Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews

In other words, Isaac had total confidence in what the Lord had told him:  the one he blessed,  would indeed be blessed . . . because God would see to it (cf. Gen.48:9-22).  It was always God's will for this to be Jacob, not Esau, despite Isaac's personal preference for his firstborn son.  So here we see even in this most striking case of delegation of the ability to bless, it is those who respond to the Lord who are blessed, not those who refuse to do so; and even Isaac could only confirm God's will (even against his own will, though he had received this right to bless).

The Lord said to [Rebekah], "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
Genesis 25:23 NIV

We find a similar situation in the case of Balaam whom Balak hired to curse Israel – but God caused him to bless Israel instead, much against his will.

(16) The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this word." (17) So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, "What did the LORD say?" (18) Then he spoke his message: "Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor. (19) God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (20) I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.  (21) "No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them. (22) God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. (23) There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'See what God has done!' (24) The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims." (25) Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!" (26) Balaam answered, "Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?"
Numbers 23:16-26 NIV

In our day, saying "God bless you!" is a commonplace, engaged in liberally by unbelievers as well as believers.  It is thus necessary to say that scripture gives no credence to any idea that believers have this power (all the Old Testament examples involve prophets specially empowered by God), much less any unbeliever.  Scriptures which indicate the "blessing" of one human being by another in actuality mean showing appreciation for what others have done and asking God's blessing upon them as a result.  However, for a believer to use such language, even if by it they merely mean, "I wish God's blessing upon you!", is at the very least potentially misleading. 

"You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you."
Deuteronomy 24:13a NKJV

Melchizedek, as a human being, could only do what God allowed him to do, namely, to affirm God's blessing on Abraham.  As a type of Christ, he conferred that blessing (in the analogy), demonstrating in this regard too the superiority of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ (represented by Melchizedek) to that of the Levites and the Law (represented by Abraham). 

 

Verses Eleven through Twelve

(11) So if there were any fulfillment [of the plan of God] through the Levitical priesthood – and the entire people [of Israel] received the Law on the basis of their priesthood – why then was there a need for another Priest to arise "according to the order of Melchizedek" (Ps.104:4), rather than being selected according to the order of Aaron? (12) For when there is a change of priesthood, of necessity there must also be a change of law.
Hebrews 7:11-12

An Unanswerable Question: 

Not for the first time nor for the last, Paul seeks to drive home his main point about the obsolescence of the Law through unassailable logic.  If this seems somewhat repetitive, indeed it is: sanctified repetition authorized by the Holy Spirit.  And necessary.  When it comes to rebellion from the truth, rebels are not generally easily persuaded even when the arguments used against them are untouchable in their reasonableness.

"Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you."
Psalm 32:9 NIV

In such cases, when the resistance to the truth is high, especially when said opposition is based upon long held and sentimental attachment to something, nothing short of a logical two-by-four applied directly to the cranium is likely to have much of an impact.  As we have noted before, it is not clear from the biblical record (or from the secular history which survives) what effect this masterful epistle had on the majority of the Jerusalem believers. 

Could the plan of God for salvation have been "fulfilled through the Levitical priesthood"?  If it could, then Christ would not have had to suffer and die for our sins (Heb.10:1).  If it could, then there would be no need for continual sacrifice (Heb.10:11).  If it could, then why had it not yet done so and if so, then why were sacrifices still being made? 

Is it possible to separate the Levitical priesthood from the Law?  Certainly not, because the Jewish people "received the Law on the basis of their priesthood".  So either Christ is the High Priest or the high priests taken from the Levites are still authorized to serve.  Both cannot be true.

Was there a need for a new High Priest, "according to the order of Melchizedek"?  Scripture affirms that this is the case (Ps.104:4).  Was this selection according to descent from Levi or was it extraordinary (in the etymological sense of the word, namely, outside of the normal order)?  Not from the Levites but from One who was of the tribe of Judah by birth.

None of the objections woven into the complex question which is verse eleven have an answer.  Not a biblical one, that is.  All attempts to "square the circle" here will run afoul of scripture.  Either the Messiah is our Priest-King or there is no Messiah.

An Inescapable Conclusion: 

For when there is a change of priesthood, of necessity there must also be a change of law.
Hebrews 7:12

The Greek conjunction gar at the beginning of verse twelve ("for") explains the reason for what went before; by using this conjunction Paul is saying, essentially, "the reason I ask this question is because of the obvious incompatibility of the two priesthoods, and the clear necessity of abandoning the prior Law which is inextricably linked to the former priesthood if there has indeed been a change to a new High Priesthood". 

Paul will detail in the verses and chapters to come the further implications for the rituals of the Mosaic Law of Christ's victory gained at the cross.  What he is forcing the Jerusalem believers to accept with this inescapable conclusion – inescapable, that is, for all who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ, His perfect person, God and man, and His perfect work in dying for our sins on the cross, the essential expression of His priestly mission to save us – is the absolute irreconcilability of the cross and the Law, that is, the incompatibility with true faith of continuing to engage in the rituals of the Law which Christ has now fulfilled. 

This point Paul has made before in a variety of different ways.  In this chapter we see the essential reason for his long dissertation on the priesthood.  Every priesthood is based upon, defined and authorized by the law under which it operates.  The two cannot be disaggregated, disconnected or otherwise separated.  Change one, and the other must change.  Change the priesthood from Levites to Christ, and of necessity the Law must also now be considered obsolete.  And this change of priesthood must have happened since only Jesus Christ can be our true High Priest (Ps.110:4), the One who has fulfilled the requirements of the Mosaic Law which were merely symbolized by its rituals:  the Law required animal sacrifice to represent Christ's spiritual death on our behalf; but Jesus actually paid for our sins.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
John 1:29 NIV

(18) For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
1st Peter 1:18-19 NIV

In a loud voice they were saying: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"
Revelation 5:12 NIV

A further, unavoidable inference from Paul's argument is the uncomfortable realization that by following the Mosaic Law, one is of necessity denying the change of priesthood which took place when our Lord won the great victory of the cross and subsequently received the pronouncement validating His new High Priesthood ("You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek": Ps.110:4 NIV) at the Father's proclamation of session after our Lord's resurrection and ascension to the third heaven ("Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet": Ps.110:1 NIV).  Such a denial is tantamount to denying the efficacy of the cross, to denying Jesus Christ. 

This is, of course, precisely the logic of what the wayward Jerusalem believers were doing (cf. Heb.6:4-6; 10:26-27), and Paul is going to great lengths to point this out unmistakably.  By inseparably connecting the priesthood to the Law upon which it was founded, and by reminding these believers that Jesus Christ is our new and our true High Priest, Paul proves that continuing in the Law is fundamentally incompatible with honoring our Lord who fulfilled the "righteous requirements" of the Law by dying for our sins (Rom.5:16; 5:18; cf. Rom.1:32; 2:6; 8:4).  By continuing in the Old Covenant, one is necessarily rejecting the New Covenant.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter (i.e., the Law, the old covenant) but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2nd Corinthians 3:6 NIV

Cleaving to the old priesthood thus alienates those who do so from the new law, the law of the Spirit, the New Covenant which has been ratified by the blood of Christ.

(1) So now, there [awaits] no judgment of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the Law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2

But for those who reject the New Covenant "in My blood" (Lk.22:20; 1Cor.11:25), as continuing with the ritual sacrifices of the Old Covenant surely signifies (because it proclaims a Savior not yet come or His sacrifice not sufficient), there exists no other "sacrifice [capable of taking away] sins" (Heb.10:6): if Jesus' sacrifice is rejected, the rituals of the Law which merely looked forward to that sacrifice are surely of no help when it comes to eternal salvation – and especially not after they have been fulfilled and rendered obsolete.  Not only is continuing in these rituals ineffective (whereas before the cross they represented the hope and confidence of their eventual fulfillment – true faith), but such behavior is actually a horrible affront to God the Father, throwing, in effect, His sacrifice of His one and only dear Son for us back in His face.

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
Galatians 5:4

Whether the fall from grace on the part of the Jerusalem congregation was temporary (i.e., God being displeased with them so that they have incurred His disfavor until they repent) or would become permanent (through complete apostasy, the death of their faith, through persistence in turning their back to God), remained to be seen at time of writing.  Paul was certainly sparing no effort in attempting to orchestrate their repentance.

[We] know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 2:16 NIV

(23) Before faith [in Jesus Christ] arrived, we were being guarded under the Law['s protection], shut in [in anticipation of] our faith which was destined to be revealed. (24) So the Law acts as a guardian to us [who leads us] to Christ so that we might be justified by faith. (25) But now that faith has come (i.e., now that we are believers in Jesus Christ), we are no longer under that guardianship [of the Law].
Galatians 3:23-25

True faith – faith in Jesus Christ – is thus incompatible with the Mosaic Law, in no small part because Christ's sacrifice has fulfilled the Law (Matt.5:17).  This is a principle of critical importance today just as much as it was in Paul's day.  All putative believers in Jesus Christ who wish to follow the Mosaic Law's rituals in any fashion and in any degree need to consider carefully that doing so as a means to spirituality is a dangerous mistake, and how much more deadly if salvation is seen to rest thereon even to the smallest degree.

Therefore no flesh shall be considered righteous before Him through the works of the Law, for it is through the Law that we come to acknowledge [our] sin.
Romans 3:20

On account of its fulfillment by Jesus Christ (Matt.5:17), the Law has now become obsolete (Heb.8:13).  The change of priesthood occasioned by our Lord's victory has required a concomitant change of Law, from the Law of the dead letter to the powerful Law of the Spirit (Rom.8:1), from the Old Covenant which could never provide salvation to the New Covenant (Gal.3:21-22; cf. Heb.8:6; 8:8; 9:15; 12:24), wherein we who believe in Jesus Christ have been born again, born from above, and have become, instead of slaves to the Law, freeborn children of God the Father through our faith in His Son (Gal.3:26; 1Jn.3:1). 

For Christ is the fulfillment (lit., "end") of the Law, resulting in righteousness for everyone who believes [in Him].
Romans 10:4

Then the One sitting upon the Throne said to me, "Behold! I am making everything new."
Revelation 21:5a

 

Verses Thirteen through Sixteen

(13) After all, the One about whom these things are said, [Jesus Christ], came from a different tribe, one which never had a share in the altar. (14) For it is crystal clear that our Lord stemmed from the tribe of Judah, a tribe about which Moses never said anything about priests. (15) And this [need for a change of Law] is even more clear if another Priest arises who is fundamentally similar to Melchizedek (i.e., in the two main points of comparison: eternity and superiority to Abraham), (16) namely, One who becomes [Priest] not on the basis of the Law's commandment, but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life [which brings with it an unchanging priesthood].
Hebrews 7:13-16

Judah: 

Our Lord's descent from the tribe of Judah is a further proof that the Law has been rendered obsolete.  Descent from Levi, and specifically also from Aaron, was absolutely necessary in order to be appointed to the priesthood under the Law.  If even Levites who were not of Aaron's line could not be considered for the priesthood, how much more anyone who was not even of that tribe?  But our Lord Jesus Christ received His appointment directly from God the Father, irrespective of lacking this prerequisite under the Law.

The Lord has sworn and He will not recant, "You are a priest forever in the manner of Melchizedek."
Psalm 110:4

One important reason in the selection of the tribe of Judah for our Lord's genealogy is the membership of David in that tribe.

