Did the Ten Commandments go out with the
cross?
Do we no longer have to keep God's Old Testament Laws??
What DID go out with the cross?
I
find three groups of christian people in my research for the truth.
One group believes that ALL of God's Laws, Moses' Ordinances, and
Feast Days still apply, such as www.yahweh.com
I think they have many good teachings at this website, I have a lot of their
booklets, but they teach many things wrong too such as this notion that
nothing went out with the cross. In fact in their booklet of the 613 laws of
Yahweh, they claim we should still be following all of those. It is 99%
Mosaic Law and those DID go out with the cross.
I
find a second group of people on the opposite end of the teeter totter who feel everything in the old testament went out
with the cross including the ten commandments. I do not identify with these
"grace only" , "just believe and you will be saved",
"once saved, always saved", "eternal salvation" self
proclaimed christians. In Acts 16:25-33, the jailer asked Paul, "What must
I do to be saved"? Paul answered "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved ..." verse 31". Sounds simple enough;
but is it?
In Mathew 7:21 which says ," Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in
heaven." Or James 2:17 "In the same way, faith by itself, if not
accompanied by action; is dead". Revelation 22:14, "Blessed are
they who keep His commandments tht they might have the right to the tree of life
and enter into the gates into the city".
Rev 22:12,"My reward is with me to give every man according as his works
shall be". Rev 20:12, "judged....according to their works".
Mathew 19:17,"If though wilt enter into life, keep the commandments".
Hebrews 5:9,"He became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey
him".
Some people forget how important obedience is to their eternal salvation. We
CANNOT earn our salvation or appease God with out good works. This isn't the
role obedience plays. Obedience is simply the visible evidence of the holy
spirit manifesting within us. Titus 1:16,"They profess that they know
God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient." Doesn't
sound to me from the above passages that salvation is a free ride or a ticket to
keep sinning.
This second group of people do not
believe much in the works/grace tie in. They preach justification (forgiveness
of sins) but ignore sanctification (allowing the holy spirit to work within you
which effects changes in your life to make you holy) which is needed in addition
to justification to reach glorification (appearing sinless in front of the
Father ). The end goal is for us to be glorified in front of the Father,
appearing sinless and holy in front of the Father. I
think group two has a dangerous salvation teaching. My page at www.detailshere.com/saved.htm
gets into that issue. Remember there are two sides to a covenant. Each side has
to keep their part of the agreement. Literal Israel (genetic descendants of
Israelites) are NOT spiritual Israel today because they continually broke their
part of the covenant with God; their history is a record of apostasy, sin,
idolatry, repentance, returning to God, then further apostasy again. God will
fulfill HIS promises of blessing if you will be faithful to Him and His
Law. That's why the gospel was given to Jew and gentile alike
(now considered spiritual Israel) in 34AD; whoever believeth in Jesus and
salvation and keeps God's law.
The
third group of people I find are who I identify with the most. We feel certain
things in the Old Testament still apply, like the Ten Commandments that were
written in stone with the finger of Yahweh Himself and kept INSIDE of the Ark
instead of outside of the ark where the Mosaic Ordinances were kept. These were
separate and distinct laws. God's Law, the ten commandments, has no curses
associated with it as did the Mosaic ordinances. There were other laws in
the Old Testament we should still be paying attention to also. In Genesis 8:20
& 21 God allowed man to sacrifice and eat clean animals. Genesis 9:
1-5 tells why we are not to eat the blood of animals, because the blood carries
the impurities. In Genesis 7:1-3 The clean beasts entered the ark in pairs of
seven, the unclean in two's. These were health laws along with the ten
commandments that were not part of the Mosaic Laws, given long before Moses was
even born. The clean and unclean food laws of Leviticus 11 and
Deuteronomy clarified more specifically what these beasts, fish and birds
were that were considered clean and unclean. And if you analyze each one,
there's a scientific reason for each. Pigs contain trichinosis worms. Cook pig
meat enough and you are still eating dead trichinosis worms. Bottomfish (fish
with no scales) and shellfish contain hundreds of times more toxic metals and
poisons than do fish that have scales and swim and feed above the bottom. Yahshua's death
did away with the Mosaic ordinances, but no one will ever convince me they did
away with the decalogue or other key parts of God's Law. I feel we are still
bound to keep God's Law as presented in the Old Testament as best we can as our
part in "doing the will of the Father in heaven" and doing our part of
the covenant agreement. AHHHH, "works" you say. Yes,
but not of our own doing, "works" as a manifestation of the holy
spirit within us exhibited outwardly as good works when we have true
"faith" in the salvation of Jesus and God's grace.
Now for the clincher.
For those of you who claim the ten commandments went out with the cross; here is
scriptural support for all ten commandments being brought over into the new
testament.
Remember the words of Mathew 5:17-19 "Do not even think that I have
come to destroy the law (meaning do away with the ten commandments or other of
GOD'S LAWS of the old testament) ; I have come to fulfill or establish
them". (some Greek translations use the word "fulfill", others
use the word "establish")
Fulfill means to carry out, to do, or to make happen. By definition it doesn't
mean he is substituting or replacing; it means he is carrying out those
laws, doing what is necessary to make those laws happen or be established.
What went out with the cross then??
Colossians 2:14-17 "the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us"!!
This can't be the ten commandments because they were written by the
"finger" of God and not by "man's hand". The handwriting of
ordinances refers to the Mosaic laws, the sacrificial laws. When the curtain was
rent (torn in two - past tense of rend - to tear or split) in the sanctuary when
Jesus died, these sacrificial laws became toast, history, gone, done away with.
The Sabbath Days that went out with the cross were the annual Sabbath FeastDays
of the Mosaic Law which occurred normally on days other than a Saturday; NOT the weekly
7th day Sabbath established in Genesis and reaffirmed as the fourth commandment
at Mt Sinai. See www.detailshere.com/sabbathissue.htm
here for more on that issue. The best resource book I have ever read on
the Saturday-Sunday weekly sabbath issue is a little 100 pager entitled
"The Lord's Day for Today's Christian", by Randy Barber, a Pastor in
Calgary, Alberta , Canada. He covers both sides of the issue with scriptural
support for everything discussed. You can get a copy for under $5 by emailing
him at pastorrb@shaw.ca
It should remove any doubt or questions you may have on this issue. An excellent
website with very thorough coverage on this issue can also be found at http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/sabbath.html
See proof below.
1. The 1st commandment
was restated in Matt. 22:37; Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
And in 1 Cor. 8:5,6. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
8:6: But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
2. The 2nd commandment was restated in 1 Jn. 5:21.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
(Col. 3:5 and Eph. 5:5 broadens idolatry to include covetousness.)
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is
idolatry. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
4. The 4th commandment was restated in
Hebrews
Hebrews 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth , therefore, a "rest" to
the people of God.
The Greek word for REST in this verse is different from the word used in verses
1, 3, 5, 10 and 11. This word means "sabbath rest" and is found only
here in the new testament. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of
God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God
did from his (Heb. 4:4-10).
6-10th The 6th,7th, 8th, 9th and
10th commandments were reinstated in Rom. 13:9; Matt. 19:18; Gal. 5:14; 1 Cor.
6:9,10; and Gal. 5:19-21.
Romans 13:9: For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.
I hope you won't jeopardize your salvation by accepting the erroneous notion that God's Laws went out with the cross. Once saved always saved does not work. You CAN lose your salvation after having come to Christ by your sinful thoughts, actions, speech, and deeds.