Christian views on the Old Covenant

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Carl Heinrich Bloch
, Danish painter, d. 1890.

The

origins of Christianity and has occasioned serious dispute and controversy since the beginnings of Christianity: note for example Jesus' teaching of the Law during his Sermon on the Mount and the circumcision controversy in early Christianity
.

Gentiles (including Christians), with the exception of the Seven Laws of Noah
, which (according to Rabbinic teachings) apply to all people.

Most Christians, such as the

all parts still apply
to believers in Jesus and in the New Covenant.

Distinct views

Catholic

The Ten Commandments on a monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol which includes: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy".

Theologian

Christ".[8] Accordingly, upon the coming of Christ they ceased to bind,[9] and to observe them now would, Aquinas thought, be equivalent to declaring falsely that Christ has not yet come, for Christians a mortal sin.[10]

However, while the judicial laws ceased to bind with the advent of Christ, it was not a mortal sin to enforce them. Aquinas says, "If a sovereign were to order these judicial precepts to be observed in his kingdom, he would not sin."[11] Although Aquinas believed the specifics of the Old Testament judicial laws were no longer binding, he taught that the judicial precepts contained universal principles of justice that reflected natural law. Thus some scholars refer to his views on government as "General Equity Theonomy".[12]

Unlike the ceremonial and judicial precepts, moral commands continue to bind, and are summed up in the Ten Commandments (though the assigning of the weekly holiday to Saturday is ceremonial). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

"2068 The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: 'The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord … the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments.'"
2070. The Ten Commandments belong to God's revelation. At the same time they teach us the true humanity of man. They bring to light the essential duties, and therefore, indirectly, the fundamental rights inherent in the nature of the human person. The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law: "From the beginning, God had implanted in the heart of man the precepts of the natural law. Then he was content to remind him of them. This was the Decalogue" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4, 15, 1: PG 7/1, 1012).
2072. Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbour, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.[13]

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the

Apostles[14] instituted the religious celebration of Sunday without transferring to it the ceremonial obligations associated with the Jewish Sabbath,[note 1] although later some of these obligations became attached to Sunday, not without opposition within the Church.[15] The Roman Catholic Church thus applies to Sunday, the Lord's Day, the Third Commandment.[note 2]

Lutheran

Law and Grace (c. 1529), by Lucas Cranach the Elder, a Lutheran. The left side of the tree illustrates law, while the right side illustrates grace.

Article V of the

Lutheran Church declares:[16]

We believe, teach, and confess that the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is to be maintained in the Church with great diligence as an especially brilliant light, by which, according to the admonition of St. Paul, the Word of God is rightly divided.

The distinction between

Lutheran Orthodoxy
) this principle was considered of fundamental importance by Lutheran theologians.

The foundation of evangelical

Lutheran biblical exegesis and exposition is contained in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession
(Article 4) (1531):

All Scripture ought to be distributed into these two principal topics, the Law and the promises. For in some places it presents the Law, and in others the promise concerning Christ, namely, either when [in the Old Testament] it promises that Christ will come, and offers, for His sake, the remission of sins justification, and life eternal, or when, in the Gospel [in the New Testament], Christ Himself, since He has appeared, promises the remission of sins, justification, and life eternal.[17]

Lutherans, quoting Colossians 2 and Romans 14, believe that circumcision and the other Old Testament ceremonial laws no longer apply to Christians.[18]

Reformed

The decalogue of the reformed church of Ligerz, Switzerland

The view of the

Westminster Divines, only the moral laws of the Mosaic Law, which include the Ten Commandments and the commands repeated in the New Testament, directly apply to Christians today.[21] Ceremonial laws, in this view, include the regulations pertaining to ceremonial cleanliness, festivals, diet, and the Levitical priesthood
.

Advocates of this view hold that, while not always easy to do and overlap between categories does occur, the divisions they make are possible and supported based on information contained in the commands themselves; specifically to whom they are addressed, whom or what they speak about, and their content. For example, a ceremonial law might be addressed to the Levites, speak of purification or holiness and have content that could be considered as a foreshadowing of some aspect of Christ's life or ministry. In keeping with this, most advocates also hold that when the Law is spoken of as everlasting, it is in reference to certain divisions of the Law.

