Special Topic: PAUL'S VIEWS OF THE MOSAIC LAW

Special Topic: PAUL'S VIEWS OF THE MOSAIC LAW

Paul follows Jesus' understanding of the relationship between the Old Covenant and His New Covenant (see Special Topic: Why Are OT Covenant Promises So Different from NT Covenant Promises?). This is clearly seen in
1. Matthew 5:17-19, affirmation of the inspiration and eternality of OT revelation.
2. Matthew 5:21-48, affirmation of the superiority of Jesus' words as ultimate revelation from YHWH. He clarifies and reinterprets both
  1. the law of Moses, vv. 31-32 (other examples of Jesus rejecting the Law of Moses
    1. Sabbath priority ‒ Mark 2:23-28
    2. temple priority ‒ Matt. 12:6-8; John 4:19-26
    3. Mosaic Law [i.e. OT Scripture]
      
      (1) food laws ‒ Mark 7:19
      
      (2) divorce ‒ Matt. 5:31-32
      
      (3) only lasted until John the Baptist ‒ Matt. 11:12-13; Luke 16:16
      [priority of Jesus and NT revelation ‒ no national promises mentioned])
  2. the Oral Traditions of the Jews
  3. He also intensifies the prohibitions from the act to the thought
The Mosaic Law is good and is from God (cf. Matt. 5:17-19; Rom. 7:12,16). Galatians 3 is a major NT text on how the OT functions in the New Age.
1. It is not the way to righteousness and acceptance by God (it can even be a curse, cf. Gal. 3:13).
2. It is still God's will for believers because it is God's self-revelation (cf. Matt. 5:17-19, Paul often quotes the OT to convict and/or encourage believers). It functions in sanctification, not justification!
3. Believers are informed by the OT (cf. Rom. 4:23-24; 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:6,11), but not saved by the OT (cf. Acts 15; Romans 4; Galatians 3; the book of Hebrews). See Special Topic: Mosaic Law and the Christian
4. It functions in the New Covenant to:
  1. show sinfulness (cf. Gal. 3:15-29)
  2. guide redeemed mankind in society
  3. inform Christian ethical decisions
    
    It is this theological spectrum related to the Law, from cursing (cf. Gal. 3:10-13) and passing away to blessing and permanency that causes the problem in trying to understand Paul's view of the Mosaic Law. In A Man in Christ, James Stewart shows Paul's paradoxical thinking and writing:
    
    "You would normally expect a man who was setting himself to construct a system of thought and doctrine to fix as rigidly as possible the meanings of the terms he employed. You would expect him to aim at precision in the phraseology of his leading ideas. You would demand that a word, once used by your writer in a particular sense, should bear that sense throughout. But to look for this from Paul is to be disappointed. Much of his phraseology is fluid, not rigid. . . 'The law is holy' he writes, 'I delight in the law of God after the inward man' (cf. Rom. 7:12,22) but it is clearly another aspect of nomos that makes him say elsewhere, 'Christ had redeemed us from the curse of the law' (cf. Gal. 3:13)" (p. 26).
From 2 Cor. 3:7-11, Paul discusses Exod. 34:23-35. In v. 13 he compares the OT vs. NT using Moses' veil
Paul makes several comparisons between Moses' covenant and Jesus' covenant.
1. the Lord of Exodus = the Spirit of Jesus
2. only Moses could approach God intimately versus all believers in Christ can approach God
3. Moses' glory faded versus Jesus' glory never fades
4. Moses' followers cannot see Christ in the OT versus Jesus' followers through the Spirit can correctly interpret the OT in light of Christ
5. Moses brought the bondage of performance versus Christ brings the freedom of grace
6. the letter of the Mosaic Law brings death versus the Spirit of the New Covenant brings life, life eternal, life abundant
7. Moses' covenant was unable to produce a righteous people versus Jesus' covenant does produce righteous people (both objectively in justification and subjectively in sanctification), see Special Topic: Sanctification
From the church council recorded in Acts 15:6-21, which dealt with so many Gentiles responding to the gospel, it debated whether a Gentile must first become a convert to Judaism (i.e. the Judaizers of Galatians).
1. Peter spoke first
  1. They received the gift of the Spirit as Jews had (i.e. Cornelius).
  2. We Jews could not keep the Mosaic Law, why force the Gentile believers to do so? v. 10
2. Paul and Barnabus preached the gospel not the Mosaic Law, v. 12
3. James
  1. quotes the OT to assert the inclusion of the Gentiles was always YHWH's plan
  2. do not require the Gentile believers to bear the yoke of Moses, v. 19

Hebrews was probably not written by Paul, but by someone closely associated with him and his theology. From the theological outline of the book of Hebrews, one can clearly see the superiority of the New Covenant over the Mosaic Covenant, especially 3:1-4:13; 4:4-5:10

Heb. 1:1-3	Superiority of the Son over the prophets
Heb. 1:4-2:18	Superiority of the Son over the angels
Heb. 3:1-4:13 4:14-5:10	Superiority of the Son over the Mosaic Covenant
Heb.6:13-7:29	Superiority of the Son over the Mosaic Covenant Aaronic Priesthood
Heb. 5:11-6:12	Superiority of the believing Jews over unbelieving Jews
Heb. 8:1-10:18	Superiority of the Son over procedures of Mosaic Covenant
Heb. 10:19-13:25	Superiority of the Son advocated and revealed in believers

For me, there are several main texts that drive my understanding of the relationship between the two Covenants of YHWH. Thank God for His self-revelation through Abraham and his descendants; Jesus has fulfilled and over flowed this revelation. He has opened the door for all people (see. Special Topic: YHWH's Eternal Redemptive Plan). Now we must view the OT through the lens of Jesus' ultimate revelation. The NT is not about Israel, but about Jesus! Neither Jesus nor any Apostles reaffirm any OT national promises to Israel! (see Special Topic: Why Do OT Covenant Promises Seem So Different from NT Covenant Promsies?)