Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
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While most
Christian theology Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exeg ...
reflects the view that at least some Mosaic Laws have been set aside under the
New Covenant The New Covenant (Hebrew '; Greek ''diatheke kaine'') is a biblical interpretation which was originally derived from a phrase which is contained in the Book of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 31:31-34), in the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament of the ...
, there are some theology systems that view the entire Mosaic or Old Covenant as abrogated in that all of the Mosaic Laws are set aside for the
Law of Christ "The law of Christ" () is a New Testament phrase. The related Bible verses are in the Pauline epistles at and parenthetically ( "being under the law to Christ") at . Some Christians hold the belief that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the in ...
. However, other theologians do not subscribe to this view, believing that the
Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and the
Prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
form the basis of Christian living and
Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...
, and are therefore not abrogated; rather, they can only be understood in their historical context subsequent to the
advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek '' parousia''. ...
of the
Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
. Individuals who believe that Old Covenant laws have been completely abrogated are referred to as antinomians by various Christian traditions, such as the
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
faith, which teaches that the moral law continues to be binding on the faithful.


New Covenant theology

New Covenant theology New Covenant theology (or NCT) is a Christian theological position teaching that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the central focus of the Bible. One distinctive assertion of this school of thought is that Old Testament Laws have been abr ...
is a Christian theological system that shares similarities with and yet is distinct from
dispensationalism Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...
and
Covenant theology Covenant theology (also known as covenantalism, federal theology, or federalism) is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It uses the theological concept of a covenant as an org ...
.TMS.EDU: TMSJ 18/1 (Fall 2007) 149-163: ''Introduction to New Covenant Theology''
/ref> New Covenant theology sees all Old Covenant laws as "cancelled" or "abrogated" in favor of the
Law of Christ "The law of Christ" () is a New Testament phrase. The related Bible verses are in the Pauline epistles at and parenthetically ( "being under the law to Christ") at . Some Christians hold the belief that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the in ...
or the New Testament.
Douglas J. Moo Douglas J. Moo (born March 15, 1950) is a Reformed New Testament scholar who, after teaching for more than twenty years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, has served as Blanchard Professor of New Testament at the Wheaton Colle ...
has argued that 9 of the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
have been renewed under the New Covenant.


Dispensationalism

As a theological system,
dispensationalism Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...
is rooted in the writings of
John Nelson Darby John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of moder ...
(1800–1882) and the
Brethren Movement The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasize ...
, but it has never been formally defined and incorporates several variants. Major dispensational views divide history into some seven dispensations or ages: #Innocence (Gen 1:1–3:7), prior to Adam's fall; #Conscience (Gen 3:8–8:22), Adam to Noah; #Government (Gen 9:1–11:32), Noah to Abraham; #Patriarchal rule (Gen 12:1–Exod 19:25), Abraham to Moses; #The Mosaic Law (Exod 20:1– Acts 2:4), Moses to Jesus; #Grace (Acts 2:4– Rev 20:3), the current church age; and #The
Millennial Kingdom Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future ...
, a literal earthly 1000-year period that has yet to come ( Rev 20:420:6). Traditional dispensationalists believe only the New Testament applies to the church of today. They see the covenant of
Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
(dispensation #5) as having been replaced by the
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
(dispensation #6), but at least some dispensationalists believe that, although the time from
Jesus' resurrection The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord ...
until his return (or the advent of the Millennium) is dominated by the proclamation of the gospel, the Sinai covenant is neither terminated nor replaced, rather it is "quiescent" awaiting a fulfillment at the Millennium. This time of Jewish restoration has an especially prominent place within dispensationalism. Wayne G. Strickland, professor of theology at the
Multnomah School of the Bible Multnomah University (MU) is a private Christian university in Portland, Oregon. Composed of a college, seminary, graduate school, and online distance-learning program, the university offers bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees, as well as ...
, claims that his dispensationalist view is that "the age of the church has rendered the law inoperative".


History


Paul the Apostle

The relationship between
Paul the Apostle and Judaism Paul the Apostle has been placed within Second Temple Judaism by recent scholarship since the 1970s. A main point of departure with older scholarship is the understanding of Second Temple Judaism; the covenant with God and the role of works as ...
continues to be the subject of research, as it is thought that
Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
played an important role in the relationship between
Christianity and Judaism Christianity began as a movement within Second Temple Judaism, but the two religions gradually diverged over the first few centuries of the Christian Era. Differences of opinion vary between denominations in both religions, but the most importa ...
as a whole. The ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' states that Paul's influence on Christian thinking is more significant than any other
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
author.''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' ed. F.L. Lucas (Oxford) entry on Paul Some scholars see Paul (or Saul) as completely in line with 1st-century Judaism (a " Pharisee" and student of
Gamaliel Gamaliel the Elder (; also spelled Gamliel; he, רַבַּן גַּמְלִיאֵל הַזָּקֵן ''Rabban Gamlīʾēl hazZāqēn''; grc-koi, Γαμαλιὴλ ὁ Πρεσβύτερος ''Gamaliēl ho Presbýteros''), or Rabban Gamaliel I, ...
or as part of
Hellenistic Judaism Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism wer ...
),''The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia'' (1915), Volume 4, page 2276 edited by James Orr others see him as opposed to 1st-century Judaism (see Pauline passages supporting antinomianism and
Marcionism Marcionism was an early Christian dualistic belief system that originated with the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around the year 144. Marcion was an early Christian theologian, evangelist, and an important figure in early Christian ...
), while the majority see him as somewhere in between these extremes, opposed to "Ritual Laws" (see for example Circumcision controversy in early Christianity) but in full agreement on "
Divine Law Divine law is any body of law that is perceived as deriving from a transcendent source, such as the will of God or godsin contrast to man-made law or to secular law. According to Angelos Chaniotis and Rudolph F. Peters, divine laws are typicall ...
". These views of Paul are paralleled by Christian views of the Old Covenant. See also Antithesis in the Bible and
Christianity in the 1st century Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles () and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christiani ...
.


See also

* Biblical law in Christianity * Christian anarchism *
Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...
* Supersessionism


References

{{reflist


External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20140628124122/http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/why-we-are-not-bound-by-everything-in-the-old-law Mosaic law in Christian theology Supersessionism