How should Christians view the Old Testament? Should they reject it as having nothing to say to people today? Or should they obliterate all distinctions between the two Testaments? The Old Testament is related to the New in the way that a bud is related to a flower and an acorn is to an oak.  The people of God in the Old Testament are compared to children; in the New they have come to adulthood (Galatians 4:1-7). 

The Christian attitude toward the Old Testament should be like that of the Lord Jesus and his apostles.  If one were to remove all the Old Testament quotations and their explanation and application from the teachings of the apostles, he would be left with a very small New Testament.  As a case in point, the next time you read Paul’s epistle to the Romans, notice how often he establishes each point of doctrine out of the Old Testament.  In fact, the apostles appealed to the Old Testament for their doctrine the same way Bible teachers appeal to the whole Bible today.  Paul is simply following the example of the Lord Jesus who established his teaching by quoting from the Old Testament.  One should not overlook what the Lord Jesus himself said: “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” (Matthew 5:17). 

Fulfillment Means that Christ Has Completed the Old and Brought it to its Full Expression in the New. 

For Jesus to fulfill the Law and the Prophets does not mean that he came simply to press the obligations of the Torah on God’s people without change taking place in the structure of the Law.  Our Lord came to bring the revelation given at Mount Sinai to completion.  Through his death and resurrection, he inaugurated the New Covenant.  Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on the Church at Pentecost in a new way, and so he brought the Law to its fullest expression in people whose hearts are embossed with God’s own moral character. 

(For a fuller understanding concerning the meaning of the Greek word translated as “fulfill,” plhrow (pronounced, play RAH oh), one should consult Walter Bauer or Gerhard Delling [Walter Bauer, F.W. Danker, W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 827-829] [Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, 1968), Vol. VI, pp. 283-311]). 

Through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Law has been fulfilled, and the forms and structures of worship under the Old Covenant have been transformed.  As a result of our Lord’s having died and risen from the dead, nothing is the same.  The New Creation has begun to dawn (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Every element of the Old Covenant is fulfilled by Christ and so been radically transformed. 

The Old Testament authors foresaw a time of fulfillment during which the grace, power and presence of God would continually be manifested in his people in an unprecedented way.  The Old Testament writers understood that they walked under the grace of God and appreciated the many blessings of the Old Covenant such as full forgiveness of sins, physical healing, material prosperity, and the presence and joy of the Holy Spirit (Psalms 103:2-5; 51:11-12), but they understood that there was much that was beyond their experience.  So much greater would be the regular manifestation of the power and presence of the Spirit of God among all of God’s people, as over against a few, that the Old Testament era could be contrasted with the New almost as if there were no grace, life, power or presence of the Lord there.  One has but to read Paul’s contrasts in 2 Corinthians 3:3-11 to see how the apostles understood that they lived in the time of wonderful fulfillment. 

The Moral Law Is Permanent Yet Transformed. 

Fulfillment means that our Lord brought out the true meaning of the types and shadows of the Old Testament.  The result is that the Old Covenant underwent significant transformation.  This underscores that the fundamental structures undergirding the Old Covenant did not cease to exist.  One may take as an example the moral law of God, what is both given in natural revelation and in the Ten Commandments.  These commandments are not independent of God, as if he were bound by some abstract moral principles that are above him and separate from his existence; rather they refract the very character of God himself, his own morality.  In effect, they codify, within the ethos and milieu of Israel in the Second Millennium before Christ, God’s own moral character. 

A beautiful analogy to this is found in how a prism refracts light into its various colors.  These commandments are right simply because they are consistent with who God is.  In other words, murder, adultery and stealing would not be wrong if they were not contrary to God’s own nature; were there no God, there would be no right and no wrong.  As Dostoevsky said, “If God does not exist, then everything is permitted.”

