Old covenant fulfilled and abolished in Christ

There are religious groups today who consider they are Christian and call for its members to keep the Old Covenant Laws in addition to God’s moral laws. The Old Covenant Law of Moses was for the purpose of distinguishing Israel as God’s chosen nation for that time in history by keeping laws such as the Sabbath, annual feast days and food laws that other nations did not do. Israel was to remain separate from the Gentile nations following the God of Israel in a way that made them a peculiar people for the LORD. They were to be a testimony to the Gentile nations, and any Gentiles who desired to live among them would be required to become a part of and participate in Israel’s covenant with the God of Israel.

The Old Covenant Law of Moses was temporary for Israel and was to last only until the prophesied Messiah would come and give mankind a new and better covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant, which is superior to the old one. (Heb. 8:6). This New Covenant is not like the one God made with the nation of Israel (Heb. 8:9). New Covenant Christians are not to be judged regarding the keeping of Old Covenant Laws such as the Sabbath and new moons (Col. 2:16). Once the New Covenant came through Christ and was ratified by his shed blood on the cross, the Old Covenant with its physical laws and shadows was no longer needed and was about to disappear (Heb. 8:13). Under the New Covenant God promised to put his moral laws in their minds and hearts so they could have a spiritual relationship with him through Jesus Christ, who through his incarnation lived a sin-free mortal life fulfilling the righteousness of God’s moral law so that righteousness could then be imputed to us in his grace.    

Now let’s look at what laws were commanded to Israel to be kept, which were not moral laws, and now with the coming of faith in Christ as our Savior, are no longer commanded for us under the New Covenant to be kept. Of course, we are to continue to live according to God’s moral law, which has never been done away, in response to what God in Christ through the Holy Spirit has done in reconciling mankind to himself (2 Cor. 5:18-19; Heb. 9:14). We will now briefly discuss parts of the Mosaic Law that no longer are applicable to Christian discipleship today under the New Covenant.

1. TITHING

A tithe of everything that came from the land, grain or fruit, was required because it belonged to the lord and was given to the Levites (Lev. 27:30). Numbers 18:23 says it was to be a statute forever (olam). The Hebrew word translated forever is olam. Olam indicates an indefinite period of time as long as the conditions continue. In the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is translated by the Greek word aion meaning an age. An age has a beginning and an end, even when we may not know the exact period of time involved, but cannot mean forever without end. This was commanded in the book of the Law of Moses.

Mat. 23:23; Lk. 11:42, shows that “Jesus didn’t criticize Pharisees for tithing, but for treating tithing as more important than mercy, love, justice and faithfulness.”

Heb. 7:1-10 says that a change of priesthood requires a change of laws. Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek shows superiority of both Melchizedek and Jesus Christ over the Levitical priesthood.

Tithing was not carried over to the New Covenant. Under the New Covenant we are to give as one purposes in his heart and that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). We are told that the ministry is due support by the members, even though Paul supported himself (a bi-vocational apostle). Tithing as a part of the Law of Moses was done away. The Old Covenant Law of Moses is obsolete (Heb. 89:13). The Jerusalem council determined that circumcision and obeying the Law of Moses was not commanded (Acts 15:24).

2. WHAT IS THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS MENTIONED IN MAT. 5:17-18?

It refers not to individual laws but to the Old Testament Scriptures as a whole. Jesus is saying that he did not come to do away with any of these Scriptures including the Law of Moses until all are fulfilled. He has fulfilled the Torah by doing what the nation of Israel was not able to do and no one else as an individual could do by obeying them fully. He fulfilled all in the Scriptures that were prophesied about him as the Messiah to come and those of the Law of Moses that foreshadowed the redemption that he was to bring through his shed blood atoning for the sins of mankind.

Mat. 5:19 which says, “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments. . . .” is referring to Jesus’ commandments he is explaining in his sermon on the mount in Matthew chapters 5 - 7. His sermon ends in chapter 7 with this: “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Mat. 7:26). All the law would have to remain “until all is accomplished,” which would soon be done by him. Then we will be teaching his commandments that he begins to talk about in this context rather than the Old Covenant commandments that will then be abolished.

3. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE LAW OF MOSES?

It includes priestly rituals concerned with uncleanness after childbirth which cannot be kept now since the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. (Lk. 2:22). It is a section of the Bible which includes prophecies regarding the Messiah (Lk. 24:44 and Acts28:23). It includes circumcision (even though he did not originate it) because he wrote about it in his law (Jn. 7:22-23). It was a civil and agricultural law (1 Cor. 9:9). It was a civil law that administered the death penalty in ancient Israel only, for those who rebelled against God (Heb. 10:28). The book of the Law of Moses was commanded to Israel (Neh. 8:1). The statutes, commandments, judgments, and his testimonies were written in the Law of Moses (1 Kings 2:3). And the Law of Moses was commanded at Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments (Mal. 4:4).

