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Christians are freed from the Mosaic Covenant, or the Law.
This is abundantly clear from Acts 15, II Corinthians 3, Galatians 3 and 4, Hebrews 8 and 9, Ephesians 2:13-15, and Romans 7:1-6.
Romans 7:1-6 is my favorite passage in this regard.
Romans 7:1-6 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? [SUP]2 [/SUP]For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. [SUP]3 [/SUP]So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. [SUP]4 [/SUP]So, my brothers and sisters, 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 for God. [SUP]5 [/SUP]For when we were in the realm of the flesh,the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. [SUP]6 [/SUP]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.
It is unmistaken that we are no longer under the Mosaic Law, and those who claim otherwise are in error.
Don't twist my words. A Christian can read the Mosaic Covenant and discern spiritual and moral principles that the particular applications given to the nation of Israel are supported by, and can find guidance in these enduring spiritual and moral principles. The specific applications to the nation of Israel don't apply, but the enduring spiritual and moral principles do.
There's another group of individuals that seem to think that we are freed from the Mosaic Covenant for...nothing...but notice verse 6. It says that we are freed from the Mosaic Covenant to "serve in the new way of the Spirit". We are freed for Christian service.
What is Christian service? A good place to start in regards to this is to examine the "one another" passages of Scripture, all of which would fall under "love one another". Prefer one another, exhort one another, consider one another, pray for one another, accept one another, strengthen one another, etcetera. Trying to reach people with the message of the gospel message, that the Unique God-man, who died on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins to reconcile us back to God, is another act of Christian service. I might as well say read the apostolic writings as they are full of such commands.
Anyways, my thought is that the "Torah observers" somehow think that being freed from the Mosaic Law means that Christians believe the redeemed have no obligations whatsoever. Worse yet, I think that some of the hyper-grace types think the same thing, and their remarks lead the "Torah observers" to think that all of us believe that. There are tons of instructions God has given concerning Christian service. Christians are freed from the written code to practice Christian service, though.
The demands of the Mosaic Covenant were harsh. Israelites spent a lot of time and income following them. The watered-down version of the Mosaic Covenant that "Torah observers" and Sabbath/festival/clean unclean meat guys observed isn't even the Mosaic Covenant, as they commonly only include a subset of commandments in their list of requirements, which they seek to impose on others as requirements. While claiming that not "one jot or tittle" has passed away (Matthew 5:17-19..one of their favorite passages), they only observe a portion. They don't even understand the phrase "yoke of bondage" that Paul was talking about, because they don't really bear it (Galatians 5:1-4, Acts 15:10).
Paul clearly stated that they were freed from the Mosaic Covenant, and inferred that those who claim it is still applicable are spiritual adulterers and adulteresses (Romans 7:1-6). The redeemed are joined to Christ, not the Mosaic Law.
Being joined to Christ, though, involves Christian service, as verse 6 says. Does anyone have any thoughts on what Christian service looks like?
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This is abundantly clear from Acts 15, II Corinthians 3, Galatians 3 and 4, Hebrews 8 and 9, Ephesians 2:13-15, and Romans 7:1-6.
Romans 7:1-6 is my favorite passage in this regard.
Romans 7:1-6 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? [SUP]2 [/SUP]For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. [SUP]3 [/SUP]So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. [SUP]4 [/SUP]So, my brothers and sisters, 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 for God. [SUP]5 [/SUP]For when we were in the realm of the flesh,the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. [SUP]6 [/SUP]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.
It is unmistaken that we are no longer under the Mosaic Law, and those who claim otherwise are in error.
Don't twist my words. A Christian can read the Mosaic Covenant and discern spiritual and moral principles that the particular applications given to the nation of Israel are supported by, and can find guidance in these enduring spiritual and moral principles. The specific applications to the nation of Israel don't apply, but the enduring spiritual and moral principles do.
There's another group of individuals that seem to think that we are freed from the Mosaic Covenant for...nothing...but notice verse 6. It says that we are freed from the Mosaic Covenant to "serve in the new way of the Spirit". We are freed for Christian service.
What is Christian service? A good place to start in regards to this is to examine the "one another" passages of Scripture, all of which would fall under "love one another". Prefer one another, exhort one another, consider one another, pray for one another, accept one another, strengthen one another, etcetera. Trying to reach people with the message of the gospel message, that the Unique God-man, who died on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins to reconcile us back to God, is another act of Christian service. I might as well say read the apostolic writings as they are full of such commands.
Anyways, my thought is that the "Torah observers" somehow think that being freed from the Mosaic Law means that Christians believe the redeemed have no obligations whatsoever. Worse yet, I think that some of the hyper-grace types think the same thing, and their remarks lead the "Torah observers" to think that all of us believe that. There are tons of instructions God has given concerning Christian service. Christians are freed from the written code to practice Christian service, though.
The demands of the Mosaic Covenant were harsh. Israelites spent a lot of time and income following them. The watered-down version of the Mosaic Covenant that "Torah observers" and Sabbath/festival/clean unclean meat guys observed isn't even the Mosaic Covenant, as they commonly only include a subset of commandments in their list of requirements, which they seek to impose on others as requirements. While claiming that not "one jot or tittle" has passed away (Matthew 5:17-19..one of their favorite passages), they only observe a portion. They don't even understand the phrase "yoke of bondage" that Paul was talking about, because they don't really bear it (Galatians 5:1-4, Acts 15:10).
Paul clearly stated that they were freed from the Mosaic Covenant, and inferred that those who claim it is still applicable are spiritual adulterers and adulteresses (Romans 7:1-6). The redeemed are joined to Christ, not the Mosaic Law.
Being joined to Christ, though, involves Christian service, as verse 6 says. Does anyone have any thoughts on what Christian service looks like?
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