Anglican and Methodist

Dispensationalism

As a theological system,

dispensations or ages. Traditional dispensationalists believe only the New Testament applies to the church of today whereas hyperdispensationalists
believe only the second half of the New Testament, starting either in the middle of Acts or at Acts 28, applies.

Wayne G. Strickland, professor of theology at the Multnomah University, claims that his (not necessarily "the") Dispensationalist view is that "the age of the church has rendered the law inoperative".[23]

This view holds that Mosaic Laws and the penalties attached to them were limited to the particular historical and theological setting of the Old Testament. In that view, the Law was given to Israel and does not apply since the age of the New Covenant.

Replacing the Mosaic Law is the

“Law of Christ”
, which however holds definite similarities with the Mosaic Law in moral concerns, but is new and different, replacing the original Law. Despite this difference, Dispensationalists continue to seek to find moral and religious principles applicable for today in Mosaic Law.

Believing the New Covenant to be a new dispensation, George R. Law has proposed that the Law of Christ is recorded in Matthew 5-7. He suggests that Matthew's record of the Sermon on the Mount is structured similar to the literary form of an ancient Near Eastern covenant treaty. Law's theory is built on the work of

Donald J. Wiseman, and George E. Mendenhall. This new covenant form, like other variations of the covenant form throughout ancient history, can be identified by its combination of ancient covenant elements. If this record in Matthew can be identified as the record of the promised New Covenant, then its contents can also be identified as the formal presentation of the Law of Christ (and includes Christ's new Ten Commandments).[24]

One view of Dispensationalism divides the Bible into these seven periods:

  1. of innocence (Gen 1:1–3:7), prior to Adam's fall;
  2. of conscience (Gen 3:8–8:22), Adam to Noah;
  3. of government (Gen 9:1–11:32), Noah to Abraham;
  4. of patriarchal rule (Gen 12:1–Exod 19:25), Abraham to Moses;
  5. of the Mosaic Law (Exod 20:1–Acts 2:4), Moses to Jesus;
  6. of grace (Acts 2:4–Rev 20:3), the current church age; and
  7. of a literal, earthly 1,000-year Millennial Kingdom that has yet to come (Rev 20:4–20:6).[25]

A misunderstanding of Dispensationalism sees[citation needed] the covenant of Sinai (dispensation #5) to have been replaced by the gospel (dispensation #6). However, Dispensationalists believe that ethnic Israel, distinct from the church, and on the basis of the Sinai covenant, are featured in New Testament promises, which they interpret as referring to a future time associated with the Millennium of Revelation 20 (dispensation #7). In Dispensational thought, although the time from Jesus' resurrection 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, see also Christian Zionism[citation needed].

Theonomy

Starting in the 1970s and 1980s, an obscure

Puritans, which holds that the civil laws have been abrogated though they remain useful as guidance and revelation of God's character.[27]

Some theonomists go further and embrace the idea that the whole Law continues to function, contending that the way in which Christians observe some commands has changed but not the content or meaning of the commands. For example, they would say that the ceremonial commands regarding

Christ's sacrificial death and the Communion mandate is looking back on it, the former is given to the Levitical priesthood and the latter is given to the priesthood of all believers, but both have the same content and meaning.[28][29][30][31]

New Covenant Theology

NCT claims that all Old Covenant laws have been fulfilled by Christ and are thus cancelled or abrogated

Christian churches do not believe the Ten Commandments and other Divine laws of the Old Covenant have been "cancelled."[34]

New Covenant theologians see the Law of Christ or New Testament Law as actually including many of the Divine Laws, thus, even though all Old Covenant laws have been cancelled, many have still been renewed under the Law of Christ. This is a conclusion similar to older Christian theological systems on this issue, that some Old Covenant laws are still valid, but this understanding is reached in a different way. On the issue of the law, Dispensationalism is most similar to NCT, but New Covenant Theology may be still evolving a coherent system that will better distinguish itself from it. Richard Barcellos has criticized NCT for proposing that the Ten Commandments have been cancelled.[35]

Dual-covenant theology

In the years after the Holocaust, at least one article has questioned whether Christianity requires a triumphalist stance towards Judaism.

supersessionist view that under the New Covenant the Christian people were the new spiritual Israel, further, that "the old carnal Israel had been superseded".[36]

There are some Christians who reject the supersessionist view.