4. HOW TO VIEW THE OLD TESTAMENT?

It is to be viewed as descriptive, not prescriptive; to be viewed as informative, not normative. The stories of the Old Testament can help to inform our ethics. 2 Tim. 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,correcting and training in righteousness.”

5. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Ten Commandments are the center part of the Old Covenant. Exodus 34:27-28 tells us that the Lord told Moses to write down the words in accordance with the covenant he had made with Israel and Moses “wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant – the Ten Commandments.” Deut. 4:11-14 says, “So he declared to you His covenant which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments.” In addition statutes and judgments were commanded and the book of the law was put in the side of the ark (Deut. 31:26). Deut. 10:4 says that Moses describes God’s instructions for carrying the Ten Commandments (written on stones) in the ark of the covenant. The words, Ten Commandments are included only in the five books of Moses, the Torah (Law) or Pentateuch.

6. SABBATH COMMAND NOT A MORAL LAW

There is a basic difference between a moral law that we are still to follow and a ritualistic or sacrificial law of works. Everyone will agree that the Day of Atonement is a ritualistic law pertaining to the annual feast days of the Law of Moses. On that one day of the year it is wrong to eat and drink, when it is a right thing to do on every other day of the year. This same principle is involved with keeping the Sabbath. It is wrong to work on the Sabbath day of the week, yet it is right to work onevery other day of the week. Even Jesus treated it as a ceremonial law rather than a moral law. A moral law states what is always right or always wrong. The Sabbath command therefore is not a moral law which we are bound to keep as we respond to God’s gracious love and mercy provided through his Son, Jesus the Christ, who is the mediator and Savior, who gave himself as a ransom for all mankind (1 Tim. 2:3-6).

Christ fulfilled the Sabbath rest (Heb. 4). He freed us from the Old Covenant yolk that was hard to bear (Acts 15:10) and established the New Covenant in grace. We have entered into God’s rest from the Creation when we are resting in Christ. Also it is important to note that the Sabbath command is not listed in the New Covenant lists of sins in Mk. 7, 1 Cor. 6 and Gal. 5.

THREE ANNUAL FESTIVALS TO CELEBRATE (Exod. 23:14-16)

Three festivals were given to Israel under the Old Covenant at Mount Sinai (Exod. 19:1-2). These three are the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the festival of Harvest and the Festival of Ingathering, and they were given as a part of this Old Covenant,which is described between Exod. 19:1 and Exod. 24:4a. Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation under this covenant given to the people by Moses (Exod. 19:5-8). The annual festivals were given in the context of this covenant and agreed to by the people and Moses wrote down everything that the Lord had said (Exod. 24:1-4a).

God made this agreement with Israel knowing full well that they would not be able to keep it. It was given to them to show that they could not keep it, and that they needed a Savior beyond these laws. Paul explains the purpose of the Law of Moses, in that it was added because of transgressions until the Seed (Christ) to whom the promise referred to had come (Gal. 3:19). This Law of Moses was only temporary until Christ came.

DAYS, SEASONS AND YEARS WERE SHADOWS

Col. 2:16-17 describes Sabbath days, festivals and new moons, which “are a shadow of  things that were to come.” In his incarnation, “the things that were to come” had already come with Christ’s arrival. So then those days, new moons and annual festivals, which were anticipatory to the coming Messiah, were then described as only shadows in the past. The Old Covenant days were part of the sacrificial law, as far as Paul was concerned. He saw them as having prefigured the acts and events of which Christ had fulfilled perfectly when he was writing this.

Gal. 4:10-11 lists the days (weekly, annual), months (all festivals but one fall on the first and seventh months), new moons (observed in connection with their Solar/lunar calendar determined the beginning of months), seasons (festivals kept in the Spring and Fall), and special years (year of Jubilee and the land Sabbath), which are all elements of the Old Covenant Law of the Jews, not pagan Gentiles.

For any who would say that these verses were in reference to Gentile pagan practices, it should be pointed out that Paul was aware that these Galatians were being influenced by teachers promoting circumcision of the law, which he preached against in Gal. 5:1-12. Paul also, in Gal. 4:21, asked them why did they desire to be under the law? The law of course was a reference to the Old Covenant.