Of David. A psalm. The Lord said to My Lord, "Sit down at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." 
Psalm 110:1

(41) While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, (42) saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?" They said to Him, "The Son of David." (43) He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: (44) 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool" ' ?  (45) If David then calls Him 'Lord', how is He his Son?" (46) And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.
Matthew 22:41-46 NKJV

The answer to our Lord's question above is, of course, that only by being God Himself could our Lord rate the title of "Lord", outranking king David absolutely, even though He is, in His human nature, David's son.  And it is in that very context of the Psalm quoted above by our Lord, three verses later, where the Father appoints Him "a priest forever in the manner of Melchizedek" (Ps.110:4).  Thus our Lord Jesus' high priesthood is freed from any putative limitations on the basis of biological descent by the direct overriding of these concerns through the overruling will of God the Father – in the same way that Jesus Christ is David's Lord in spite of being his descendent.

Our Lord Jesus Christ thus is, of course, David's greater Son, and in the mentions of our Lord's lineage it is usually His descent from David which is the point that is emphasized rather than His tribal affiliation per se (e.g., Matt.1:1; 9:27; 22:42; Lk.1:32; 1:69; Rom.1:3; 2Tim.2:8; Rev.22:16; cf. also Rev.5:5 where "from the tribe of Judah" is immediately reinforced by "[from] the root of David"). For Jesus is the "Son of David", the One who fulfills the covenant to that great believer wherein he was promised a Son who would reign forever, the Branch who would spring from his root, namely, the Messiah (cf. 2Sam.7:12-16; Is.9:6-7; Jer.23:5-6).

Therefore the first and technical reason for Jesus' descent from Judah is the important fact that Jesus is the "First-born" unique and only Son of the Father (Rom.8:29; Col.1:15; 1:18; Heb.1:6; Rev.1:5; cf. Jn.1:14; 1:18; 3:16 3:18; 1Jn.4:9), and Judah is the tribe of the first-born – by assignment. For although Reuben was technically Jacob's first-born son, he forfeited the double-portion rights of inheritance that would otherwise have accrued thereto through misconduct – and he lost them to Judah (cf. Gen.49:3-4; 1Chron.5:1).  It is for this that reason the "ruler's scepter" belongs to Judah (Gen.49:10; cf. Num.24:17), who forever after receives the privileges of the first-born. While we are not specifically told why it is that Simeon and Levi, Judah's older brothers, were disqualified from taking Reuben's place (even though they were elder to Judah), it no doubt has to do with the incident in Genesis chapter 34:1ff., where the two brothers deceived and slaughtered the citizens of Shechem as retaliation for the violation of their sister, Dinah (cf. 1Chron.22:8).

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I."
Genesis 34:30 NKJV

(5) "Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
(6) Let not my soul enter their council;
Let not my honor be united to their assembly;
For in their anger they slew a man,
And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.
(7) Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
And scatter them in Israel.
Genesis 49:5-7 NKJV

Just as the three brothers ahead of Judah were disqualified for misconduct, so we have a reverse parallel in the case of David who was promoted for extraordinary conduct (specifically, his exceptional love for the Lord: 1Sam.13:14; Ps.78:70-72; 89:3-4; 89:19-38). David, of course, far from being the eldest was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse, and yet because of his heart for God and his dedication to the Lord which put all of his brethren in the shade, he was exalted as no one before him, becoming, in effect, the first-born (for God looks on the heart: 1Sam.16:7).

So on this point of "primogenitor", it is important to remember that God is not only capable of but also inclined to exalt the humble and humble the proud, considering the true "first-born" to be him or her who puts the Lord first in their hearts, demonstrating that faith and dedication in lives of faithfulness (cf., "and the older will serve the younger"; Gen.25:23).  And it is only in carrying our crosses daily in this way that we emulate Him who is the Firstborn of all creation, our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the One who earned that privilege through His victory on Calvary's cross.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8:29 NKJV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Colossians 1:15 NKJV

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 1:18 NKJV

But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him".
Hebrews 1:6 NKJV

. . . and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
Revelation 1:5a NKJV

The Melchizedek Paradigm Applied: 

Given that Christ has been appointed High Priest by God the Father Himself (Ps.110:4), His priesthood outranks all others.  His priesthood is "in the manner" of that of Melchizedek, a fact that establishes this superiority beyond all argument.  Far from being descended from Levi, Melchizedek has no recorded genealogy, so our Lord's priesthood does not depend upon this earthly requirement.  And in fact, since Abraham, the original ancestor of Levi (and thus superior to his later offspring), paid tithes to Melchizedek and was blessed by Melchizedek rather than the other way around, this position of superiority for Christ's priesthood is even more clear. 

Our Lord's priesthood is not dependent upon what the Law commanded (Heb.7:16); to the contrary, His priesthood was given to Him completely apart from the Law, not "on the basis of the Law's commandment", but "according to the order of Melchizedek" who was not even Jewish – and more than that, blessed and received tithes from the father of all Jews.  And while all of the Levitical priests served only as long as life endured, our Lord's appointment was given to Him "on the basis of the power of an indestructible life" (Heb.7:16).  Melchizedek's lack of genealogy and chronology in scripture foreshadows our Lord's resurrection wherein "death no longer has any power over Him" (Rom.6:9).  Thus Jesus' new high priesthood is eternal because Christ in His humanity is no longer subject to death, having been resurrected from the dead, and so can and will continue as "priest forever in the manner of Melchizedek" (Ps.110:4).  These things being so, Paul might well ask his readers, "how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world (ta stoicheia, referring to the percepts of the Law), whose slaves you want to be once more?" (Gal.4:9 ESV).

 

Verses Seventeen through Nineteen

(17) For [the Father] testifies that "You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek". (18) Herein we have then a revoking of the prior commandment (i.e., the Law) on account of it being weak and ineffectual (i.e., unable to bring fulfillment to the plan of salvation), (19) – for the Law fulfilled nothing – and instead the bringing in of a better hope through which we [actually do] draw near to God.
Hebrews 7:17-19

The new high priesthood which Jesus Christ has been given – which He has earned through His sacrifice on the cross – is eternal because Christ in His humanity is no longer subject to death, having been resurrected from the dead (Rom.6:9; cf. Rev.20:6).  Thus, since the time of His resurrection, ascension and session at the Father's right hand, He is advocating for us (Rom.8:34; 1Jn.2:1; cf. 1Tim.2:5); since He lives forever, unlike earthly high priests, He is always able now and forever more to be "making intercession" for us who belong to Him (Heb.7:25).

Revocation of the "Prior Commandment": 

The "prior commandment" (Gk. entole fr. entellomai, meaning "to command") is used by Paul as shorthand for the Law, usually expressed in the plural ("the commandments": Matt.5:19; 19:17; Mk.10:19; Lk.1:6; 18:20; Eph.2:15; cf. Rom.13:9-10), but occasionally also singular as we have it here (Matt.15:3; Rom.7:8-13; Heb.9:19).  It is this Law which has been revoked, replaced, "set aside" (Gk. athetesis fr. a-tithemi, meaning to "re-place").  And specifically, it is the Levitical priesthood which has been replaced by the high priesthood of Jesus Christ, our new High Priest, who will occupy that position forever. 

Since the entire Mosaic Law rests upon the Levitical priesthood, of necessity, as Paul has already shown and we have seen (Heb.7:12), the Law itself has been rendered obsolete by our Lord's sacrifice on the cross and appointment by the Father as "priest forever in the order of Melchizedek" (Ps.110:4).  For the Law "fulfilled nothing" (Heb.7:19), being "weak and ineffectual" (Heb.7:18):  the Mosaic Law and its priesthood merely foreshadowed – through the ministrations of priests with sin natures sacrificing animals – the effectual sacrifice of Jesus Christ which fulfilled the entire plan of the Father for the salvation of those who belong to Him through faith.

Unlike the [other] high priests, [Jesus] has no need of making sacrifice day by day, first on behalf of His own sins, and then for the sins of the people.  For this [latter] He did once and for all when He offered Himself [as a sacrifice].
Hebrews 7:27

He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9:12 NIV

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:10 NIV

The Mosaic Law:

(9b) We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.  (10) Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!  (11a) And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
Romans 4:9b-11a NIV

(16) The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.  (17) What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.  (18) For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Galatians 3:16-18 NIV

Abraham is the father of all Israel, but, as these passages assure us, Abraham never lived under the Law, nor did he receive God's promises on the basis of the Law, not even on the basis of circumcision which followed rather than preceded his faith and served as a sign of that faith rather than as a basis for it.  And the Mosaic Law in its totality was only given over four centuries later.  Therefore it cannot and does not invalidate the promises to Abraham which were given to him on the basis of faith, not on the basis of following any sort of written code.

Now [Abraham] had believed in the Lord, and [the Lord] considered him righteous because of it.
Genesis 15:6

(6) . . . just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (7) Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
Galatians 3:6-7 NKJV (cf. Rom.4:1; Heb.2:16)

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:29 NKJV

One cannot read our context passage (Heb.7:18-19), nor the other passages in Hebrews where the Law is specifically said to have been replaced (Heb.7:12; 8:13), nor the book of Hebrews in general (where the theme of the replacement of the old with the new and with "better things" permeates the book), nor the Pauline epistles generally (especially Romans and Galatians), without recognizing that with the coming of the Messiah, His spiritual death on the cross, and His resurrection and exaltation, a major change has taken place regarding the applicability of the Mosaic Law to we who believe.  In place of the Old Covenant, we now have a "New Covenant", one which is all about the reality of Jesus Christ replacing the shadows of the Law (Matt.26:28; Mk.13:24; 2Cor.3:6; Heb.8:6; 8:8; 8:12; 9:15; 12:24).

"This cup is the new covenant [ratified] by My blood which is shed on your behalf."
Luke 22:20b

And in the same way [after eating] He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant [made] by my blood. Keep on doing this as often as you drink [it] in order to remember Me".
1st Corinthians 11:25

Given how much abuse today, how much legalism (that is, Pharisaical allegiance to false tenets putatively based on the Law) on the one hand, and antinomianism (literally, anti-Law-ism, meaning, essentially, libertinism) on the other, and the fact that antichrist's religion will make use of both of these extremes, a brief consideration of the Mosaic Law and what it means for Spirit-filled believers today seems in order.

1. Definition of the Law:

(7) "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: (8) 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (9) They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules' (Is.29:13)."
Matthew 15:7-9 NIV

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."
Matthew 23:23 NIV

The first passage above illustrates the difference between the actual Law of Moses and how it was being applied by the unbelieving religious establishment of our Lord's day – analogous to the misapplication of scripture (often from the Old Testament) by legalistic groups today.  The second passage illustrates how that even if the "letter of the law" is followed in some instance, even with hyper-scrupulosity (to the point of even tithing the small herbs of one's garden), all such fastidiousness is pointless when such individuals ignore and neglect the power and true purpose of the truth contained in the Law.  Important to note here is that there may be – and usually is – a huge gulf between what Law-keeping groups and individuals teach and do and what the actual Law of Moses really meant and means.

They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
1st Timothy 1:7 NIV

The term Law in the New Testament is a translation of the Greek word nomos, itself a translation of the Hebrew word torah, which means "teaching".  "The Law" most often refers to the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, otherwise known as the Pentateuch (e.g., Matt.5:17; 7:12; 22:40; Lk.16:16; 22:44; Jn.1:17; 1:45; 7:19; 8:5; Acts 13:15; 15:5), but may also sometimes refer to the entire Old Testament (e.g., Matt.23:33; Lk.5:17; Jn.10:34), and sometimes to the ten commandments specifically (e.g., Lk.10:26; Rom.7:7).  Regardless of the specific reference, there is in truth complete unanimity in God's message throughout the Old Testament:  in scripture itself, no conflict is assumed to exist between the ten commandments, the Pentateuch, and the rest of the Old Testament canon (the "Prophets" and the "Writings", as they are commonly called), and none in fact does. 

