The Law is obsolete and has vanished away in the Light of The Son.
Do you have a Scripture verse to back that up?
The TOG
13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Hebrews 8:13
This is a common mistake people make. Look at what you said.
The Law is obsolete and has vanished away in the Light of The Son.
In that He says, "A new covenant,"
People often get those two confused. It's probably from a nearly complete lack of teaching from the law or the Old Testament in general within the Christian church. The law and the covenant are not the same thing. The law is only part of the covenant. Think of it this way: A man has a contract with his employer. The contract says, among other things, what the man's duties are, what hours he works, what rights he has such as vacation time and how much he gets paid. Now imagine that the man's employer wants to give him a raise. Because his wages are fixed in the contract, a new contract is required before he can get a raise. So the man signs a new contract with his employer, with higher pay. Does that mean he's lost his job? Does it mean he has no more vacation time? Has he lost all his benefits? Is he working different hours at a different job? The answer to all of these questions is "no". Everything in the contract remains the same, except for the man's wages. All his duties and obligations, as well as all his rights and benefits, remain the same. Only the wages change. In other words, you can changes part of a contract, without nullifying the whole thing.
The covenant is a type of contract. It stipulates our obligations toward God, our privileges as His children, blessings we may receive for obedience and curses for disobedience. Paul tells us in Hebrews that, with the coming of the New Covenant, the priesthood has been changed. Instead of the Levitical priesthood, we now have a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He also says that the sacrifice that atones for sin has changed from being the blood of lambs, goats and bulls, which were offered again and again, to being the blood of Christ which was offered once. Then he says:
For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. (Heb. 7:12 ESV)
To change the priesthood, the laws that stipulated who could be a priest had to be changed. Note that he says there was a
change in the law. He doesn't say the law was
abolished. The only part that was changed was the priesthood and sacrifices. There was no need to change the Sabbath or dietary rules so that Christ could be our high priest.
Please notice the context that is being portrayed here by Paul.
The context of what Paul writes is about Gentiles Christians who have been compelled by Judaizers to attain a more complete [perfect] righteousness.
... are you now being made perfect by the flesh.
Paul's context is NOT about warning Christians trying to attain salvation by the works of the law, but adding the Law to the Christian walk of the Spirit., and trying to attain perfection by the Law.
Actually, the context
is salvation. All first century Jews agreed that the Scriptures allow for Gentiles to join God's covenant with Israel, but they differed on exactly how that could be accomplished. Some ("those of the circumcision") believed that they had to convert to Judaism and follow many man-made Pharisaic customs to be saved. Others (such as Paul) believed that all that was needed was faith in the God that had made the covenant and in His Messiah. That's what's being talked about here and in many other places in the New Testament. It's what was discussed in Acts 15 and in nearly every place where you see the word "circumcision" in the New Testament. It's not about whether we should do the things God commanded us to do. It's about whether we need to do those things, as well as a host of man-made commandments before we can be saved, or whether we can be saved by faith and then learn to walk in the commandments of God, without the added commandments of men.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them."
For as many are as of the law are under a curse.
Anyone who tries to do some of the law for whatever reason is under a curse.
as it is written -
"Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them."
I cannot even begin to count the times I've heard this before, but I've never been able to make sense of it. Not only does it contradict God's word, but it is self-contradictory as well.
Anyone who tries to do some of the law for whatever reason is under a curse.
Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.
On the one hand, you're saying that a person is cursed if he
does what the law commands, but then you quote a verse that says he is cursed if he
doesn't do what the law commands. Which is it? Are we cursed if we do the commandments, or if we don't do them?
Either it is being dead to the law or do all of the law.
Crucified to the law, or continue in all of the law.
I was unable to find the phrase "crucified to the law" in my Bible. If you could provide chapter and verse for that, I would appreciate it. The phrase "died to the law" does appear twice in the Bible, and I suspect that is where that concept comes from, so let's look at those two places.
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ (Rom. 7:4 ESV)
That's not the whole verse, but many people just quote that part of it, without thinking about the context. From the middle of chapter 6 and into chapter 8 of Romans, Paul is talking about "the law". He uses that term in a number of ways and refers to a number of different laws, including the law of God, the law of sin and human civil law. Sometimes, if we read only one verse, it isn't clear which law he is talking about and we have to read the larger context to understand what he is saying. Rom. 7:4 is such a case. It's part of an analogy. Let's look at the whole analogy.