Though our translations of Old Testament Scriptures say that these festivals and some sacrifices, and circumcision were commanded to last forever, we have to recognize that the Hebrew word olam meant an indefinite period of time depending on circumstances. In this case only as long as the Law was in effect.

The passages that we find in the New Testament that mention these festivals were telling the time of the year since they were seasonal, and they were commanded to be kept in Jerusalem. The early church (mostly Jewish converts at that time) probably kept the festivals for some time during this transitional period, which ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. These passages are descriptive (informative) but not prescriptive (normative) and do not qualify as commands for us to follow.

THE MEANING OF THE FESTIVAL DAYS

Passover

This festival was to remember an historical event. For Gentiles to celebrate it, they had to be circumcised. Christ was prefigured in this festival and became our Passover Lamb that took away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7).

First Fruits

The waving of the firstfruits was to signal the beginning of the Spring grain harvest. It was not a commanded assembly for the people but rather involved the priests. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was the firstfruit (singular in the Greek) to salvation (1 Cor. 15:23b).

Unleavened Bread

Exod. 23:15 says to keep the days of Unleavened Bread in the month of Abib (same as Nisan) because that is when you (the Israelites) came out of Egypt, so it is a memorial of that event for Israel. It is repeated in the covenant made to Israel through Moses in Exodus 34:18, and later in Numbers 28:17-25 extra sacrifices were required for the entire week. In no place in the Bible does it say that this festival pictures the removal of sin from our lives, but simply was a reminder that the Israelites did not have time for the yeast in their dough to rise before having to flee Egypt.

Pentecost

The law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, which was the beginning of the nation of Israel under the Law of the Old Covenant. This feast day came at the end of the grain harvest fifty days after the wavesheaf offering. Leaven bread loaves along with grain, drink and animals were to be offered at this time. The outpouring of the Spirit of Christ on believers occurred on Pentecost and may be seen as the establishment of the spiritually new nation of priests (1 Pet. 2:9-10) and the beginning of the church under the New Covenant (Acts 2:36-41).

Trumpets

The feast day of Trumpets came on the first day of Tishri, which was the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. It was a called assembly when all were to rest from their labors (Lev. 23:23-25; Num. 29:2). It may have announced Christ’s first advent, messianic era, and a time when God judges his people with mercy since the blowing of trumpets was regarded as a call to judgment before God.

Day of Atonement

This Day of Atonement, also referred to as Yom Kippur, came on the 10th day of Tishri and was a Sabbath rest and also required a total fast from food and drink for the entire 24 hour day (Lev. 16:29, 31). Heb. 9:7-9 and 10:1 indicate the differencein how the priests had to continually offer sacrifices year after year for the sins of the people, but when Jesus came he offered himself as the ultimate one and only sacrifice ever needed for the atonement of all sins for all people.

Tabernacles

This week-long festival beginning on the 15th day of the seventh month was for all native-born Israelites. It was the Israelites who were in the Exodus from Egypt, and this was to be an annual reminder to them of that momentous event (Lev. 23:39-43).

CONCLUSION

There are a number of things in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant that are said to continue forever, so why do they not continue today under the New Covenant? This is because the Hebrew word olam was in many cases translated into the English as forever, perpetual and everlasting, but, apparently, the word could only mean an indefinite period of time, or as long as certain conditions lasts, according to Scriptural contexts. Once the Old Covenant Law of Moses was made obsolete by the New Covenant in Christ, it was no longer necessary to continue these things and they were forcibly stopped with the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.

The things under the Old Covenant that were said to last forever were: circumcision (Gen. 17:13), the weekly showbread (Lev. 24:8), the Day of Atonement and the Levitical Priesthood (Lev. 16:9; Exod. 29:9; 40:15). The weekly Sabbath was said tobe a perpetual covenant between God and his people (Exod. 31:16), but was only for the purpose of making the Israelites different from the other nations. Paul says the laws that separated the Jews from the Gentiles have been done away by the cross of Christ (Eph. 2:11-18). The obvious conclusion is that the Old Covenant, God made with the Israelites, became obsolete and was ready with the soon coming destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. to disappear (Heb. 8:13) and is no part of the New Covenant under which Christian believers in Christ are to live.

Michael Morrison, Sabbath, Circumcision, and Tithing, 227.

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Morrison, 77,78.

Morrison, 29, 30.

Morrison, 182 – 184.

David Albert, Difficult Scriptures, 168 – 169.

Albert, 172.

Morrison, 147.

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Albert, 124, 127, 130.

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Albert, 138.

Morrison, 217.

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Morrison, 207.