Hi Mike,

What is meant by the different ‘laws’ mentioned in the New Testament? Is the law of Christ different from the law of Moses?

W____

Hi W____,

Here is a link to the article The Law of Moses Versus the Law of the Spirit on the law of Matthew 5 and 6, “the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). The “you have heard it said by them of old” is the “old wine” of the old covenant “bottle” and the “old garment”, which cannot be mixed with or fixed by the “new cloth” of the new covenant.

Christ warns us to be careful to keep the new in the new and the old in the old “else the bottles will be broken and the wine spilled.”

Paul specifically states that “the law [of Moses] is for the lawless and disobedient.” He says it “is NOT for a righteous man” (1Ti 1:9-10).

This is a lengthy article because the man asking the questions which necessitated this paper believed that the “these least commandments” of Mat 5:19 was referring to the law of Moses and the ten commandments. Both Christ and Paul speak of a “new covenant” which necessitated a “change also of the law” (Heb 7:12). This is the exact same “the law” referred to in the previous verse: “under the law” (vs 11). This law “made nothing perfect” (vs 19) so it was “changed” (vs 7), “disannulled” (vs 18), “nailed to the cross” (Col 2:14), “abolished…the law of commandments…” (Eph 2:15), etc. I was forced for this man’s sake to cover all these and many other phrases.

I welcome any constructive, scriptural criticism you might offer or any question you might have for me, since I know you are familiar with all these scriptures.

I do hope you have at least perused the paper on how the apostles handled scripture. The briefest examination of the Old Testament scriptures quoted in the New Testament shows any open-minded person that the writers knew nothing of today’s commonly accepted ‘context only’ oriented hermeneutics. The apostles had an entirely different way of understanding and using the “word of truth.”

I believe that if we do not see the scriptures as they saw them, we will be nothing less that “the natural man [which] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God” (1Co 2:14).

The “for they are spiritually discerned” of this verse does not mean they are understood by ‘considering the context.’ That is exactly what any honest “natural man” would do. “Spiritual discernment” is demonstrated abundantly by the way the Gospel writers and the writers of the epistles and Revelation use the Old Testament scriptures.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike Vinson