The ten commandments are often referred to as "the covenant" or "the testimony" (e.g., Ex.34:28-29), because they sum up the entire teaching of the Law.  As such, the ten commandments, rightly understood, stand as an intermediary between the simple law of love and the entire written code of the Law, giving us a solid basis for a correct spiritual, moral, and legal approach to living righteously before the Lord.  This, of course, is not possible to do with fleshly effort alone.  Inherent in every teaching and every commandment found in the Law, therefore, is the demonstration of our need for God's help in order live the way He commands us to do, help that is foreshadowed in one way or another in every one of the Law's rituals and symbols: namely, a Savior who alone can deliver us from sin and impart life instead.  Jesus Christ and our need for Him has always been the fundamental meaning and message behind the "teaching" or Torah. 

(17) Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; (18) if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; (19) if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, (20) an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – (21a) you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?
Romans 2:17-21a NIV

The Law is indeed "the embodiment of knowledge and truth", but only if that essential message and meaning is understood and accepted.  The point of the Law is not the mastery of all manner of rules and regulations and the scrupulous adherence to them.  That approach is the most common one taken by those who attempt the impossible task of "keeping the Law", whether they try to do so a little or a lot (i.e., with the temple gone, huge sections of the Law cannot possibly be complied with, and the majority of legalistic "Christian" groups are highly selective about which portions of the Law they acknowledge as necessary to follow).  But that approach is exactly backwards. It is not the observance of the vast array of mandates which are to be found in the Old Testament which is important (traditional Judaism finds 613 in the Pentateuch alone), but instead the fundamental principle of the love of God found therein which draws those willing to listen close to Him.

(35) One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: (36) "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (37) Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:35-40 NIV

2. The purpose of the Law: 

(19) We know that however many things the Law says it says to those under [the authority of] the Law, [and it does so] in order that every mouth may be shut and that the entire world may be [revealed] as guilty in God's eyes. (20) Therefore no flesh shall be considered righteous before Him through the works of the Law, for it is through the Law that we come to acknowledge [our] sin.
Romans 3:19-20

(12) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.  (13) Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Romans 7:12-13 NIV

As these passages make clear, the fundamental purpose of the Law was not to justify anyone before God through adherence to it, but rather by demonstrating the inability of anyone to fully comply with it to bring about a recognition of the need for justification through faith.  That was the pattern of Abraham (Gen.15:6), so that faith in God's Substitute, God's solution to sin and death, was always the means of salvation, and the Law, coming 430 years after God's promise to Abraham "does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise" (Gal.3:17 NIV).  Salvation has always been given by God to sinful man on a grace basis, the price for that salvation being paid by Jesus Christ, prospectively before the cross (and foreshadowed in every animal sacrifice under the Law), and retrospectively after the cross (Rom.3:25-26).

For [even] before the Law [was handed down], there was [indeed] sin in the world, but, when there was no Law, sin was not being taken into account [by us as it was after the Law].
Romans 5:13

But the Law came in so that the [recognition of] transgressions might increase.
Romans 5:20a

I used to be alive once without the Law, but when the commandment came [to my attention (i.e., not to covet: cf. Rom.7:7)], sin sprang to life again and I died.
Romans 7:9

Paul's personal experience, related in the verse immediately above, illustrates the other two passages cited.  The Law brings recognition of sin (Rom.3:20; 7:12-13); that is its initial purpose, in order to demolish the deadly dangerous legalistic notion that a person who is "good" (by human reckoning) is somehow not subject to condemnation.  As someone who did his best to be upright as an unbeliever, Paul was under this false impression (as so many people are).  But the Law destroyed this unstable edifice and brought it crashing to the ground (cf. Matt.7:24-29; Lk.6:47-49). This revelation, i.e., of his essential sinfulness in spite of human effort, did not produce salvation for Paul immediately (as the rest of Romans chapter seven makes clear; that would require direct, divine intervention: compare Rom.7:24 with Rom.7:25), but it did remove the obstacle of comfortable (and completely misplaced) self-righteousness which has proven to be such a stumbling block for so many. 

(30) What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by [lit., "from"] faith; (31) but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. (32) Why not? Because they pursued it not by [lit., "from"] faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. (33) As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame" (Is.8:13; 28:16).
Romans 9:30-33 NIV

That is first and foremost what the Law was designed to do, namely, prepare the hearts of all who hear it for salvation "by grace through faith" (Eph.2:8-9; cf. Rom.1:16-17), by demonstrating our utter sinfulness and complete need of help from God in the form of a Substitute to bear our sins, a Substitute whom only He could ever provide, the Messiah.  He is the Rock in which all believers have put their trust; and the "stone of stumbling" over which all who refuse to rely on Him instead of themselves and their own works have stumbled.  The Law is true in every way, and "if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law" (Gal.3:21b NIV).  But the Law's purpose is not to justify those who keep it; to the contrary, its purpose is to demonstrate to any and all who seek salvation from their own efforts the impossibility of all such arrogant efforts.  The Law shows us that we are sinners in need of grace (Rom.7:7-13), and so the Law is our "teacher" who leads us to saving faith – if we are willing to be led. 

(22) But scripture has locked everything up under [the power of] sin, so that the promise which is fulfilled through faith in Christ might be given to those who believe. (23) Before faith arrived, we were being guarded under the Law['s protection], shut in [in anticipation of] our faith which was destined to be revealed. (24) So the Law acts as a guardian to us [who leads us] to Christ so that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:22-24

3. The true meaning of the Law:

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I did not come to know sin except through the Law.
Romans 7:7

Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
Galatians 3:21 NIV

The Law points out the problem: we are sinners; and the Law also points to the solution: God's Substitute for our sins, received by faith.

(5) Moses writes about the righteousness that comes through the law, "The person who does them will live in it" (Lev.18:5).  (6) But the righteousness that comes through faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend to heaven?' " – that is, to bring Christ down – (7) "or 'Who will descend into the Abyss?' " – that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.  (8) But what does it say? "The word is near you: [it is] in your mouth and in your heart." That is the word of faith that we proclaim.  (9) For if you acknowledge with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:5-9

No one can "do" everything the Law requires, not perfectly.  And we know of a certainty that "whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (Jas.2:10 NIV).  So while the Law does demand "doing", it is the "believing" part which produced salvation, with the "doing" part meant to follow faith not to precede it or far less to replace it (as legalism does).  That, after all, is precisely the way the New Testament puts things in explaining the Christian way of life.  First we need to turn away from ourselves and toward Jesus Christ, believing in Him; then we need to pick up that cross and follow Him (Matt.16:24; Mk.8:34; Lk.9:23): faith comes first; then comes faithfulness.

(16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power whereby God may save everyone who believes (whether the Jew first, or the Greek).  (17) Because in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "[it is he who is] righteous on account of his faith [who] shall live [on account of his faith]".
Romans 1:16-17

We are saved "by grace through faith" (Eph.2:8-9); we live thereafter through that faith (Gal.3:11; Heb.10:38; cf. 2Tim.2:11-13). But legalism reverses this God-given mandate; legalism "does" and then expects salvation as a result. To the unpracticed eye, scriptures which delineate mandatory behavior (such as Lev.18:15) and those which teach grace (such as Deut.30:11-14) may seem inherently contradictory. But there is no conflict between these two types of passages when they are rightly understood: believers are obligated to follow the Lord and His commands; unbelievers gain nothing by substituting supposed obedience (in following rules and regulations, often largely of their own making and choosing), and expecting God to be pleased when they have no genuine faith in Him whatsoever. And no amount of zeal can alter this essential fact.

It is dangerous to have zeal without knowledge.
Proverbs 19:2a NET

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge (epignosis: "full-knowledge" which acknowledges the truth through faith).
Romans 10:2 NIV

So while Psalm 119, for example, sings the praises of the Law, it does not do so in a vacuum of legalism.  Valid appreciation for the Law of the Lord cannot be divorced from the foundation of truth upon which it is actually based (e.g., Ps.119:105).  By demonstrating our sinfulness – and informing us of God's great mercy and grace, along with the way of salvation – the Law is truly worthy of praise.  The Law is indeed good in every way – "if one uses it properly" (1Tim.1:8) – giving those who hear it correctly an understanding of the truth which looks to the Lord for deliverance from sin and death and then loves Him with all one's heart, recognizing that it is not strict adherence to ritual but faith and faithful obedience to Him and to the truth which are the bedrock of the Law.  This distinction, while puzzling to some, makes all the difference in the world to believers.  Neither antinomianism (i.e., libertinism) nor legalism (i.e., Phariseeism) are legitimate approaches because the former abandons the truth contained in the Law for the sake of mere "rules taught by men" (Is.29:13; Matt.15:9), while the latter throws off all restraint to follow its own desires (cf. Rom.6:15-16).

(11) "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. (12) It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' (13) Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' (14) No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it."
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 NIV

Paul in Romans explains the passage above as a gospel appeal, for, as he points out, scripture also affirms that "Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame" (Is.28:16; belief from the heart); and "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:32; faith expressed with the mouth).  These are two manifestations of the same saving faith which cannot be split up either in Deuteronomy or in Romans, because one cannot express what one does not believe and all who believe express that faith to God in prayer at salvation at least.

(16) "See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. (16) For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess."
Deuteronomy 30:15-16 NIV

This passage is the immediate follow-on to the verses quoted just previously.  Herein we see the essence of the Law:  those who have expressed faith having put their trust in the Lord are saved (Deut.30:11-14); then, as believers, loving the Lord was (and is) the prerequisite for walking in obedience to Him and the essence of keeping the Law – not perfection in ritualistic behavior, but understanding and believing and behaving according to the truth behind it.

(35) One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: (36) "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (37) Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:35-40 NIV

(8) Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  (9) The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (10) Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8-10 NIV

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Galatians 5:14 NIV

This, loving the Lord and our fellow believers, was how to follow and keep the Law in truth then, and the same is true today.  This, the principle of love, is something only believers can adhere to, and only effectively through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (e.g., 1Cor.12:3; Gal.5:22-23; Eph.5:9).  But for unbelievers, the Law's purpose is not strict adherence to rituals which cannot save, but the demonstration of the need for salvation, and the teaching of the Way of salvation.  Rightly understood, the Law, like all other scripture, is all about Jesus Christ.

(25) He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! (26) Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"  (27) And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Luke 24:25-27 NIV

"You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me."
John 5:39 NIV

(45) "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. (46) If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. (47) But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
John 5:45-47 NIV

Preferring one's own parti pris interpretation of the Mosaic Law is, therefore, as the passage directly above in particular makes clear, in truth opposing the actual Law which is at its base entirely about Jesus Christ.  That is what the Torah, "the teaching", was always meant to be, namely, a guide to the one Way of salvation, to Him who is the truth, to Him whom all the sacrifices and rituals of the Law actually represent.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
John 1:29 NIV

(16) So don't let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink, or in the category of festival observances, be it of new moons or Sabbaths.  (17) All these things are shadows of what was to come, but the reality has to do with Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17

4. The fulfillment of the Law:  The Law, as we have seen, was meant to be our guide to lead us to Jesus Christ (Gal.3:24).  In so doing, it was important for it to convict all of being sinners (Rom.3:9-10; 3:19; 3:23; 5:12; 11:32; Gal.3:22), to demonstrate that no one can attain the righteousness of God which is necessary to be saved by following the Law (Rom.3:21; Gal.2:16-17; 3:9; 5:24), and then to offer salvation through the provision of God's Substitute, the One represented in all of the rituals and sacrifices of the Law, the One who alone could take away sins (Acts 4:12). 