This moral nature of God, stamped on the human soul, is part of what it means for us to be created in the image of God, an image that was radically marred, gnarled, broken and twisted in the fall, but not completely lost.  In the fall, man lost more than a gift of super added grace (donum superadditum); rather, the totality of his being, including his intellect, was radically affected by sin.  Humankind is totally but not utterly depraved; man is not as bad as he can possibly be.  The shattered image of God, including moral judgment, remains in fallen man.  That is to say, even lost people have an innate, intuitive, instinctive sense of right and wrong, based not only on experience but as part of the very essence of what it is to be human.  This knowledge of the true God and of his character exhibits itself imperfectly in the human conscience: “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them ...” (Romans 2:14, 15).  This moral law, because it is common to all human beings by nature, is one facet of natural law.  Natural law, including the moral remnant of the image of God within each human person, does not make it possible for lost people to please God and earn salvation, but it does demonstrate that people are without excuse for their refusal to turn from their sins to God, and it gives them knowledge of right and wrong. 

Yet even the Moral Law itself experiences transformation through the person and work of the Lord Jesus.  The Fourth Commandment demonstrates this, because it is unique among the Ten Commandments.  While all of the commandments are a reflection of God’s own character and are therefore a permanent statement of unchanging moral principles, the Fourth Commandment is a Creation ordinance in a more particular way than the other commandments, and so it is part of the structure of the world—the very rhythm of life, if you will (Genesis 2:2, 3).  It was structured into reality for the welfare of humankind: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). 

Not only is it part of the structure of Creation, but it also is given to reflect God’s pattern of activity—a cycle of six and one, of work and rest (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11).  Furthermore, it is also given as a sign of redemption: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15).  This makes it unique among the Ten Words, because the wording and rational for the Sabbath commandment undergoes change as a result of God’s redeeming his people out of Egypt. 

The Sabbath commandment is the only one of the Ten Commandments that has both an unchanging, moral aspect, and a changing aspect that reflects Old Testament ceremonial law.  As such, our Lord is said to have “broken” it: “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking [luw (pronounced, LOO oh), “break, set free, loose, untie”] the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). 

So it is that under the New Covenant, believers are given a good measure of freedom regarding how we observe it, including treating all days similarly as the New Covenant Sabbath—thus enjoying worship and refreshment every day.  As a result of the Lord Jesus’ nailing the Old Covenant with its ceremonies, sanctions and curses to the cross—thereby dealing the death blow to the world, the flesh and the devil—we are free people (Colossians 2:8-15)—free, not that we should continue in sin (i.e.  what is contrary to God’s own moral nature), but free to reflect the restored image of God in our daily lives. 

How we keep Sabbath is with an emphasis on liberty and grace, particularly with regard to the interpretations and homespun religion of our fellows: “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).  “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike.  Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.  He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God” (Romans 14:5-6). 

While the creation pattern of six and one remains, the weight of evidence from the New Testament is that the day of worship and rest has been shifted from the seventh to the first day.  When used of a specific day of the week, as over against a part of a festival or a Sabbath year, the Sabbath refers to the period of time from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday.  Early Christians did go to the synagogue, but they did so for evangelistic purposes, and the Sabbath was when Jewish people were there (Acts 13:14; 13:44; 16:13; 18:4).  However, we find that the Church did not worship then but appears to have worshiped on the next day, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). 

Sunday is not identical to the Sabbath, but we may refer to it as the Christian Sabbath in the way that we might refer to the Lord’s Supper as the Christian Passover, or to Baptism as Christian Circumcision.  They are so typologically and figuratively, just as Christ is the Passover Lamb.  These Old Testament ordinances are fulfilled in their New Testament counterparts, as we shall see. 

Fulfillment of the Old in the New Underscores the Severity of the Justice of God in the Old Testament. 

When one thinks of our Lord’s words about fulfilling the Law and the Prophets, he should compare Paul’s references to the Old Covenant as “the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone” and “the ministry that condemns men” with his descriptions of the New Covenant as the ministry “written...with the Holy Spirit...on tablets of human hearts” and “the ministry that brings righteousness.”  As glorious as the Old Testament was, says Paul, “it has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory (of the New Testament)” (2 Corinthians 3:3-11). 

