Counterpoint: God’s Law vs. The Law of Moses

 

We have had an engaging conversation about the law in a previous post. Here is another viewpoint from the other side of the conversation by Concretized Christianity. I don't normally do this when it comes to certain groups trying to get their own sometimes convoluted message across, but I have been in contact with theses folks over the years and respect them for their various stances that sometimes go against the grain of normal COG thoughts.

God’s Law vs. The Law of Moses

From The Beginning

There is a lot of talk both within and without the COG groups about keeping the “law of Moses.” Those against it say it’s part of the old covenant and since we’re under the new covenant, we no longer have to keep those laws. And, sadly, in some ways, the COG groups don’t keep them in the way they are laid out in scripture.

Let’s establish a baseline.

What is God’s Law?

God’s law consists of the eternal laws before creation and the laws that were established at creation.

What is the Law of Moses?

It consists of the same eternal laws of God and those established at creation, and the addition of the Levitical priesthood and animal sacrifices and offerings for sin.

Bottom Line?

The law of Moses differs from God’s law in just one way: human priests and animal sacrifices and offerings for sin. (I do realize there were other sacrificial offerings, but they are not germane to this discussion.)

Which Law Remains With the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus?

When Jesus came, died, and was resurrected, the human priesthood was abolished, and the animal sacrifices and offerings for sin were abolished. Why? Jesus became our High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, and He was sacrificed for all of humanity’s sins.

The human priesthood and the animal sin offerings and sacrifices pointed to Jesus becoming both. The book of Hebrews tells us they were a shadow (symbol) that pointed to Jesus Christ.

The rest of God’s law remains intact (Mt. 5:17-19)!

What Is the Issue With God’s Law?

The main sticking point seems to be with observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. But the seventh-day Sabbath predates the law of Moses. It was established as part of the creation (Gen. 2:2-3).

Jesus observed the Sabbath. Why did Jesus observe it? He created it as Lord of the Sabbath in Gen. 2:2-3! When Jesus says to “Follow me,” what does He mean? It’s pretty simple. Do what He did, speak like He spoke, treat people the way He treated them, have the same relationship with His Father that He did, think like He thought.

What Did the New Covenant Abolish?

It’s important to understand what distinguishes God’s law from the law of Moses to understand what the new covenant did and, more importantly, did not abolish. The book of Hebrews makes this abundantly clear.

How did Noah know which animals were clean and unclean (Gen. 7:2-9)? We don’t see him scratching his head and asking God to spell them out. Noah didn’t have to. This was one of God’s laws established at creation, just as the Sabbath was established as part of God’s law at creation.

Why Does the Law of Moses Exist?

Context is the key to everything. When we pull scripture out of context, we will always be wrong.

Jacob (Israel) and his family went to Egypt during a severe famine. His descendants stayed there for a total of 430 years (Ex. 12:40-41). God’s law was not passed down through successive generations (Deut. 6:9 addresses this problem).

The Israelites assimilated the Egyptian culture, which included eating unclean foods, worshipping pagan gods, and setting up idols as objects of worship. By the time Israel left Egypt, God’s law was unknown to them.

The law of Moses is God’s law given to Israel at Mt. Sinai because they’d lost it while they were in Egypt.

What Is the Takeaway for You and Me?

God’s law is God’s law. We can do all kinds of mental gymnastics to try to get around it, to refute it, and to ignore it. But none of those things change the fact that it exists and is in effect.

It still will be when Jesus establishes God’s kingdom on earth (Zech. 14:16-19).

Are we keeping God’s law as He commanded? You have to answer for you, and I have to answer for me.

I know when I look into the mirror of truth, the Word of God (Jn. 17:17), I find that sometimes the traditions of men have superseded the instructions of God, and I need to change.

What will you find?

God’s Law vs. The Law of Moses

What I Didn't Know About the Sabbath

 

What I Didn't Know About the Sabbath

Growing up in a Sabbathkeeping church, naturally I heard many sermons about why the Sabbath is to be observed by Christians.

To me, one of the arguments that boosted my confidence in the rightness of our practice was that the apostles observed the Sabbath.

Luke, who penned the book of Acts, records several occasions when the apostles frequented the synagogues on the Sabbath day — after Jesus ascended into heaven.

If the Old Covenant people of God, Israel, kept the Sabbath; and if Jesus, our perfect example, kept the Sabbath; and if the New Covenant people of God, the Church, kept the Sabbath, then who are we to say the Sabbath is not a Christian obligation?

Facts from Acts

It's true that the Acts of the Apostles records instances of Sabbath observance.

In fact, the Bibles in my childhood home were well marked, notably in the book of Acts, where every mention of the Sabbath was meticulously underlined and colored in red pencil. One could flip through the pages and say, “Of course the apostolic Church kept the Sabbath! Look at all the red!”