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Rom. 7:2-4)
These verses use the analogy of a married woman who gets re-married after her husband dies. Pop-quiz time... The woman was previously married to a man. Who does she marry after he dies...
- A horse
- A cat
- A wall
- Another man
The answer is obvious. She was married to a man and she marries another man. Now look at the rest of the verse:
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another (Rom. 7:4 ESV)
The woman was married to a man and then married another man. We were "married" to a law. After we died to that law, who do we "marry"?
- Complete lawlessness
- Political correctness
- Whatever we want (If it feels good, do it)
- Another law
The answer is just as obvious as before. We were married to a law, and now we are married to another law. But that still doesn't say which law it is. Look at what he says in chapter 8.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:2 ESV)
It's the law of sin we have died to, not God's law. God's law is the one we "married" after we died to the law of sin.
The other place the phrase "died to the law" appears is in Galatians.
For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. (Gal. 2;19 ESV)
Here Paul says that the purpose of dying to the law is that he might live to God. Through the law, God reveals to us how He wants us to live. Does it make sense to die to how God wants us to live so we can live for God? It doesn't make sense to me. In the previous verse, Paul says:
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Gal. 2:16 ESV)
He's talking about trying to justify ourselves by doing the works of the law, not about keeping the law out of obedience and love for God. We can't save ourselves, no matter how perfectly we manage to keep the commandments. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep them. Think of the traffic laws as an analogy. If I go to a foreign country, then keeping the traffic laws there perfectly will not make me a citizen of that country. That doesn't mean I can totally disregard the traffic laws. Keeping God's laws perfectly won't make us citizens of God's kingdom (i.e. saved). That doesn't mean we can ignore them.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Did you notice what it says? It says we are
no longer under a tutor. The tutor has served it's purpose. That can only apply if someone was actually under the tutor at some time. Someone who has graduated from high school can say that he doesn't need his first grade teacher any more. But someone who has never been to school can't say that. We all have to start in the first grade. A person who has lived all his life without any formal education can't deny his need to learn basic reading and writing skills, as well as the other things taught in the first grade. You can only say that you don't need those things any more after you have actually learned them and are proficient in using them. Until then, you need the teacher. Have you ever been "under the tutor" of the law? Are you so proficient in the things of the law that you don't need to learn anything from it any more? I know I can't say that of myself. The law still has much to teach me. Until I've learned all it has to teach me, I'm still "under a tutor". It has already brought me closer to Christ, but I expect it to bring me even closer in the future.
We have become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,which is the Lord. The Covenant with Abraham.
We are not grafted into Law of Moses and natural Israel.
The olive tree is Israel.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches.(Rom. 11:17-18 ESV)
Some branches were broken off the olive tree. That means that they were on the olive tree at one time. The branches are the Jews. Were they "on" Christ and broken off of him, or were they "on" and then broken off of Israel? We are grafted on to Israel. That means we are partakers of God's covenant with Israel. In fact, that's the only way of partaking of that covenant. If we are not grafted on to Israel, then we have no part in the covenant God made with Israel. That includes the blessings promised in that covenant. Christians often quote the verse that says "you shall be the head and not the tail". But that's part of the covenant. (It's also conditional upon keeping the commandments). If we're not part of that covenant, then we can't claim that blessing for ourselves. It's only for members of the covenant. But there's more. If we aren't grafted on to Israel, then we're not part of this covenant either.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Jer. 31:31 ESV)
God made the New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. If you're not in one of those houses, then you're not part of the covenant. The only way of being part of any covenant with God is to be part of the people He made the covenant with. He made the covenant at Sinai with the Israelites. He made the New Covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah. He made another covenant with Abraham and his descendants. He made another covenant before that with Noah and all his descendants. If you're not a descendant of Abraham and aren't grafted onto Israel, then the only covenant you have is the one made with Noah, which applies to everybody. But we are grafted on to Israel and therefore we can claim the blessings and promises as our own.
The TOG
