The Ten Commandments no longer apply...

If anyone tells you that the Ten Commandments still apply to you, a Christian, you can politely inform them that they don't because you are Christian, not Jewish.

For Christians today, the Ten Commandments no longer apply. Does that sound radical? Well, the Bible actually says so!!!

Take a look at Hebrews 8:7-13 -

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 

8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 

(So, God says He is going to make a new covenant)

9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 

(This covenant is not going to be the same as the first one made with the children of Israel who were led out of Eygpt. Which covenant was made at that time? The Ten Commandments (and other miscellaneous laws, see Deuteronomy 5 - 27).

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

(This is the New Covenant that has REPLACED the Old Covenant! The laws are no longer written on stone tablets, but in our minds and hearts. 

So does this mean people can go out and commit adultery, murder, etc.? Well, the Ten Commandments no longer apply, but look at what has replaced it - God's going to put His laws in His people's hearts and minds. Do you think God would put a thought like - go cheat on your spouse or kill so-and-so in your heart or mind? The answer is of course NOT! 

So, why the big deal, if ultimately, it leads to a similar way of living? 

It is a big deal, because of the way the Old Covenant was worded. If people obeyed all the laws, all the time, they would be blessed. If they failed to obey even one time, they would be cursed. As Jesus said, if you get angry at someone without cause, that's considered murder, and if you look at someone lustfully, God views that as adultery. (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28). Now let's be honest. Have you ever gotten angry at someone for no good reason or admired another human body? The law is perfect, but man isn't, so ultimately, man is doomed to failure under this system. 

God was merciful and gave us another chance in the form of a New Covenant. In the New Covenant, how does God deal with man's imperfections?)

11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

(Verse 12 is a beautiful and amazing statement - God has chosen to forget our sins and lawless deeds! But how does this fit into the concept of God being a just God? He said previously that if we broke a law, we'd be punished. Now He's saying He'll forget all about it.... Now God can certainly change any rule He wants to, but He doesn't work that way. So, what happened?

Jesus came down to earth and said, Punish Me, instead. God punished His own Son on the cross, instead of us. And after all our sins were punished, God said He will remember them no more. That's Grace!)

13 In that He says, “A new covenant, ” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The previous covenant is obsolete because Jesus fulfilled it. All that we were unable to do, He did for us. This is why He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17) God is now able to justly forget our sins and lawless deeds because Jesus has been punished for them on our behalf.  This is the New Covenant of grace!

Why is this so important? Because if you keep putting yourself under the Old Covenant (ie. the Ten Commandments), and keep struggling to obey the law, you are actually implying (although you may not mean to) that Jesus' work on the cross was not necessary. It also keeps you further from (rather than closer to) God, because you know deep inside that it is impossible for you to keep the law perfectly. 

(And you can't be angry at me for saying this because then you'd just have broken a law...)

(This is a really huge topic and not everything is covered in this post. I've only concentrated on Hebrews 8 here and the general concept of the Old and New Covenants.)




A Graceful Epiphany

20 something years in a traditional denominational church and yes, I'd heard a lot of and read a bit of the Bible. I was familiar with most of the parables, Jesus' life and a lot of other Biblical stories - I thought I was familiar with the pertinent details a Christian ought to know. I'd read the whole of Genesis. And struggled through Deuteronomy. I've even had my share of exploration and doubt and spent some time wondering how accurate the Bible actually was and if I needed God at all. But slowly I felt God calling me back and I came full circle and returned to Him. I was that lost sheep He went searching for and found at one time, the prodigal son who returned. But...

... my true moment of Christian Epiphany came on 6th August 2004, when I attended an evening service at New Creation Church. I was brought there by a friend, and I was more than a little suspicious of what I termed a "happy clappy" type of church. But from the moment their senior pastor, Pastor Joseph Prince started talking, I was captivated by his message. I sat there for the full hour-plus sermon, awe-struck and soaking up the message I heard like a sponge. The words spoke to the depths of my spirit, which heard it and whispered, Yes, this is right. After the sermon, I rushed to find some pen and paper and sat down to write everything I could remember (to my amazement, I found I could actually remember quite a lot). 

One of the first few things I heard that I was struck by was this -

If you do bad things, do you lose favour with God?
No.

If you do good works, do you gain favour with God?
No.

And that one does not do good works to gain favour with God, one does good works out of love for God. 

I also learnt about grace, and the law. Sure, grace is a concept Christians know about. We have been saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. He died for us, took our sins for us. But what about the law, how did that all fit in? I learnt that Jesus fulfilled the law, and that because we are now under the New Covenant, we are no longer under the law of the Old Covenant- the Ten Commandments. We are no longer under the Ten Commandments? What was all that about? I'd grown up watching and loving the Charlton Heston movie "The Ten Commandments" - they showed it once a year every Easter, so I probably saw it more than 10 times. I'd thought the Ten Commandments were an essential part of Christian life... well, I finally found out that yes, it mattered for B.C. people (pre-Jesus), but that today, because of Jesus' sacrifice, all our sins have been forgiven, and we are under the New Covenant of grace! (I'll write more on this at a later date, as it needs further explanation...)

On the evening of my epiphany, I also took my first step into really knowing and feeling God's love for me. It became so much more than a general - hey, God loves you - it was this awesome knowledge that He loved me personally.

I will always look back and remember that feeling of epiphany and revelation, and how for the first time, I felt so alive, loved, and at peace.