Once saved, once having put faith and trust in the Lord, then indeed the Law provided a model for sanctified behavior, being partially very direct and universally applicable even today (e.g., the ten commandments, if the fourth be correctly understood), and partially applicable only to the unique situation of the people and nation of Israel who, before the fulfillment of the Law by Jesus Christ, constituted God's special witness, Israel itself being a "type of Christ":

And He said, "It is too small a thing for you to be My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob and to restore the sanctified ones of Israel.  Therefore I have appointed you as a Light for the nations, to be My [instrument of] salvation to the ends of the earth."
Isaiah 49:6 (cf. Is.41:8)

Once the Law's demands had been fulfilled by the blood of Christ which takes away sin, and once the Law's symbolic meaning had been fulfilled through the coming and the sacrifice of the Messiah, that second category of the Law, namely, the ritual part, the shadows of the Law, the "food and drink", the "festival observances", the "new moons or Sabbaths", as Paul presents these things in schematic at Colossians 2:16-17, has been rendered obsolete.  These regulations, while symbolically illustrative of the truth (specifically, holy Israel's separation from the profane world), are now unnecessary for believers today to follow.  Indeed, now that Jesus has paid for all of our sins, including all of the trespasses and violations incurred under the Law (whose forgiveness was represented by their being covered by the blood of animal sacrifices), continuing in the rituals which represented Christ's sacrifice is tantamount to rejecting that actual sacrifice which the rituals merely represented – precisely what the Jerusalem congregation was guilty of doing.  This, in short, is the problem with all legalism.  Whenever the following of rules and regulations is preferred to the grace won for us at the cross by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, anyone involved in so doing is guilty of attempting to be justified by works. 

(2) For if Abraham really was considered righteous as a result of the works [he did], then he has something to boast about – but not in front of God! (3) What does the scripture actually say? [It actually says that] "Abraham believed in God, and [so his faith] was attributed to him for righteousness."
Romans 4:2-3

No one can be justified before God except through faith in Jesus Christ.  Not through following the Law, and certainly not through partial following of the Law (i.e., the temple no longer exists so that many of the Law's stipulations are impossible to comply with at present), and most emphatically not through following some system of legalistic behavior which is selectively and only tangentially related to the actual Law of Moses.

(11) But Christ has already arrived [in heaven] as High Priest of the good things to come, [having passed] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, that is, the one which is not of this creation.  (12) Nor was it through the blood of goats and bullocks, but through His own blood (i.e., His spiritual death) that He entered once and for all into the holy of holies, having wrought eternal redemption.  (13) For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of the heifer sprinkled upon the unclean render a person holy in respect to bodily cleansing, (14) how much more will the blood of Christ, who offered Himself without defect to God through the eternal Spirit, cleanse our conscience from dead works so that we may serve the living God?  (15) And it is for this reason that He is the Mediator of a New Covenant, so that those who have been called might receive their eternal inheritance on the basis of the death He suffered to redeem us from the transgressions [committed] under the first Covenant.
Hebrews 9:11-15  (cf. Heb.12:24)

Animal blood, which must be shed according to the Law, did nothing to take away sin.  Instead, this physical blood represented the coming work of Jesus Christ on the cross in paying the penalty for all of sins.[12]  Now that all such shadows have actually been fulfilled by the coming of Christ and by His death on the cross, it is no longer necessary for believers to participate in these rituals which merely represented what our Lord would do for us in the future.  The shadows have all been fulfilled.  The Law has been fulfilled, for its purpose was to point to the Messiah not yet come.  Therefore all of the other aspects of the Law have been fulfilled as well – because Jesus Christ has now come and died for us all.

(17) "Do not assume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. (18) For what I say to you is the truth: Until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one serif will pass away from the Law – until everything has come to pass (i.e., the shadows of the Law fulfilled on the cross)."
Matthew 5:17-18

For Christ is the fulfillment (lit., "end": telos) of the Law, resulting in righteousness for everyone who believes [in Him].
Romans 10:4

(28) After [all] this (i.e., our Lord's physical suffering and His spiritual death for the sins of the world), when Jesus knew that everything had now been accomplished (tetelestai <telos) in order for the [prophecy of salvation found in] scripture to be fulfilled, He said, "I am thirsty".  (29) Now a jar of wine-vinegar lay there, so they placed a sponge full of the wine-vinegar on a hyssop [stalk] and brought it to His mouth.  (30) So when He had taken the wine-vinegar, Jesus said, "It (i.e., salvation) has [now] been accomplished!" (tetelestai <telos), and having thrown back His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:28-30

Believers have thus, through Christ's sacrifice, been released from slavery to the Law (Rom.7:6), in order to serve our new Master, Jesus Christ (Rom.7:4).  No one can serve two masters (Matt.6:24; Lk.16:13).  So either a person belongs to the Law (seeking salvation through works), or to the Lord Jesus Christ (seeking to be saved by grace through faith).  Not both.

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
Romans 7:4 NKJV

It is for this reason, namely, our being dead to sin and to the Law through having been "baptized", that is, made one with Jesus at salvation by being entered into union with Him by the Holy Spirit (e.g., Jn.14:20; 15:1ff.; Rom.16:7; 2Cor.5:17; Eph.2:6; 2:10; Heb.3:14; 1Pet.5:14)[13], that we believers have been given a new commandment: to love one another – for love is the true essence of and the only way to truly carry out the underlying meaning and teaching of the Law (Jn.13:34; 1Jn.2:7-8; 3:22-23; 4:21; 2Jn.1:5; Rev.12:17; 14:12); and we have also for that reason been given a New Covenant (Matt.26:28; Mk.14:24; Lk.22:20; 1Cor.11:25; 2Cor.3:6; Heb.8:6; 8:8; 8:13; 9:15; 12:24).

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17 NIV

Our Lord instituted the "New Covenant in My blood" (Lk.22:20; 1Cor.11:25) thereby replacing the Old Covenant in animal blood which was a mere symbol of what our Lord would do for us in actually paying the price for all of our sins (e.g., Heb.9:7-14; see under vv.22-25 below).[14] Nothing could be more important.  Indeed, nothing is more important in the history of the world – from the true divine point of view – than the cross.

(6) But the fact is that the ministry which [Jesus] has received is a more excellent one to the same degree that the [New] Covenant of which He is the mediator is better [than the Old]. For this [New Covenant] has been instituted on the basis of better promises. (7) For if that first [covenant] had been perfect, an occasion for the second would not have been sought.
Hebrews 8:6-7

And it is for this reason that He is the Mediator of a New Covenant, so that those who have been called might receive their eternal inheritance on the basis of the death He suffered to redeem us from the transgressions [committed] under the first Covenant.
Hebrews 9:15

In terms of those who have trusted Him, the Old Covenant chronicles the calling out of a special people who were to demonstrate their holiness through collectively following a perfect standard which differentiated them from the other nations of the world; the New Covenant shows that all peoples may come to the Father through Jesus Christ, and transforms that perfect standard of rules into one of power in the Holy Spirit. Both covenants have rules; both have the Spirit; but the emphasis has shifted just as in the case of the emphasis shift after the revelation of Christ on the issue of salvation. Misunderstanding or misusing either side of these equations is what causes the trouble. So if anyone wants to be saved by keeping the Law, they are misunderstanding it and not using it properly. If anyone wants to achieve holiness through the Law, the same thing applies (Gal.2:21): we can only pursue sanctification effectively through the Spirit.  In the end, you either follow Moses or Christ (Jn.1:17), and only Christ can save.

For there is no salvation through any other person, nor has any other name on earth been given by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

Now that the Law has been fulfilled by the life and spiritual death of Jesus Christ, now that the old has been replaced by the new, any desire to "keep the Law" today is virtually impossible to disaggregate from an essential rejection of the person and work of Jesus Christ, the One of whom the Law spoke, the One who has fulfilled its requirements, the One who has given us the new commandment to love one another and the New Covenant whereby we are genuinely saved (rather than anticipating the eventual propitiation of sins: Rom.3:25-26).  In short, seeking to be justified by one's own efforts in following the Law (or, more accurately, any manner of false appraisals and/or selective uses of it) constitutes in fact a rejection of the One who has fulfilled and replaced it.

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Galatians 5:4 NKJV

5. The present use of the Law:  Though we who believe, we who have been justified by faith, are "dead to the Law" (Rom.7:4), so as to be "alive to Christ" (Rom.6:11), that does not mean that the Old Testament is pointless or useless.  Far from it.  But the Law itself has to be properly understood and properly employed by believers today, not in "the oldness of the letter" but in "the newness of the Spirit" (Rom.7:6).

He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."
Matthew 13:52 NIV   

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Romans 15:4 NIV

We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
1st Timothy 1:8 NIV

In short, there is a great difference between what legalism does in wrongly applying the Law through completely (and usually willfully) misunderstanding it on the one hand, and proper interpretation of Old Testament passages in light of the revelation of all of the mysteries of God through the New Testament on the other.

(25) Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, (26) but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith – (27) to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Romans 16:25-27 NIV

We greatly value the Old Testament, just as Paul did, that great defender of grace, the author of Hebrews and of the passage above.  But we read it in the power of the Spirit as those who belong to Jesus Christ, the now revealed Messiah who has fulfilled the requirements of the Law and dispelled its shadows through His advent, His death on the cross, and His resurrection.  Failure to interpret the Old in light of the New Testament's unveiling of these mysteries (which the Old contains in shadow form) is part of the problem, whether that false perspective comes through ignorance or confusion or willfulness.  Prior misuse of the Old Testament, going back as far as the Pharisees in our Lord's time, is another part.  The rituals of the Old Testament have now been replaced by the reality of Jesus Christ, so that today the contrast between walking in grace and legalistic adherence to the letter of the Law (and mere human interpretations of it) – without regard for the underlying power of the truth it contains – could not be more stark. 

Our capability comes from God, who has made us capable ministers of a new covenant – not the one of the letter (i.e., the Law), but one of the Spirit. That is because the letter (i.e., the Law) puts us to death, but the Spirit brings us to [eternal] life.
2nd Corinthians 3:6 (cf. Rom.2:29; 8:10; Gal.4:29)

Failure to view, interpret and make use of the Law and the entire Old Testament in light of the revelation of Jesus Christ can lead to misguided legalism of the sort the Jerusalem congregation had fallen into.  But an overly zealous application of that same principle can lead to the false impression that the Law and the Old Testament are now without value for Christians in the Church Age.  As noted above, that is also far from being true.  But the value for us in the Old Testament scriptures is to be found in the underlying truths they contain.  Before the coming of Jesus Christ, before the coming of the Holy Spirit, much of that truth was taught by way of symbolism through rituals which are no longer valid because Christ has fulfilled them.  Focusing on the rituals without regard for their underlying truth – focusing on the letter rather than the Spirit who wrote and empowers them – is what legalism of any stripe essentially is, and it turns God's purpose completely upside down, substituting works for grace.  Embracing the grace in which we now stand (Rom.5:1-2), moreover, does not invalidate the truth the Law imparted; rather, it illuminates it.

