(PART 1)  

(To be addressed in a two–part series: The different Ages/dispensations and the Law given in that particular Age….First to Adam and the Law of Eden, and then human or natural Law pre-flood, the Law given to Noah, the Law given to Abraham and the Patriarchs, the Law given to Moses for the nation of Israel, the New Covenant Law of Christ, the Millennial kingdom Law, the Law of the New Earth and Heavens; and the significance of the Law for the particular Age.   

We will center up on contrasting the Law of Moses with the New Covenant Law of Christ. We will look into the purpose and function of the Law of Moses, its effects, its limitations, its lawful use, Christ’s fulfillment of the Law of Moses, warnings to believers with entanglements in the Law of Moses, and the purposes and responsibilities of believers in Christ in the new Law of Liberty. 

Note: This teaching, for the most part assumes that the reader/listener is familiar with the Scriptural understanding of God’s salvation plan in total; consisting of both the event of regeneration/that birth of a new nature within and sealed for eternal life, referred to as justification, and then that which follows: The process of that new nature unto maturity, capacitated in worthiness of a greater eternal inheritance to co-rule as king and priest, described as sanctification.)   

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT 

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. [Genesis 26:5] 

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” [Hebrews 11] 

The foundation and basis for the giving of the Mosaic Law to the descendants of Abraham was the Covenant God had made with him, later confirmed in Isaac, and Jacob/Israel. Abraham’s Covenant always had/has two groups in view, or two classes of descendants, a heavenly and an earthly, with their respective spheres of inheritance; the heavenly and the earthly. There have been, and still are ongoing, attempts to blend this appointed duality by either the replacing of Israel with a “spiritual Israel” (either by genocide or by theology) or by the forsaking of the formation of the New Man work by the Spirit/spirit, and trying to be “made perfect by the flesh” by going back under the Mosaic Law (Galatians 3:3). Both are wicked or misguided, and give much occasion for error and confusion; being in conflict with God’s salvation plan. But once God’s eternal plan for duality, that is concerning His 2 distinct groups, with 2 distinct inheritances is understood, the Scriptures then come more clearly into focus.  

Where the Gentile has entered into Covenant in Christ, it is referred to as entering into the “New Covenant”. New is a Scriptural term that is used as it defines from the old Covenant; that being the Mosaic Covenant given at Mount Sinai. It is a *term that will not be realized in its fullness until both groups, New man and Israel, have entered into it (Romans 11). Where, beginning in the Millennium, the one will enjoy the New Covenant inheritance and privileges of the true Tabernacle in the heavens and the other will enjoy the New Covenant inheritance and privileges of the earthly copy, Ezekiel’s Temple. 

From the Abrahamic unchangeable Covenant (Genesis 12), we see that Israel was the chosen nation; an instrument of God to bring blessing from God to all the Gentile nations. (Refer to Matthew 25:31-40). The Mosaic Law (authoritative guidance) was instituted as a means for guidance unto fit Godliness in Israel as a nation in all spheres of its life: morally, socially, politically, economically and religiously, in order that she might fulfill her intermediary purpose to be a blessing to all Gentile nations.  

*(Strictly speaking, it does not apply to the Gentile convert, as he was not a part of the old Covenant.) 

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS 

First, it is helpful to understand the Mosaic Law in the light of the Gospel or New Covenant, in that generally speaking, the Mosaic “laws” were not first enacted or given or imposed on man from Mount Sinai. Granting this and the fact that every moral commandment of the Mosaic Covenant (and more) are given in the New Covenant, Authoritative guidance in morality was not or is not dependent upon it, and lawlessness is not the result of its annulling (save in those who are religiously deceived and discount the Law of Christ unto license).   

Here is a brief review of the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20 with their ancient origins…. The first Commandment being: “Thou shalt have no (none) other gods before me.” To honour the Creator and Him only is implied from the authoritative guidance given in the Garden. These commandments were to tend the Garden and not to eat of the one tree. It was the duty of Adam to worship His Creator only and reverence Him. The Angels were an earlier creation and superior in being, whose duty was to reverence and worship their Creator, some of whose rebellious fall and curse was discovered in the Garden. The second Commandment being: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor the likeness of any form….thou shalt not bow down to them.” This prohibition was known from the tower of Babel, and was a chief cause in calling out Abram from the Babylonians/Chaldeans (Genesis 11:12). The Earliest men of God in Scripture had no visible image that was a representation of or for God the Creator. 

The third commandment being:  “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” In those days, Godly men, such as Abraham were called out of Babylon and out of idol worship. And Godly men today use His Name in faith reverently as a means to acknowledge and to identify with Him. They do so not in cursing or in swearing, or in taking an oath and then committing perjury. Having once taken that Name in Covenant, that is to say; to declare or recognize the One true God as God, then their intent, words, and actions are weighed on the scale of conforming to His Will in daily life. Thereby they reflect either the goodness or the vainness of taking His Holy Name upon themselves.  

