A dear sister, many years ago, told me that her father’s passionate advice was to never let anyone put her under the Old Law. What was behind this advice?

Alexander Campbell – Sermon on the Law

Delivered at Cross Creek, Va., 1816 – Redstone Baptist Association
“The central point of it was that the Christian system is not a continuation of the Jewish regime but is based on a new covenant which, though prepared for and prophesied in the religion of the Old Testament, is a radically new thing. Therefore, he said, no arguments can be drawn from the Old Testament about the nature or form of Christian institutions.” Winfred E. Garrison (1)
Alexander Campbell saw that the Old Testament = Law, New Testament = Grace. Later disciples went far beyond Alexander Campbell in separating the Testaments.
But the Old Testament is full of grace and God’s steadfast love. Also, Law as Torah is far more than commandments. It is instruction, wisdom, and creative Word. (2)
An early slogan of the Restoration Movement was, “We are Christians only, but not the only Christians.” Sadly, it became a lost slogan.
Later, it was common to say, “We are New Testament Christians.” However, those who never said that, were actual New Testament Christians. There was no New Testament! The Old Testament was the Bible of the New Testament church.
The distinction between the Testaments is not that the Old Testament=Law, and the New Testament=Grace, but that between promise and fulfillment. Fulfillment says that Jesus fills full all the promises and purposes of the Old Testament and its story.

Matthew’s Mountains

There are the mountains that bookend Matthew. They are the Mount of Temptation, and the Mount of Commission. The theme that binds them is who has authority in Heaven and Earth.
Middle Mountains
- Mount of Jesus’ Sermon - Same wording as Moses on Sinai

Exodus 24:12 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the Law and the commandments which I have written for their instruction.” (NASB)

Matthew 5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 And He opened His mouth and began to teach [instruct] them, saying… (NASB)

On the Mount of Transfiguration, we find Moses and Elijah (Law and Prophets), with Jesus.
Both of these Mountains speak of continuity.
Jesus had His own Sermon on the Law, in which He said,
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Again, to FULFILL is not mechanical, but dynamic. Torah is word, teaching, wisdom, and commandments. Jesus embodies the full expression of God’s promises and Hesed. (3) He fulfills all of that.

Grafted into the Great Story

In Romans 11, Paul speaks of Gentile Christians being grafted into the ancient olive tree of Israel.

17 …If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

25 …I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;

he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

27 And this is my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”

PREACHING AND MEDDLING

How we name Jesus can obscure His Jewishness, and our connection with the Story. Jesus Christ is NOT His first and last name. He is Jesus, THE Christ. He is Messiah, Jeshua. (4)
The whole Bible is our true Ancestry.com. We are children of Abraham.
In Christ, we are part of ONE great story.
How great do you think this story is? It is greater than we can imagine.
It is far too great for petty sectarianism!
Let us be centered on the great story and not our preferences. We all have preferences, and they are important, because we are important. But Jesus is Lord of all! We lay our opinions and preferences at the cross.
We are the Bride of Christ, not church consumers.

PRAYER

ABBA, Father, Our world is in turmoil. In the land of our ancestors, by Your adoption, war is and will be raging. We make no easy assumptions about what Your will is in these moments, but we have come to know You through Your Son, Messiah Jesus. We trust Your will! Our will is for a just peace, without carnage, and we bring that to You in confident hope.

Help us to see the great picture of the great story that, by Your grace, is our story. Keep us, we pray, from petty squabbles, while holding firm to Your great Truth and resisting the lies of the Enemy. May this church family be one!

Tim Kelley

(1) https://ccel.org/ccel/garrison/histdisciple.x.html

(2) See my blog “The Gift of Torah,” https://www.littletonchurch.org/blog/2023/8/29/the-gift-of-torah

(3) Throughout the Hebrew Bible, we see Hesed translated in a number of different ways; steadfast love, mercy, kindness, and goodness.

(4) Jeshua/Joshua, means the Lord Saves, and would be His name. Jesus is the English equivalent of His Aramaic/Hebrew name.