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this is swiftly refuted by Christ own words in matthew 5:17-20.
the sermon on the mount didn't do away with OT law. this would be an improper dispensational view. it established it just as Paul reiterated in romans 3:31. it actually amplified what the law said. the law to love your enemies isn't as new as you may believe(exodus 23:4-5). what you would need to do is find where in scripture acts of self-defense and just wars which were established in the OT have been abrogated. there are parts of OT law that have indeed been abrogated(ie dietary laws, and feast laws).
what you're saying sounds nice...it's just not quite biblical.
Your words need to be weighed against everything which Christ and His Apostles said to the contrary.
We know that Christ does not speak out of both sides of His mouth so all the references you give must be weighed against all the other Scriptures that have been written for our understanding. There are not two correct ways to understand this issue, only one. First we need to look at Jesus’ words on the subject.
Luke 16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”
Matthew 5, As previously mentioned Christ, from His own mouth, said six times, “You have it heard it said…but I say….” Now, where did He hear it said? The Old testament law, of course. Then He adds, “But I say,” What did He mean by those words. We can find out by looking at other places. What we are going to find is that He was replacing those words with other words that have to do with the intent of the heart instead of mere words of legislation.
Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”
Hebrews 8:7-8 “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant….”
Hebrews 9:15-17 “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”
To abrogate is not necessarily to completely do away with it, can mean to revoke or to set aside and not to wipe out from total existence. The O.T. is a shadow of which the N.T. is the substance. In the N.T. we see where this new Covenant is referred to as “The law of love,” the Royal law,” and the “Perfect law of liberty.” These references are to the New Covenant which is the substance of what was hidden inside of the Old Covenant just as real person is not revealed by the shadow he cast on the wall. When all we see is the shadow we cannot understand the substance until the person comes out of the shadows. The shadow is so inferior to the rear person that we can see that the shadow nowhere resembles the real person except as an empty outline that has its reality in something totally different.
You are right, the moral law of the ten commandments are still valid today and we see, in the life of Christ, how we can fulfill these dictates without falling back under the condemnation of the O.T. laws.
When we look at the O.T. for instructions on how to conduct ourselves as Christians we are trying to dress-up a shadow to resemble something our minds can comprehend, and we will always fail just as those in the O.T. failed to see the days of Christ’s fulfillment of those laws in practice. Christ modeled for us how to fulfill the law and then said “Follow Me.”
The law of loving your enemies is, as you say, taught in the O.T. so the old law is good if we can see past the shadow to the substance. Moses gave the law and in many things permitted the compromise because of the weakness of the peoples flesh and lack of understanding. With the veil being removed in Christ and His followers now able to see the Truth expanded and made visible to their blinded hearts they discovered that the O.T. did, in fact, teach the very things Jesus was teaching and now made perfect sense.
Once your heart is enlightened then you too will see how perfectly the mysterious puzzle all fits together. Christ did fulfill the law, that was necessary, and with His death His New Last Will and Testament became the Testament of any eternal value. Moses said to listen to Jesus. If we try and plead the Old last will and Testament before the Great Judge we will not have a leg to stand on, it is longer valid.
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