Liberal Christian view that holds that God's biblical covenant with the Jewish people is everlasting.[37][citation needed
]

Torah observance

new covenant. There are both ethnically Jewish and Gentile Torah-observant Christians.[38]

Law-related passages with disputed interpretation

The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament describes a conflict among the first Christians as to the necessity of following all the laws of the Torah to the letter, see also Council of Jerusalem and Incident at Antioch.

Some have interpreted the

Unvarnished New Testament[42] has: "purging all that is eaten." See also Strong's G2511.[43]

The disputed word is καθαρός meaning "purity". Gerhard Kittel writes "It is of the essence of NT religion that the older, ritual concept of purity is not merely transcended, but rejected as non-obligatory. Religious and moral purity replaced ritual and cultic."[44] Jesus develops his doctrine of purity in his struggle against Pharisaism[45] and in Matthew 23:25–26 he rejects observance of ritual purity regulations because this kind of purity is merely external. What defiles a person comes from within, from the human heart Mark 7:20–23[45]

Others note that Peter had never eaten anything that was not

kosher many years after Acts 2 (Pentecost). To the heavenly vision he announced: "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean."[46] Therefore, Peter was unaware that Jesus had changed the Mosaic food laws, implying that Jesus did not change these rules. Later in Acts, Peter realizes the vision is in reference to the gentiles now cleaned through Christ. In Mark 7, Jesus may have been just referring to a tradition of the Pharisees about eating with unwashed hands. The expression "purging all meats" may have meant the digestion and elimination of food from the body rather than the declaration that all foods were kosher. The confusion primarily centers around the participle used in the original Greek for "purging". Some scholars[who?] believe it agrees with the word for Jesus, which is nearly 40 words away from the participle. If this is the case, then it would mean that Jesus himself is the one doing the purifying. In New Testament Greek, however, the participle is rarely that far away from the noun it modifies, and many scholars agree that it is far more likely that the participle is modifying the digestive process (literally: the latrine), which is only two words away.[citation needed
]

Still others[

Hebrew: בין האדם לאדם bein ha'adam la'adam). No doubt Jesus considered the relationship to God important, but Jesus may have considered that the young man was perhaps lacking in this second set, which made him obligated to men. (This is implied by his statement that to be perfect he should sell his goods, give them to the poor and come and follow Jesus — thereby opening to him a place in the coming Kingdom.)[citation needed
]

Several times Paul mentioned adhering to "the Law"

Antithesis of the Law
.

History and background

Hellenism

Map of Alexander's empire, c. 334–323 BC

The conquests of

Age of Pericles), along with a fusion of Near Eastern cultures.[50]

This synthesised

Paul of Tarsus and Judaism
.

There was a general deterioration in relations between hellenized Jews and religious Jews, leading the

Iudaea province
.

Nevertheless, the cultural issues remained unresolved. The main issue separating the Hellenistic and orthodox Jews was the application of biblical laws in a Hellenistic (

early Christians came largely from the group of hellenized Jews who were less attached to Jewish rituals, philosophies and practices.[note 3] See also Anti-Judaism
.

Paul the Apostle and Biblical law

Some scholars see

Divine Law
".

Council of Jerusalem

Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19–29
, c. 50 AD.

The Council of Jerusalem

Abrahamic Covenant.[57]

Modern differences over the interpretation of this come from the understanding of the use of the word "Law" in Paul's writings (example: Gal 3:10) as referring only to Mosaic Law (Torah) but in 1st century Hebrew understanding had multiple meanings which also included Jewish and Roman civil laws.

At the time, the Christian community would have considered itself a part of the wider Jewish community, with most of the leaders of the Church being Jewish or Jewish

proselytes
.

The decision of the Council came to be called the Apostolic Decree

Noahide Law, while some modern scholars[62] reject the connection to Noahide Law[63] and instead see Lev 17-18[64] as the basis. See also Old Testament Law applicable to converts and Leviticus 18
.

Noted in Acts 15:19-21, James tells the Jewish believers to understand his reasoning for writing letters to Gentile believers when he says, "For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath." Knowing the new converts would have to attend a synagogue in order to learn the history of Israel and the Church, James set the Gentile believers up with a beginning attitude of precaution towards those who would preach Moses' Law as a requirement for Gentile believers.

