BIBLICAL BRIEFS 69
Many Seventh-day Adventists, also the British Israelism, some fundamentalist believers, or those who follow the new Judaism, often quote 1John. 2:6 to justify their adherance to the law: “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked”, and therefore as He kept the law, so should we. We often loose sight of the fact that Jesus still lived his life under the old covenant. The new covenant only commenced after Jesus’ death. Therefore, Jesus could also unequivocally say in Matt. 5: 17-18 – “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” The word that sets this part in the right perspective is the word “fulfilled”, or in Greek: “pleróō”. In Greek, the word means: “to fulfill, bring to a full end, accomplish, complete”. In itself, the law will always be applicable to those the law was given to, because it is the keystone of their covenant. However, the old covenant is not at all the covenant that was cut with Christians, but with the people of Israel. Ex. 31: 16-17 spells out to whom the Law applies: “Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel …” Therefore, it will remain valid for those who enter into this covenant, until the proverbial cataclysmic event of heaven and earth coming to an end. Jesus did not come to give the external of the cup of law a new meaning, but to fill it with the true substance, the actual meaning, Himself. What the law proposes is, in fact, a hollow image of the fullness that can only be fulfilled in Christ Jesus to His fullness (“plḗrōma”). Gal. 5:4 is a serious warning to anyone who wants to cling to the Old Testament laws whilst confessing the new covenant: “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
Dr. Tom Gouws
