If Isreal was saved by keeping the law, then no one was saved prior to Christ because no one kept the whole law perfectly. Salvation has always been through Jesus, whether looking forward to his coming or backward to the cross.
So what's so new about the new Covenant, and is it better, really?
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Salvation has never been available through the law...see Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16.
Correct; for it is written,
Gal 3:10, 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.
Gal 6:13, For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
The Messiah was not pronounced until the time of David, 400 years after the Law. Joshua knew nothing of a Messiah nor did Samuel. These men followed the Law to the best of their ability, and when fallen short, God provided the means to absolve them of their sins up to that point - Sin Offering.
And, even when the Messianic son was promised to David, it was not revealed to all what exactly his purpose would be, at least not as to what was reveled in the New Testament - Lord and Saviour. No one expected him to be the catalyst behind the removal of all humanity's sins.
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” Romans 4:3
Abraham could not have been saved by keeping the Law, because he lived over 400 years before the Law was given..
As early as Genesis 3:15, we see the promise of a coming Savior.
No they didn't have the whole gospel. They were saved by faith in what was revealed to them.
Yes, Abraham was justified by his faith, and so was Isaac and Jacob as the promises were reiterated to them also, and they believed them. Joseph also prophesied of the Israelites sojourn in Egypt and their departure. These are evidence of their faith.
But the Law was implemented for a reason, and when it was enacted by Moses, the Israelites had a new mandate as how to please God and gain His approbation. For those that abide by it, will live by it. They all died, so what was the meaning of the promise? Isaiah did not pray in the name of Jesus Christ, nor the Messiah. Neither did Jeremiah, Elijah, King Joash, or Ezra, etc...
Genesis 3:15 was made clear in the NT, it would have eluded those prior to that time as a Messianic prophecy, as much as some of Daniel's prophecies were meaningless to him. I understand the NT allusions to OT types, but these are revealed after the fact in order to explain and justify the occurrences in the NT, not that they were understood as such when they were prophesied (most OT prophecy related to the current period, but had a related principle in the NT).
Can anyone please explain the following...
The apostle John tells us that sin is the transgression against the law.
KJV 1 John 3:4
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Then Paul tells us that the law was added because of transgressions.
KJV Galatians 3:19
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
So scripture tells us that transgressing against the law is sin, because that is the essence of sin. Transgression against God's law. But scripture also tells us that a law was added because of transgressions against law. How many laws are we talking about here? If one law was , added because of transgression, what was it added to,?
The apostle John tells us that sin is the transgression against the law.
KJV 1 John 3:4
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Then Paul tells us that the law was added because of transgressions.
KJV Galatians 3:19
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
So scripture tells us that transgressing against the law is sin, because that is the essence of sin. Transgression against God's law. But scripture also tells us that a law was added because of transgressions against law. How many laws are we talking about here? If one law was , added because of transgression, what was it added to,?
Where there is no law, there is no sin. Yes, and no. One cannot be a law-breaker if no law has been enacted, and yet, God destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah, and those at the time of the deluge. So, are there two laws, the one written in our hearts (Romans 2:14-15), and the Levitical Law?
Arguably, yes. To what extent are we accountable to either, and what are the consequences of defying one or the other, depends on the dispensation.
Yes, it was added because of transgressions (Galatians 3:19); and so that the offence might abound (Romans 5:20).
I believe that Adam and Eve would have taken it as the beginning of a promise to deliver them from what they had gotten themselves into by partaking of the fruit. It is the beginning of Messianic prophecy and I believe that it was understood as such from the very getgo.
To reconcile the apparent contradiction between those verses, I would mention that the law is an eternal commandment in the heart of God and that it existed in the heart of the Lord even before it was given to Moses (for God exists in eternity and sees all things in light of every other thing; and therefore the law, while it came at a specific point in time, was always known by the Lord because He is Omniscient concerning all things from the beginning to the end).
Please read again the following....