The Apostle John put it succinctly: “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).  John is not saying that there is no law under Christ, nor that there was no grace under Moses, but he is showing the great contrast in emphasis between the two Testaments. 

The Old Testament abounds with examples of its being “the ministry that brought death.” Not only did every sexual act outside the bounds of marriage—with the exception of simple fornication between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman—carry the death penalty, but many other things did as well: ‘And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day...the LORD said unto Moses, “The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp”’ (Numbers 15:32-35). ‘If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.” And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear’ (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

That contrast between “the ministry that brought death and condemns men” with “the ministry that brings righteousness.” is nowhere displayed more graphically than in the incident of the woman captured in adultery, recorded in John 8:2-11.  In order to release her from death, our Lord Jesus responds to the scribes and Pharisees’ hypocritical question by stating: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).  By this terminology, Jesus transforms the civil law of Israel, because he demands that those who would put her to death must not simply be people of good character (the two or three witnesses of Deuteronomy 17:6, etc.), but actually without sin (This hapax legomenon, anamarthtoV [pronounced, an ah mar TAY tos] is rendered as, “without sin, i.e.  not having sinned” [Bauer, op. cit., p.  67]). 

This pattern of restoration rather than execution is found elsewhere in the New Testament.  When one of the members of the Church in Corinth became involved in an incestuous sexual relationship, a death penalty offence under the civil code of Israel (Leviticus 20:11)., Paul counseled that he be put out of the Church.  This is the New Testament fulfillment of Old Testament execution.  But under the New Covenant, this is with a view to the person’s restoration to fellowship and ultimate salvation (1 Corinthians 5:5).  Once this sinning Corinthian had repented, he was fully restored to the fellowship of the Church (2 Corinthians 2:5-8), a situation that could never occur under the finality of the death penalty.

The Church should handle its own business and avoid dealing with the state wherever possible (1 Corinthians 6:1ff.).  Nowhere is there any hint of the Church seeking to get the civil authority to enforce the civil code of Israel and its penalties.  On the contrary, Christians are to recognize pagan civil governments as ordained of God.  Because of natural revelation, even pagans know right from wrong, retaining God’s moral law within themselves, having been created in the divine image.  The result is that they do enforce God’s justice even in this present evil world (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:12-17). 

Though thoroughly just and showing the people of Israel what all sin deserves, there is a harshness in the juridical code of Israel that testifies to a barrier between sinful people and our most holy God.  But this barrier is removed by the death of the Testator of the New Testament (Hebrews 9:16).  And so that code is fulfilled in Christ. 

The Fulfillment of the Old Brings Unprecedented Intimacy with God as Exhibited in New Testament Worship. 

This idea of fulfillment is written large over the doctrines and practices of the Old Testament.  The power of the Holy Spirit brings the meaning of Old Testament institutions to their true significance.  This new, heightened Spirituality often involves some modifications in the outward form.  One may consider as an example, the Old Testament celebration of the Passover.  After having given elaborate instructions about selecting the Passover lamb, God told his people, “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants” (Exodus 12:24).  How are New Testament believers to carry out this commandment? Are we to slaughter lambs today, or are we simply to abandon the Passover ordinance completely? We are to celebrate it, says Paul, “For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival...” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). 

Christian people have continued to observe the Passover for almost two thousand years; they do it every time they break the bread and drink the wine in the Lord’s Supper.  And just as Old Testament believers purged the leaven out of their houses, so we must purge out of our hearts the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:8). 

What is true of the Passover is true of other Old Testament institutions: the kingdom promised to David is fulfilled in his Son, Jesus Christ, who sits at the Father’s right hand in glory and subdues all nations unto himself by pouring out his Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:29-36). 

The Old Covenant had a hierarchy of religious leaders, including priests and high priests whose bloodline had to be traced back to Levi (2 Chronicles 26:16-18).  The New Covenant embraces the fundamental equality of all Christians and recognizes the priesthood of every believer (Galatians 3:26-29; 1 Peter 2:9). 

