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Torah and the New Covenant Lesson 2

“TORAH AND THE NEW COVENANT”


Lesson Presentation
Lesson 2

THE BOOK, THE LAW, OR THE COVENANT?


a. A major problem developed for the Church in the second century, in
approaching and understanding the Bible. Establishment of "Old Testament" and
"New Testament" concepts. Development of Latin translations.

b. More accurate Biblical terms are "Old Covenant" and "New Covenant."
They are referring to the Covenant of the Law, the particular agreement which God
made with Israel at Sinai.

The Book

What do some Christains mean when they say that the "Old Testament"/Tanakh, the
Hebrew scriptures, have passed away?

He appeared to some disciples and said to them "’O foolish men and slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for Messiah to
suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning with “Moses” and all
the “prophets”, He explained to them the things concerning himself in all the
scriptures." Luke.24:25-27

Hi did not mentioned “writings” but only “Moses” (Torah) an “Prophets” for
prophetic reasons.

The Scriptures prophetically describe the life, death, and resurrection of the
Messiah. The fulfillment of those prophecies demonstrates that Yeshua is the
Messiah.

On another occasion he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you
while I was still with you that all things that are written about me in the Law of

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Torah and the New Covenant Lesson 2

Moses and the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their
minds to understand the Scriptures." Luk 24:44,45

In the gospels, no one of the disciples ever quoted a single word of Scriptures. After
Yeshua taught them, that changed.

Kefa (Peter) always called the people to pay attention to what God had said in
Tanakh:

"And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to
pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and
the morning star rises in your hearts." 2 Pet. 1:19

Prophesies about Mashiach is a light shining in the


dark place.
God promised Avraham that he would be heir of all the earth. That promise has not
passed away. All believers, even those who are Gentiles, must be children of
Abraham to share in what God promised to Abraham. This is very important. (Rom.
4; Gal. 3)
Paul wrote about all the things that happened to Israel in the wilderness that,
"These things happened to them as an example and they were written for our
instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come." I Cor 10:11

The Scriptures are still God’s Truth, and they still instruct us as to how we should
live – even until the end of this age.

God doesn't change. Humanity doesn't change either.


The same issues that arose in the time of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy still arise today.

Shaul instructed Timothy to raise up faithful men and teach them what Paul had
taught him. "Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and
being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become
convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood
you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that
leads to salvation through faith which is in Yeshua, the Messiah. All scripture is
breathed by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for
every good work." 2 Tim.3:14-17

"the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever."
Isaiah 40:8

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Torah and the New Covenant Lesson 2

If the 80% of the Word of the Lord that is Tanakh has passed away already, what
hope is there for the remaining 20%?

The Law (of Moses)


Standard Christian approach that "Old Testament" means the Law of Moses, and that
the Law of Moses has passed away.

Martin Luther wrote that, "Christ has abolished all the laws of Moses that ever
were." [Commentary on Galatians, Martin Luther, Translated by Erasmus
Middletown, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI, 1976, P.223]

The Torah (Law) is eternal. It cannot be abolished or destroyed. It is spiritual, holy,


righteous, and good. God gave it and God breathed it. Like all the Word of God, it
doesn't pass away.

The historical record very clear. All the apostles, including Paul, lived in accordance
with the Law of Moses.
All the Jewish believers did.

Irenaeus - disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of the apostle John. About 180 A.D., he
wrote a book "Against Heresies", to safeguard the faith delivered by the apostles.
He recorded the simple historical fact: "And the Apostles who were with James
allowed the Gentiles to act freely, yielding us up to the Spirit of God. But they
themselves, while knowing the same God, continued in the ancient
observances...Thus did the Apostles, whom the Lord made witnesses of every
action and of every doctrine... scrupulously act according to the dispensation of
the Mosaic law..." Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol.5/1, trans. by A. Roberts and J.
Donaldson, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1867, Pp.313-314

The Law is the means by which we know what sin is.

"What shall we say then is the Law sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would
not have come to know sin except through the Law for I would not have known
coveting if the Law had not said you shall not covet." The Law defines and
prohibits sin. Romans 7:7

"And where there is no law there is no transgression." Rom. 4:15

Sin is lawlessness. It is breaking God's Law. cf. 1Jn. 3:4, Rom 2:12b

If there were no law or commandment, then there would be no right or wrong.

Paul understood the Law to be our tutor.


It teaches us:

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– what righteousness and love are.


– teaches us of God’s justice and judgment.
– leads us to Messiah.

As Moses said to Israel, "And what other nation is so great as to have such
righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you
today?" Deut.4:8

Yeshua taught that everyone would be judged for their sins. So did Paul. So did
Peter. So did John. They never taught that God’s Law had passed away.

The Covenant of the Law


" ‘Behold days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I
made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke although I was a husband to
them,’ declares the Lord." Jer. 31:31-34

God promised to make a new covenant with Israel – the same Israel that He brought
out of Egypt and which later broke the Covenant of the Law.

The "Old Covenant" is the agreement that God made with Israel at Sinai. It was
God’s gracious gift. God had chosen Israel long before Sinai when He chose
Avraham, Itzhak, and Jaacov.
Being chosen preceded redemption. It was because God had chosen Israel that He
redeemed Israel.
The Law itself not a means of salvation or redemption.
Redemption from Egypt preceded the giving of the Law.

The Law taught the chosen, redeemed people how to


live before God.
There it is: Election – Redemption - Torah
The Covenant of the Law was given out of God's love, mercy, and grace, but it
promised judgment and death to those who broke it.

The New Covenant is not God's means of destroying His Law. It is His means of
establishing it. "I will write my Law within you. I will write it on your hearts, put it
in your minds."

That’s why Yeshua said, "Don’t even think that I came to destroy the Law. I didn’t
come to destroy it, but to bring it to fullness/to fulfill it/to establish it." All Israel

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had proclaimed many years before: "Cursed is he who does not


confirm/fulfill/raise up the words of this law by doing them." Dt.27:26

As King of the Jews, Yeshua lived according to the holy law which God had given to
Israel. That Law was breathed by God, given by His Spirit.

Yeshua lived in harmony with the Law, because he


lived in harmony with the Spirit.
That’s why Shaul wrote, "Do we then abolish the Law by faith? God forbid. We
establish it." Rom.3:31

That's the whole purpose, that the righteousness of God might be established in us.

"so that the righteous requirements of the Law might be fully met in us, who do
not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Rom. 8:4
God has always commended and desired righteousness, according to His revealed


standard.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of


the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the
seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and
on His Law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted
by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose
leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." Tehillim.1:1-3

Etz Hayim Messianic Jewish ministry 2010

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