My view about the new testament law is not that the old testament law was abolished and replaced with the new testament law but that the new testament law pre existed the Mosaic law and Mosaic law simply no longer applies since there is no more community that upholds it due to Jewish disdain for the law of Moses on a collective level even though some Jews respected it on an individual level.
Jesus obeyed the law of Moses on a individual level in the midst of a generally disobedient Jewish society
Although Jesus was obedient to the old testament laws he did not spread them to the next generation as a future prescribed practice through his apostles (an apostle is not a hierarchical title but someone sent out to communicate information) but instead spread the messages of the moral teachings found in the new testament which pre-existed the Mosaic law without disobeying the intention behind the Mosaic law.
The old testament was intended as a societal norm for a local community and no longer can be followed collectively when there is no more old testament based community and in that sense it has expired without being abolished.
If some group of Jews wanted to they could re establish a community under most of the principles of the Mosaic law as much as possible in things not pertaining to the destroyed temple and other impossible practices but as a collective overall Jews have have forsaken the old testament law for the Talmud and other religious practices that contradict it. The old testament law was never abolished but it was forsaken on the level of a community and since it pertained to community practice can no longer apply without a community to consent to it and to enforce it on those who consent to it.
The old testament law for the Jewish community was an add on to the new testament law which applied to all people. Jesus wanted to focus on helping all people and focused his teachings on reminding people of the new testament laws that pre existed Moses which were contained or at least many of which were contained within a portion of the old testament writings which pertained to all people along with add on teachings which applied to Jews only during a certain place and time which Jesus may have addressed but did not emphasize on teaching the next generations to follow through his apostles.
When I say through his apostles I do not mean to legitimize a hierarchical Church institution but simply mean, he delegated certain people to share his teachings who are dead today as far as anyone knows, the Roman Catholic Church or a similar organization does not contain living people who knew Jesus (seeing him in the flesh) in their top leadership. The writers of the new testament did not teach Gentiles to follow any of the portions of the old testament law that were only specific to the local Jewish community when they handed down what they learned from Jesus. Peter and Paul eventually started to live like Gentiles (even though they retained their Jewish ancestry) as you can read about in Galatians 2:14
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
Galatians 2:14 NIV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2&version=NIV
Accessed online on 2018 January 21
I am aware of the possible inconsistency in what I said referencing Galatians 2:14 because it says here he forces Gentiles to follow Jewish customs but I believe in the big picture my main point is correct as in the long run he lived like a gentile and taught people to live like gentiles but gentiles who followed the new testament laws not wicked and lawless Gentiles.
Some scholars think James the brother of Jesus may have retained following all the old testament laws possible (in attempted effort not in self righteous claims to perfection) rather then living like a Gentile and following only the commands in the old testament that applied to both Jews and Gentiles for all time which I have been calling new testament laws. Some scholars interpret writngs like this to presume James still followed the old testament.
He alone was permitted to enter the holy place, for he did not wear woollen but linen garments.And he frequently entered the temple alone and was frequently found situated upon his knees asking forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard after the manner of a camel, on account of always bending down upon a knee while worshipping God and asking forgiveness for the people.
https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/45451/origin-of-the-story-that-james-had-knees-as-hard-as-a-camels-because-of-prayin
Accessed online on 2018 January 21
James the brother of Jesus might have been the last Jew to follow the old testament law, since those who rejected Jesus primarily went to other paths such as what was later written down as the Talmud centuries after Jesus execution in which oral teachings (not found in the old testament) created both before and after Jesus were compiled in written form and most of the Jews who followed Jesus started to live like Gentiles. Additionally the temple was destroyed making following the old testament law in entirety impossible, however most Jews did not even try to follow the laws that remained possible to follow.
Brief summary regarding the relation to the new testament laws and the Mosaic law
The new testament law existed eternally and the Mosaic law is an additional set of laws that a specific community agreed to for a specific time period and location which does not contradict the new testament law, but is allowed to be an add on set of laws allowed within the parameters of the new testament laws.
What do I mean by the new testament laws in the context of this article and possibly this article alone.
By new testament laws I mean God's eternal moral teachings which were summarized in an incomplete form in the new testament as the new testament recorded Jesus words which summarized God's moral principles for mankind but all the books in the world could not contain every minutia of details for what should be done in the most obscure situation a person might encounter so although the moral principles God wants man to participate in are described in the new testament it is described in a simplified form likewise the Mosaic law was a simplified form of the basics of what people should have done in the community they lived in but neither included all the minute details and case by case exceptions.
Relationship between the Mosaic laws and the later old testament laws
The laws in the old testament for the Jewish community was established with Moses and became modified through prophets over time as a subclause of the Mosaic law. As a prophet like Moses described in Deuteronomy 18 would be a prophet foundational to the law code for Jewish society. Jews often falsely accuse Christians of changing the old testament laws, but Genesis is part of the old testament that predates Moses and did not contain the Mosaic laws, so when Moses came there was a change in laws for Jewish people. Abraham would have broke major Mosaic laws such as marrying his half sister if these Jewish critics of Christianity were correct (See Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20.)
14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lordour God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.
Deuteronomy 18:14-17 NIV
Accessed online on 2018 January 21
The Mosaic laws supplemented the new testament laws by consensual agreement allowing harsh punishments that might have been forbidden without unanimous community consent.
Although these harsh laws might have made things worse for the violators if they received a death penalty they may have saved lives of community members and made things better for the community on a collective level. For example giving the death penalty for adultery may execute an adulterer but it may save multiple lives by preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. If you take the new testament moral principles as the starting place with no extra laws on top of it, I believe it would be forbidden to execute adulterers even though it was also forbidden to commit adultery but I believe there was an underlying unwritten principle that if a group of people wishes to have punishment for a certain offense and they unanimously agree to it they can do so to members of the group that entered the agreement. This does not legitimize the so called governments of today because they are not based on real consent to their legal system, I never signed the constitution of the United States. Where is the agreement?
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron,Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”
3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws,they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
Exodus 24:1-4 NIV
Accessed online 2018 January 21
Where are the eternal new testament laws found in the old testament writings
Although this is an incomplete list
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery,you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[c] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
[c] Matthew 19:19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deut. 5:16-20
[d] Matthew 19:19 Lev. 19:18
[c] Matthew 19:19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deut. 5:16-20
[d] Matthew 19:19 Lev. 19:18
Mathew 19:18-19 NIV
Accessed online 2018 January 21
But the new testament laws could not predate the old testament because the new testament was written later?
I am saying the shared rules for Jews and gentiles existed before Moses and continued after Jesus they were eternal. The following is not a perfect proof of what I am saying because people will argue if the gospel includes laws like not to murder, etc. or is merely something to believe but consider it.
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.
2018 January 21
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