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Romans 3:31 NIV

Paul's approach to his treatment of the Law (seen above but also in all of his writings) gives us the perfect example and the correct perspective.  No one did more in the Spirit to prove that the Law has been fulfilled and replaced by grace . . . and no one quoted and made use of the Law and the Old Testament more in his teaching than the apostle Paul did – in the Spirit (e.g., just in the book of Romans: Rom.1:17; 2:24; 3:4; 3:10; 4:17; 8:36; 9:13; 9:33; 10:15; 11:8; 11:26; 14:11; 15:3; 15:9; 15:21).

But now we have been freed from the Law by having died to that ["first husband"] by which were being constrained, so that we may [now] serve [the Lord] in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written [code] (i.e., the Law).
Romans 7:6

Since the Spirit has replaced the letter, since love has replaced the details of the Law, since the New Covenant has replaced the Old . . . since Jesus Christ has replaced the rituals, symbols and shadows which looked forward to Him and His coming, we believers today not only have the right but also the duty to serve our Lord "not in the old way of the written code" but "in the new way of the Spirit".  Our liberation from the Law, both in how we are to live our lives and how we are to view and interpret scriptures, has not come about so that we may be derelict in our duty but so that we may bear fruit for our Savior more bountifully than was or could ever have been the case under the Law's restraint and without the revelations of the New Testament, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

So then, my brothers, you also (i.e., like a woman free to remarry on account of her husband's death) have been put to death in respect to the Law through the body of Christ in order to belong to Another, even to One who has been raised from the dead, so that you may bear fruit to God.
Romans 7:4

At 1st Timothy 5:18, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4 ("You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain": NKJV) to demonstrate the need for congregations to provide financial support for their pastors.  He introduces the quote by saying "for the scripture says". Clearly, therefore, the entire Old Testament was in Paul's spirit-filled view still "scripture", the Word of God, and still spiritually useful, despite the fact that "Christ is the end of the Law for all who believe" (Rom.10:4). Furthermore, Paul also tells us that "all scripture [clearly including the Old Testament] is God-breathed" (2Tim.3:16), and, in commenting upon another Old Testament passage he is using for support (Ps.69:9), he says that "everything written in the past was written for instruction in order that through perseverance [in reading it] and encouragement which the [clearly Old Testament] scriptures provide we might have hope" (Rom.15:4). Thus in Paul's inspired view, the Old Testament never stopped being the Word of God in spite of the fact that we Church Age believers are no longer subject to the shadows of the Law therein. Everything in the Bible is true; and everything in the Old Testament which is prescriptive and proscriptive is still valid when one takes into account its fulfillment by Jesus Christ and its illumination in the New Testament, transforming ritual into a new and more powerful reality through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

6. The transformation of the Law:

Therefore I entreat you by God's mercy, brothers, to dedicate your bodies as a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to God – [this is] your "priestly-service" spiritually performed.
Romans 12:1

The above passage explains this essential transformation we have been discussing of the Old Covenant to the New.  No longer do believers have any need of animal sacrifice since "Christ, our [true] Passover was sacrificed for us [already]" (1Cor.5:7). No longer do we need Levitical priests to officiate on our behalf since Jesus Christ is the new High Priest (Heb.2:17; 3:1; 4:14-15; 5:1; 5:5; 5:10; 6:20; 7:26; 9:11; 10:21), and we are all priests with Him by virtue of our union with Him (1Pet.2:5; 2:9; Rev.1:6; 5:10; 20:6).  Instead, the sacrifices we are to offer are not the bodies of animals but our own bodies, not offering them for slaughter on an altar, but offering them up to the Lord to be used by Him and for Him for the purpose of building up His Church.  This is our "priestly service" as Church Age believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit, service which is spiritual, real and powerful (as opposed to the sacrifices of the Law which were physical, merely symbolic and lacking in any true inherent value).

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
Romans 6:13 NIV

The Law represented the truth.  We believers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit are to live the truth.  Instead of offering animals which represented the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we believers today are to offer ourselves up, our bodies, as "instruments of righteousness", to be made use of by the Lord, who sacrificed Himself for us, in accomplishing the mission He has for us here in the world to be carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is the fundamental transformation of the symbolism of the Law of the letter, which taught holiness through diet and many other regulations, into the actual demonstration of God's holiness and love in the lives of individual believers in Jesus Christ empowered by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

(19) Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you (whom you have from God), and that you don't belong to yourselves?  (20) You were bought at a [precious] price.  So glorify God with your body.
1st Corinthians 6:19-20

Instead of worshiping at the old, physical temple, the Jerusalem believers should have realized the above: we, the Church of Jesus Christ collective and individually, are the new, true temple where God resides (Jn.14:23), and it is the spiritual sacrifices of growth, progress and production, rather than animal sacrifices, which are now well-pleasing to God.

(4) [It is Jesus] to whom you have come, a Living Stone, rejected by men, but, in the eyes of God [the Father], elect and highly honored. (5) And you yourselves [too] are being built up (i.e., by the Holy Spirit) into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood for the offering of spiritual sacrifices well-pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.
1st Peter 2:4-5

This transformation of the Law of the letter into the law of the Spirit applies across the board in the "newness of life" we have in Jesus Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Rom.6:4; 7:6; 8:4; 2Cor.3:5; cf. 1Cor.5:7; Phil.2:17; 4:18; Heb.13:15).

For if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. Prior things have passed away. Look! New things have come.
2nd Corinthians 5:17

Breathing the Spirit of life into the dead letter of the Law – and revealing the powerful truths shaded by its symbols – is what the New Covenant is all about.  "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow" (Heb.13:8), but now we see Him clearly since His incarnation, first advent, victory on the cross and resurrection.  That is the essence of the transformation of that we are discussing, and it is perhaps seen most clearly in the following three examples:

a) The 4th Commandment:

(9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  (11) 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 20:9-11 NIV

(1) At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. (2) When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." (3) He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? (4) He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread – which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. (5) Or haven't you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? (6) I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. (7) If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. (8) For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Matthew 12:1-8 NIV

(16) So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.  (17) In his defense Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working."  (18) For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
John 5:16-18 NIV (cf. Jn.9:1-14)

The fourth commandment is the only one not repeated as a command anywhere in the New Testament, and we see from our Lord's words above part of the reason for this.  The Sabbath was never meant to be a burden, but a time of rest – to seek the Lord.  And when doing His work is at issue, then, even under the Law, overly literal observation in the manner of the Pharisees was never God's intent (i.e., overlooking the fact that mercy is superior to sacrifice: Hos.6:6; Matt.12:7).  Now that the Holy Spirit has come, the literal seventh day rest has been replaced by a continual rest of faith wherein believers, through the Spirit, have ceased from their works not physically but spiritually, trusting the Lord in the Spirit to accomplish all we need to accomplish in this world.

(8) Now if Joshua had given [the exodus generation and their children this] rest, [God] would not be speaking about any other "day" [of rest, so long] after those [earlier] events. (9) So [then] there does remain a "Sabbath day's rest" for the people of God.  (10) For he who has entered into [God's] rest has himself ceased from his works just as God did from His own.  (11) Let us therefore be eager to enter into that [continual and spiritual] rest, lest anyone fall [from grace] following the same pattern of disobedience [exhibited by the exodus generation].
Hebrews 4:8-10

We have covered this passage in detail in our treatment of Hebrews chapter four.  Sufficient here is to remember that under the Spirit we are dealing with spiritual realities rather than rituals which merely symbolize them.  Physically resting one day a week is a beautiful picture of the rest we enjoy by trusting the Lord (looking forward to eternal peace and rest on the other side of this grim world), but more dynamic and powerful is actually entering into that peace and rest at all times, even in the midst of the noise and churn of this present world, through trusting the Lord after salvation in a manner similar to the way in which we entered into that salvation in the first place: moving "from faith to faith" in the power of the Holy Spirit so that we "live by faith", trusting and resting in Jesus Christ continuously (Rom.1:17). 

That is the New Covenant fulfillment of the fourth commandment, and it is illustrative of the transformation from Law to grace which we are discussing in this section.  Instead of ritual observance symbolizing spiritual reality, under the regime of the Holy Spirit we are now actually experiencing the spiritual reality to which the Law merely pointed.  Going backwards, retreating into the Law (as many of the Jerusalem believers were doing and is sadly all too prevalent in our own day), is a spiritual tragedy, albeit one which is always self-inflicted and completely unnecessary.

(1) So now, there [awaits] no judgment of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the Law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2

b) The Greatest Commandment: 

(35) One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: (36) "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (37) Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:35-40 NIV

Love, as our Lord solemnly affirms above, is the essence of the Law, rightly understood.  In fact, love fulfills the Law, that is to say, its actual, underlying requirements as opposed to its legalistic application by unbelievers.

(8) Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  (9) The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (10) Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8-10 NIV

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Galatians 5:14 NIV

Love is the highest Christian virtue (1Cor.13:1-13; cf. Rom.12:10; 1Cor.16:14; Gal.5:6; 5:22; Eph.4:2; 4:15-16; 5:2; Phil.1:9; 2:2; Col.1:5; 3:14; 1Thes.3:12; 4:9-10; 5:8; Heb.12:24; Jas.2:8; 1Pet.1:22; 2:17; 4:8; 1Jn.3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:21; 2Jn.1:5).  If we are truly walking in love, then the purpose of the Law has been fulfilled in us and we are fulfilling that underlying truth in the power of the Holy Spirit.

c) The New Commandment:

"(34) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  (35) By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 13:34-35 NKJV

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
John 15:12 NKJV

The commandment is "new", because while it is embodied in the Law (as being the counterpart commandment to loving the Lord), it is given here by our Lord as special, standing apart from all of the other commandments of the Law. 

(7) Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. (8) Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.  (9) He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. (10) He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. (11) But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1st John 2:7-11 NKJV

And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
2nd John 1:5

At its most fundamental, love is the transformation of the Law for us who have been given the means of fulfilling it: the Holy Spirit.  That is the essence of the New Covenant versus the Old, namely, spiritual reality replacing the ritual of the letter through the actual victory of Jesus Christ, God the Father's genuine sacrifice for our sin, through whom we have been given the Holy Spirit that we might walk like Him and with Him in this world to His glory: for, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." (1Jn.2:6 NKJV; cf. 2Cor.3:18; Col 3:10).

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.
John 18:28 NIV

While often overlooked, the above highlights most eloquently the difference between the truth underlying the Law and its mere ritual observance.  The Jewish leaders who orchestrated our Lord's crucifixion wanted to be done with Him as soon as possible so that His elimination might not interfere with their enjoyment of a ritual which spoke entirely of Him!  The Law is all about God the Father's love for us in Jesus Christ, sacrificed for us, which the Passover represents. 

Legalism is just so.  It always ignores, overlooks and denies the underlying truth which the commandments of the Old Covenant contained, truths which the New Covenant brings to light for any and all who are willing to accept the truth.  To go back to the old in willful rejection of the truth explained by the new is to be no different from the Jewish leaders in the passage above, embracing their hypocrisy and blindness in trading Jesus Christ for a false and legalistic interpretation of rituals which, rightly understood, were all about Him in the first place.  That is precisely the opposite of embracing the transformation from Law to grace, from the letter to the Spirit, which the New Covenant commands us to do.  But that is what the Jerusalem believers were doing, and this is what Paul is trying to cure them of with this epistle, turning them back to Jesus Christ who has already fulfilled the Law, turning them back to Him who is the truth behind the Law.