The Apostolic decree may be a major act of

Temple proper and certain rituals.[67] This created problems especially when the Christian community had become dominated by former Gentiles with less understanding of the reasons for the dispute.[citation needed][68]

Marcion

In the middle of the

second century, bishop[69] Marcion proposed rejecting the entire Jewish Bible, indeed he considered the God portrayed there to be a lesser deity, a demiurge. His position however was strongly rejected by Proto-orthodox Christianity, notably Tertullian and Irenaeus.[70] The terms Old Testament and New Testament are traditionally ascribed to Tertullian, but some scholars[71] instead propose Marcion as the source while other scholars propose that Melito of Sardis coined the phrase Old Testament.[72]

Johannes Agricola

In 1525, Johannes Agricola advanced the doctrine that the Law was no longer needed by regenerate Christians.[73] This position however was strongly rejected by Luther and in the Formula of Concord as antinomianism.

Leo Tolstoy

In 1894,

Antithesis of the Law, was the true message of Jesus. Although Tolstoy never actually used the term "Christian anarchism", reviews of his book appear to have coined the term.[74][75]

Recent scholarship

Recent scholars who have been influential in the debate regarding the law include

C. E. B. Cranfield,[citation needed] and others, as well as some of those involved with the New Perspectives movement.[76]

In 1993,

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The choice of the last day of the week (Saturday) and the rules about the precise manner of keeping that day holy are seen as ceremonial precepts like those about abstention from eating pork or from having sex with a woman during her periods.
  2. ), differs from that followed by other Protestants.
  3. Didascalia
    that the ethical teachings in the Epistles of Paul and of Peter were derived (see Seeberg, "Der Katechismus der Urchristenheit," 1903, pp. 1–44)."
  4. Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai
    were occurring about the time of his maturity."

