9. Romans On the New Covenant

JERRY RECTOR | Physician

Romans is quite a primer on the New Covenant, and I seem to notice something different each time I study it, though I don’t pretend to understand all the implications. Consider these 2 statements, first from Romans 2:13,

“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” 

This makes it sound like we should be looking to the Law for direction on how to be righteous. And not just the Ten Commandments, because the Greek work for law used here (nomos) applies to the entire Mosaic writings. This statement really is not surprising to me, though. Deut 6:25 declares that obedience to the Law would produce a position of righteousness. Christ was able to fulfill the Law by keeping it perfectly. I happen to believe, however, that Paul is here referring to the eternal principles contained within the Law. Evidence for this comes from the statement following the above text,

“Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law…they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts…” Rom 2:14, 15.

The ability to know the difference between right and wrong is a matter of conscience, and can happen even in the absence of formal religious training. The Sabbath, or any other ritual from the Law, would not be intuitively known through conscience, and must not be what Paul is referring to here. 

Then we see what appears to be an opposite statement one chapter later! Rom 3:20,

“Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” 

Earlier in the chapter Paul quotes David as evidence that, while obedience to the law would bring righteousness, no human (Jew or Gentile) has accomplished it. There is no one righteous, no not one. We cannot obey the law perfectly. But the law did provide a valuable service for the Israelites because it was the first formal definition of sin. That does not mean that everything described in the Law, such as food restrictions and circumcision, is still binding for the New Covenant Christian.

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law…Do we then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Rom 3:28, 31; 6:1, 2.

Clearly, Sin is still sin! That did not change between the two covenants. Conservative Christians typically are uncomfortable with the notion of the Law being done away with, or nailed to the cross. They see this as God changing his standards, and figure that it cannot be that way. Why would God change the rules in the middle of the game? Not really fair, and doesn’t make sense, anyhow. I can see their point! I think the reality lies in the middle, however. The rules were always the same! Paul shows that we could never keep God’s law perfectly, and God knew this all along. The Old Covenant was designed to point toward Jesus as our Savior right from the start. It was God’s plan from the beginning. The game is the same from start to finish, and the rules remain the same.

But let’s not confuse God’s eternal will and over-riding moral principles with the system of worship described in the Old Covenant. What are the rules? Not the Ten Commandments. They could not bring life. What brings life? Christ and him crucified. The rules are so simple, and always were. The Israelites may not have known that, which I guess was not possible. But the same way Abraham was justified before the Law (Romans 4) is the same way everyone is justified by faith. John 3:16 therefore spells out the rule – whoever believes (faith is belief internalized) will have eternal life, made possible through the death of Christ. That death introduced the New Covenant, a new way to live for Christ and worship God—a way that was not possible before the first Advent. This was not a new system of rules. The rules never changed, remember. 

Released from the law

“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” Romans 7:4-6.

Most Adventist readers will want to go on to finish chapter 7, which continues to be a powerful passage. Paul describes how the sinful nature can not be completely controlled this side of heaven, and how he continues to struggle with his sinful nature.

“What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.”

Verse 7 He goes on to use coveting as an example and then describes the effects of our sinful nature. In many areas of the New Testament, the sinful nature is described, such as in Romans 1. Interestingly, Sabbath-breaking is never described as a result of the sinful nature. I believe Paul is looking at the moral principles behind the Ten commandments and the rest of the Mosaic Law as the original description of actions that separate us from God’s will. These will never change. This is why he can say in one breath, “I uphold the Law” and in another breath “I have died to the Law.” These principles are retained and expanded on in the New Covenant. I see no indication that the weekly Sabbath is one of those moral principles. The sinful nature is a tendency we will always struggle with.

“Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!…Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” Rom 7:24 – 8:1.

Still we are called to focus our minds above earthly/sinful tendencies.

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” Rom 8:5. 

What does the Spirit desire? Godly Christ-centered living from the heart. We discussed this in passages above. Some principles are contained in the Ten Commandments, and others go beyond them. Paul shows in Romans 13:9, 10, again, that the principles behind the Ten Commandments are eternal,

“The commandments [entole,] do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law [Nomos].” 

Notice that Paul does not use the general term “Law (nomos)” which he used in the previous texts, but uses a more specific term commandments (entole). This reinforces the fact that the term “Law” refers to the entire law or Old Covenant contained in the Torah. Also notice where the emphasis is, the same place Jesus himself put the emphasis, on love. The rituals of the Old Covenant law were fulfilled, the principles remain. Love is the fulfillment of Sabbath. The Sabbath was meant to bring relationship time between the Israelites and God. This is always a good thing, certainly today as in any age. The principle of developing a relationship with God is as important as ever. Is the Sabbath the only route to accomplish this? 

In fact Paul addressed two such issues of things that could carry over from the Old Covenant Law in Romans 14. These issues, involving ritual and ceremony, were clearly points of contention in the Roman church.

“One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him…As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.” Rom 14:2, 14. 

Did God change here? Did his rules change? Well, not an eternal moral principle. But this is just demonstrating that this part of the Old Covenant was not meant to be eternal. It was meant for a certain time and application which was past. This doesn’t do away with the Spirit behind that law, which Paul clearly upholds. But this was not a matter of sin. Eating unclean meat would break the covenant between God and the Israelites. It would even separate the Christian from God if they believed it was sin and still ate meat they considered unclean. However, Paul states he is convinced that this is not an eternal principle and therefore makes it clear that a Christian can exercise his spiritual freedom and eat any food, even if it had been offered to idols (addressed elsewhere.) In Rom 3:31, Paul states that he upholds the law. Restrictions on meat were a part of the law. Remember that there is no evidence for the division of moral and ceremonial laws. There is no Greek or Hebrew term(s) that specifically refer to one or the other. 

The second issue is described a few verses later in Rom 14:5,

“One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us does to himself alone.” 

The term Sabbath is not used here, but there are not too many options that Paul could be talking about here. “Another man considers every day alike.” This practice is not corrected. Here is approval for the cessation of ritual holy days. This means, of course, that Sunday is not holy either. There is nothing magical about worshiping on Saturday or Sunday, or any other day. In fact, we are urged to worship every day and celebrate the peace that is ours through the Spirit. Every day is a great day to build on that relationship with God. 

I would like to briefly summarize what I feel Paul is trying to convey in the book of Romans, since we’ve covered a lot of territory in this book. First I see Paul describing the sinful condition of the human race, earning only death (Ch 1). The Israelites were unable to keep their part of the Covenant (Ch 2). Neither is any human able to keep God’s law perfectly (Ch 3). Abraham, though he also shared the sinful nature of humanity, is the prime example of a person declared righteous through his faith (Ch 4). It is clear that he couldn’t attain righteousness by Mosaic law-keeping because the law hadn’t been given yet. Then Paul describes how that righteousness comes about – through Christ’s sacrifice (Ch 5:7). This is the Gospel of Grace. Christians aren’t going to be perfect people while here on earth (Ch 7), but Heaven awaits, and nothing can separate us from that reward (Ch 8:35-39). The focus is on salvation and joyful life through the Spirit, not on trying to avoid breaking the law (Ch 6). The law had its purpose, but now finds its fulfillment in the life and death of Christ (Ch 5). God knew from the beginning who would choose to follow him – people from every background and upbringing (Ch 9). Spirit-filled living is not a free-for-all, however. Letting the Spirit take control of our lives means unselfish love and an outward focus (Ch 12, 13). Christians will differ on certain points of doctrine, however (Ch 14, 15).

If some Christians are convinced that a particular action is wrong, or another action is required, they should follow their convictions. It appears that as Christians mature, their focus will be increasingly on love, and less on doctrine. The vast majority of our Christian experience is lived in this last portion. Salvation itself is a quick process. Sharing that joy with others is what absorbs the rest of our lives. †