Post by setfree on Jan 8, 2007 23:40:51 GMT -5
Part 1
In Hebrews Chapter 8 we read how God has given us a new covenant- a better one. In that chapter God declares to us that the old covenant has been put away in order to make room for the new one.
In the nature of things, the old covenant of an outward law grows old and vanishes with the coming of the new covenant of an inward life. That is, as long as a man is a thief at heart, he needs an outward law to keep him from stealing; but as soon as he becomes honest at heart, he no longer needs the outward law. Hannah Whitall Smith
That is what God has done to us. He has replaced our inner man with a new man who is holy and perfected in Him. Now we need to learn to walk in the new man and not in our old man. We do this by renewing our minds, by walking in the Spirit and not our flesh.
Galatians 5:18, 22-23
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law..... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The old covenant was based on wages for our work. This work = this wage. The New Covenant is based on what Jesus accomplished for us, as our representative man, at the cross and through his resurrection. "We love Him because He first loved us." (1. John 4:19), and therefore we serve Him. God has bestowed upon us His new life. Because of this, the fulfilling of the law of the old testament is simply the fruit of the new Seed planted within us; of the new life given us by His Spirit in our inward man.
Ezekiel 36:27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Our New Covenant is called the Testament of our Savior Jesus Christ. This new covenant, therefore, is the new covenant under which we now live.
Hebrews 7:15-19 "In the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest, who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. For He testifies: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." 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 of a better hope, through which we draw near to God."
There is dramatic contrast between the old covenant and the new found in scripture:
1. The Law says: Do, and then you will live.
Romans 10:5 "For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them."
Galatians 3:12 "Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them."
1. The Gospel says: Live, and then you will do.
Romans 8:2-4 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
In Hebrews Chapter 8 we read how God has given us a new covenant- a better one. In that chapter God declares to us that the old covenant has been put away in order to make room for the new one.
In the nature of things, the old covenant of an outward law grows old and vanishes with the coming of the new covenant of an inward life. That is, as long as a man is a thief at heart, he needs an outward law to keep him from stealing; but as soon as he becomes honest at heart, he no longer needs the outward law.
That is what God has done to us. He has replaced our inner man with a new man who is holy and perfected in Him. Now we need to learn to walk in the new man and not in our old man. We do this by renewing our minds, by walking in the Spirit and not our flesh.
Galatians 5:18, 22-23
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law..... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The old covenant was based on wages for our work. This work = this wage. The New Covenant is based on what Jesus accomplished for us, as our representative man, at the cross and through his resurrection. "We love Him because He first loved us." (1. John 4:19), and therefore we serve Him. God has bestowed upon us His new life. Because of this, the fulfilling of the law of the old testament is simply the fruit of the new Seed planted within us; of the new life given us by His Spirit in our inward man.
Ezekiel 36:27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Our New Covenant is called the Testament of our Savior Jesus Christ. This new covenant, therefore, is the new covenant under which we now live.
Hebrews 7:15-19 "In the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest, who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. For He testifies: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." 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 of a better hope, through which we draw near to God."
There is dramatic contrast between the old covenant and the new found in scripture:
1. The Law says: Do, and then you will live.
Romans 10:5 "For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them."
Galatians 3:12 "Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them."
1. The Gospel says: Live, and then you will do.
Romans 8:2-4 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."