4. Is the Law Binding Upon Christians? – Paul M. Williams

Part 4 Many of the misconceptions surrounding the question of this teaching arise from a failure to rightly understand the nature of a covenant.  When the children of Israel said, "…All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient" (Ex. 24:7), the ALL consisted of far more commandments than only ten.  The children of Israel committed themselves to the keeping of some 613 commandments, all of which were binding upon them. Furthermore, as one reads the passage in Exodus 24, one very quickly realises that at Mount Sinai, the Israelites were not simply agreeing to keep a set of laws; they were entering into a covenant with Yahweh, their God, that involved the sprinkling of blood. As one reaches the end of the Book of Malachi in a Christian Bible, one passes from one covenant to another - a New Covenant not instituted with the blood of animals, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  By the bringing in of a new covenant, the first, by definition, has become old and has been made obsolete.  Once one understands this, the answer to the question, "Is the Law Binding Upon Believers" becomes an oxymoron, and the Adventist case for the continuation of the Ten Commandments is dismissed.     Download teaching notes (pdf) https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/4_Is_the_Law_Binding_Upon_Christians.pdf