The Old Covenant was structured around the barriers between a sinful humanity and a holy God.  Only Israelites were permitted to certain levels of intimacy, with only males moving in more closely.  Only Levites could proceed to the holy place, and only the high priest could enter the holy of holies.  He did this but twice a year, on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16).  When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, opening the way for intimacy of communion between God and all believers (Mark 10:38; Hebrews 10:19-22).  By his death, Jesus “has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14). 

In the New Testament, Israel comes into her own: “I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.  In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world” (Galatians 4:1-3).  And the great division of humankind is removed once and for all: “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Ephesians 2:14-16). 

The Old Covenant never resolved the issue of sin and guilt because “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11).  But when Jesus “had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).  “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.  He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27).  “Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.  Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.  But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.  Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:25-28). 

New Testament worship, as over against that of the Old Covenant, affirms a once for all time, completed sacrifice.  The Lord’s Supper is not a re-sacrifice of Christ, but a memorial of his having “entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).  Through this means of grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit who lifts us up to Christ, we have communion with the body and blood of Christ, but the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine, and the effect is on us, not on God (1 Corinthians 10:16). 

The bloody death of Jesus on the cross fulfills the Tabernacle with its bloody animal sacrifices (Hebrews 9 and 10:1-22).  The glorious Temple of the New Covenant is composed of the people of God whom the Holy Spirit indwells (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17).  Each believer is a living stone in the edifice that the Lord Jesus is building (1 Peter 2:5).  But now there is no heavy veil separating sinful man from a holy God; it is gone; it was ripped apart as the flesh of the Son of Man was ripped on the cross (Cf.  Matthew 27:51 and Hebrews 10:19-20). 

Instead of a focus on outward beauty: magnificent, special buildings covered with gold and silver with professional musicians and billows of incense, New Testament worship is profoundly simple and spiritual (John 4:24).  The Assembly in the New Testament is not a holy building but a holy people; believers themselves are the living stones comprising the Temple of the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 3:9-17; Ephesians 3:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5).  Incense is fulfilled in the prayers of all saints and the sweet aroma of the gospel of the Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 2:14-16; Ephesians 5:1; Revelation 5:8). 

Scriptures Cited:

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father! Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:1-7).

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:2-5).

Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit (Psalm 51:11-12).

clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious (2 Corinthians 3:3-11).

for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them).(Romans 2:14-15).

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:2-3).

And He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:2-3).

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Exodus 20:8-11).

And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:15).

Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5:18).

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:8-15).

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks (Romans 14:5-6).

But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down (Acts 13:14).

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God (Acts 13:44).

And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there (Acts 16:13).

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks (Acts 18:4).

Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight (Acts 20:7).

clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious (2 Corinthians 3:3-11).

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp (Numbers 15:32-35).

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say? This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more (John 8:2-11).

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first (John 8:7).

Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness (Deuteronomy 17:6).

The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them (Leviticus 20:11).

deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5).

But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him (2 Corinthians 2:5-8).

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?(1 Corinthians 6:1).

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor (Romans 13:1-7).

Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (1 Peter 2:12-17).

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator (Hebrews 9:16).

And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever (Exodus 12:24).

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:29-36).

But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God (2 Chronicles 26:16-18).

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26-29).

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;(1 Peter 2:9).

But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?(Mark 10:38).

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,(Ephesians 2:14).

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world (Galatians 4:1-3).

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity (Ephesians 2:14-16).

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins (Hebrews 10:11).

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,(Hebrews 10:12).

who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself (Hebrews 7:27).

not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation (Hebrews 9:25-28).

Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?(1 Corinthians 10:16).

Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you. Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 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; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation (Hebrews 9).

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’  Previously saying, Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them (which are offered according to the law)., then He said, Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God. He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, then He adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:1-22).

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split (Matthew 27:51).

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh (Hebrews 10:19-20).

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are (1 Corinthians 3:9-17).

To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:19-22).

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?(2 Corinthians 2:14-16).

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children (Ephesians 5:1).

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8).

Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (Colossians 2:14-17).

Bob Vincent