Christians, Can I get a straight answer?

Question

Some people told me that Jesus' crucifixtion established a new law that superceded and overturned the Jewish Law of the time.

Other people told me that explicitly that none of the Old Testament Jewish Law was ever overturned.


I don't have a horse in this race.

These answers came from Christians, but they contradict each other.

Can someone just please tell me which of these Christians was correct?


And don't flame me!
All I'm looking for is one consistent answer. It's not my fault that people are contradicting each other.

Nikki, your intellectual contributions to my questions are astounding, as usual.

Answer 1

Good luck!
I think in their religion, they just pick and choose what suits them at the moment.
I couldn't be a christian even if I wanted to. It's so confusing and contradictory.

Answer 2

People that are so called "christians" will often contradict each other because they don't read their bibles. Any member of a "christian" religion that is a part of christendom will most likely provide you with an answer that at best will have a loose basis in the bible. The answer to your question can be found at Jeremiah 31: 31-34.Basically it says there that God will conclude a new covenant with Israel and Judah. This covenant was not with the natural Jews but with the spiritual nation of Israel or those that had put faith in Jesus. (Galatians 3: 26-29) Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic law. That law was designed to point to his coming and highlight the significance of what he did for us. So to directly answer your question, yes the "old" or Mosaic law covenant has been "superseded" by the new covenant that Jesus concluded with the new "spiritual" nation of Israel. This information is not from me, it is from the bible. I know that many will disagree with what I have said but that is alright. I am more that willing to back up what I have said here with references from the Bible and explain in more detail to anyone willing to learn.

Answer 3

Jesus did not overturn any of the laws. He died for our sins. We no longer have to make the blood sacrifices that were made by then and the High Priest, once a year, had to take the sins of the people into the Holy of Holies for the people, but not anymore. The Jews, I understand still live by the old law, but Christians do not. That is the only law that Jesus changed. We do not have to go through a priest anymore. We have a direct line to God through Jesus. That is what the Sanhedrin wanted Him dead for, because He was taking the power from them. It is such a long complicated story, I cannot get it all in here.

Answer 4

When you say "Jewish Law", I am assuming you are talking about the law of Moses, (what most people believe is the 10 commandments, but is actually much more than that.)

God gave the law of Moses to the Jewish people (through Moses) so that they could see that they could not merit salvation by their own works because they could not keep the whole law.

The Bible says:

Jam 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all.

If a Jew were to keep the whole law, in every point, for his entire life, but at the end broke the tiniest of laws in the slightest degree, it would be the same as if he had broken ALL of the laws.

By His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus made it possible for a person to have direct access to God the Father through ONLY ONE mediator; that was Himself. A person didn't need to have a priest, pastor, or religious person contact God on his behalf as in old testament times.

Also, on the day of Pentecost (shortly after Jesus's assention to Heaven), the difference between the Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) was done away with. Both could be saved by grace, through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

During Jesus's earthly ministry, he said:

Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Jesus's mission to this earth was to fulfil every prophecy that was made about Him in the old testament, down to the last dot of the "I" or cross of the "T".

Jesus sacrifice on the cross didn't do away with anything. For Jesus to do away with any portion of His word, would be changing the rules in the middle of the game. Again the Bible says:

Mal 3:6 For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Psa 119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.


It seems that some of the people who have been talking to you have the opinion that Jesus's sacrifice did away with the law of Moses, whereby the individual Jew could "earn" Heaven. But, if that is their view, then it is flawed. Though the Jews may have believed that by keeping the law they could merit Heaven, this was quickly and repeatedly shown not to be the case. But, as for the law of Moses themselves, they still exist and are observed by a number of non-messianic Jews (those that have rejected Jesus at His first coming, and are still looking for their promised messiah) as a religious tradition. Keeping of the law of Moses, while possibly important to the synagogue in their religious observances, has nothing to do with genuine, Biblical Christianity and salvation.

Hope this helps you, If I can assist you more, please write me.

Dear Old Dad

Answer 5

I am not a Christian, but I do study and follow the teachings of Christ....

The Jewish law was built on the teachings of Moses (the Torah). It is a very arduous set of rules that has to be strictly followed in order to be "holy" according to Moses.

When Christ came, the Jewish leaders hated him because he taught the new covenant. He taught that all the laws of Moses could be summed up in 2 rules: To love God with all your heart, body, soul, mind, and spirit...And to love your neighbor as yourself. It is that simple.

