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Faramir
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| Joined: | Fri Jan 25th, 2008 |
| Location: | Louisville, Kentucky USA |
| Posts: | 9 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Baptist, being drawn to the Catholic Church |
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Posted: Tue Feb 5th, 2008 04:47 am |
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This question does not pertain to any specific point of Catholic doctrine, but is something I have wondered about as a Protestant. As Christians, we take joy in the fact that we are free from the constraints of the Law of the Old Covenant and have freedom in Christ (see Galatians). However, Jesus said that he came to "fulfill" the Law, not abolish it, and that no part of the Law will pass away until He returns. I have never understood exactly what this means. Basically, I am trying to understand how we are still required to obey the Ten Commandments but are allowed to eat pork? Why is homosexuality still condemned as a sin, but Christians (most of them, anyway) no longer advocate death by stoning as the proper punishment for it? Understand that I am not questioning the correctness of those conclusions, but the reasoning behind them.
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"Almost the whole of Christian theology could perhaps be deduced from the two facts: (a) That men make coarse jokes, and (b) That they feel the dead to be uncanny."
- C.S. Lewis, Miracles
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Free
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| Joined: | Wed Nov 28th, 2007 |
| Location: | Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 157 |
| First Name: | Jane | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Presbyterian, Gnostic, non-denominational, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Feb 5th, 2008 10:40 am |
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I'm reading a little book right now that deals with your questions. It's entitled Many Religions--One Covenant and it's written by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. In one place he explains that each aspect of the Law as laid out in the Torah has been taken up into the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. He writes: "The New Testament sees the death of Christ in this perspective, as a fulfillment of this course of events [referring back to the Cross as being not accidental]. That means then that all cultic ordinances of the Old Testament are seen to be taken up into his death and brought to their deepest meaning. All sacrifices are acts of representation, which, from symbols, in this great act of real representation, become reality, so that the symbols can be dropped without one iota being lost." A few sentences later he writes: "The ethos remains grounded and anchored in the cult, in the worship of God, in such a way that the entire cult is bound together in the Cross, indeed, for the first time has become fully real."
Deep thoughts, yet I hope helpful to you.
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Robert
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| Joined: | Mon Nov 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | Germany |
| Posts: | 89 |
| First Name: | Robert | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | The whole spectrum from black to white, now 100% Catholic! |
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Posted: Tue Feb 5th, 2008 11:04 am |
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When considering the „Old Covenant“ or „Old Testament“, it helps to think of both as the First Covenant or First Testament.
As you mentioned Jesus came to fulfil the Law in “the New Covenant” (cf. Mt 5:17f).
In a number of New Testament writings, Jesus explains the Law of Moses by expanding on the theme using the introduction “And I say unto you” (cf. Mt 19:8f.).
Jesus also helps in making changes to the Law (e.g. the dietary laws) in order to open his church to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 10:11-15).
I understand the 10 Commandments as the 10 Commandments of love e.g.:
If I love my God, I will have no other before him…
If I Love my Parents, I will honour them…
If I love my neighbour, I will not kill him…
Etc.
Any good study Bibel has cross-refererences between the first and new Testaments which help a great deal to understand passages concerning the "Law" and its new Testament understanding.
Last edited on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 11:06 am by Robert
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Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15)
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BeProf
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| Joined: | Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 |
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| Posts: | 62 |
| First Name: | Ed | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Independent Fundamental Baptist - Atheism - Christian & Missionary Alliance |
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Posted: Wed Feb 6th, 2008 04:57 pm |
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That very question just came up on another board that I'm on and the answer, I believe, lies in the the two fold purpose of the Law.
Let's take an example from the Law to help us understand it...
We're told in Leviticus 20 that the penalty for adultery in ancient Israel was death. If that Law is still binding on us today, we should be stoning adulterers in our churches. But that Law isn't binding on us today anymore than we have to offer turtledoves for certain sins and goats for others. Christ fulfilled the Law for us. We don't have to.
That having been said, the question we need to ask ourselves when looking at the Law is *why* does God tell ancient Israel to kill adulterers? Clearly it is because God thinks adultery is sinful and it is clearly something God takes very seriously. That hasn't changed. That's an immutable facet of His divine nature. God thought adultery was sinful long before Moses received the Law and He still considers it sinful today. The Law, while not being binding on us, has told us something about God's nature and, I dare say, His Natural Law.
That's the two fold purpose of the Law. On the one hand, it was a God given set of rules and regulations for a particular people in a particular time and it no longer applies to us. On the other hand, it is an important lens into the heart and mind of God regarding human behavior. By examining our behavior against the Law we can come to a deeper understanding of our own sinfulness and need for Christ's redemption.
Paul speaks of the Law in Galatians 3 as a "tutor" or "schoolmaster" or even "babysitter" designed to prepare the world for Christ's coming. It's like training wheels. Now that we have the real thing - Jesus - we don't need the training wheels but we still need to remember the lessons that the training wheel were there to teach us.
Make sense?
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beachmoss
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| Joined: | Mon Nov 13th, 2006 |
| Location: | Simpsonville, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 270 |
| First Name: | Beth | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Catholic (raised Baptist) |
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Posted: Wed Feb 6th, 2008 05:01 pm |
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Ed,
You made perfect sense. I really like the analogy of the training wheels.
And welcome to the forum!
Beth
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