I'm not sure how to answer this, it's so long...
Will use a list...
1. How am I wrong? It's easy to say, but you didn't show me HOW any one covenant abolished the previos one.
Know why? Because none did. Every covenant embellished the previous one. It added to it or made it better in some way or made it more complete. None got abolished.
Even the Mosaic Covenant did not get abolished. Mathew 5:17. Jesus said He did not come to ABOLISH the Law but to fulfill it. To fulfill means to make more complete. He said that not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law.
Mathew 5:18
Romans 3:21-26 is correct but what does it mean? It means that instead of receiving God's righteousness through following THE LAW, we now will receive it be believing in Christ, which is a better METHOD.
We are no longer UNDER THE LAW, but the Law has not been abolished. The 10 commandments must still be observed.
Do you think they shouldn't?? We are NOW justified by Jesus and not by our own works as in the Mosaic Covenant.
So, the Mosaic or O.C. is not abolished, it is changed to be better. If it were abolished we would not have to follow the 10 commandments.
2. Regardig Romans 3:31, you totally misunderstand it.
Paul is saying that faith DOES NOT nullify the Law.
Romans 3:31 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
31 Do we then nullify [a]the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
What Paul is saying in verse 28 is exactly what he's trying to teach.
We are NO LONGER JUSTIFIED BY WORKS (Ephesians 2:8) BUT BY FAITH.
But FAITH does not nullify WORKS. We are still required to obey the 10 commandments.
3. Acts 15:23-29
All good. No need for cicumcision. That was when justification was by Law.
Secondly, circumcision falls under the Ceremonial Law. THAT WAS abolished.
No need to become Jewish first and then Christian.
You keep repeating that the Law of Moses is not binding. I won't mention this again: Are you saying the 10 commandments are no longer binding? I hope not.
4. Galatians. Another poster loves to bring up the book of Galatians but I find it impossible to speak to him.
Galatians is speaking about Jews who were saved but weren't sure of what they were doing because they were so steeped in the Law since that's how they had been raised from childhood. They were thinking about leaving FAITH and going back to THE LAW. IOW, they were thinking that maybe being justified by Law was correct, and NOT justified by FAITH. THIS IS ALL PAUL WAS TRYING TO TEACH... that NOW we have faith to justify us and not THE LAW as in the O.C.
5. The Law was only a tutor. Correct, agreed. It brought a curse. Correct,agreed.
This is what is referred to when we say "there is now no condemnation" in those of the N.C. who believe in Christ...
Because the N.C. HAS NO CURSE attached to it as the O.C. did.
6. Oh my gosh! I just got to the part where you say that the 10 commandments have NO PART in the New Covenant!
YOU are the one that posted Romans 3:31 !!!
PLEASE read it again and understand the difference between being justified BY THE LAW, and being justified by FAITH.
The two covenants are not mutually exclude. The new is better than the old or it woud not have had to be necessary.
However it DOES NOT abolish the Law.
JESUS HIMSELF said so and I believe Jesus.
BTW, Circumcision was not the symbol that one was a Law-abiding Jew.
Circumcision is the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant.
One had to be circumcised in that covenant in order to be a Hebrew and to be set apart from gentiles.
Fran, are you a Jew?
If you are not then the law of Moses was never yours to begin with.
You were never part of this covenant - ever!
You are correct that the sign of the Abrahamic covenant was circumcision.
However the whole point of the argument is that the Mosaic covenant was only between those of the circumcision (Israelites) and God.
And, in fact by the NT times to be circumcised according to the law of Moses (and there are plenty of rules governing who, how, what etc of circumcision) meant that one was a law-abiding Jew. Nobody, who was not circumcised was expected to keep the law according to the Mosaic covenant. The reason Paul, and others, could refer to circumcision as a placeholder for being a law-abiding Jew was because the two were inseparable.
Now, if your interpretation of Matt 5:18 is correct then ALL the law of the Mosaic Covenant is still in operation. Yet, in other posts you claim (a totally false distinction by the way) that parts of the law have in fact been done away with!!?!!!
You cannot claim that one part of the law is still operational (Ten commandments) but the rest is in fact done away with.
Can you not see that you have hopelessly contradicted yourself?
The reason I emphasise that a covenant is contract is that it is just that!
I have explained that you were never a party to the Mosaic covenant in the first place.
I have also explained very unambiguously that one cannot unilaterally revoke bits and pieces of a contract in the way that you claim.
The Ten commandments are the prologue, or introduction to the law of Moses - the rest of the law is the details of the legislation required to actually uphold those commandments. They cannot be separated.
When you say that the Ten commandments are still in force then I assume that means that you observe the Sabbath. And I mean all of the tenets of the Sabbath that are detailed in the law (again one cannot observe the Sabbath without knowing the details laid out in the rest of the law). This is NOT substituting Sunday for the Sabbath. It does not mean worshipping - the Sabbath is all about rest. Go and read all the restrictions about activities on the Sabbath - without that knowledge one is NOT observing the Sabbath.
the same principle holds for every other commandment of the ten - one cannot know how to fully obey those commandments without the rest of the law to tell you.
But New covenant believers are NOT subject to the law of the Mosaic covenant.
Neither Jewish believers nor Gentile believers!
Why?
Because Jesus Christ fulfilled the demands of the law on our behalf!
Matt 5:18 is correct on all points.
Jesus states that nothing changes until all is fulfilled - and it has now been fulfilled!
Jesus Christ went to the cross as a vicarious sacrifice for sin having been fully obedient to the law of the Mosaic covenant (an event unique in the history of the law of the Mosaic covenant).
In doing so He fulfilled the demands of obedience of the New covenant (which were obedience to the law).
If what is above is untrue then there is no justification by faith in Jesus Christ because the death that He died was meaningless. Furthermore, there is not, and never was, justification through the law, and so we are all dead in our sins.
Thank God, literally, that what Jesus Christ achieved on the cross was efficacious, and that the demands of the law have been satisfied.
Does this mean that, as Christians, we now live in a moral vacuum?
God forbid!
The difference is that our moral compass is no longer the law of the law of Moses (for a Jew) or any other codified system of law for those who do not come from a Jewish background.
Instead we are called to a much higher ethic, an ethic that Paul admits, "
[FONT="]Against such there is no law.[/FONT]" Gal 5:23.
Instead of just looking to avoid penalty (this is how the law operates - it punishes those who transgress) we are called to actively exhibit these qualities, "
[FONT="]22 [/FONT][FONT="]But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [/FONT][FONT="][/FONT][FONT="][/FONT][FONT="]23 [/FONT][FONT="]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]" Gal 5:22-23.
This is not gooey or mushy stuff.
To achieve this level of ethic and morality is a much tougher ask than merely obeying a law (avoiding trouble). There is no minimum standard here - if there was the fruit of the Spirit could be legislated. Instead Paul can only say, "
[FONT="]Against such there is no law.[/FONT]" Gal 5:23.
And so, yes, the Mosaic covenant and the New covenant are mutually exclusive!
Jesus Christ fulfilled the righteous demands of the Mosaic covenant in order to institute the New covenant.
No human being was a direct party to the New covenant (inasmuch as Jesus Christ took on human form He was always still God) but we are offered an opportunity to partake in the fruits of this covenant, but the offer is purely by grace through faith!
The Mosaic covenant was a conditional covenant between God and Israel.
The New covenant, instituted by Christ's fulfillment of the righteous demands of that conditional covenant, is an unconditional covenant, not limited by ethnicity or any other discriminator. It is offered by grace through faith for our participation...