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All references to the Sabbath in this Bible are marked in red — like a stop sign, to signify the Sabbath rest. If people would just read the red, then wouldn't they have to believe that the early New Testament Church kept the Sabbath — and admit it should be observed today?

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I thought it was an air-tight argument. If anyone disagreed with the Christian obligation of Saturday Sabbath observance, then they just didn't believe the Bible. They weren't yet “called” to understand this truth, which we associated with “the Truth.”

My understanding of Sabbath observance, however, changed after a more careful, open-minded reading of the Bible.

Yes, the Acts of the Apostles gives authoritative witness to Saturday Sabbath observance at the very beginning of the Church, but let's notice what many overlook.

For your convenience, the passages under discussion are listed below.

The “Sabbath verses”

🛑 Acts 13:13-14:

Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

🛑 Acts 13:42,44:

As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. ...The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

🛑 Acts 15:21:

For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.

🛑 Acts 16:13:

And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

🛑 Acts 17:1-3:

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

🛑 Acts 18:4:

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Leading questions

A well-versed Sabbathkeeping Christian trying to persuade an average Sundaykeeping churchgoer can dominate him with these passages, accompanied by leading questions that are commonly asked:

• On which day did Paul and his companions come to the synagogue?
• On which day did the people want them to return? And who was it that came back the next Sabbath — only the Jews? Or was it “the whole city,” including Gentiles? Why didn't Paul say, “Hey, Gentiles, no need to wait a whole week. Just come back tomorrow — on Sunday, the Lord's Day”?
• In every city, on which day each week was the Law read?
• On which day did Paul go to the riverside looking for a place of prayer?
• On which day was it Paul's custom to reason from the Scriptures?

The obviously true answer to these question is: the Sabbath, or Saturday.

But that doesn't prove what our interlocutor thinks it proves.

Nevertheless, such an encounter can frustrate a person of simple faith, leaving him short of a good explanation. Most are not prepared to counter such non-traditional views.

This is not unlike the average Christian who might feel overwhelmed or tongue-tied by an articulate Jehovah's Witness citing Bible verses in a well-rehearsed presentation “proving” Jesus is not God.

The response

When faced with the claim that New Testament examples of Sabbathkeeping mean we, too, should be keeping Sabbath, remember these two hot-knife facts that cut through the soft butter of that argument:

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🔪 #1: There is not one example in all the Bible of any established Christian church meeting together in observance of the Sabbath.

🔪 #2: Without exception, every time Sabbath meetings are mentioned in the book of Acts, it is in the context of evangelization — preaching the gospel of Jesus to the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles who associated with them.

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I can't emphasize Fact 1 enough. It's a shocker to Christian Sabbathkeepers. They usually can't get beyond it, because they refuse to believe it. “What about all those red verses in Acts?” they might ask.

Fact 2 answers their question. While it's easy to understand intellectually, it's very hard to accept psychologically for the one who has defended Sabbathkeeping for years.

Go back and review the scriptures cited above. I trust you to dig deeper and see the truth for yourself in context:

Paul and his companions went on missionary journeys to preach the gospel, going first to the Jews. Where better to start spreading the gospel at that time than the synagogues — to explain how Jesus was Israel's Messiah, how he was the fulfillment of their entire religion?

And what better day than the Sabbath, when the synagogues were full of people (Jews and God-fearing Gentiles) who wanted to hear the Scriptures — those who deserved to understand them in light of the resurrected Christ?

They were following the precedent Jesus set in his instructions to the apostles when he first commissioned them to preach:

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matthew 10:5-7)

In his epistles, St. Paul emphasizes the importance of reaching the Jews with the gospel. Naturally they would be first, and then the gospel would advance to the rest of the world. It's how the early Church began.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)

This is consistent with how even Jesus chose to reveal himself:

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.... (John 1:11-12)

“Another day”

When I came to understand these simple facts that I had overlooked for years — namely, that the Jews were evangelized by the first Christians at the synagogues on the Sabbath day, and that there is no biblical example of established Christian churches meeting together for the Sabbath — I was surprised.

But soon I was surprised again. I was surprised by Sunday.

Here, I share What I Didn't Know About Sunday.

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The COG Catholic currently blogs at www.cogcatholic.org.

Is The Mystery Of The Ages To Obey The Law Of Moses?

The Mystery of the Ages Revealed!

Followers of the teachings of Herbert W Armstrong will recognize in this post the title of the book which elucidated the most comprehensive and succinct statement of those teachings. According to Armstrong, God had revealed to HIM seven mysteries from the Judeo-Christian canon which had eluded mankind's awareness for centuries: the true nature of God, the nature of angels and demons, the nature and destiny of humankind, the origins of our civilizations, the nature and purpose of Israel, the nature and identity of the Church, and the future scope and structure of God's Kingdom on this earth. Unfortunately, most of the perspectives provided in that book were deeply flawed and based on the faulty reasoning and understanding of its author.