Please note. We have sin. Well before Sinai, as you say, Sodom, the flood, all testified of sin that was most definitely imputed against them, therefore there must have been a law and their transgressions defied that law. They were punished accordingly. But Paul states there was another law added because of those transgressions. This cannot be the same law otherwise the entire sense of scripture is twisted beyond logical belief. One law that testified to sin, one law added because of sin. Two different laws. Two different purposes. Yet united in one sense as scripture says, to operate as a united schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
People are so keen to pontificate on the law, declaring this and that regarding is relevance... The obligations(or not) to obey... It's demise on the cross...
Yet I have seen very few gave up to and give a reasonable cogent answer to the question... What are these two laws and what was the second one added to?
Your answer in a good attempt... But what law... Or whose laws... Were written on the heart? Where are they now? Are they still relevant?
But we know there's no contradiction and so the question remains.
One law; but the law that testifies to sin is as it exists in the heart of the Lord as he dwells in eternity; while the law that was added because of sin is the same law as it was given and implemented in Moses' day.
I don’t think that justification was different then and now. It is the same, that is by faith in God. The law was added because of transgressions and was not given to Israel for the purpose of justification, but to keep Israel under guard and bring them to the Savior who was promised to them, who shall come.I'll answer the last question first. Is the new Covenant better than the old? Absolutely. And here's why.
............This covenant was to be shown in types and symbols. The entire law, moral, ritual, civil, and even health, were a “lesson book” for the people of Israel (Gal. 3:24,25) and beginning from the very first sacrifice slain by God Himself to clothe Adam and Eve (Gen 3:21) the people of God, in the form of our ancient fathers, and later Israel were to learn (or should have learned) three vital lessons.
1. That sin results in death. (Genesis 2:19; 3:19; Ezekiel 18:20; 1 Cor. 6:9,10; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23; James 1:15; ) for remission is only possible through the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22)
2. That the constant shedding of innocent blood was to teach man an abhorrence and hatred for sin and thus encourage the people to repent and turn away from not just sin, (Isa 1:11-20; Ezek. 18:21-23) but the incessant sacrifices that were necessitated because of sin. God had no pleasure in the rivers of blood that flowed from the altars in the temple every Passover when the whole nation gathered together in Jerusalem.
3. The symbols, sacrifices, and services of the sanctuary were a prophetic picture of a coming savior; they were a depiction of the gospel of grace. (Gen. 22:8; Isa 53:6,7)
And how were these promises, this covenant, to be appropriated by the individual personally? By faith. (Hebrews 11:6) Was Israel at any time justified or saved by works of the law? No. Not at all. A big error Israel did make however was to attempt to do just that. Making a promise that was…
a. Impossible, and
b. not required of them…
KJV Exodus 19
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD….
They began to rely on their obedience and in their participation in these services and sacrifices etc rather than in the grace and mercy of God. (Rom. 10:3-9. This is what the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians was all about.
What then, does all this mean for us living as we know in the “New Testament” times? What is this New Testament, or covenant? God’s love has not changed (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17), nor His purpose in undoing all the works of Satan. (1 John 3:8) Therefore the new covenant must involve a new method by which He is to be able to fulfil His promises. Why? Because the old covenant was based on faulty promises. Were God’s promises faulty? Surely not, no, but rather the peoples promises. (Heb. 8:6,7) The people had misjudged the part they were to play in the covenant. In Exod. 19:5,6 God promised (again) that He would make of them a mighty nation and a holy people, and their response was in the form of a faulty promise. They answered, “all that the Lord hath spoken we will do”. (Exod. 19:8) Unfortunately they had little idea of what they promised. God said that He would perform and establish His covenant; rather than thanking Him and surrendering themselves in faith and acceptance to His promise, they said they would perform His promise. Just like Abram and Sarai when introducing Hagar into the transaction between God and Abram. In a sense they were introducing a mediator, much as has Rome done which is the spirit of Antichrist. This was not Abraham’s covenant to alter or amend. This was God’s covenant, and like all covenants or testaments, once blood is spilt that testament can never be changed. History reveals of course the abject failure of Israel’s promise, failure to such an extent that Israel didn’t even recognize the very God of the covenant when He visited…we are all well aware of what they did to their own Messiah.