References

  1. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Gentiles: Gentiles May Not Be Taught the Torah.
  2. ^ "God's Law in Old and New Covenants". Orthodox Presbyterian Church. 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  3. ^ Dayton, Donald W. (1991). "Law and Gospel in the Wesleyan Tradition" (PDF). Grace Theological Journal. 12 (2): 233–243.
  4. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 100
  5. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 100
  6. ^ Exodus 21
  7. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 103, a. 1
  8. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 102, a. 2 (emphasis added)
  9. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 103, a. 3
  10. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 103, a. 4
  11. ^ Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 104, a. 3
  12. ^ See Clausen, Mark A. "Theonomy in the Middle Ages". Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott Wardman Park, Omni Shoreham, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC.
  13. ^ "Part 3, Life in Christ: Section 2, The Ten Commandments: "Teacher, what must I do ...?"". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
  14. ^ Apostolic Letter Dies Domini, 1; The Catechism of the Council of Trent: The Jewish Sabbath Changed To Sunday By The Apostles
  15. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Sunday
  16. ^ Triglot Concordia, FC Epitome V, (II).1, p. 503ff
  17. ^ F. Bente and W.H.T. Dau, ed. and trans. Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), Apology IV (II).5, p. 135
  18. ^ "Genesis 17:6ff - Everlasting". WELS Topical Q&A. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Archived from the original on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  19. ^ a b Bahnsen, et al., Five Views on Law and Gospel. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).
  20. ^ Philip S. Ross, From the Finger of God: The Biblical and Theological Grounds for the Threefold Division of the Law. (Fearn: Mentor, 2009).
  21. ^ WCF: Chapter XIX
  22. ^ .
  23. ^ Five Views on Law and Gospel, Gundry editor, Chapter 4: The Inauguration of the Law of Christ with the Gospel of Christ: A Dispensational View by Wayne G. Strickland, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993, page 259
  24. ^ George R. Law, “The Form of the New Covenant in Matthew,” American Theological Inquiry 5:2 (2012). For more information on the content of the Law of Christ including His Ten Commandments see George R. Law, The Law of Christ: God's Will for New Testament Believers (Pfafftown, NC: Ready Scribe Press, 2011).
  25. ^ Scofield Reference Bible
  26. ^ Ingersoll, Judie (2013). "Religiously Motivated Violence in the Abortion Debate". In Juergensmeyer, Mark; Kitts, Margo; Jerryson, Michael (eds.). Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 316–317.
  27. ^ Duncan, J. Ligon III (October 15, 1994). Moses' Law for Modern Government. Annual national meeting of the Social Science History Association. Atlanta, GA. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  28. ^ Rousas John Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law. (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Pub. Co., 1973).
  29. ^ Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics. (Nacogdoches, TX: Covenant Media Press, 1977).
  30. ^ Gary North, Gary DeMar, Christian Reconstruction: What It Is, What It Isn't. (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1991).
  31. ^ Greg L. Bahnsen, No Other Standard: Theonomy and Its Critics. (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1991).
  32. ^ "TMSJ 18/1 (Fall 2007) 149-163: Introduction to New Covenant Theology" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-17. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  33. ^ ALL Old Testament Laws Cancelled: 24 Reasons Why All Old Testament Laws Are Cancelled and All New Testament Laws Are for Our Obedience, Greg Gibson, 2008, page 7: "New Covenant Theology (the view in this book) is a rapidly-spreading view with a better priest, better sacrifice, and better covenant (containing a better law)."
  34. ^ Colossians 2:14 is the origin of the term "cancelled" in New Covenant Theology.
  35. ^ In Defense of the Decalogue : A Critique of New Covenant Theology, Richard Barcellos, Founder's Press, 2001. Barcellos is an associate professor of New Testament Studies at the Midwest Center for Theological Studies.
  36. ^
    ISSN 0003-3286. Archived from the original
    on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2017-05-29.
  37. ^ Genesis 17:13
  38. ^ Kaiser, Menachem (February 4, 2014). "FOR SOME BELIEVERS TRYING TO CONNECT WITH JESUS, THE ANSWER IS TO LIVE LIKE A JEW". Tablet. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  39. ^ Mark 7:19
  40. ^ Matthew 15:15–20
  41. ^ Strong's G2511
  42. ^ Kittel, Gerhard. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
  43. ^ a b Verbrugge, Veryln. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Zondervan.
  44. ^ Acts 10:14
  45. ^ Romans 2:12–16, Romans 3:31, Romans 7:12, Romans 8:7–8,Gal 5:3, Acts 24:14, Acts 25:8
  46. ^ 1 Cor 5:11, 1 Cor 6:9–10, 1 Cor 10:7, 1 Cor 10:14, Gal 5:19–21, Eph 5:5, Col 3:5, Acts 17:16–21, Acts 19:23–41
  47. ^ Ante-Nicene Fathers: Tertullian: Against Marcion: Dr. Holmes' Note: "In [Luke 23:2], after the words "perverting the nation," Marcion added, "and destroying the law and the prophets; Gospel of Marcion: Jesus Before Pilate and Herod
  48. ^ Roy M. MacLeod, The Library Of Alexandria: Centre Of Learning In The Ancient World
  49. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Saul of Tarsus: Not a Hebrew Scholar; a Hellenist
  50. ^ Ben-Sasson, 1969, page 204
  51. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Hellenism: "Post-exilic Judaism was largely recruited from those returned exiles who regarded it as their chief task to preserve their religion uncontaminated, a task that required the strict separation of the congregation both from all foreign peoples (Ezra x. 11; Neh. ix. 2) and from the Jewish inhabitants of Palestine who did not strictly observe the Law (Ezra vi. 22; Neh. x. 29)."
  52. S2CID 29580193. Retrieved 2007-07-24.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  53. ^ Acts 15
  54. ^ Genesis 17:9–14
  55. ^ Acts 15:19–21
  56. ^ Acts 15:19
