Getting to Know Your Bible, Part 3
| By Sean Cavender |
Getting to Know Your Bibles, Part 3
We have been considering the importance of knowing our Bibles better and we have been focusing on the Old Testament. We have noted the division of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the purposes of the old law. There are many stories and examples of faith that are recorded for us to learn from that are contained in the Old Testament, so we should not ignore a study of the Old Testament Scriptures (Romans 15:4).
However, Christians must understand and believe that Christ is the Son of God and a fulfillment of the Old Testament. The old covenant served as a tutor and schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Jesus came to fulfill the law of Moses—“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus’ purpose was not to tear down, destroy, or invalidate the law; Christ came to fulfill, or complete the law.
The apostle Paul affirms this same truth as well,
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,” (Romans 10:4). Paul uses the phrase “end of the law” to describe Jesus as the goal, or end objective of the law. Since Jesus came to complete the law of Moses and fulfill the prophets we are no longer under that law —“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor,” (Galatians 3:24-25). Therefore, we are no longer under the law of Moses, but we are under the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
So what does all of this mean?
1. We are under a new covenant. Even the old covenant prophets, like Jeremiah, stated plainly of God’s promise to bring a new covenant into effect. “For finding fault with them, He says, ‘Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant…When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete…” (Hebrews 8:8, 13).
2. The new covenant went into effect when Christ made a sacrifice of His blood.When Jesus died, He nailed the old law to the cross, putting it to an end, “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,” (Colossians 2:14)
3. We are no longer under the authority of the Old Testament. Dietary restrictions, keeping the Sabbath day (7th day of the week) as a non-work day, temple worship, and animal sacrifices are no longer required since we are now under the law of Christ. The Ten Commandments are no longer binding upon us. We must obey Christ under the New Testament.
