IS THE MOSAIC COVENANT STILL IN EFFECT?

Is the Mosaic Covenant still in effect, or had it been entirely replaced by the New Covenant? The Hebrew Roots Movement answers in the affirmative, at least in some respects. Wikipedia defines it as:

·       …a religious movement that advocates the return and adherence to the first century walk of faith and obedience to the Torah…A number of their founders began teaching about the need to keep the 7th Day Sabbath, to observe annual Feasts, and to obey Old Testament commandments…As a movement that developed out of Classical Pentecostalism, the majority of the Hebrew Roots Movement retains much of its Methodist and Pentecostal theology.

However, many verses teach that the Old Covenant, the Covenant given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, has been replaced by the New. Its replacement had even been prophesied:

·       “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:31-32 ESV)

It seems that the New Covenant will not simply be an additional covenant. Since the Old was continually violated, it had been set aside. Nor will it be remembered:

·       And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:16-17)

Paul argued that as we have been freed to remarry if our spouse dies, we are also free of the Mosaic Covenant, because, through Jesus’ death, we also died to it:

·       Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)

However, is this Covenant still in operation for those who are not in Christ? Not according to Paul:

·       Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary…Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, (Galatians 3:19, 23-25)

The Law would last only until Jesus. Paul claimed that the glory of the Mosaic Covenant will come to an end with the coming of the New:

·       Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?...For if what [the Mosaic Covenant] was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. (2 Corinthians 3:7-8, 11)

While the other covenants of God are called “eternal,” the Mosaic is never referred to in this manner. The Book of Hebrews is even more explicit about the replacement of the Law (the Mosaic Covenant) by the New:

·       then he [the Messiah] added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first [the Mosaic Covenant] in order to establish the second. (Hebrews 10:9)

Consequently, it is not just that we believers are no longer under the Mosaic Covenant; no one is! It has been fulfilled and replaced by the New:

·       In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:13)

The Jerusalem Temple would be utterly destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD signifying the end of the Mosaic Covenant. Jesus also hinted that He would fulfill this covenant:

·       “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18)

Jesus did fulfill the Law on the Cross when He cried out, “It is finished,” and the curtain of the Holy of Holies was rent in two (Matthew 27:51). This symbolized the fact that God’s people were now freed from the Law (Romans 7:6) and would be able to enter into the presence of their Savior (Hebrews 10:19-22).

But what does it means to be set free from the Law? Does it mean that we can now commit adultery and kill? Of course, not! While the Mosaic Covenant has been fulfilled and has passed away, the moral laws still pertain. They have been carried over by the New. Therefore, Paul had instructed:

·       Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:31)

How are we to “uphold the law?” By faith, not by the fear of condemnation! In a sense, we are still under the law, the teachings of Jesus:

·       If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well…So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:8, 12-13)

In Christ, we are now under His “royal law,” the “law of liberty,” the law motivated by a love (gratitude) of God and also our neighbor (Matthew 22:37). It is a law that requires us to abide in His commandments (John 14:15, 21-24) but with the assurance that we will be fully forgiven and cleansed if we violate them if we confess and repent (1 John 1:9).

However, must we continue to observe the Sabbath and the ordained Hebrew feasts as many in the Hebrew Roots Movement suggest? Certainly not in the manner that they were observed before the Cross:

·       Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17)

These things were merely symbols of the coming Christ and of what He would accomplish. Now that the Reality is with us, the symbols are unnecessary. Consequently, we are now free to observe the Sabbath rest in a way that suits us:

·       One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. (Romans 14:5-6)

We are also free in regards to what we eat:

·       I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean…For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:14, 17)

According to Jesus, we do not become morally defiled by what touches us or by what we ingest but by the intents of our heart:

·       “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:18-23)

All these things can be summarized by one word – love! This should lead us to ask, “How can I do what is best for this person?”