The Law

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As we already know, Christianity at certain points in history was a shadow of what it could be. Now there are many confusions and contradictions in theological interpretations that seem to be all focused on the distinction between the Old and and New Testaments. Most Christians claim that both the New and Old are equally perfect despite the changes that Jesus made to the ethics of the Israelites. But what are these apparent contradictions? The biggest and glaring one is the Law itself. Many times throughout the Old Testament we get God apparently saying "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". How can be reconciled if apparently Jesus/God gave the Law that he repeatedly corrects? Heres prob the best examples.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” – Matthew 5:38–39

"eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,"-Exodus 21:24

"If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” – Leviticus 20:10

“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground….”Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.'” – John 8:3-11

How could God who says he "does not change" and "God is One" says contradict himself so much? Well the answer to the early Christians was relatively simple. As they couldn't justify certain acts like God condoning the killing infants, and woman being raped in the Old Testament. They had a rather ingenious solution to this. But first we must read some verses from Paul and the Stephen speech in Acts.

"Galatians 3:19-20 "Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given by angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator however implies more then one party, God is One."

"Acts 7:38-He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us."

"Acts 7:53-you who have received the Law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it."

"We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will."-Hebrews 2:1-4

These suggest in fact the Law was given by angels, and possibly not by God, or at least not directly. Intermediaries were involved in giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. Many Christians early on used these passages to claim the Law was inferior because it was not by God directly, which is why Christ came to free us from the bondage of it.

"When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."-Colossians 2:13-15

This seems to even imply that the Law and the mediators of it were between us and Christ. Also we this striking passage in Hebrews:

So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless. (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.-Hebrews 7:18-19

It makes no sense for the devout Christian Paul to condemn the Law if it was directly from God. Which clearly is what Paul is implying it was not. Plus Paul further on in Colossians even calls those of self righteousness and adherence to strict rules as "angel worshippers". The Old Testament is rather vague on this matter but in Deuteronomy 33:2 it says that on Mount Sinai, God had angels or holy ones in his presence in the deliverance of the Law to Moses. Now to say the Law and Old Testament are evil and should be thrown away is not what the early Christians seemed to think at all. In fact it supposedly prophesied the coming of Christ, and spoke of Truths, such as Ezekiels vision of God, the vision of Isaiah of God and the Seraphim, and many others. But it seemed that the Old Law was imperfect, and in need of completion of another. Thomas Aquinas illustrates this rather well:

“I answer that, The Law was given by God through the angels. And besides the general reason given by Dionysius. That “the gifts of God should be brought to men by means of the angels,” there is a special reason why the Old Law should have been given through them. For it has been stated that the Old Law was imperfect, and yet disposed man to that perfect salvation of the human race, which was to come through Christ. Now it is to be observed that wherever there is an order of powers or arts, he that holds the highest place, himself exercises the principal and perfect acts; while those things which dispose to the ultimate perfection are effected by him through his subordinates: thus the ship-builder himself rivets the planks together, but prepares the material by means of the workmen who assist him under his direction. Consequently it was fitting that the perfect law of the New Testament should be given by the incarnate God immediately; but that the Old Law should be given to men by the ministers of God, i.e. by the angels. It is thus that the Apostle at the beginning of his epistle to the Hebrews (1:2) proves the excellence of the New Law over the Old; because in the New Testament “God . . . hath spoken to us by His Son,” whereas in the Old Testament “the word was spoken by angels” (Heb. 2:2).

Though in his time this was being overlooked by many others, it wasn't lost on him. And this was certainly not lost on Origen in his commentary on Canticles:

When I was preparing myself for my marriage with the Son of the King and the firstborn of every creature, the holy angels followed me and ministered to me, bringing me the Law as a wedding present. Indeed it has been said that the Law was promulgated through the angels by means of mediator. But, since the world was already nearing its end and still His presence was not granted me, and I only saw His servants rising and descending about me, I poured out my prayer to you, the Father of my Bridegroom, begging you to have pity on my love and send Him to me so that He need no longer speak with me through His servants the angels but might come Himself.

We propose to show how the holy angels who, before the coming of Christ, watched over the bride while she was still young are the friends and companions of the Bridegroom mentioned here… In fact, it seems to me that the Law which was promulgated through the agency of a mediator did indeed contain a foreshadowing of the good things that were to come, but not their actual likeness; and that the events set down in the Law and enacted in figure, although not in reality, are merely imitations of gold, not real gold.

Among these imitations are the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, the Cherubim… the Temple itself, and everything written in the Law. It is these imitations that were given to the Church, the Bride, by the angels, who are the friends of the Bridegroom and who served her in the Law and the other mysteries. That, I believe, is what St. Paul meant when he spoke of the “worship of angels which some enter into blindlypuffed up by their mere human minds” (Col. 2:18) Thus, the entire cult and the religion of the Jews were imitation of the gold. Whenever anyone turns toward the Lord and the veil is lifted from before him, he sees the real gold.

Progressive Revelation seems key to the Christian tradition if we want to move on from some of the less then wholesome stuff we encounter in the Old Testament. As it says in John’s prologue:

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."-John 1:17

In short it seems that the ideas of the New Testament have been lost on many us, Jesus came to correct the sometimes imperfect representation of God we get in the Old Testament, that needed to be fulfilled by grace and truth that Old Covenant lacked. Now i need to repeat myself that unlike Marcion and his followers, i do not condone of throwing out the Old Testament at all. It has plenty of truths and beautiful narratives, but the error of assuming ALL of it is infallible seems to be where we get Christians who think stories like Elijah sending the bears to maul 30 young boys is justified. But their are plenty of great prophets like Isaiah who seem to desire a proto reform in the Law, which could be how in many ways how early Christianity started.

"Therefore the Lord said: "These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men."-Isaiah 29:13

But on a final note, it is important to note that God has made appearances in the Old Testament, and was not absent from it.

"Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him."-John 12:41

"But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."-Exodus 33:20

"The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was."-Exodus 20:21

Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”-Exodus 3:13-14

"Very truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!"-John 8:58

Submitted November 20, 2019 at 02:33PM by TheChaosWalker https://ift.tt/346KWX8