The fourth Commandment being: “…remember the Sabbath Day to keep holy.” We are told to “remember” because this command dates back from the creation of man. It is said that there are traces of its observance going back 1500 years before Sinai. This dates back to Creation. “…And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.…” (Note: It is the only one of the 10 Commandments that is not stated again in the Law of Christ in the New Covenant.) The fifth Commandment being: “Honor thy father and thy mother….” was comprehended from the Creation wherein Adam was subordinate to His Creator and was to honor Him, and Eve was made for Adam. This implied a measure of subordination, which also translated to children.  The sixth Commandment being: “Thou shalt do no murder.” That which the Law of Moses states, “blood, it polluteth the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.” is a reiteration of the Noahadic Law given 400 years earlier: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed…” 

The seventh Commandment being: “Thou shalt not commit adultery” can be seen to be understood from God’s intent with Adam and Eve of being in holy matrimony; one man with one woman. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” They stick to each other, and are faithful to each other. The eighth Commandment being: “Thou shalt not steal”. Numerous examples in the lives of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) speak to the Godly prohibition of theft. The ninth Commandment being: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”. This principle was first observed in the Garden. It should be clear that Adam and Eve had nothing false or derogatory to say about each other or of God, or any of His other Creatures. But immediately after the implied false testimony of satan about God, which was received by Eve, then Adam following her into that consummate sin, they began to shift the blame. The blame went from Adam to Eve and from Eve to the serpent. This of course is the principle for false witness in its varied forms and the discovery of its sin. The last and 10th Commandment being: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife….nor anything that is thy neighbor’s….” This sin as all is laid at the feet of the fallen condition of man’s nature from the Garden on. At its root is disappointment. Cain could lawfully covet/yearn to possess, but his sin was that he coveted Abel’s blessing. The cause is the loss of the outworking of love in the ideal state.  

The fallen human heart is the issue. A man‘s heart is the heart of man’s troubles. The 10 Commandments were designed to bring man’s attention upon his heart. The wicked condition of every son of Adam is a consequence of his lapse from the law of life in love with His Creator. The Law of Moses would have restored him if he would have been able to keep it. But because of the fallen nature, he could not, not even with the privileges of forgiveness secured by atoning sacrifices.  

So what was peculiar and characteristic then to the Mosaic Covenant, instituted at Sinai, was the introduction of a righteousness before God which was dependent upon keeping the Mosaic Law. “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them.…” Quoted by Paul in Romans 10: “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.” Whereas, before the Covenant of Mount Sinai’s Law, justification/righteousness before God was exclusive to faith. As this was previously seen and established by the father of righteousness by faith; Abraham.  

Paul says, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the (Mosiac) law is not of faith: but the man that doeth them (those Mosaic Laws) shall (must) live in them.” [Galatians 3:10-12] (See also Leviticus 18:5) The Just (justified unto sanctification) shall live by faith, both in the past and presently. “Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works (of the Law of Moses)” [Romans 4:6] God, having instituted the Law of Moses, and then declaring it bankrupt/insolvent as a means unto righteousness/holiness, did not depreciate its existence. Nor had He in any way ever lessened the Abrahamic Covenant means unto righteousness; that being “…the just shall live by his faith.” [Habakkuk 2:4] For the Mosaic Law accomplished the purpose of God in establishing man’s inability to be righteous by its observance. If he was to obtain and maintain his righteousness found in the Law, then he was required to keep it in its entirety. Again, as it is written… “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” [Galatians 3:10b–11] The faith statement being a clear allusion to Abraham. The Mosaic Law was something additional, supplemental. It is not therefore the primary Covenant…“ it was added (to the Abrahamic Covenant) because (or for the revelation of the exceedingly sinfulness) of transgressions”. This has in view the Messiah’s Atonement. (Galatians 3:19, Romans 5:20). The purpose of the Mosaic Law was to show the exceedingly sinfulness of sin, and to compel man (regenerated or unregenerated) to recognize the futility of his efforts to secure the blessing of God by his own religious dead works/efforts. (Hebrews 6:1, 9:14) It was to point or drive him to the way of faith, the ancient principle on which Abraham walked with God. His justification/rebirth with a new nature competent enough to receive the “laws” of God upon heart and mind and walk in righteousness unto the point that “…he was called the Friend of God” [James 2:23] And it was also said of David, that he was “a man after God’s own heart”. The Abrahamic Covenant retains its everlasting validity, and it is the terms on which man will have eternal relationship with God. Already are Abraham’s spiritual children walking in the blessing of it. Israel shall follow.