The Study of the “Law” & “Sin” Pt. 1

The Old & New Covenant (The Laws)

A covenant is a contract, an agreement, between two parties. When God is one of those parties, it is a very serious contract, a sacred agreement. In fact, God looked at the Old Covenant as a "marriage" contract between Himself and Israel.

In the Old Testament, the word “law” is used to translated the Hebrew word torah, “instruction.” The Hebrew word for “law” probably comes from the causative form of the verb yarah, “to throw,” “to shoot (arrows).” In the hiphil stem, the verb horah means “to point, guide, instruct, teach.” Hence, the law is that which provides authoritative guidance. In the New Testament, the Greek word used for law is nomos. Nomos means “that which is assigned,” hence, “usage, custom,” and then “law,” or “a rule governing one’s actions.”

The Old Covenant Or “Mosaic Law” The law that, according to the Old Testament, God gave to the Israelites through Moses. The Mosaic law begins with the Ten Commandments and includes the many rules of religious observance given in the first five books of the Old Testament. In Judaism, these books are called the Torah, or “the Law.”

Old Covenant Fact: Commandments are divided into positive and negative commands, which are treated differently in terms of --Divine and human punishment. Positive commandments (of which tradition holds there are 248) require an action to be performed, and thus bring one closer to God. Negative commandments (traditionally 365 in number) forbid a specific action; thus violations create a distance from God. In striving to "be holy" as God is holy, one attempts so far as possible to live in accordance with God's wishes for humanity, striving to more completely live with each of these with every moment of one's life. 613 Total

Galatians 3:16 & 19 (The Old until the New) 16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed,"[a] meaning one person, who is Christ. 19What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.

The New Covenant Or “God’s Law” "'The day will come,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah . . . . But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,' says the Lord. 'I will put my law in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Jeremiah 31:31,33).

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law of Moses (Matthew 5:17) and create a new covenant between God and His people. The old covenant was written in stone, but the new covenant is written on our hearts, made possible only by faith in Christ, who shed His own blood to atone for the sins of the world. Luke 22:20 says, "After supper, [Jesus] took another cup of wine and said, 'This wine is the token of God's new covenant to save you – an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.'"

Now that we are under the new covenant, we are not under the penalty of “the law”.

Summary: Old Covenant: The Ten commandments, and a bunch of rituals and rules of religious observance. Before Jesus died and essentially beat ALL sin that will ever exist, (An infinite amount of sin, would require an infinitely perfect sacrifice) people were required to follow certain guidelines that God established in order to stay “Clean” The New Covenant was made real when Christ died. This covenant is a set of rules applied to your heart. The new covenant changes the heart, not just the mind. “'I will put my law in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts” So we observe the law (10 Commandments) but you have really entered into this covenant when these laws are on your heart. (Desire to fulfill them)