Tag: Understanding the new covenant

Morning Musing: Romans 10:5-8a

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“…since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: ‘The one who does these things will live by them.’ But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?”’ that is, to bring Christ down or, ‘Who will go down into the abyss?’ that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. On the contrary, what does it say? ‘The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In Christ, God did something totally new. At the same time, He was continuing something very old. He was completing an old covenant and creating a new one. The goal of both covenants was the same: our living in a right relationship with Him. The path these two covenants took to get there, however, was not. Paul offers a little study in contrasts here. Let’s talk about the differences and explore how Paul makes this distinction.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 7:1-6

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“Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives? For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit  and not in the old letter of the law.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What should be the relationship of a follower of Jesus to the Old Testament law? That’s a question that has generated no small amount of controversy in the church over the centuries. In the last few years thanks in part to the often misunderstood position staked out by a particularly popular megachurch pastor it has been a rather hotter topic than it was a generation ago. From my reading, the New Testament authors—and especially Paul—are pretty clear on the question. Passages like this one are why. Let’s talk about why this isn’t what Paul is talking about here and why that matters so much to this particular debate.

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Digging in Deeper: Hebrews 10:1-4

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“Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

For the last several weeks we have been talking through the author of Hebrews’ argument that the new covenant Jesus made between us and God by His sacrificial death is greater than the old covenant God made between Him and Israel and which was rooted in the Law of Moses. The author has offered one look after another into the old covenant’s various points of weakness and shown how the new covenant resolves them. Here in chapter 10, as he is drawing near the end of this line of argument, he starts out with a statement that is perhaps the most direct he’s been so far. It’s hard to fathom how much a shock this would have been to his original audience. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 9:27-28

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“And just as it is appointed for people to die once — and after this, judgment  —  so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love trick shot videos. Dude Perfect offers some of the best of these that are out there. I know because my kids have watched all of them. Twice. A week. For the last year. Okay, it’s not quite that bad, but we do watch a lot of Dude Perfect videos around my house. One of the thoughts that runs through my head every time I see a trick shot is, “He couldn’t do that again.” Sometimes when I’ve done something particularly hard, my first thought is, “I wouldn’t want to do that again.” That’s probably what Jesus thought after the ordeal of the cross. Thankfully, as the author of Hebrews explains here, He won’t have to. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 9:25-26

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“He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the classic definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Under the old covenant, worshipers offered an endless stream of sacrifices, one after the next, each time expecting them to take away their sins. Yet while those sacrifices did indeed provide the covering they needed in the moment, they never dealt with the root problem. It was crazy to think they could. In the new covenant, Jesus changed all of that. Let’s talk this morning about how.

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