New Testament Or Old – Which One Should I Follow?

 

 

In 2 Timothy 2:15, the Bible says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”

 

This wording clearly describes an important principle involved in properly understanding the Bible. We must learn to properly divide or distinguish between the laws and commands of God that were given to people of other ages and the laws He expects us to keep in this, the Christian Age.

 

In order to illustrate this fact, it is easy to understand that we are not commanded to build an ark of gopher wood simply because God once told Noah to build one! Everyone understands that this was a command of God to Noah, it does not apply to people in the present age and God never intended for people of all ages to keep it. It is written in our Bible simply to provide historic information about God’s dealings with man before the Christian Age began. We need to be able to distinguish which parts of the Bible are historical records of law and events of past ages and which apply directly to us, to be kept in this, the Christian Age.

 

Then what is the purpose of the Old Testament? The word “testament” comes from a Greek word which means “a Will or covenant.” The Old Testament is so called because it deals almost exclusively with the first or “old” covenant which God made with mankind. This old covenant, which came through Abraham and was made with the children of Israel on Mt. Sinai, was the first of two great covenants or Testaments that God has given to man (Hebrews 8:6-13). Under each of these covenants, God gave man certain laws to keep, and in turn, promised His help and protection to the faithful.

 

This first, the Old Testament, was completed at the death of Christ when He fulfilled it and “took it out of the way,” replacing it with His second great covenant, the New Testament (see Colossians 2:14, Hebrews 9:15).

 

In Hebrews 8:7, we read, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” Again in chapter 10:9, the writer adds that, “He taketh away the first that He may establish the Second.” The first or Old Covenant was national, rather than universal; that is, it was never made with all nations as is the second or New Testament under which we now live. But it was a covenant between god and the children of Israel (Jews). See Deuteronomy 5:1-3.

 

God’s law to the Israelites under this covenant was given through Moses on Mt. Sinai (also called Mt. Horeb) and contained not only the Ten Commandments, but also listed detailed information concerning the requirements of animal sacrifices, burnt offerings and a number of other things that we shall see later are not required of us under the New Covenant (See Leviticus 5:1-13, and Numbers 28:1-11). Under the Old Testament, God counted certain animals as being “unclean” and hence condemned the people of that age for eating them. Two of the animals that could not be eaten were the hog and the rabbit (Leviticus 11:1-8).

 

In addition to the first covenant, the Old Testament books also provide a brief history of how God dealt with people even before the Law of Moses was given. During this period of more than 2500 years from the creation of Adam and Eve to the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, God did not have a written law with men, but dealt with them individually through the heads of families. These family heads were known as “Patriarchs” which means “fathers,” and this age is therefore referred to as the Patriarchal Age. Little is known of this period except the brief account found in the book of Genesis.

 

The great bulk of the remaining Old Testament books are devoted to the Mosaic Age and the first great covenant that God gave through Moses on Mt. Sinai. This covenant was destined to last until Christ should come and give us His new will for the Christian Age, in which we now live (Galatians 3:6 and 19).

 

Then what is the purpose of the New Testament? The New Testament (or new covenant) is the revelation of God’s new will to men. While the Old Testament’s Law of Moses was directed only to the Jews, the new covenant came through God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, and is extended to all men everywhere (Deuteronomy 5:1-3, Mark 16:15-16, Hebrews 12:24 And 8:6). It is often referred to simply as The Gospel and to refuse to obey it is to be forever lost (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

 

Under the New Testament, the requirements of the Lord are not the same as those under the Old Testament’s Laws of Moses. Just as God once told Noah to build an ark of gopher wood, but does not now require people to build such arks, God once required the Jews who lived before Christ to obey and keep the Old Testament “law”, but He has now fulfilled that covenant and replaced it with “a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). This change of covenants was the fulfillment of a prophecy found in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

 

The New Testament, or new will of God to men, came into effect when Christ died on the cross, for we read in Hebrews 9:15-17 “And for this cause, he (Christ) is the mediator of the New Testament . . . For where a testament is, there must also of necessity, be the death of the testator. For a Testament (will) is of force AFTER MEN ARE DEAD, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”

 

From this, we learn that the New Testament did not come into effect until Christ actually died on the cross. This explains why Christ taught His disciples to keep the Old Testament law of Moses during his public ministry, since the Old Testament was still in effect until He died and sealed the new covenant with His blood. Christ himself was born and lived in the period when the Law of Moses was still in effect (Galatians 4:4).

 

After the death of Christ, however, not a single inspired writer ever taught that people should obey the Old Testament as God’s law for this age.

 

From the cross forward, it is always the new covenant for New Testament that we are required to keep and not the Old Testament Law with its animal sacrifices and burnt offerings. Even the principles of the Ten Commandments are not to be followed today simply because God commanded them to the Jews under the first covenant, since the Law of Moses containing these commandments has already been abolished or “taken away” (Ephesians 2:15).

 

The reasons for keeping these principles today are because all of the teachings of the Ten Commandments, with the exception of “remember the Sabbath Day . . .” which was also commanded again as part of the New Testament Gospel of Christ. The Old Testament Sabbath, which was always on Saturday, not Sunday, was not restated as part of the Gospel of Christ (Leviticus 23:3); instead, the disciples were to meet “upon the first day of the week” which is Sunday (check any calendar!) (Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

 

Listed below are several additional scripture references which further show that we are not under the Old Testament “law” today:

 

Romans 7:1-4 Christians are dead to The Law (Old Testament) and to follow it today is to commit spiritual adultery!

Galatians 5:3-4 Those justified by The Law (follow the Old Testament) are fallen from grace. Galatians 3:19 The Law was to last only until Christ came. The term “seed”, used in this passage, refers to Christ. See verse 16 also.

 

Galatians 3: 24-25 “ . . . The Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” but “we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”

 

See also Acts 15:1-6 and 22-27; Hebrews 7:12; Ephesians 2:13-15; Galatians 4:21-31.

 

Some people ask, “What about the thief on the cross?” If you’ll check John 19:33, you will find that Jesus died  BEFORE the thief on the cross. As a matter of fact, the soldiers had to break the bones of the two thieves so that they WOULD die! Jesus himself had the option of accepting the thief into paradise, which he did in Luke 23:42. The thief acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God in Luke 23:42 when he said, “Remember me when thou comest into thy

kingdom.”

 

Skeptics then further assert that baptism was not required for the salvation of the thief. They are correct, because the Great Commission to be baptized was not given until after the death of Jesus, when he was resurrected and appeared to His disciples in Mark 16:15-16! If they studied, read, and knew their Bible, they would know the answer.