by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Many people are confused about which parts of the Bible are binding upon us today. The Old Testament was written for the Jews and taught the need for a Savior. Throughout, it shows that a Savior is coming. The Old Law did not provide all that man needed, but it did tell of the coming Savior who would meet all our spiritual needs. Jesus was that coming Savior.<\/p>\n
Jesus brought Jews and Gentiles together in “one body<\/em>” (the church), “having abolished in His flesh the enmity <\/em>(between Jew and Gentile), that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances<\/em>“(Ephesians 2:15). Now we know that Jews and Gentiles are not bound by the Law of Moses or the Old Testament in general as that has been “abolished” as binding law. What brings Jews and Gentiles together is the beauty and authority of Jesus Christ. Jesus has mediated the “new covenant<\/em>“(Hebrews 9:15) that Jeremiah prophesied about.<\/p>\n Jeremiah said a new and better covenant would be coming (Jeremiah 31:31f), and the book of Hebrews says that this new and better covenant was mediated to us by Jesus Christ. Thus, we who believe in Jesus are bound to Him and are involved with Him through the New Testament of Jesus Christ. All <\/b>authority resides now in Jesus (Matthew 28:19). He is “head over all <\/b>things to the church<\/em>“(Ephesians 1:19f).<\/p>\n The Old Testament gives valuable\u00a0testimony\u00a0<\/strong>to Christ and testimony <\/b>to righteousness and thereby encourages our faith in Jesus, but it is not a binding law. Thus, we do not keep the Sabbath, the old festivals, or the dietary regulations (Colossians 2:13-16). The law of commandments was “abolished in His flesh<\/em>.”<\/p>\n If the Law of Moses was still in force, Jesus could not be our High Priest, as the Law appointed priests only from the tribe of Levi. Jesus came from Judah, not Levi. The law had to change <\/b>in order for Jesus to be a priest of another order (Hebrews 7:11ff).\u00a0The law was\u00a0changed<\/strong>, and now Jesus is a High Priest of a better order and with a better covenant! We must thank God that we have a better covenant, a better sacrifice, and a better High Priest than the Jews had under that first covenant. We are now responsible for being obedient to Jesus under the New Testament. Properly understanding these things will help alleviate confusion!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Many people are confused about which parts of the Bible are binding upon us today. The Old Testament was written for the Jews and taught the need for a Savior. Throughout, it shows that a Savior is coming. The Old Law did not provide all that man needed, but it did…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[115,268],"class_list":["post-82259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-old-law","tag-old-testament"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1190,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-jews-and-christians-both-follow-the-teachings-of-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":82259,"position":0},"title":"Do Jews and Christians both follow the teachings of the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do Jews and Christians both follow the teachings of the Old Testament? Answer: The Old Testament was given solely to the nation of Israel. \"And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: \"Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20210,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-handwriting-of-requirements-was-the-law-of-moses\/","url_meta":{"origin":82259,"position":1},"title":"The Handwriting of Requirements Was the Law of Moses","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul said the \"handwriting of requirements\" was \"against us\" and \"was contrary to us\" and \"He (Jesus) has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross\" (Colossians 2:14). As a result of this, no one could judge you in food or in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cross-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22250,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-it-was-taught-that-the-old-covenant-was-abolished-why-was-the-conference-in-jerusalem-necessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":82259,"position":2},"title":"If it was taught that the Old Covenant was abolished, why was the conference in Jerusalem necessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Acts 15, we have the elders, apostles, missionaries, prophets, and the Holy Spirit coming together to decide if the Gentile Christians were to keep the Old Covenant Law and circumcision. Most Christians teach that the Old Covenant was abolished at the cross. If this is true, then why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-they-do-that-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":82259,"position":3},"title":"How Do They Do That? (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We have discussed a doctrine in the past which has been advocated which declares the gospel accounts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are Old Testament books. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is not hard to refute the belief, but I want to use an article written by one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-church-in-jerusalem-tell-the-gentiles-to-keep-certain-laws-and-learn-from-moses-on-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":82259,"position":4},"title":"Did the church in Jerusalem tell the Gentiles to keep certain laws and learn from Moses on the Sabbath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the \"New Law\"? If it is based or has its foundation in the \"Old Law,\" what does that\u00a0entail for the Sabbath in regards to the Lord of the Sabbath? In Acts 15-20 the disciples(Jews)\u00a0tell the Gentiles to keep certain Laws and to learn from Moses every Sabbath\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-only-the-sacrificial-ordinances-abolished-from-the-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":82259,"position":5},"title":"Were only the sacrificial ordinances abolished from the Law?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It is my understanding that the law remains, and only the sacrificial ordinances were abolished because Christ shed his blood for us once and for all. Answer: The difficulty in declaring that only a portion of the Mosaical Law was ended by Christ is in determining where to draw\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}