The Law of Christ

[James248]

Hi, James!

…could you expand on what it is that you are asking?

Maran atha!

Angel

Isn’t EVERYONE bound to the New Covenant?

 

[animalis]

The new law is a law pertain to the heart and eternity,

“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer 31:33)

The New Law is the perception of the mandate of the Gospel (ad gentes: go out to all the world and tell the good [royal] news). With comprehension of this mandate by “dialogue and joint action” the Christian recognizes we are either overtaken (adepti) by the Word of God through his incarnation and resurrection or we are overtaken by the devil by conformity to the world and belief in its false maxims: overtaken by self-love. ‘Adepti’ takes place in the heart, and brings about submission of your will. If we assiduously surrender the heart is made in a new creation and seeks reconciliation of sins.

 

[Vico]

Hey, guys.

As Christians, we all are under the law of Christ. But for Catholics, Jesus’ law has made the rituals and purity laws of the Mosaic law obsolete and has replaced them with the Sacraments.

Is this the correct understanding of Scripture from a Catholic perspective?

Matthew 12:33-3733 Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known.
34 O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Matthew 15:1111 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Matthew 5:17-2017 Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

 

[James248]

Isn’t this the sense one gets from reading Paul’s letter to the Hebrews?

Hebrews 7:22-28
22 This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant.

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever. 25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.

 

[Vico]

Isn’t this the sense one gets from reading Paul’s letter to the Hebrews?

Hebrews 7:22-28
22 This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant.

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever. 25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.

Christ the fulfillment.

 

[James248]

Christ the fulfillment.

Meaning that He is the end of the Law?

 

[jcrichton]

Isn’t EVERYONE bound to the New Covenant?

Hi, James!

Yes, Christians are bound to the New Covenant. It is St. Paul’s argument:

8 For finding fault with them, he saith: Behold, the days shall come, saith the Lord: and I will perfect unto the house of Israel, and unto the house of Juda, a new testament: 9 Not according to the testament which I made to their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt: because they continued not in my testament: and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the testament which I will make to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my laws into their mind, and in their heart will I write them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least to the greatest of them: 12 Because I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more. 13 Now in saying a new, he hath made the former old. And that which decayeth and groweth old, is near its end.

(Hebrews 8:8-13)

21 Was the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe. 23 But before the faith came, we were kept under the law shut up, unto that faith which was to be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our pedagogue in Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after the faith is come, we are no longer under a pedagogue. 26 For you are all the children of God by faith, in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you be Christ’s, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:21-29)
Now, the term obsolete does not mean that the First Covenant was void because of uselessness; rather, in this particular usage it means obsolete because it was not Full and Complete–the New Covenant Brings all into Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus:

11 For which cause be mindful that you, being heretofore Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands; 12 That you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the conversation of Israel, and strangers to the testament, having no hope of the promise, and without God in this world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh: 15 Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace; 16 And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, killing the enmities in himself. 17 And coming, he preached peace to you that were afar off, and peace to them that were nigh. 18 For by him we have access both in one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God,

(Ephesians 2:11-19)
Maran atha!

Angel

 

[fhansen]

Isn’t this the sense one gets from reading Paul’s letter to the Hebrews?

Hebrews 7:22-28
22 This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant.

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever. 25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.

It’s not only that Christ fulfills the law for us, but also that He merits the reconciliation and grace necessary for us to follow Him in fulfilling it as well, to become truly just ourselves, realized by communion with the Trinity. Hebrews goes on to quote the New Covenant prophecy of Jer 31:33-34 in chap 8 and 10 the role that grace is to play in our redeemed lives:

"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. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”

And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary." Heb 10:11-18

 

[fhansen]

The Church teaches that the Old Covenant was never revoked, but made obsolete as jcrichton showed, by being replaced by a new and better one. The difference between the old and new covenants is in how the law is fulfilled in us, not whether it must be fulfilled, in how we become justified, either by our own efforts, apart from God, or in direct communion with Him, apart from whom we can do nothing (John 15:5).

IOW, we don’t become justified in the eyes of God by fulfilling the law first of all so that we can then please and achieve union with Him; rather we must achieve union with Him first of all, upon which He justifies us. This is the reconciled state that Jesus came to accomplish between us and God, as our sins our first forgiven, wiped away, and a new life of ours that includes God can begin, the life that Adam forfeited at the Fall. This is the meaning of verse 34 in Jer 31:33-34:

“No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

This knowing God is the essence of faith and our relationship-our* communion-* with Him.

 

[Vico]

Meaning that He is the end of the Law?

Example: The Jew would be ritually unclean if they helped the robbed man. They would obey their law but not that of charity.

John 13
31 When he therefore was gone out, Jesus said:

Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God be glorified in him, God also will glorify him in himself; and immediately will he glorify him. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me; and as I said to the Jews: Whither I go you cannot come; so I say to you now. 34 A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.​

Luke 10
25 And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting him, and saying, Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?

26 But he said to him: What is written in the law? how readest thou?

27 He answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And he said to him: Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

29 But he willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbour?

30 And Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. 31 And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. 32 In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. 33 But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. 34 And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee. 36 Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbour to him that fell among the robbers?

37 But he said: He that shewed mercy to him.

And Jesus said to him: Go, and do thou in like manner.