Table of Contents
Are Christians Still Under the Old Covenant:
A lot of confusion has arisen regarding the Laws of Moses and the Old Covenant. The fulfillment of the Laws of Moses by Christ has lead many Christians to conclude the laws in their entirety are expired. Still other Christians believe the Church is obligated to follow the Laws of Moses, even going so far as following the dietary laws of Moses.
Most Christians find themselves between these two opinions. They understand some laws are expired and other laws are still valid. However, most don’t understand why or where a line is drawn dividing the valid laws from the expired laws.
To answer the question: Are Christians still under the Old Covenant? We need to begin by explaining the Old Covenant and the Laws of Moses.
What is the Old Covenant:
What distinguished the early Israelites from everyone else were their laws. These laws were given to Moses as a covenant, or “contract,” outlining how to live and how to find salvation. Totaling 613, these laws were remarkably specific and comprehensive:
When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel… Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Exodus 24:3-4,8
Laws of Moses:
The Laws of Moses can be divided into four categories:
- Priestly duties
- Dietary restrictions
- Hygienic laws
- Moral behavior (sins)
To best understand the meaning of these laws, we must understand the punishment for violating these laws. Each category has its own punishment:
- Priestly duties – Punishments include banishment, death (if the violation also violates the moral laws), or ineffective atonement.
- Dietary restrictions – A violation of these laws will result in the violator being “unclean” and quarantined from the community for a period of time.
- Hygienic laws – Same as the dietary restrictions.
- Moral behavior (sins) – Nearly all violations of the laws regarding moral behavior result in death.
A clear understanding of the Old Covenant requires a clear understanding of the Priestly Duties and Moral Laws. It is by the Moral Laws that we are found guilty of sin. By following the Priestly Duties one’s sins may be forgiven:
Moral Laws:
The Moral Laws total in the hundreds. However, these laws are summarized in the Ten Commandments:
The Ten Commandments:
- “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3)
- “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6)
- “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” (Exodus 20:7)
- “Remember the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
- “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12)
- “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)
- “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)
- “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
- “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)
- “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17)
Everyone, given their best effort, will violate these laws on a daily basis. The moral laws are designed to convict us of sin. It is by the moral laws that all have fallen short of the glory of God. It is because of the moral laws that we deserve death and eternal separation from God.
Priestly Duties:
Like the moral laws, the laws governing priestly duties total in the hundreds. However, these laws are summarized in Leviticus 5:5-6:
” ‘When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned and, as a penalty for the sin he has committed, he must bring to the LORD a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.
It is by the moral laws that we are convicted of sins. To find forgiveness, our sins must be paid for by sacrificing an unblemished lamb.
In short, the Old Covenant convicts us of sin and offers salvation by placing our sins on an unblemished lamb. The lamb (or goat, or bull) will pay the penalty for our sins, that is death.
How does Christ fulfill the Laws of Moses:
The Law of Moses, and by extension the Old Covenant, served as a reminder to the Israelites of the coming messiah. The sacrificing of lambs symbolized the coming sacrifice of the Messiah. It was not the lamb itself that held any atoning power. Instead, it was what the lamb symbolized, that is, the sacrifice of Christ, that held atoning power.
In other words, those under the Old Covenant were saved by looking forward to the death of Christ. Much like those under the New Covenant are saved by looking back on the death of Christ:
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Hebrews 10:1-4
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed..We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all..He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth..Isaiah 53:4-7
The sacrifice of Christ fulfilled the laws regarding Priestly Duties. No longer are we required to fulfill these duties because the actual event (death of Christ) has come to fruition. Not only has Christ become the perfect sacrifice, Christ has become the perfect Priest. No longer do priest make us holy before God, Christ makes us holy before God. Through Christ, God has fulfilled the Old Covenant and given us a New Covenant.
What is the New Covenant:
The first prophecy we are given regarding the coming New Covenant is found in Jeremiah:
“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.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..“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..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.”.This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar-
the LORD Almighty is his name:“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
declares the LORD,
“will the descendants of Israel ever cease
to be a nation before me.”This is what the LORD says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done,”
declares the LORD.Jeremiah 31:31-37
In the Old Covenant, salvation was found by looking forward to the death of Christ. In the New Covenant, salvation is found by looking back at the death of Christ. For this reason, Paul calls the Old Covenant “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13), replaced by the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. We are found guilty of sin by the Old Covenant (the Laws of Moses). The New Covenant is our eternal salvation found by accepting the death of Christ.
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:15
Conclusion: Are Christians still under the Old Covenant
Christians are still under the Old Covenant, only in the sense that the Old Covenant finds us guilty of sin. However, the Old Covenant has been fulfilled and made obsolete by the death of Christ and the New Covenant.
God has done away with the Old Covenant. No longer are sins forgiven through sacrifice of animals. No longer are we obligated to follow the priestly laws. The event they foreshadowed has been fulfilled. Sins are forgiven by looking back at this event; that is, the death of Christ.
- What is the Old Covenant?
- How were people saved in the Old Testament?
- What were the Priestly Duties of the Old Covenant?
- How does Christ fulfill the Old Covenant?
- Does the New Covenant make the Old Covenant obsolete?
- What were the Moral Laws of the Old Covenant?
- Does the Old Testament foretell the New Covenant?
- Messianic Prophecy: The Messiah will establish a new covenant:
- What is Atonement?
- Who wrote Exodus?