  57. Apostolic Canon, expressly blames the Latins because they had ceased to observe this command. What the Latin Church, however, thought on this subject about the year 400, is shown by St. Augustine in his work Contra Faustum, where he states that the Apostles had given this command in order to unite the heathens and Jews in the one ark of Noah; but that then, when the barrier between Jewish and heathen converts had fallen, this command concerning things strangled and blood had lost its meaning, and was only observed by few. But still, as late as the eighth century, Pope Gregory the Third 731 forbade the eating of blood or things strangled under threat of a penance of forty days. No one will pretend that the disciplinary enactments of any council, even though it be one of the undisputed Ecumenical Synods
    , can be of greater and more unchanging force than the decree of that first council, held by the Holy Apostles at Jerusalem, and the fact that its decree has been obsolete for centuries in the West is proof that even Ecumenical canons may be of only temporary utility and may be repealed by disuser, like other laws."
  58. ^ Contra Faust, 32.13
  59. , chapter V
  60. ^ Genesis 9
  61. ^ Lev 17–18
  62. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Baptism: "According to rabbinical teachings, which dominated even during the existence of the Temple (Pes. viii. 8), Baptism, next to circumcision and sacrifice, was an absolutely necessary condition to be fulfilled by a proselyte to Judaism (Yeb. 46b, 47b; Ker. 9a; 'Ab. Zarah 57a; Shab. 135a; Yer. Kid. iii. 14, 64d). Circumcision, however, was much more important, and, like baptism, was called a "seal" (Schlatter, "Die Kirche Jerusalems," 1898, p. 70). But as circumcision was discarded by Christianity, and the sacrifices had ceased, Baptism remained the sole condition for initiation into religious life. The next ceremony, adopted shortly after the others, was the imposition of hands, which, it is known, was the usage of the Jews at the ordination of a rabbi. Anointing with oil, which at first also accompanied the act of Baptism, and was analogous to the anointment of priests among the Jews, was not a necessary condition."
  63. ISBN 1-4051-0899-1, Page 174: "In effect, they [Jewish Christians] seemed to regard Christianity as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with the addition of one extra belief — that Jesus was the Messiah. Unless males were circumcised, they could not be saved (Acts 15:1
    )."
  64. ^ See, for example, Exodus 12:48.
  65. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Gentile: Judaism not hostile to Gentiles: "In judging the halakic enactments one must keep in mind not merely the situation of the Jews—engaged in a bitter struggle for self-preservation and exposed to all sorts of treachery and suffering from persecution—but also the distinction between law and equity. The law can not and does not recognize the right of demented persons, minors, or aliens to hold property. Even modern statutes are based on this principle; e.g., in the state of Illinois, U. S. A., an alien can not inherit real estate. But what the law denies, equity confers. The Talmudic phrase "mi-pene darke shalom" ("on account of the ways of peace"; see below) is the equivalent of the modern "in equity.""
  66. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Marcionites: "Moreover, it is obvious that Marcion was already a consecrated bishop."
  67. ^ Against Heresies 3.12.12: "For all those who are of a perverse mind, having been set against the Mosaic legislation, judging it to be dissimilar and contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel, have not applied themselves to investigate the causes of the difference of each covenant. Since, therefore, they have been deserted by the paternal love, and puffed up by Satan, being brought over to the doctrine of Simon Magus, they have apostatized in their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that they have themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another god; and [maintained] that the apostles preached the Gospel still somewhat under the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they themselves are purer [in doctrine], and more intelligent, than the apostles."
  68. ^ The Canon Debate, editors L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002), Everett Ferguson in chapter 18 quotes Tertullian's De praescriptione haereticorum 30: "Since Marcion separated the New Testament from the Old, he is necessarily subsequent to that which he separated, inasmuch as it was only in his power to separate what was previously united. Having been united previous to its separation, the fact of its subsequent separation proves the subsequence also of the man who effected the separation." Note 61 of page 308 adds: "[Wolfram] Kinzig suggests that it was Marcion who usually called his Bible testamentum [Latin for testament]."
  69. ^ A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations page 316
  70. ^ F. Bente, Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, chapter XVII: The Antinomistic Controversy, (St. Louis, MO: CPH, 1921), 161-172, cf. p. 169.
  71. ^ William Thomas Stead, ed. (1894). The review of reviews. Vol. 9. p. 306.
  72. ^ Mather & Crowther, ed. (1894). The Speaker. Vol. 9. p. 254.
  73. ^ Krister Stendahl argued in ."The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West". Harvard Theological Review 56 (1963), pp. 199–215. Reprinted in Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia: Fortress), 1976, pp. 78–96., that since Augustine, Western commentators have misunderstood Paul, due to an overly active conscience.
  74. Page 343: "The entire Mosaic law comes to fulfillment in Christ, and this fulfillment means that this law is no longer a direct and immediate source of, or judge of, the conduct of God's people. Christian behavior, rather, is now guided directly by "the law of Christ". This "law" does not consist of legal prescriptions and ordinances, but of the teaching and example of Jesus and the apostles, the central demand of love, and the guiding influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit."
    Page 376: "The content of all but one of the Ten Commandments is taken up into "the law of Christ", for which we are responsible. (The exception is the Sabbath commandment, one that Heb. 3-4 suggests is fulfilled in the new age as a whole.)"

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