And I fell before his feet to worship him.  And he said to me, "See that you don't [do that]!  I am a fellow servant of you and of your brothers who hold [fast] the testimony about Jesus.  Worship God!  For the testimony about Jesus is the essence (lit., "spirit") of [all divine] prophecy".
Revelation 19:10

7.  Conclusion:

"But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Matthew 9:13 NIV

As our Lord's words indicate, the same truths were always present in the Word of God, Old Testament as well as New.  The Law has been replaced.  With the advent of our new High Priest, there has been a "change of Law" (Heb.7:12), with the old being now "obsolete" (Heb.8:13).  We believers are no longer under the Law but under grace: in Christ we have been redeemed from our sins and from the concomitant curse of the Law so that we now find ourselves instead under the grace of God through faith in our Savior (Rom.6:14-15; Gal.3:10-13; 3:23-25; 4:1-7; 5:18; Eph.2:1-10; cf. 1Cor.9:20-21).

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Romans 6:15 NKJV

Just because we believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are no longer under the Law does not mean that we are not responsible to the Lord to pursue a sanctified life-style; we certainly are (Heb.12:14; 1Pet.1:15-16; 1Jn.3:2-3).  But there are two ways to look at how God wants us to behave, namely, the old and the new. The old is characterized by prohibitions and specific ordinances. In other words, it is largely negative in its formulation. The new, on the other hand, is characterized by its appeal to virtuous behavior, love being the prime and preeminent virtue. In other words, it is largely positive in its formulation.

In actuality, these two are not in conflict at all, when everything is rightly and positively understood (indeed, in truth both have always been present and necessary for the dedicated believer). As a practical matter, the two approaches complement one another. For while it is true that if a person carried out every single command and injunction of scripture perfectly, adhering to the spirit as well as to the letter of the Law, that person would not be sinning, at least in respect to that part of sin which the Law addresses (sin being much more extensive than any law could catalog; cf. Rom.5:13; Gal.5:19-21).[15] But of course none of us is capable of avoiding sin entirely (let alone understanding the Law perfectly in every respect including the underlying spiritual meaning of every single statute). And it is also true that if a person acted in perfect love, love of God and love to all others, that person would not be sinning. But of course none of us is capable of perfect love, being imperfect and steeped in sin.  What we can say is that when we are following the Spirit whom all believers have now been blessed to have within us, we are carrying out all of the requirements of the Law, something that was never possible by fleshly efforts alone.

(1) So now, there [awaits] no judgment of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the Law of sin and death.  (3) For what the Law could not accomplish (i.e., solving the sin problem) because it was weak on account of [its dependence on sinful human] flesh, God [did accomplish]:  having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the purpose of [expiating] sin, [God] rendered summary judgment on [all] sin in [Christ's] flesh, (4) so that the [perfect] righteousness which the Law demands might be fulfilled in us – we who walk not according to the [sinful] flesh, but according to the Spirit (i.e., believers).
Romans 8:1-4

But I tell you, walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out what the flesh lusts for.
Galatians 5:16

Prudent believers attempt to stay away from what God prohibits and embrace all that God commands of a positive nature. By striving to live in love, we will avoid much sin and will be better able to understand and interpret the true meaning of all of the Bible's commandments. And by striving to adhere to the prohibitions and strictures of scripture, we will be less likely to fall into sin so as to compromise our love and confuse our spiritual approach.

So we Christians accept the whole Bible and that includes the entire Old Testament and the Law; but we are careful to note that, when it comes to the sacrifices and festivals of the Law and all other such regulations which only applied to the nation Israel before Christ's coming, His victory, and the gift of the Spirit, these have now been superseded by the cross (Rom.10:4), the very Sacrifice these rituals and regulations anticipated, now fulfilled by Christ's death on our behalf.  Indeed, it would for that very reason be wrong for us to continue in these rituals, on account of the lack of faith inherent in so doing – as if Christ had not fulfilled them.  And in fact, since no temple now stands it is presently impossible to do so in anything like complete compliance with the entire Law.  And that is the same as non-compliance.

For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
James 2:10 NKJV

Correctly understood, the underlying truth of all of the behavioral regulations of the Law (as opposed to ritual regulations) points to perfect and perfectly loving behavior (Rom.13:8-10), which is why our Lord summarized the entire Law as loving God and loving our neighbors (i.e., fellow believers; Matt.22:36-40). Against such things there is no law (Gal.5:23). This is also what John means when he speaks of "an old commandment" and a "new commandment": they are one and the same correctly understood. If a person lives in perfect love, there will be no violation of any of the still operative parts of the Law, while the Law, correctly understood, will point to the perfect and loving way to live our lives.  This is what Paul is trying to get his brethren in Jerusalem to see and do, namely, to eschew the rituals which had been fulfilled, even as he and they continued to embrace the inherent truths the Law contains, transformed now after the cross into a blessed and possible reality in the Spirit. 

• Now we have a New Covenant in place of the Old one (Matt.26:28; 1Cor.11:25; 2Cor.3:6; Heb.8:13; 9:15; 12:24).

• Now we have the symbolic Blood of Christ in place of literal animal blood (1Cor.10:16; Eph.2:13; Heb.9:14; 1Pet.1:2; 1:19; 1Jn.1:7; Rev.1:5).

• Now we have the life-giving Holy Spirit empowering the truth in place of the dead letter of the Law (Rom.2:29; 7:6; 2Cor.3:6).

• Now we have the true "Passover" in Jesus Christ in place of the previous ritual (1Cor.5:6-8)

• Now we have been made priests with Jesus Christ and no longer have need of Levitical intermediaries (1Pet.2:5; 2:9; Rev.1:6; 5:10; 20:6).

• Now we have the ability in the Spirit to fulfill God's commandments in place of mere symbolic adherence (1Cor.7:19).

• Now we have a new Husband who loved us enough to die for us in place of the old tyrannical one (Rom.7:1-6).

• Now we have become a temple of the Holy Spirit individually and collectively in place of the physical temple which has now been destroyed (1Cor.3:16-17; 6:19; 2Cor.6:16; 1Pet.2:6).

Why then was there ever a Law given in the first place?  Scripture tells us that it was implemented as a bulwark against sin for those who did not yet have the Holy Spirit (Gal.3:19; cf. Rom.4:15; 5:20).  Now that we believers do have this blessing of His indwelling, it behooves us to follow Him in the light, not turn back to the misapplied and now unauthorized use of a law which could never save.

(16) But I tell you, walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out what the flesh lusts for. (17) For what the flesh lusts for is contrary to the Spirit's will, and the Spirit is opposed to what the flesh lusts for. Since these are diametrically opposed to each other in this way, what you are doing is not what you yourself choose. (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Galatians 5:16-18

We are not under the Law, its rituals and shadows which have all been fulfilled by Jesus Christ, but, as mentioned at the beginning of this section, we all benefit from learning the truth which the Law teaches.  For as also noted about, that is what "Law" means in Hebrew: teaching.

(1) Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers, (2) but in the Law (torah: "teaching") of the Lord is his delight, and in His teaching (torah: "Law") he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law (torah: "teaching") of the Lord.
Psalm 119:1 NIV

(20b) To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. (21) To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.
1st Corinthians 9:20b-21 NIV

But for those who have not accepted Christ, the true meaning of the Law of Moses – which is in fact all about Jesus Christ – remains obscure.

(12) Since we have such a confident expectation of success [based on the support from the Spirit's ministry], we speak the truth unreservedly – (13) and not like the previous situation where Moses had to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not see that temporary glory fading out;  (14) now their hearts became hard, and until today at the reading of the Old Covenant there is still a [similar sort of] veil remaining in place [one which hides the true glory]; and [this "veil" which obscures the truth] is not being taken off because only in Christ is it done away with; (15) so until this present day, whenever Moses is read, this veil [of sorts] lies over their hearts, (16) but whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed – (17) for the Lord and the Spirit are one, and wherever the Lord's Spirit is, there is also freedom (i.e. the opportunity and power to do God's will). (18) And every one of us, when we reflect [like a mirror] the Lord's glory with no "veil" obscuring our faces (i.e., with unsullied Christian witness), is being transformed into the same image (i.e., becomes more Christ-like) so as to reflect an ever greater degree of glory – exactly what is to be expected with the Lord's Spirit as the agent of our transformation.
2nd Corinthians 3:12-18

Believers in Jerusalem who were turning back to the Law were in danger of re-veiling their hearts, shutting out the light that they had received in the face of Jesus Christ.

For God who said, "Let light shine forth from the darkness!", is He who has shone forth [His light] into our hearts to illuminate our knowledge of God's glory in the person of Jesus Christ.
2nd Corinthians 4:6

The Better Hope:

(17) For [the Father] testifies that "You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek". (18) Herein we have then a revoking of the prior commandment (i.e., the Law) on account of it being weak and ineffectual (i.e., unable to bring fulfillment to the plan of salvation), (19) – for the Law fulfilled nothing – and instead the bringing in of a better hope through which we [actually do] draw near to God.
Hebrews 7:17-19

The hope in our context is the hope of salvation, resurrection and reward, namely, everything we Christians are looking forward to today (Rom.8:24-25; cf. Rom.5:3-4; Tit.2:13; Heb.10:23; 11:1-2).  That is assuredly "better" by far.

(21) For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (22) If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!  (23) I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.
Philippians 1:21-23 NIV

The rituals of the Law could never bring about salvation; only the actual sacrifice of Jesus Christ could do that (cf. Rom.3:20; Gal.2:16).  "Keeping the Law" could never save in the first place nor bring a person closer to God in the second; only the truth, accepting it and applying it, has ever done that (cf. Heb.4:16; 10:22; Jas.4:8).  Salvation and spiritual growth have always been the same, but now, instead of having to see the truth through the shadows of the Old Testament, we are blessed to have the Son of God revealed in the glorious light of the New Testament.  And we can understand and appreciate the Old better now that we have the New.  That is also "better by far" than anything the Law had ever been able to provide.

(11) So remember that you were once gentiles in the flesh, called "un-circumcised" by those of the so-called circumcision which is fleshly and man-made. (12) Remember that you were without Christ, alienated from the polity of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. (13) But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:11-13

Everything about belonging to Jesus Christ, being saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit, is "better" than everything which went before.  This state of being "better" and having things "better" is, as we have noted before, a particular theme of Paul's in this letter as he reminds his readers that they should appreciate what they've been given as believers in Jesus Christ, abundant gifts and blessing, all of which are "better" than what they had under the Law – and certainly not worthy of being traded for what is clearly inferior by returning to it.

[And at His session (v.3), Jesus] became [manifestly] superior to the angels to the degree that He received as [a part of] His inheritance a Name so much more glorious than theirs.
Hebrews 1:4

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case – the things that have to do with salvation.
Hebrews 6:9 NIV

. . . (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
Hebrews 7:19 NIV

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
Hebrews 7:22 NIV

But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
Hebrews 8:6 NIV

It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Hebrews 9:23 NIV

You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
Hebrews 10:34 NIV

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
Hebrews 11:4 NIV

Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:16 NIV

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.
Hebrews 11:35 NIV

. . . since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Hebrews 11:40 NIV

. . . to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 12:24 NIV

Keeping our eyes on the "better hope" of our context, looking forward to our resurrection and reward, to the time when we will be together with the Lord we love so much along with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, is an essential means of "drawing closer to God" (Heb.7:19).  That is to say, focusing on the eternity our Lord has promised us is a key element of spiritual growth, providing ever greater results as we apply the truth in the crucible of this life, learning to set our focus and our desire on the Lord and His evaluation of us on that great day to come.  The Law spoke of judgment, revealing the sin which separates us from God, but the Spirit of Jesus Christ cries out "Abba!  Our Father!" as we respond to the truth illuminated by the Spirit's ministry (Rom.8:15; Gal.4:6).  The Spirit leaves us in no doubt that we belong to the Father and to His Son our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever . . . and nothing could be "better" than that (1Jn.3:2; 5:19).

