Question/Comment

Pastor Jared,
What are your thoughts on how grace has saved us and that we are no longer living under the regimented laws of the Old Testament?

Sometimes I think that God still wants us following these rules, and we've brushed it aside saying, "But Christ made a way for us". I know Christ said he wasn't here to abolish the law, but we're SO FAR from removed from what the Israelites had to do. Just something I wrestle with.

--Sara Seipp

There are lots of different opinions on that one. Although there are some exceptions, I personally believe that the moral code of the Old Testament has not changed, although the ceremonially code has. So God's standards of morality have not changed, but the expressions of that morality have. Mark says that Jesus "declared all food good (Mark 7:19)," which was a radical departure from the ceremonial code of the Old Testament, but he still said that what goes into a person, their thoughts, had the ability to make them unclean; in that way Jesus upheld the moral code. I would say the same of things like wearing cloths made of more than one material, etc.--Jesus set those aside. But he did not set aside God's standards of morality.

But even more than setting those things aside, Jesus fulfilled them. He became unclean so that we could be clean. He kept every Law for us so that we fulfill God's Law in God's sight. And then, on the other hand, he made things even more difficult for us. He gave us the Sermon On The Mount, which suggests that we can break God's Law by having murderous thoughts, even if we don't murder someone. We can break God's Law by have adulterous thoughts, even if we don't physically commit adultery, etc. So, on the one hand we don't have to do as much as the Israelites did (and we can be thankful), but on the other hand, God has raised the bar because now we have been renewed and filled with God's Spirit.

The biggest problem I have with the difference between the Old and New Testament, or Law and Grace, is that some people seem to talk like God has made it easy on us and now we don't have to be nearly as careful in our spiritual life as the ancient Israelites did. Just the opposite--we are now held to a higher standard, and I think that might be what you're saying.

I hope that helps,

Pastor Jared