I don't believe that I would get any arguments from other believers if I said that Christians today are a part of the New Covenant. However, there are many misunderstandings about this covenant that have caused many wrong assumptions and wrong theologies. Let's look into this issue a little more closely.
Where in the Bible do we learn about the New Covenant? We can read the entire New Testament and not find the details of this New Covenant. In order to "find" it, we must look back to the Old Testament. We can find it in the book of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NIV)
31
"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.
33
"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34
No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
With whom does God make this Covenant? Verse 31 tells us that the New Covenant is made between God and the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Clearly, the New Covenant is not made between God and any entity we would recognize today as the Church. Isn't this surprising, considering what we've been taught? Our theology has been wrong. If we are not a part of Israel there is no covenant.
Verse 32 tells us that the New Covenant will not be like the Old Covenant. No surprises there!
What is different about the New Covenant compared to the Old? Verse 33 explains that in the New Covenant, God's Law will be put in believers' minds and will be written on their hearts. This also is not surprising. However, what Law are we talking about? Since Jeremiah is a part of the Old Testament there can only be one conclusion. There was only one Law of God in existence. It is called the Torah. The Torah of God will be in believers' minds and hearts. Our theology has been wrong.
When does the New Covenant begin? Traditional Christianity says that the New Covenant began when the Holy Spirit descended on the believers at Pentecost. Although it is true that from that time on believers were indwelt by the Holy Spirit and they are able to refrain from sin, verse 34 doesn't sound like anything we are experiencing today. "All will know Yehovah!" Also, in verse 31, both houses of Israel are mentioned, but in verse 33 they are mentioned together as the house of Israel. The New Covenant will not be fully evident until a time future when Israel's two houses are again one, and all Israel will know God!
Traditional Christianity has a long history of distancing itself from Jewishness. Yet, the plain reading of the Bible indicates that God's people are called Israel and it is with her that the New Covenant is made. If you are a believer who has been born again and has the Spirit of God living within, you are a part of Israel. You are a part of the New Covenant. However, if the only difference between the Old and the New Covenant is the location of God's Torah, we believers in Yeshua must embrace that Torah and not make excuses as to why we don't have to obey it. Jeremiah's description makes no mention of a change in the requirements of following the Torah, so let's just do it!
Monday, September 7, 2015
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Do Not Add or Subtract!
Deuteronomy 4:2 (KJV)
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Deuteronomy 12:32 (KJV)
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Proverbs 30:6 (KJV)
6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Revelation 22:18-19 (KJV)
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
The Bible contains several warnings against adding to or subtracting from the Words of God. Yet every time a pastor, teacher, theologian, or others teach that we no longer have to observe the Torah, they are adding to and subtracting from the Word of God.
What reasons could there be to negate the above verses? Some claim that God, Himself, has changed the Word. However, God must hold Himself to the same standard or He is a liar and we would never be able to count on His Word as truth. Some say that the verses are time related. In essence they teach that we aren't to change any wording in the Torah, but it doesn't mean that the rules after the Torah can't change. This makes sense to them since there were books of the Bible written after the Torah. But this logic destroys the context of the warnings. The words themselves, or the time when the warnings were written are not as important as what they simply are telling us. We are not to add to or subtract from the instructions of God. If your theology teaches that the New Testament ends the Old Testament's requirements your theology has misunderstood the New Testament and is adding to and subtracting from the Bible.
This means that whatever God has commanded cannot change. We find this truth stated in another way in the following verses.
Genesis 13:15 (KJV)
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Israel has been granted their land forever.
Exodus 12:14 (KJV)
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Passover is to be observed forever by the children of God.
Leviticus 23:14 (KJV)
14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The feast of First Fruits is to be observed forever by the children of God.
And many more!!!
If we claim to be believers in Yeshua we cannot pick and choose from the Bible. If we do we are violating the warnings of Deuteronomy, Proverbs, and Revelation. We are adding to and subtracting from the very Word of God.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Deuteronomy 12:32 (KJV)
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Proverbs 30:6 (KJV)
6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Revelation 22:18-19 (KJV)
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
The Bible contains several warnings against adding to or subtracting from the Words of God. Yet every time a pastor, teacher, theologian, or others teach that we no longer have to observe the Torah, they are adding to and subtracting from the Word of God.
What reasons could there be to negate the above verses? Some claim that God, Himself, has changed the Word. However, God must hold Himself to the same standard or He is a liar and we would never be able to count on His Word as truth. Some say that the verses are time related. In essence they teach that we aren't to change any wording in the Torah, but it doesn't mean that the rules after the Torah can't change. This makes sense to them since there were books of the Bible written after the Torah. But this logic destroys the context of the warnings. The words themselves, or the time when the warnings were written are not as important as what they simply are telling us. We are not to add to or subtract from the instructions of God. If your theology teaches that the New Testament ends the Old Testament's requirements your theology has misunderstood the New Testament and is adding to and subtracting from the Bible.
This means that whatever God has commanded cannot change. We find this truth stated in another way in the following verses.
Genesis 13:15 (KJV)
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Israel has been granted their land forever.
Exodus 12:14 (KJV)
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Passover is to be observed forever by the children of God.
Leviticus 23:14 (KJV)
14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The feast of First Fruits is to be observed forever by the children of God.
And many more!!!
If we claim to be believers in Yeshua we cannot pick and choose from the Bible. If we do we are violating the warnings of Deuteronomy, Proverbs, and Revelation. We are adding to and subtracting from the very Word of God.
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