If Christ put us under one law, why wasn’t it the Law of Moses?

Question:

From your web page Do Jews and Christians both follow the teachings of the Old Testament?:

"This law ended with the death of Jesus Christ, allowing both Jews and Gentiles to come under one new law."

So there is one law, right? Why does a huge part of the Old Testament say to Israel that "this law is forever" or "through all your generations"? If they have to do it forever and we are under one law, then why does your website say Christians don't have to follow the law? It is told to Israel that if a prophet comes to lead you away from God's ways, he is a false prophet.

I look forward to your response!

Answer:

See: What is the eternal covenant?

"And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him'" (Deuteronomy 18:17-19).

Jesus was the Prophet foretold by God through Moses. "Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority" (John 7:16-17).

Question:

This does not answer the inquiry at all! There was no dispute in my email of Jesus being the Prophet that was spoken of. The subject I was inquiring about was that the website stated that the law ended with the death of Jesus Christ, allowing both Jews and Gentiles to come under one new law. The passage about the prophet I was speaking of is below, which instructs Israel to keep the commands of God that your website is telling them to forgo:

"If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. (Deuteronomy 13:1-4 ESV).

I'm not implying that Jesus was a false prophet, the Bible has no account of Him turning Israel away from God's commands. The question was: If they have to do it forever and we are under one law, then why does your website say Christians don't have to follow the law?

Thank you for your time!

Answer:

"Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another--to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God" (Romans 7:1-4).

"Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:11-18).

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (Colossians 2:13-17).

"For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God" (Hebrews 7:18-19).

"But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away" (Hebrews 8:6-13).

"But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. ... They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law" -- to whom we gave no such commandment" (Acts 15:5-6, 23-24).

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:1-4).

Question:

This still doesn't answer the problem posed and you know it! Most of what you copied and pasted were from Paul's letters. If your interpretation of Paul is right, then he is the false prophet they were warned of. I myself do not believe this is what Paul is saying and thus is not a false prophet. The direct word of God must come first before our interpretation of Paul. Do you really not see this? Do you not see that half of the Bible is telling God's people to return to His ways! Do you think he changed his mind because we are rebels and disobedient, would you? And you are only a man! II Peter warns about Paul's letters. A warning that is used on both sides of the fence, but he concludes in verse 17 by stating the delusion of lawlessness. Thus scripture defines scripture, not men!

Thanks again for your time! Have a blessed day!

Answer:

I note that you argued against direct quotes of the Scriptures, claiming you understood my point when I made no comments. You say the meaning must be interpreted differently from the direct reading, yet you gave no explanation. Therefore, I must conclude that you do know what Paul and the church in Jerusalem said, but you automatically dismiss any statement from the Bible that contradicts your preconceived notions. There is no answer that would satisfy you.

"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (Jeremiah 31:31-33).

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