandments—the very thing Jesus gave His very life to fulfill for us and in us (when we believe). Paul says that if righteousness came through the Law then Christ died needlessly (Gal. 2:21). If a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would have indeed have been based on Law (Gal. 3:21). But righteousness and new life isn’t based on Law. It is based on Christ.
Only Jesus can provide us new life, eternal salvation, and His righteousness. The kind of radical transformation that so many seek to find in the Law can only occur through Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a huge, contrasting difference between Law and Spirit. The Law is a ministry of death, the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3). The Law focuses on self-effort and behavior modification. The Spirit pours out His fruit in us which results in true acts of righteous obedience. Behavior modification and Spirit modification oppose each other. One saves and reveals Christ’s righteousness (Spirit); the other keeps us dead in our sin and even our best attempts of obedience can only reveal our filthy rags of unrighteousness (Law).
Jesus Himself, (not me) began His ministry claiming He would fulfill the Law and the prophets (His audience understood this to be the entire Old Covenant/Old Testament Scripture—Matt. 5:17). His claim would then have to include all 613 commands, including the 10 commandments. It does not mean that He only fulfilled the ceremonial laws as SDAs and some other Christians contend.
Fulfillment was not an empty or meaningless claim Jesus made because we do know the end of the story!
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, —Luke 22:44-45
“You are witnesses of these things.” Jesus told them, (Luke 22:48). It turns out that by Jesus’s own proclamation He was indeed the fulfillment of the ENTIRE Old Testament Scriptures, (His claim, not mine) which again, includes the Old Covenant Law/Law of Moses and the 10 commandments.
To deny that Jesus fulfilled the Law, the 10 commandments, the Sabbath, the entire Old Covenant/Old Testament ultimately undermines Jesus’ claims, His ministry and His work; not to mention God’s written Word to us.
The Law, the Sabbath fulfilled in Christ (Col 2:16-17), isn’t a claim of my own or of former Adventists. It is a divine truth, written and proven through Christ in God’s Word. The reality of the living Law indwelling the believer is radically different than the 10 commandments. Every writer in the New Testament urges the believer to live a Spirit-filled life. We yield to the Spirit of Christ, the Living Law, which is more vibrant, rich, glorious and righteous than the written Law. When we do this lives are radically changed.
There is great spiritual significance to the grace and truth of Christ’s fulfillment if we have the courage to look beyond the Law to Christ. Staying stuck at Law is truly a matter of eternal life and death (2 Cor. 3)!
In Christ,
Cherie
The Bible teaches that the new covenant is the law written by God in stone – the TEN commandments only – are now written on our hearts and remain in effect for all mankind – to be kept by Israel of the spirit – including the fourth commandment.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for reading my blog. Hebrews 8:13 says that the new covenant made the old covenant obsolete. Hebrews 9 continues that thought by listing all of the items that are obsolete from the Old Covenant. In Hebrews 9:4 it lists the ark of the covenant as well as all of the items in it including “the tables of the covenant”, the 10 commandments, as obsolete.
Hebrews 10 completes the thought flowing out of chapters 8-9. In Heb 10:1 we see that the Law, (including the 10 commandments—again see Heb. 9:4) was only a shadow of good things to come and not the very form of it—namely Christ. Christ is the greater substance than the Law. The Law pointed to Him, it pointed out our inability to be obedient unto righteousness and our need for His righteousness. He became sin so that in Him we could become righteous (2 Cor. 5:21).
In regards to the 4th commandment or keeping a seventh-day Sabbath, please see Colossians 2:14-17 which states that the decrees against us (the Old Covenant Law which could only serve to condemn us—see Rom. 5:13), was nailed to the cross. Verses 16-17 state that the weekly Sabbath day observance was a shadow of what was to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. He is our Sabbath rest in the new Covenant.
The Law, including the 10 commandments, was a shadow that pointed to Christ and was fulfilled for us by Christ. He is the substance of our righteousness. That is a consistent view throughout the entire Bible.
Blessings in Christ,
Cherie
Great article. One day I was praying, grieved about this cult and all others like it and the problem of law vs grace and Christ’s finished work vs our works and the truth of being born again and I could gather a picture of it:
The two tablets of stone become like flesh through the power of his resurrection. The bottom of both slabs joining at the middle to a point with the two still at the top, which of course formed a heart. At the bottom corner of the heart is Christ and on each round of the heart was “love God” and “love people”.
The graves are often in the shape of these lifeless, stone tablets, that similar rounded top slab, but the power of Christ is all in the cross and the resurrection, thus the promise of the resurrection. I remember many years before I was born again, wondering why crosses were in cemeteries. We have a great hope, meaning a sure promise. A living hope, a living promise. A living relationship with the King who holds all the keys and is above all names and principalities. We have the blood of Christ bringing our wrong hearts to life and causing them to pulse to the glory of God.
In Genesis 1:2 it’s written that the Spirit “moved” upon the face of the waters and that Hebrew word (râchaph) goes back to flutter, shake, grow, among other definitions. I find a sort of parallel there. God made all things and then made man. Now today he is rebirthing man anew before he makes all things new.
Thanks for reading my blog Anthony and sharing your thoughts. It’s always awesome to hear how God meets each of us so personally and reveals His deep love for us.