Therefore God had to make a new covenant with the house of Israel, based on better promises (Heb. 8:9,10) Today, God’s promises remain. He still would bring us power and victory over Satan and sin, but the method by which He would accomplish this has changed. The just however must still live by faith.
The old covenant, the old method by which God was to save His people and establish righteousness and obedience to His commandments was through the Mosaic law. The terms were for Israel, "obey and live" Circumcision, sacrifices and burnt offerings, the annual sabbaths and feast days and the accompanying services of the sanctuary etc (Hebrews 9:1-7), comprised God’s method to teach His people, the nation of Israel, the ways of righteousness. They were His lesson book. Israel was to look upon these as the gospel of mercy and in faith look ahead to their Savior, their Messiah. The new covenant is still by faith, not in a coming Savior, but in a risen Savior, Who writes His holy moral law in our hearts and minds. (2 Cor. 3:3) Thus, through Jesus, Satan is conquered, and his power over us is broken. Justice is satisfied, and God looks upon us as if we had never sinned. God gives us the new birth experience and the power to overcome sin. (1 John 3:9; 2 Peter 1:3,4). He dies to satisfy the law, and we, by faith die with Him, and therefore satisfy the law (Romans 6:1-7). And the result is what Adam and Eve had before the fall: a loving personal relationship with our Creator. Only today, by God’s grace and mercy, we are closer to Him than Adam and Eve could have ever imagined, for we have His Spirit abiding within. (Col. 1:27) Thus instead of a false, weak, ineffective promise to "obey and live", all we are required to do unto the new covenant is "believe and live". Believe in what? Better promises. God's promises. The promises of forgiveness of sins and of the grace of God to renew the heart and bring it into harmony with the principles of God's laws, "written not on stone, but on fleshy tables of the heart". 2 Corinthians 3:3
The new covenant is a one way promise to write His law in our hearts, and to give us everlasting salvation as a free gift. That is righteousness by faith. Imputed and imparted.
How is the new covenant so much better than the now old covenant?
Tong
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Well, if you view it that way. I don’t.
The ten commandments are part of the law that God gave to Israel through Moses. They are part of the covenant law also known as the Law of Moses. The law, Paul reveals was added because of transgressions. They were given to keep Israel under guard and to bring them to Him to whom the promise were made. The ten commandments by that do not sound as promises at all to me, but are what they are, laws that Israel should observe and keep.
Tong
R1856
Cooper
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Even before Christ people were saved by faith, Abraham for example.
What was the Old Testament way of salvation? | GotQuestions.org
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Cooper
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Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (1Jn 3:4 ESV)
This is for those who live in sin and practise it continually. Such people are far from God and don't know him.
Jesus told us to say the Lord's Prayer in which we ask for forgiveness of sins. The wicked unbeliever would never do that. They would not know they had sinned against God and they would certainly not pray to God and ask his forgiveness seeing as they do not believe in Him. Their end is worse than their beginning.
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I don’t see anything “lucky” with Ezekiel 33:11-20. And I don’t see how 1 Cor. 15:37 and Matthew 13:30 is relevant.
Ezekiel 33:15 if the wicked gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
I understand this was intended for the people of Israel, them who are under the law of Moses. Can any one of them do that?
Tong
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Cooper
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This is God's promise to the repentant sinner. Zacchaeus said he would repay back four times what he had cheated out of people. That is practical repentance, and not just empty words by saying "sorry."
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As I see it, the law prior to the Law of Moses is that which was in the hearts of man.
In time, God made a covenant with Israel, the law was made into a written code to be observed and kept by Israel as their covenant obligation and for which they would live by and be governed as a people of God.
<<<what was it added to,?>>>
Added to the covenant of God with Abraham.
Tong
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