Yeah yeah yeah yeah the ole let's look ONLY at Matthew and forget that there is the doctrine of progressive revelation....sorry, but the Lord wrote additional SCRIPTURE that reveals the PROGRESS of History.
God's
character does not change but the expression of his character in love through laws do adjust and develop.
For those who want to force Matthew 5 into every other text to make all other texts fall under it then they fail to properly recognize that there was the
change in covenants and laws. It is very simple: before the cross people made sacrifices because the LAW demanded it. After the cross Christ FULFILLS the law and that is no longer obligatory. That in and of itself is a
CHANGE in the law as to what one must do to be pleasing to the Lord. No matter how hard one tries if one claims only Christ without actually brining a sacrifice for sin then that saint has to, if honest, admit something changed after the cross of Christ.
If you were living for God before the CROSS one HAD to MAKE SACRIFICES. If one is living after the Cross the ONE SACRIFICE OF Christ is all that is needed. Why? A change in the law code and thus a change in obligations.
One change in the law......UH OH....how can that be if the Matthew 5 text means the LAW WILL NEVER BE ADJUSTED?
Oh, well that
is the key...the Bible never says the law will not be adjusted or that God will change, what it DOES say is that "Christ will not ABOLISH" but "FULFILL." The LAW will NOT PASS AWAY until ALL IS ACCOMPLISHED.
Again literal reading with careful attention to
details to the actual words used in the text clears the mud from the water and makes the WHOLE bible fit together systematically. This too is one of the golden rules in the laws of hermeneutics, the rule of Scripture will interpret Scripture and we allow for progressive revelation.
The WHOLE text hinges upon the following words/phrases:
1. will not
abolish (changing or adjusting the law code is not the same as abolish)
2. will not abolish but will
fulfill
3. not an ioto not a dot will pass from the law
UNTIL all is accomplished (until indicates a time when something will occur)
When did this accomplishment take place? When did the Fulfillment take place? When is the UNTIL portion applicable?
The rest of the Bible fills in the details. But, of course if the pages of the Bible are stuck together and it will not turn any further for the rest of the story it is easy to miss the rest of the revelation of God on this matter and to force Matthew into every other text.
"
Now BEFORE faith came, we were held captive UNDER the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So the law was our guardian/tutor/school master UNTIL (here is where Mathew's UNTIL is fulfilled) Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come we are NO LONGER UNDER (obligated to follow, under that authority, required to do what that law code says) a guardian/ tutor/ school master. . . ." (Gal. 3:23-25)
Romans 7 points this out in illustration for. As long as Christ (the husband was alive) the Mosaic Law code applied. But WHEN (the UNTIL OF MATTHEW) he died the people were freed from that law code to be bound to another. Paul specifically says: "
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 . . . ."
It even gets clearer in Romans 10:4-5 "
For Christ is the END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS to everyone who believes. For MOSES writes about the rightousness that IS BASED UPON THE LAW, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them."
And of course Hebrews shows us this shift in the law code by the new law giver and the new covenant that replaces the old law giver (Moses) with Christ who also replaces the old covenant with the new covenant.
The Bible there says: "
For WHEN (another time indicator like in Matthew showing something would change) there is a change in the priesthood there is necessarily a CHANGE in the law as well. . . . .For on the one hand, a FORMER commandment is set aside because of its weakness and ueslessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God" (Hebrews 7:12,18-19)
Oh my....no say it aint so....surely something in the LAW could not CHANGE! Oh never never never because Christ said that nothing would change until ......uh.....oh, well.....ummmm..... huh.........my....that dangling little inspired word "UNTIL"....how can we get that out of our Bibles to keep people under the Mosaic Law.....surely we have to redefine this "UNTIL" because we can't let God ever adjust his law code now can we? CHANGE? God forbid that he ever change anything in his law code. The world wouldhave to end for that to be. What shall we ever do to conceal this until because the natural reading of it will lead people to become antinomian surely if we let the people understand there is an an UNTIL.
A covenant theologian by the name of Dr. Rousas John Rushdoony, one of the GREATEST LAW theologians to ever write in the history of Christianity had this to say about the law in his massive 2 Volume set called: "
The Institutes of Biblical Law." He TOO believes that the law of God applies, UNLESS something later SPECIFICALLY says the law has been changed. He writes:
"
With the completion of Christ's work, the role of the pharisees as interpreters ended, but not the authority of the Law. In the New Testament era, ONLY apostolically received revelation was ground for ANY ALTERATION in the law" (Vol. 1, pg. 7).
And that is EXACTLY what happened. If you hold that NO LAW can be ADJUSTED at any time by any other succeeding revelation then there is no way to avoid being required to make sacrifices for sin because that too was one of the required laws of Moses.
So it comes down to the law of non-contradiction. Either the phrase "not an ioto, not a dot, will PASS AWAY from the Law UNTIL ALL IS ACCOMPLISHED" means that EVERY SINGLE LAW without EXCEPTION must remain in effect at all times at all places with no end whatsoever in application or obligation
or
It means that there would come a time when those laws would be FULFILLED and a change by another law code would takes its place.
If anyone allows for a CHANGE in the sacrificial system then that is a CHANGE no matter how one tries to make it not so. The LAW changed and that certainly is MORE than an IOTA or DOT.
Why is that CHANGE then acceptable? Simple: Christ is the FULFILLMENT of the sacrifical laws and by being IN HIM we fulfill that law as well as every other law and thus we are under his law code along with the laws that he inspired his apostles to pen for us, which is exactly what He and the others apostles taught. We are now under the law of Christ.
Just one change, such as with the laws about animal sacrifices, shows us that Matthew 5 DOES NOT mean the law cannot AT SOME POINT IN TIME be ADJUSTED or ALTERED or CHANGED. Also, a change in the law code does not mean a change in God's character. His law is ONE way to EXPRESS his character but he can adjust his laws with time and with the progress of history in order to reflect different spheres or emphasis of his character, which is again why the change from the OC to the NC. The OC was to display and emphasize the JUSTICE aspect of God's character (what Paul called a ministry of death in 2 Cor. 3) whereas the New Covenant is to express or emphasize the character quality of grace and life (also what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3 about more glory under the NC where theire is the SPirit, freedom).
What it does do is tell us that there WOULD be a time, and that time was UNTIL ALL IS ACCOMPLISHED? It means there was a fulfillment date. And the rest of Scripture fills in the time when that UNTIL was accomplished, which is why we do not have to make sacrifices today because the new law code came with the new covenant which came with a new priest, which is Christ Jesus, Lord of Lords and King and Kings.
Again for the readers here I refer you to this article on the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ. We as a ministry organization here believe people are free to choose to follow the laws of the OC so long as they DO NOT DEMAND that ANYONE HAS to do so to be right or holy or in good standing with the Lord today. We accept Messianic/Hebrew Christians but we are an Evangelical Ministry that will not allow any person to be taught that they must OBEY any OT law. To assert here that one MUST OBEY an OC law to right with the Lord is contrary to what we believe and accept as a ministry.
Also, on the other hand, we will not allow any person to DEMAND or FORCE or TEACH that a person cannot practice an OC law. One is free to practice the OC law so long as it is not done for salvation or righteousness sake in Christ.
We give freedom both ways BUT will not allow either person to require either to give up their liberty or conscience. Some will be more free in their conscience and they are totally at peace and with God's blessing in that freedom NOT to PRACTICE the 613 laws of Moses. Others, however, who have not yet arrived at that position will choose to follow some of the OT laws. We who are on this side MUST give them that freedom so long as they give us our freedom. Both are free to do so as we point out in this article:
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