January 25, 2022
If all scripture is indeed God inspired and the Christian believer cannot reconcile his/her beliefs to the entirety of scripture (old and new) then clearly it is not the scriptures that are in error, it is the believer’s paradigm that does not account for the validity of all scripture that is actually in error.
2 Timothy 3: 16, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
The New Testament affirms the same as the Old, that “The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6: 4). So if all these statements are scripturally and factually accurate (inspired by God), perhaps our paradigm is wrong and the Law of Moses is not done away, but this same Written Law of Moses is merely under a new administration of grace and mercy.
In fact you will see this fractal of condemnation and death versus grace and abundant mercy presented at both givings of the Law of Moses in the book of Exodus. What is present in both accounts? “The same words”, i.e. the same Written Law. Exodus 20 highlights the giving of the Law of Moses under the administration of Death (the flesh), and Exodus 34 shows the second giving of the Law of Moses under grace and abundant mercy (the spirit and resurrection life). This second writing of the Law of Moses happens with the presentation of the manifest Name of the Lord (YHWH). So instead of having an Old and New Testament, in reality you have The Torah of Sin and Death and the Torah of Resurrection Life presented as a pattern and a fractal. Paul reinforces this knowledge.
Romans 8: 2, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Yeshua hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
We have already proven that the scriptures say that the rabbinical traditions (the Oral Torah) were burdensome and were not required for Christians to obey. But what about the Written Torah, the Law of Moses? Are we no longer under the Law of Moses? Notice the Law of Moses is not abandoned for no law, it is abandoned for a new administration of the Torah (the Law of Moses). Is this statement scripturally true?
2 Corinthians 3: 6, Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
Notice the “ministration” is associated with what is engraved in stones. This is a direct reference to the Written Law of Moses. So the glory of the prior administration relates to the Law of Moses and logically the new administration should also be associated with the law and the covenant as the administrations are presented in direct contrast to one another. We are not seeing imagery of the Law being done away, where first it is there and then it is removed. We are seeing imagery of the same Law being presented with an old and a new administration of the same “stones” and what is “engraved” upon them.
Paul contrasts these ministrations: Flesh versus sprit, death versus resurrection life, condemnation versus grace and mercy. So if the Law of Moses is done away, why do the Apostles keep telling us it is the Law of Moses that identifies sin?
1 John 3: 4, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law (Anomia): for sin is the transgression of the law (Anomia).
The New Testament writers still use the Written Law of Moses to identify what sin is. They are not using Roman law, or a self–interpreted moral law. How do we know this? They identify the source of the Law they are using to identify sin.
2 Timothy 3: 16, All scripture (Torah, Writings, & Prophets) is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
How do we know that he is referring to the Written Torah, Writings, and Prophets?
Acts 17: 11, These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Logically the new potential believers were checking the apostolic writings against the God inspired Torah, Writings, and the Prophets. They would not be checking Paul’s letters against his other letters as this would provide no objectivity for a measure of truth. They needed to validate his teachings against an independent and reliable source. The apostolic writings did not have mass distribution at this point in church history, so they would not be evaluating new apostolic writings against other apostolic writings.
So if the Apostles are still using the Law of Moses, the Written Torah, to validate proper conduct and accurate teaching, what should that tell us about what Christianity should be doing today? Modern teachers say that the Law is written on our hearts now, but not then.
Hebrews 8: 6, But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 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 continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
What does it say is “new”? It is a new administration (mediation), with the principal change being that the same laws are put upon our hearts instead of being written on stone tablets. Why? It was not on our hearts before and caused sin to abound.
The hallmark of this new administration is grace, abundant mercy and life. The old covenant had hallmarks of sin, death, and condemnation. Does Hebrews say, “I will make different laws and put them on your hearts”? No. It says it is the same, “my law” (Hebrews 8:10). We see this clearly illustrated in Exodus 34 and the second giving of the Torah under this new administration of grace and mercy. Take careful note of which laws are now written on our hearts.
Exodus 34: 1, And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tablets of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tablets the words that were in the first tablets, which thou brakest… 4 And he hewed two tablets of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. 5 And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the Name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Did you catch that? This is the same imagery of “writing the Law of God on our hearts” that is used to validate the New Testament by the modern church. The external law is now written internally. But notice it says, “the words that were in the first tablets”, these are the same commandments, not different words. Not better commandments. This dual giving of the Law of Moses is presenting the fractal of death and resurrection, flesh and spirit, condemnation and mercy, and two administrations. It shows the progression from the Law of Sin and Death to the law of resurrection life. Both stone tablets from Exodus 20 and Exodus 34 have the same words and the same commandments written upon them. For the follower of Yeshua, there is no escaping this crucial imagery and terminology of those same words.
So if this is the same imagery that the Christian church uses to justify the validity of the “new” covenant, then why are they not fulfilling the complete pattern of the imagery presented? “The same words” or the same commandments? After all what changed was the administration and the location of those “same words”, not the actual words themselves. Do we then get to pick and choose which “words” to obey? Can I ask a question? Are you keeping the 4th commandment?
Exodus 20: 8, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
After all the 7thday Sabbath is a part of the “same words” that were re–written on the second set of tablets, which the Christian church presents as the same laws and imagery that the believer should have written on their hearts. Can you really fulfill something in your heart and not manifest it in your flesh? The study of the patterns, images, and fractals that we will bring out of the scriptures will leave you with an inescapable conclusion. Because of the scriptures consistent patterns, thematic connections, and repeating imagery you will be faced with an obvious and necessary choice!
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