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
James 4:8a NKJV

Given the great blessings, the "better things" in every way of drawing closer to the Lord, why would any believer turn away and go off to "a far country" instead (Lk.15:11-32)?  Since what is "new" is better than what is "old", the "old" is, by definition, "worse" than the "new".  In fact, since Jesus Christ has now fulfilled the shadows of the Law, going back is not only "worse"; it is mutually exclusive with what is "better".  Turning away from the Lord and His truth is always dangerous for any believer.  Left unchecked, such a posture will eventually lead to the sin unto death or, even worse, to the death of faith entirely, namely, to apostasy.  Nothing is worth that.  But the draw of tradition is strong, and for those who are not solid in their faith, can often quench any inclination or desire for the truth: inevitably, lies and truth are incompatible.

(36) He told them this parable: "No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. (37) And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. (38) No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. (39) And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, 'The old is better.' "
Luke 5:36-39 NKJV

 

Verses Twenty through Twenty One

(20) And indeed this has not occurred without an oath!  For while [the Levites] became priests without [God's] oath, [Jesus Christ] became Priest through the oath of the One who said to Him, (21) "The Lord has sworn, and will not change His mind: 'You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek' ".
Hebrews 7:20-21

We have discussed God's oath confirming His promise to Abraham in the previous chapter.[16]  Oaths were important under the Law, as we have seen, and Paul's readers exulted in God's oath to Abraham, for nothing is more certain than God's word – how much more so when confirmed by oath (Gen.22:17)!  That being the case, Paul points out none too subtly that accepting God's oath as sufficient to overrule all other considerations in the case of Abraham – so that the covenants to him about the blessings on his progeny and eternal possession of the land of Israel may never be revoked – means that they must also accept with even stronger reason the oath to Jesus Christ.

What are the implications of that?  As we have seen, and as Paul has already affirmed more than once, having a new High Priest means that the Levitical high priest in Jerusalem is no longer authorized to serve as such.  So any high priest besides Jesus Christ is a usurper.  By definition that means that such a high priest is now, after the cross and resurrection, not working for God.  And if he is not working for God, if he is opposing God and Christ, then he is working for the devil instead.  And since there is now a new priesthood, as indeed there must be with a new High Priest who has been directly appointed by God the Father according to His promise, on the basis of His oath, in an order that is eternal rather than temporary, then the entire present order of Levitical priests has also been removed as legitimate – having been replaced by those who belong to Jesus Christ. 

Indeed, we believers are the new priesthood (1Pet.2:5; 2:9; Rev.1:6; 5:10; 20:6), serving our High Priest in the new way of the Spirit rather than the old way of the stipulations of the written code.  By definition that means that these priests of the old order are not working for God but for the evil one, and that their false priesthood is now diametrically opposed to our new, true one.  And since there is now a new High Priest and a new priesthood of believers, this means of necessity that the prior regulations, the Law of Moses, have to have been replaced and rendered no longer valid, because they cannot be divorced from or in any way stand apart from the Levitical priesthood.

For when there is a change of priesthood, of necessity there must also be a change of law.
Hebrews 7:12

In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 8:13 NKJV

Continuing with a law that has been rendered invalid and has been replaced, continuing with a priesthood and mortal high priests who have been divested of their authority, is the height of arrogance, that is, for a believer in Jesus Christ.  Continuing to pretend as if the cross, the resurrection, the ascension and session of Christ had not happened, as if Pentecost and coming of the Spirit had not happened, as if there were no apostles commissioned to write the New Testament and guide the Church, is to act as if a person had no faith in the truth whatsoever.  So while it was "traditional", and while these things had been valid previously, Paul is right to be distressed about the spiritual status of his countrymen. 

Given how easy it is for gentile believers today to fall into legalism, we should understand that it was even easier for those who had grown up with this system to fall back into that comfort zone, especially given the unique pressures of that time which were prompting them to do so, a time when not belonging to the state religion was to become, essentially, a "non-person" with little or no rights, an open target for persecution.  But we who have chosen for Jesus Christ love Him more than our lives and are willing to suffer the loss of everything rather than to lose our relationship with Him (Phil.3:8).  At least we should be.  Attempting to compromise on this point can never work.  Attempting to compromise only results in completely compromising one's faith. 

Believers in the soon-to-come Tribulation will face a very similar test when the pressure builds to take the mark of the beast.  In both cases, standing fast with the truth and without compromise was and will be the only truly safe course – for those who value life eternal more than the incredibly temporary poison pottage of this ephemeral world.

(11) Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; (12) If we persevere, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will also disown us; (13) If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.
2nd Timothy 2:11-13

 

Verses Twenty Two through Twenty Five

(22) To such a superior degree then has Jesus become our Guarantor of an even better Covenant (i.e., the New replacing the Old). (23) Now the others who have become priests are [of necessity] many since they are prevented from remaining [in office] because of their mortality.  (24) But He, [Jesus Christ], because He abides forever, possesses the priesthood irrevocably. (25) For this reason He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, since He lives forever making intercession for them. 
Hebrews 7:22-25

Guarantor: 

It is the promise confirmed by oath in the previous verses which gives absolute proof of Jesus Christ being the Guarantor of a new covenant of promise far better than the old one which has now been replaced.  This new covenant, testament or agreement under which we believers now stand in our relationship with God is new and better because it is not merely symbolic, looking forward to the eventual forgiveness of our sins (which the Law only foreshadowed), but is genuine, real, fulfilled and presently effective, having been actualized by the blood of Jesus Christ, His victory on the cross. 

(25) God made Him a means of atonement [achieved] by His blood [and claimed] through faith, to give proof of His justice in leaving unpunished in divine forbearance [all] previously committed sins, (26) so as to prove His justice in the present, namely, so that He would be [shown to be] just [in this] and [justified] in justifying the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:25-26

The Greek word engyos, translated here as "Guarantor", is often used of physical pledges and sureties.  Jesus Christ is our "deposit", so to speak, guaranteeing the so great salvation that means more to us than anything in this temporary world.  The Holy Spirit is said to fulfill a similar role, being our arabbon or the "security deposit", whose indwelling of us likewise gives us perfect assurance that we have been saved (2Cor.1:21-22; 5:5; Eph.1:13-14).  These two words are synonymous, the latter being Hebrew, the former Greek.  We have the Holy Spirit because of Christ's victory on the cross, His resurrection, ascension and session at the Father's right hand, the events that made possible the baptism of the Spirit and His indwelling and gifting of us (Jn.7:39; 14:16-17; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7; Eph.4:7-10).[17]  The presence of the Godhead within believers following our union with Christ through the baptism of the Spirit is a blessed reassurance that just as we belong to God now, so we always shall. 

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."
John 14:23 NKJV

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27 NIV

This security we have in Jesus Christ, the One who guarantees our salvation through indwelling us (just as we are "in Christ" following the Spirit's placing of us in union with Him[18]; e.g., Rom.8:1-2; 2Cor.5:17), is real.  It is not merely a foreshadowing of future realities through the rites and rituals of the Law but is based upon the actual forgiveness of our sins accomplished by the High Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord, who now occupies that position eternally in session before the Father instead of only temporarily on this earth.

The New Covenant versus the Old Covenant:

To such a superior degree then has Jesus become our Guarantor of an even better Covenant (i.e., the New replacing the Old).
Hebrews 7:22

We have discussed covenants previously in this series[19], and we will have occasion to go into more detail on this topic in chapter eight.  As mentioned before, the English words "covenant" and "testament" are synonyms when used in the Bible, both being used to translate beriyth in Hebrew and diatheke in Greek.  A covenant (or a testament) is, essentially, an agreement between two parties.  In terms of biblical covenants, God is one party and human beings are the other party.  This is a fundamental difference from agreements or treaties or wills between humans and humans for the obvious reason that God is our Creator.  The agreement He offers us is one of salvation paid for by Him and accepted by us on a completely non-meritorious basis, that is, by believing in Him and His sacrificial Substitute for us.  God has bound Himself to save us through paying the price for our salvation, a price that was only dimly seen in the animal sacrifices of the past, but which has now been fulfilled and fully revealed in the person and work of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

And having taken the bread and blessed it, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is being given on your behalf.  Be doing this to remember Me.  (20)  And in the same way after the meal [He took] the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant [ratified] by My blood which is shed on your behalf."
Luke 22:19-20 (cf. Matt.26:26; Mk.14:22; Jn.6:51-59; 1Cor.11:23-25)

For [on this matter] I received [directly] from the Lord what I passed on to you, namely that on the night on which He was betrayed He took bread and having blessed it He broke it and said, "This is my body which is [offered up] on your behalf.  Keep on doing this in order to remember Me".  And in the same way [after eating] He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant [made] by my blood.  Keep on doing this as often as you drink [it] in order to remember Me".
1st Corinthians 11:23-25

Instead of all the various rituals of the Law, believers after the cross, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, are given one, single, special ritual which replaces all others, namely, the communion ceremony.  Often misunderstood and often abused, the communion ritual is meant "to remember" Jesus Christ, with the bread representing His perfect person, God but also man following the incarnation, true humanity taken on by Him in order to be able to bear our sins in that perfect body, and with the wine representing His perfect work, His "blood", that is, His spiritual death whereby He paid the entire fiery price for the sins of the world that we might be saved.[20]  Beyond all argument, this is a "better agreement" than was the case in Old Testament times, when salvation had not yet been accomplished (Rom.3:25-26), and when the depiction of it required following many regulations and rules from which we believers today have now been liberated. 

And it is for this reason that He is the Mediator of a New Covenant, so that those who have been called might receive their eternal inheritance on the basis of the death He suffered to redeem us from the transgressions [committed] under the first Covenant.
Hebrews 9:15

And the most blessed difference of all: under the New Covenant/Testament we now see our salvation face to face in the person of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

But we do now see Jesus crowned with glory and honor on account of the death He suffered, even Him who became "a little lower than the angels" [for a brief span] so that by the grace of God He might taste death on behalf of us all.
Hebrews 2:9

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."
John 11:25b NKJV

He is Able to Save Completely: 

Whereas under the Old Covenant, sacrifices had to continue to be offered, and yet were never able to provide salvation (since their purpose was to look forward to the cross: Heb.10:2; cf. Heb.9:14), our Lord's sacrifice on the cross has produced a salvation which is complete and valid for all time, i.e., a deliverance from sin and death which He has accomplished "once and for all" so as to save all who are willing to come to Him in faith.

"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
John 3:18 NKJV

Moreover, now that salvation is an accomplished fact (i.e., tetelestai:  Jn.19:28-30; cf. Ps.22:31), for the Jerusalem believers to continue to participate in the ritual sacrifice of animals which merely foreshadowed our Lord's spiritual death on our behalf was not only unnecessary – it was also a great affront to our Lord, implying that what He had actually done in dying for our sins was somehow insufficient (so that animal sacrifices still needed to be offered).