So by satisfying those 2 rules, you are in essence fulfilling the Mosaic law....The new covenant is a spiritual path rather than a task oriented path.

The religious leaders eventually snuffed Christ out because they thought that they were the men of God and they did not want this radical person teaching their followers such liberal garbage....

Hope that helps some....

Answer 6

The Bible clearly states that Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it !
Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins once and for all so that the Jewish priest did not have to go into the holy of holies once a year to make atonement for the peoples sins!
When Jesus walked the earth He participated in the Passover feasts and all of the Jewish feasts for that matter! The Jews are to remember the Passover forever!

Answer 7

Jesus established a new "covenant", not law. The new covenant was the forgiveness of sin through His blood. The old covenant was the covering of sin through sacrifice and law keeping.
I will state again, if a law in the Old Testament is repeated in the New Testament, it is to be followed by the Church. The Levitical laws were for a certain people, in a certain place and a particular time.

Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of Law for righteousness to everyone that believes.

Rom 10:4 -
For Christ - This expression implies faith in Christ. This is the design of the discussion, to show that justification cannot be obtained by our own righteousness, but by faith in Christ. As no direct benefit results to people from Christ unless they believe on him, faith in him is implied where the word occurs in this connection.
Is the end of the law - The word translated “end” means what completes a thing, or renders it perfect; also the boundary, issue, or termination of anything, as the end of life, the result of a prophecy, etc.; Joh_13:1; Luk_22:37. It also means the design or object which is had in view; the principal purpose for which it was undertaken; 1Ti_1:5,” The end of the commandment is charity;” the main design or purpose of the command is to produce love; 1Pe_1:9, “The end of your faith, the salvation of your souls;” the main design or purpose of faith is to secure salvation; Rom_14:9, “To this end Christ both died,” etc. For this design or purpose. This is doubtless its meaning here. “The main design or object which the perfect obedience of the Law would accomplish, is accomplished by faith in Christ.” That is, perfect obedience to the Law would accomplish justification before God, secure his favor and eternal life. The same end is now accomplished by faith in Christ. The great design of both is the same; and the same great end is finally gained. This was the subject of discussion between the apostle and the Jews; and this is all that is necessary to understand in the case. Some have supposed that the word “end” refers to the ceremonial law; that Christ fulfilled it, and brought it to an end. Others, that he perfectly fulfilled the moral law. And others, that the Law in the end leads us to Christ, or that its design is to point us to him. All this is true, but not the truth taught in this passage. That is simple and plain, that by faith in Christ the same end is accomplished in regard to our justification, that would be by perfect obedience to the moral law.

Answer 8

Go to Matthew 19:16-26. Jesus uses this story to point out that none of us are able to get to Heaven just by following the law. That those who live by the law are also condemned by it. With Jesus came a new set of commandments, the love commandments. They state that you should love the lord your God and that you should love your fellow man, and that all your actions should be ruled under them. We were freed from the law and now live under grace. This was actually a tough one for me for a long time because I had been raised in a legalistic church, it was through much study and prayer that I came to peace on this subject. I pray the same for you.

Answer 9

None of the laws have been set aside by Jesus Crucifixion on the cross rather Jesus death fulfilled the laws in that salvation or pleasing God came not from obedience in all the laws, which was impossible, but rather salvation came from belief in Christ and being justified by his shed blood on the cross. In essence He was mankind's sacrifice to atone for all their sins and transgressions of the laws both past, present and future. So in Christ all the Laws were fulfilled in that a person was made perfect in the eyes of God under the blood of Jesus sacrifice on the cross.

Answer 10

Well you can't really generalize all Christians and say we all have to believe the same thing. The definition of Christian is a person that believes the teachings of Jesus Christ. Hence why a Catholic person is a Christian just like a Protestant. Obviously they have different belief about the Bible or they wouldn't be different denominations. Just like two Atheists can share the fact that they both don't believe in God but totally disagree on their theories about the universe.

Answer 11

The coming of the messiah changes a lot of things. Sin is not inevitable and Jesus only rewrote Jewish traditions, not God's laws and commandments. Sin is no longer inevitable because redemption and repentance is possible. The messiah is to bring together the scattered children of God. Salvation no longer became limited to the Jews, but to gentiles as well.