More recently, Pastor Vance Stinson of the Church of God International delivered a sermon on "The Mystery of the Ages" in which he approached the subject from a slightly different perspective, but which resulted in many of the same conclusions which Herbert Armstrong reached about a Christian's obligation to obey parts of the Law of Moses. To his credit, at least Mr. Stinson appealed to Paul's usage of the term in his letter to the saints at Ephesus. Unfortunately, instead of following the scriptural evidence wherever it landed, he ended up twisting it to conform to the teachings about the Law which his church received from Herbert Armstrong!

At any rate, we will begin where he began and take another look at what is revealed in that passage and elsewhere in Scripture. Paul wrote: "For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel "good news". Of this gospel "good news", I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him." (Ephesians 3:1-12, ESV) What or who is this mystery of which he is speaking? Clearly, the mystery is that God is saving humankind through the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth!

Mr. Stinson interprets the passage as revealing that "The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs," which is certainly a part of the message. Here, and elsewhere, Paul reveals that this salvation is available to both Jews and Gentiles. Nevertheless, the context clearly demonstrates that Jesus Christ is what has been revealed to them - that HE is the vehicle of humankind's salvation. Before leaving this particular passage, we should also note that the phrase "The mystery is...." was added by the translators of the English Standard Version - it does not appear in the King James Version. Moreover, the New Living Translation makes clearer that Paul was speaking about the entire plan of salvation (of which Christ was the focus). This is underscored by the eleventh verse of that translation: "This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:11, NLT)

That this was the mystery that Paul was discussing is made even clearer in the opening to this epistle, and in its conclusion. In the first chapter, we read: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Ephesians 1:3-10, ESV) Likewise, toward the end of the epistle, Paul asked the saints to pray "that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it." (Ephesians 6:19-10, ESV) Clearly, the mystery which Paul was speaking about is the plan to save humankind through Jesus!

Indeed, this is the mystery which Paul proclaimed in all of his epistles to the saints of the First Century. In the conclusion of his letter to the saints at Rome, he wrote: "Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen." (Romans 16:25-27, ESV) Likewise, in one of his epistles to the saints of Corinth, he wrote: "When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. (I Corinthians 2:1-8, NLT) Also, in his letter to the saints of Colossae, he wrote: "I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:25-27, ESV)

Nevertheless, in his sermon, Pastor Stinson continued to insist that Christians are obligated to observe some of the tenets of Torah. Indeed, the Armstrongist practice of lifting a few passages out of context and using them as prooftexts was apparent throughout his message. His treatment of the second chapter of Paul's letter to the saints at Ephesus is a case in point. In addressing the Gentile Christians of this congregation, Paul wrote: "Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called 'uncircumcised heathens' by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us." (Ephesians 2:11-18, NLT) What had created this wall of hostility? Could it have anything to do with the fact that the Torah was given to Israel, and that made them very different from the Gentiles who surrounded them? Clearly, Paul thought that Christ had accomplished this by "ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations."

Even so, after reading the italicized portion of the above passage as part of his text, Mr. Stinson pointed to the different courts of the Temple: One for the Jews, one for the Israelites, and one for women. He then proceeded to associate this with the "wall of hostility" which existed between the two peoples (Jews and Gentiles). Wondering where he was going with this? Pastor Stinson asserts that the Law of Moses was intended for EVERYONE, both Jews and Gentiles. What? He proceeded to point out that some Gentiles worshipped the God of the Hebrews and were included in many of the provisions of Torah. To underscore his point, he quoted many of the passages from the Torah which include "the stranger who sojourneth among you." (like Exodus 12:49, Leviticus 16:29, 17:12, 18:26, 25:6, Numbers 15:15-16, etc.)

The problem with Mr. Stinson's thesis, of course, is that ALL of these instances involve aliens/Gentiles who were then residing within the boundaries of the Promised Land. In other words, the Law of Moses did NOT generally apply to the Gentile peoples of the earth! Indeed, over and over again (as I have pointed out many times), we read in Torah "Speak unto the children of Israel." In other words, there is absolutely no disputing the fact that the Law of Moses was addressed to the "children of Israel!" Now, sure, illegal immigrants to the United States are still subject to the laws of this nation, but there is no escaping the fact that those laws were designed and intended for the citizens of the United States - NOT them.

No, Armstrongites can try to twist and reason their way around the PLAIN TRUTH that God's plan to rescue humankind from sin and death through Jesus Christ is the "mystery of the Ages" which God has revealed to the ones "he" has called out of this present system! The truth remains undiminished that the Law of Moses was an iteration of God's Law intended for the people of Israel and embodied the tenets of God's Covenant with THEM! As Paul wrote long ago to the saints of Galatia about his confrontation with the Apostle Peter over this very question of Christian observance of the Law: "When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, 'Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.' But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So, I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die." (Galatians 2:14-21, NLT)

 Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix