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Old and New Testaments, Laws
What’s up with those crazy old testament laws? Did God just change his mind about them for the New Testament?
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January 22nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
God did not change his mind in the New Testament. On the contrary, God is very much constant. This is one of the reasons why we know we can trust Him, He’s not going to just randomly change His mind like that. So, the question still remains of why aren’t all the old testaments laws followed in the New Testament. The reason for this is that Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. Jesus himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” It was Jesus’s life, death and resurrection that fulfills the law. He died for our sins, and in accepting him we accept that forgiveness and God remembers those sins no longer. In the old testament, sacrifices were performed for various reasons including as an act of repentance, but Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice and therefore we no longer have to do that. So although it appears on first glance that God changed His mind, on the contrary, the law was fulfilled.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
There are three types of laws given in the Old Testament: (1) Civil Laws, (2) Religious Laws, and (3) Moral Laws. We are not living under a Hebrew government, nor do we claim Judaism as a religion. As Belinda wrote, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, once for all. Read Hebrews 10 for more on Jesus’ fulfillment of the Jewish sacrificial system.
These two forms of law being set aside, we are left today with only the moral laws of the Old Testament to follow.
This does not render the OT obsolete. God is unchanging, and we gain insight into His character by study of the OT, as well as understanding the condition of humanity and our place in God’s great plan we call history.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
When Belinda says Jesus fulfills the laws of the Old Testament look at all the laws that state must be corrected by the death of the individual. Jesus died to fulfill these commandments, along with others (ex prophecies).
Grace be with you
April 29th, 2008 at 11:37 am
No, the Roman church did.
May 25th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
What’s up with those crazy old testament laws? Did God just change his mind about them for the New Testament?
In the Old Testament, God chose a person (Abraham) and a nation to represent Him (The Jews). God gave the law in order to help the Jews rightly relate to Him. The laws pertaining to the Jewish custom do not apply to Christians today. The moral laws, however, are still something that Christians have to obey, not to be saved, but to please God.
God does not change. (Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I CHANGE NOT; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”)
Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. The New Testament begins with the death of the Testator (Jesus Christ). When Jesus rose from the dead after three days, the law was fulfilled. (Hebrews 9:16-17 “For where a TESTAMENT is, there must also of necessity be the DEATH OF THE TESTATOR. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”)
Sacrifice of animals was necessary annually to TEMPORARILY cover the sins of the Jews as a nation. The death, burial and resurrection of Christ fulfilled the law once and for all. Jesus Christ is THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE which is why we do not make sacrifices today.
If you have ever lied, stolen, used God’s name in vain. You are a sinner. Please realize this.
We must put our faith in Jesus Christ alone, for the work He did on that cross to take care of the problem of sin. We must put our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, repent of our sins and turn to Him. Once you do that you are on your way to Heaven when you die.
God Bless