The New Covenant in My Blood

I remember the first time I made the connection between what Jesus was saying in his last nigh with the disciples and the Old Testament concept of a covenant. It clarified so many important theological ideas that I could not believe it was not one of the firs thing any Bible teacher would have taught me. Before I continue with this let me remind us of a few core ideas.

1. In the OT the genre of law is used to express aspects of God's relationship to his chosen people of promise. They are not just a chosen people, but a people literally born out of the covenant between God and Abraham. 

2. The covenant promises and the expressed purpose for God's choosing work are expressed after the Exodus through Moses at Mt. Sinai. In connection with the covenant are stipulations that define the relationship. God chose them to glorify himself by raising up a kingdom of priests and he had very specific way they were to live to accomplish the task. The Mosaic Law Code is the group of stipulations that define the covenant relationship.

3. I am suggesting then, that stipulations mean nothing outside the context of the covenant relationship. Jesus is the mediator of a new and better covenant that gives fulfillment to the one that came before, and the stipulations of the new covenant come to us as commands to Love God and Love One Another. The reality of what that looks like is filled in through his teaching and the teaching of the Apostles and those that wrote on their behalf (The New Testament). It is authoritative and calls us to a life of holiness and righteousness.

Now in my Biblical Worldview class, I taught the students that Biblical Ethics are rooted in the character of God, such that murder is wrong not just because God says it is, but because it violates his character. In the same way I do not believe murder is wrong because there is an Old Testament Law that says so. The Old Testament law gives expression to the character of God. What is to govern our lives is the Holy character of God. Scripture, covenants, history, and nature reveal His character and call us to obedience. The Old Testament is not full of outdated information that Jesus set aside, but valuable displays of God's character and faithfulness for us to learn from. 

So, I do not follow Old Testament Law in the strictest sense of the term because it is culturally situated for the covenant faithfulness of Israel. I do seek to live in the freedom of the new covenant to add to my faith virtue and character like unto Christ. The command to Israel was "live in the land and be separate for my glory and namesake". The command to the church is to go into all the world, and I believe because of the difference of the mission in the different economy of God's plan he has set us free from any cultural hangups, and called us to live holy lives in the culture which he places us. It is very different from what he had for Israel, but flows out of the same heart. Thoughts?