Bon said:
I don't get it?
General christianity believes that the Ten Commandments of God have been nailed to the cross along with all the Old Testement Laws. Correct?
So, what I do not get is, what then is the christian's yard-stick for good christian living?
If you say the New covenant and Jesus etc. etc. then I have to reply that
one) Jesus kept the Laws of the OT and said that they were not abolished and
two) the new covenant (new Testement) is filled with OT references and characters who observed the Laws and confirmed that they are holy and good.
So does the now obsolete commandent:You shall not kill.....mean, now we can kill and it is not considered a sin?
You shall not commit adultery.....does it mean, now we can?
etc. etc. etc.
I would like bible texts as proof, not man-made rules and traditions please.
With thanks from Bon
First, I would say that the Ten Commandments were an intregal part of the rest of Torah. Indeed, the Ten Commandments are refered to as "the Tablets of the Covenant" (Hebrews 9:4)--they
were the Covenant of Moses.
Torah is instruction from God. Obviously, God has given humanity many instructions in the Bible. Some were obviously for a particular time and occasion and are not meant for us--for example, the instruction God gave Noah to build the ark (Gen 6:13ff). Furthermore, it's obvious that though Abraham was said to follow all of God's "charge, commandments [mitzvot], statutes and laws [torah]" (Gen 26:5), he did not follow the Mosaic torah, which was given some 400 years later. He even did things that were worthy of death under the Mosaic code, such as marry his half-sister (Gen 20:12). Thus, God's law is not synonomous with the torah of Moses.
Jesus came and gave us new torah--new instruction--from God. He contrasted His teaching not only with that of the phrarisees,
but also with that of Moses (Matt 5:31-41). One might argue that He made the law of God more strict than Moses, rather than making it more liberal--
but making it more strict was just as much as a change as making it more liberal (Deut 4:2, 12:32--we are not to "add to or subtract from" Mosaic law; contrast Jesus' mercy about turning the other cheek with Moses' command 'not to pity' in Deut 19:21). Interestingly enough, Jesus spoke about His changes from the Mosaic law
immediately after He spoke of the Law's permanance (Matt 5:17-20). Clearly, He had in mind something other than Moses' law--unless He said "whoops, forget what I said about the law being permanent; I'm changing the laws concerning divorce, oaths and retaliation."
Through our union to Christ, we are now reckoned as dead according to the law of Moses (Rom 7:4-6). Dead people are not under the law of Moses, just as Paul gave the illustration that marraige was just until death--and then one was free to remarry. Paul doesn't say "all the law, except the ten commandments" or "all the ceremonial law, but not the moral law"--the whole of the code of Moses. The New Covenant is in effect; and it is not found in "tablets of stone" (2 Cor 3:3), which is called "the ministry of death" (Heb 3:7). Yes, it was "nailed to the cross" (Col 2:14; see the verses that follow this--clearly Christ's death freed us from laws of kosher foods and Sabbath--and Sabbath is part of the ten commandments).
So, are we free from any kind of instruction from God? "Shall we sin, that grace may abound?" As Paul says, God forbid! (Rom 6:1ff). We are dead to the Mosaic code, but Christ has given us a new Torah, a Torah written on the heart and not on stone (Jer 31:31-34). This new Torah is given to us through God's Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts. The Holy Spirit also inspired the apostles of the New Covenant to write about these principles. We can turn to the pages of the New Covenant and read how we are to live.
All of the principles of the Ten Commandments, except for Sabbath, are repeated in the New Covenant. God didn't say "Nine of the Ten Commandments are still in effect"; rather He gave us an entirely New Torah--based upon the eternal law of God that will not change (Matt 5:17ff). Since God's nature does not change, there should be no surprise that the New Torah of God is substaintially similar to the old Torah of God--though does differ in places.
So, in a rather long-winded way to respond to your question, no, we can't kill and commit adultery--that's sin. The Holy Spirit, speaking through His apostles (and to our own hearts, if we listen) makes it clear that those things--and a good many others--are against the Torah of God.
In Christ,
Daniel
EDIT: I forgot to add this link, which explains it better than I did:
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/finaltorah.html . I highly recommend the entire site.