It is impossible to restore them to [true] repentance after having fallen away [into sin] as long as they keep crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.
Hebrews 6:6

Intercession:

For this reason (i.e., being our eternal High Priest) [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, since He lives forever making intercession for them. 
Hebrews 7:25

One of the many great and blessed advantages of having Jesus Christ as our High Priest is His ministry of interceding with the Father for us.  We believers have no need of any human priest to pray for us.  Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is the One who is Himself advocating for us before the Father.

My children, I am writing these things to you so that you won't sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate to [approach] the Father [on our behalf], Jesus Christ the righteous.
1st John 2:1

This is the essential meaning of what a "priest" is, biblically speaking,[21] namely, a man who acts as a go-between, a mediator between God and man, a "daysman", in the language of the King James version of the Bible.

(33) "If only there were someone to mediate between us (KJV: "daysman"), someone to bring us together, (34) someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more."
Job 9:33-34 NIV

The Father dwells in unapproachable light (1Tim.6:16), but Jesus Christ has entered into the presence of the Father, and from that heavenly seat He ministers for us as our High Priest.

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
Hebrews 9:24 NKJV

Only Jesus Christ could be our Intercessor, our Daysman, our Mediator, our Advocate, the One who ministers on our behalf before the Father as our High Priest – because only Jesus Christ could take away the sins of the world by being judged in our place.

Who is he that condemns [us]?  Christ Jesus is the One who died [condemned in our place], and the One, moreover, who was raised from the dead [for us], who is [seated] at the right hand of God, who is also making petitions on our behalf.
Romans 8:34

(5) For as God is One, so there is [only] One Mediator between God and Man, Christ Jesus in His humanity, (6a) who gave Himself as a ransom for all [mankind] . . .
1st Timothy 2:5-6a

 

Verses Twenty Six through Twenty Eight

(26) This is just the sort of High Priest we needed, holy, without fault, without imperfection, completely separated from sinners, and having ascended higher than the heavens [into God's presence].  (27) Unlike the [other] high priests, [Jesus] has no need of making sacrifice day by day, first on behalf of His own sins, and then for the sins of the people.  For this [latter] He did once and for all when He offered Himself [as a sacrifice]. (28) So while the Law appoints mortal priests beset by physical weakness, the word of God's [own] oath which succeeds the Law appoints a Son who has been fulfilled forever.
Hebrews 7:26-28

The Qualifications of our High Priest: 

Jesus Christ is the "Lamb without spot or blemish" (1Pet.1:19).  Under the Law, the Passover lamb (and indeed all sacrificial animals) had to be perfect in their appearance (Ex.12:5).  Just as the lamb represented our Lord (Jn.1:29; 1:36; Rev.5:5; 7:17; 14:10; 15:3; 19:9; 21:23; 22:1; 22:3; cf. Gen.22:8), so the perfect appearance of the animal represented the actual sinlessness of our Lord who possessed a body uninfected by sin from His birth (by reason of the virgin conception/birth[22]), and who maintained His sinlessness all the way to the end (e.g., Jn.8:46), even to the point of His sacrifice of Himself for us on the cross, bearing our sins in a way acceptable to the Father as only One who was sinless could do.  This is why our Lord Jesus Christ is the only High Priest who could ever possibly "meet our needs", for only He was fit to stand judgment for our sins, the ultimate priestly service whereby we are reconciled to the Father on account of the price our Savior paid for us on Calvary's cross.

(8) But God commends His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (9) So how much more is it not true now, after we have been rendered righteous [through faith] in His blood, that we shall be saved from the [coming] wrath through Him?  (10) For if when we were His enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more is it not true [now], since we have been reconciled [to Him through Jesus' death], that we will be saved by His life?  (11) And not only that, but we even flaunt [our new relationship] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained this reconciliation.
Romans 5:8-11

And all things come from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
2nd Corinthians 5:18

(14) For [Jesus] Himself is our peace, for He has made both [Jews and gentiles] one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, that is, the enmity, (15) by discharging the Law of the commandments and its requirements with His [own] body, so that He might re-create the two into one new Man by making [this] peace, (16) and might reconcile both in one Body to God through His cross, having by means of it abolished the enmity [between God and mankind].  (17) For when He had come (i.e., the 1st advent), He proclaimed the gospel of peace to you who were far away [from God], and peace to those who were near.  (18) For it is through Him that we both have our access to the Father by means of one Spirit.
Ephesians 2:14-18

Any believer with any serious instruction in basic Bible doctrines understands that our Lord Jesus Christ was born sinless and remained sinless throughout His entire earthly life, and that this was necessary for Him to be our perfect sacrifice so as to reconcile sinful mankind to the Father by paying the price for all of our sins.[23]  The five characteristics listed here, however, are designed to contrast our perfect High Priest with the Levitical priests whom He has once and for all replaced, and, in so doing, fulfilled and perfectly carried out the plan of God to its ultimate completion.

(8b) [God] in all wisdom and understanding has made known to us the mystery He has willed according to His own benevolent purpose which He determined in [Christ] for administering this [present] fulfillment of the epochs: namely the incorporation of all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:8b-10

No Levitical priest could bring about our salvation, and that salvation is the Plan of God, so that Jesus Christ is the Logos, the Plan of God incarnate (Jn.1:1-4; Col.1:25; Tit.1:3; 1Jn.1:1).  As sinners, Levitical priests were not "holy", separate from all that is profane – but our Savior is.  As sinners, Levitical priests were not "without fault", innocent of all wrongdoing, but our Savior is.  As sinners, Levitical priests were not "without imperfection", undefiled by the world, but our Savior is.  As sinners, Levitical priests were not "completely separated from sinners" being sinners themselves and having involved themselves in this world, but our Savior is completely uncompromised in this regard.  And as sinners, Levitical priests were certainly not qualified to be raised from the dead as the firstfruits of eternal life, but our Savior has been, "having ascended higher than the heavens" and having been seated in glory at the Father's right hand whence He makes intercession for us all, awaiting the great day of His return when He will rescue us and render justice for all.

The Lord said to My Lord, "Sit down at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
Psalm 110:1

Christ Jesus is the One who died [condemned in our place], and the One, moreover, who was raised from the dead [for us], who is [seated] at the right hand of God, who is also making petitions on our behalf.
Romans 8:34b

And most significantly of all, as sinners, Levitical priests were in no way qualified to bear a single sin – nor would they have been willing or able to do so even if they were.  Only our perfect Savior could do that.  Only the God-man Jesus Christ could have done that.  And so He did, "once and for all when He offered Himself [as a sacrifice] for the sins of the world" (Heb.7:27).  Such a High Priest indeed "meets our needs" (Heb.7:26), not merely in symbolizing the redemption of sinful mankind and our reconciliation to the Father through blood sacrifice as the Levitical priests had done, but in actually paying the entire price for every single sin we have ever committed or will, whereby alone we could ever be delivered from the darkness of the grave, death and condemnation.

"This is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins concerning many people."
Matthew 26:28

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1st John 2:2 NKJV

To the One who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood – and He has made us a kingdom, priests of His God and Father – to Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 1:6

The End of the Matter:

So while the Law appoints mortal priests beset by physical weakness, the word of God's [own] oath which succeeds (i.e., follows and replaces) the Law appoints a Son who has been fulfilled (i.e., completed as the Logos, the plan of God) forever.
Hebrews 7:28

The difference between the Law on the one hand and God the Father's promise confirmed by His oath on the other could not be made more clear.  The former only pointed to the latter.  In place of weak, mortal men, such as we all are, the Father has sent His own dear Son into the world to rescue us from sin and death.  This promise and oath of God has thus replaced the Law of Moses, with Him who is the very Word of God, the Logos, the Plan of God incarnate, the Son of God Himself, Jesus Christ, succeeding and replacing all other priests along with the Law on the basis of which they served.  Their purpose, and the purpose of the Law, was to point to the One who would come into the world and do what they and it could not do, namely, save us from our sins.

(1) So now, there [awaits] no judgment of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the Law of sin and death.  (3) For what the Law could not accomplish (i.e., solving the sin problem) because it was weak on account of [its dependence on sinful human] flesh, God [did accomplish]:  having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the purpose of [expiating] sin, [God] rendered summary judgment on [all] sin in [Christ's] flesh, (4) so that the [perfect] righteousness which the Law demands might be fulfilled in us – we who walk not according to the [sinful] flesh, but according to the Spirit (i.e., believers).
Romans 8:1-4

The Son is said in our context to be "completed", "fulfilled", with Paul making use of the verb teleioo whose significance in this epistle we have covered above (see the Introduction, under "Fulfillment; Completion; Perfection"). 

(9) And, once He was perfected (i.e., had perfectly completed His course: teleioo), He became the source of eternal salvation for all who are obedient to Him (i.e., believers), (10) having been previously proclaimed by God [the Father Himself] High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. 
Hebrews 5:9-10

Jesus Christ is God's Plan, the One who carries out the salvation of all mankind willing to accept His sacrifice on their behalf, thus winning the victory in the conflict between God and the devil which has been raging long before human beings were ever created on this earth.[24]  Through His victory on the cross, through His successful propitiation of all human sin, Jesus Christ has completed the plan of God which plan He Himself embodies; and having fulfilled the great mission upon which He was sent, it is completely appropriate for scripture to describe Him as having been Himself "fulfilled" – for He is the very Plan of God through whom all of the Father's enemies are put to shame, while all we who have sought refuge in Jesus Christ have been delivered to await the sure and certain resurrection at our Lord's glorious return.

(23) But each [will be resurrected] in his own echelon.  Christ [is the] first-fruits.  Next [will be] those belonging to Christ at His coming (i.e., the 2nd Advent).  (24) Then the end, when He will hand the Kingdom over to the Father, after He has brought an end to all rule, all power, and all authority.  (25) For He must rule until He has placed all His enemies under His feet – (26) and death is the final enemy to be done away with.
1st Corinthians 15:23-26

(13) And though you were [spiritually] dead in your transgressions and in the un-circumcised state of your flesh, [God the Father] made you alive together with [Christ], having forgiven you all your transgressions.  (14) [God] has erased the charge against us along with its particulars (i.e., our sinful nature and personal sins) which opposed our [relationship with Him], and He removed it [as an obstacle] between us by nailing it to the cross.  (15) [For by means of the cross, God] has stripped [demon] rulers and authorities [of their power] and subjected them to public humiliation, having triumphed over them in [Christ].
Colossians 2:13-15

Meanwhile, the benefits we enjoy through having Jesus Christ as our High Priest, His continual intercession for us and the forgiveness we have through His once-and-for-all sacrifice, are "forever" just as He is "forever".  Praise God for the blessed day soon to come when we shall enjoy His company in person along with each other and the entire family of God in glory forever!

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.
1st Corinthians 13:12a KJV

For at the present time our perception [of heavenly things] is like [viewing] a dim reflection in a mirror.  But then [when we meet the Lord] we will see [Him] face to face.
1st Corinthians 13:12

(16) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 NIV

(22) But you have come [not to Mount Sinai which stands for the present Jerusalem (Gal.4:21-31), but] to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, [that is, you have come to] the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of [elect] angels in assembly [before God], (23) and to the Church of the firstborn enrolled [as its citizens] in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of justified [believers] [who have now] completed [their tasks], (24) and to Jesus, the Mediator of a better covenant, and to sprinkled blood (i.e., the work of Christ in bearing our sins) which speaks [far] more powerfully than that of Abel['s sacrifice].
Hebrews 12:22-24

And the Spirit and the bride say "Come!" And let the one who hears say, "Come!" And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
Revelation 22:17

[Go to Hebrews Chapter 8]

 

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