That should put the false teachings into perspective. Jesus came to save the world from those sins and more. Jesus reiterated the ten commandments. He accomplished his mission on the cross. Does that mean morality no longer applies?
New Covenant Law:
In the New Covenant, it is the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us and constantly corrects us in our daily battle with sin. Therefore, God’s Law is written inside of us.
Some who oppose the New Covenant teaching claim it is promoting “antinomianism”, or lawlessness. They think those who say we are no longer under the Sinai covenant are promoting murder, adultery, etc.
However, nothing could be further from the truth. We are under a higher law, “The Law of Christ”.
In Matthew chapter 5 we find Christ giving an example of this concept.
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Under the Sinai covenant the union of an unmarried man and woman was the sin.
Mat 5:28
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
However, the words of Christ above clearly show that lusting after a woman is a sin.
This is an excellent example of the “Law of Christ” as a higher law. We have a better mediator than Moses, and a better law than the Sinai covenant.
We also know murder was a sin, when Cain killed his brother Able, long before the commandments were written on stone at Mount Sinai.
When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, he spoke the following words:
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second
is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
There is no doubt any believer who follows the instructions given above could never be considered “lawless”.
Some attempt to hang onto the Sinai covenant by dividing it into the 10 commandments, which they label as “The Moral Law” and the 600 or so other laws recorded by Moses as the “Ceremonial Law”. Some also say laws were given that were never written down and are referred to as “The Oral Law”. They say it was only the “Ceremonial” or “Oral” law that was done away with in the New Covenant. The problem is we cannot find this division in the scripture. As a matter of fact, we find just the opposite written in the Book of Hebrews.
Heb_9:4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein
was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and
the tables of the covenant;
We find the same concept spelled out for us in the Old Testament.
Exo 34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water.
And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
The Sinai covenant is described as the words written on the tables of stone, which we refer to as the 10 commandments. This thwarts any attempts at division.
We find below in the New Testament the tables of the New Covenant.
2Co_3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God;
not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
The disciple Jesus loved gives us commandments of Christ in a letter found near the end of the New Testament.
1Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him,
because we keep his commandments,
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1Jn 3:23 And
this is his commandment, That
we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24 And
he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
In Galatians chapter 4 the Apostle Paul compares the Sinai covenant to bondage and says we are to cast it out.
How much clearer could it be?
I once heard a Sunday School teacher make the following statement.
“We are not under the Law.”
Without further clarification the quote above could be quite confusing.
Are we under the Sinai covenant Law? No.
Are we under the Law of Christ? Yes.
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