I am working on my thoughts about how to view the New Testament in light of the Old Testament. I have some thoughts of my own, but I would be interested to hear other people's thoughts.
I'm thinking through things like:
- What is Jesus' role with respect to the Mosaic (Old Testament) law?
In his own words, he fulfills it. I think that it couldn't be said any more accurately. Fulfilling is distinct from "merely repeating", or "abolishing", and neither of those things is what he did. His fulfilling is a more subtle and even radical but coherent mission, which is what the entire Old Covenant and Law is to be seen through.
- What do we in "New Testament" churches do with these Old Testament laws? Are they outdated? Are they relevant for us today? Can we take some while leaving others behind? (more succinctly: What is the role of the Old Testament in our churches today?)
The Old Testament has both moral, judicial, and ceremonial contents. They are all temporal laws for Israel, but they still reflect the eternal law of God, and the moral precepts are echoes of the natural law which is valid for all ages, and therefore they can still be referenced (the ten commandments, and especially Jesus summarization of them into the two commandments). The judicial and ceremonial commandments are practiced ones (unlike strictly moral laws, which are about what is right and wrong), and therefore are confined to the Old Covenant. But their larger, ethical agenda is still a prefigurement and shadow which is valid to learn from, and to understand the New Testament through.
Which is what we are going to do. So let's consider how Jesus fulfills these main three kinds of precepts in the OT.
We say that Jesus fulfills all of them in distinct ways.
First, and most important, he fulfills the moral aspect. This is the foundation of the Old Testament. It demanded that the people of God keep of the commands, but could they? Even the most devout may have been good, but they were not good enough. However, Christ in his sinless life fulfills all of the demands because he walked in perfect love.
That is why Paul says: "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey
all the things written in the book of the law'", which is paraphrased from the Law itself, in Deuteronomy 27:26 "Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them".
So the curse applies to "everyone who does
not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law"! No curse is pronounced on those who
obey "all the things" the law requires.
Of course, only Jesus Christ has ever obeyed everything in the law, without transgressing any of it. All the rest of us have sinned. He is the one person in which the entire law is fulfilled, and who has fully lived up to the requirements of the law. Hence, the moral aspect of the law is fulfilled.
Further, he fulfills the ceremonial, also called ritual aspect, of the Old Testament. He sacrifices himself for our sins. By his blood, our sins are atoned, just like the atonement for sin by the sacrifice of animals in the Law. But only his sacrifice is perfect and infinite, for he is perfect and infinite, being the Son of God. Hence, the ceremonial and ritual aspect of the law is fulfilled.
And third, he fulfills the judicial aspect. God is our judge, and since we have sinned, we deserve punishment; in fact, we deserve death. We are all under the curse of the law, because we have all transgressed. But instead of punishing us, he takes the punishment himself in sacrificing himself on the Cross. Hence, the judicial aspect of the law is fulfilled.
Now, where does that leave us? It leaves the ceremonial, moral and judicial aspects of the Law "fulfilled", such that it is no longer binding for us to sacrifice animals or stone sinners or rely on our own works.
Instead, we rely on God alone; on faith, not on works. That does not mean we should not do works, but that we are justified in Gods grace, which is the works of Christ. Only the works of Christ can fulfill the law and redeem us, because anything we do does less than fulfill the law.
Therefore, in summary, I'd say the Old Covenant and Law served two main purposes, from a Christocentric perspective.
One was the preparation for the coming of Christ, which neccesitated the election of a nation, since Christ had to be born to a woman of some nation, after all. And this is why I term the first purpose here, "Mariocentric" (with reference to the incarnation of Christ).
This nation and society which God would elect for the incarnation, would be the critical factor on which the mediation of Gods grace and mankinds salvation would stand or fall on; the vessel of salvation for mankind, the Apostle to humanity, so to say.
It would be the center of Gods salvation plan.
God entered into a covenant with the nation he elected for this purpose, and to prepare it for his incarnation, he had to transform this fallen people into a holy people. This required teaching them his holy law with discipline. He revealed himself and his holy law to them through the Prophets according to the most fitting disposition of the times, in the moral, judicial and ceremonial/ritual commandments and precepts we see in the Old Testament. Since God always acts in respect of human free will, since that is what distinguishes us from the rest of creation, the election of the nation depended on the free will of whether there was anyone willing to enter into a covenant with God, however; and by pouring his own graces on the Prophets, they entered into it by free will in seeing the graces and power of God. But the Israelites often broke the covenant by transgressing against the law; and therefore, when they had entered into the covenant, God had to constantly discipline the Israelites to avoid the almost unavoidable: that they turned away from the one, true God.
The reason that was so critical was that, if the covenant was finally broken, the salvation of mankind would be at stake.
And here comes an important point. The reason why this nation had to be holy above all others. It might not seem completely obvious at first. But the reason was, that it had to be holy in order to create a fitting and minimally worthy vessel (mother, and society) for Christs incarnation. It had to be a nation and a woman which had the disposition to know God and his holy law, not only in theory, but in it's heart and in practice. And even then, this is only the necessary aspect; it was necessary to install the discipline of the Old Law to keep the Israelites in the covenant, but it was not sufficient to bring about Mary. The sufficient factor is in the free will of Mary to cooperate with the Holy Spirit so she would conceive Christ and be a good and fitting mother to this very special task. She had to do it by free will, which was why it was not just anyone in Israelitic society, but a very special woman.
The severity of the Law, the death sentence for things we consider small offenses, for instance blasphemy, adultery or cursing your parents, which is exemplary justice to teach discipline to the masses, was necessary to "purge Israel from all evil", which was necessary for the salvation plan for mankind. And to make sure that Israel stayed in the covenant.
And here the point is: that all evil and corruption from the outside and from the world, had to be kept from and purged from Mary, so her own free choices would shine through, and she would be able to accept and cooperate with Gods graces freely. She had to know God through the prophets and Israelite religious practice, and know his holy law, and freely accept God, for our salvation.
Israels entire history is the necessary divine-human covenant and plan which is constantly directed with the end goal of keeping all sin and evil away from the Mother of God so that she remmained uncorrupted, and was able to be freely cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and conceive, bear, give birth to and raise God. So we see that in a sense, the history of Israel and the salvation history of mankind
before Christ, is Mariocentric. It's centered around preserving and purging godfearing Mary and her society from evil and sin, as the vessel that was to give birth to Christ by the Holy Ghost.
And the second purpose of the law, is the purpose after Mary had freely cooperated with the Holy Spirit and conceived Christ, which is the necessity of the law in the life of Christ. That is, the Law had to be present and exerting it's influence on the society Christ was born into. And it had to be present to make sure of the presence of the persons who would become the disciples and apostles of Christ. In other words, the early Apostolic community and Church of Christ, had to have a knowledge of the moral, ceremonial and judicial constituents of the Old Law, to understand Christs life and work, and to see his place in it. Christ constantly of course, made reference and use of the Law, because it was the framework of holiness and Gods self-revelation to humanity before Christ which was necessary for his perfect revelation in Christ to be
fulfilled.
And Christs work is to be seen in the context of the Old Law, in that way; as the fulfillment of it, and the Old Law is to be seen to the pointer to Christs eventual merits and fulfillment. The Old Law showed us that we cannot rely on our own work for salvation (since no one follows perfectly everything in the law), and therefore, we rely solely on Gods graces, in Christ. It was a disciplining purging to bring about holiness, but also a lesson in our need for Gods graces.
That is at least, my grasp of the role of the Old Law in Christs life and in the salvation of mankind.
