The Law given to the Israellites was perfect,Can a Perfect Law Have a Fault?

Question

Yet it may be asked, Why, then, does the Bible also say that the Law covenant had a weakness, a fault?We read: “If that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second.” (Heb. 8:7) “There occurs a setting aside of the preceding commandment on account of its weakness and ineffectiveness. For the Law made nothing perfect.”—Heb. 7:18, 19. So in the case of the Law, it could not do that for which it was not designed. Nevertheless, it was holy, righteous, good, yes, faultless,One scholar wrote: “No moral system ever humanly formulated before or since . . . can approach, much less equal, or excel, these ten words of God. as regards God’s purpose respecting it. What purpose did it serve?

Answering this question, the apostle Paul wrote: “It was added to make transgressions manifest, until the seed should arrive. . . the Law has become our tutor leading to Christ.” (Gal. 3:19, 24) “The Law has a shadow of the good things to come, but not the very substance of the things.”—Heb. 10:1.The Law fulfilled perfectly its purpose to make transgressions manifest. It set bounds, pointing out clearly what Jehovah God required as to the conduct of his people. Being imperfect, the Israelites were unable to keep that Law perfectly. Hence, it made their transgressions manifest. The Law showed undeniably that the Israelites needed to be forgiven of their transgressions, also that a sacrifice was required that really could atone for their sins.

As a tutor, the Law served to prepare the Israelites to receive the Messiah or Christ. Concerning the Mosaic Law as a whole, Jehovah said: “If you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”—Exodus 19:5, 6. . Did you know, though, that anointed Christians possess something far more valuable than laws written on stone? Jehovah foretold the making of a new covenant unlike the Law covenant made with the nation of Israel. “I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) Can anyone tell me what this new covenant is??

Answer 1

Jesus, the great teacher, explains the law.

Matthew 22:

34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.

35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

37 And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.

39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

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As seen above all law is based on 1. loving God Almighty and 2. loving our neighbor. The is not an imperfection in the law, the imperfection is in the covenant breakers.

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sacrifices -

Whereas many see sacrifice as appeasement and penalty; the sacrifices are a forerunner to the ransom sacrifice of Jesus.

Atone/atonement -

To make amends, to reconcile or harmonize, to make good.

ransom -  payment for sin and its consequences, to obtain the release sin and its consequences, to deliver from sin and its consequences.

sacrifice - To give or relinquish something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value.

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It is clear that the ransom sacrifice of Jesus means: God Almighty gave something highly valued, His only begotten Son, to reconcile mankind, unto His self, as a payment for sin and its consequences

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New Covenant -

Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the prophets. More clearly, Jesus came to fulfill prophecy and complete the Law.

Complete the Law? Yes. The Law covered amends and recognition of error but did not reconcile or bring Grace.

Grace is more than undeserved kindness. Undeserved kindness is only an obvious aspect. Grace is the action of God Almighty within a person through the Holy Spirit.

For example: A person of a reprobate mind may act righteous and this is "works". This does not make justification. Justification is by faith and by faith comes Grace. Because a person has Grace within works come naturally and are a witness to the Grace within.

Works are a result of faith. Faith is not shown by works because a person with an unapproved mind can "do" works without faith or Grace.

The Law is about works. The New Covenant is about the change within. This change within is through Grace not works. Works can be a super imposition from knowledge and effort.

Salvation as a free gift, not a reward for any of our good works. see Ephesians 2:8-9.

The New Covenant

John 3:

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Note that in John 3:16 Jesus states "whoever" not just a few will have eternal life if they believe in Him.

Let us look at verse 21 of John 3:

21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

wrought in God = ἐν ἐργάζομαι = produced/performed "by" God.

So a true Christian's good works are performed though them by God.

How is this so?

Because God is written in their hearts by Grace through the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 9:

14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

How does the "whosoever" of John 3:16 recognize and accept that they are under the New Covenant which is God written upon their hearts?

Luke 22:

17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;

18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”

19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

That is correct; partaking of the bread and wine shows that a true Christian is under the New Covenant.

Answer 2

There was no fault with the only covenant.

God was very clear that it was eternally binding.

The new testament needs to claim that it was replaced or had a fault to justify the worship of a man-god, otherwise there'd be no *loose* connection to the Jewish Bible, Christianity wouldn't exist like it does today. They HAVE to claim that the Jewish covenant is false or has a fault.

Answer 3

Benefits from God’s New Covenant Spreading Worldwide

THE entire spiritual “Israel of God” accepts the statement of the apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:5, 6: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” The prophet Moses has been dead now for more than three thousand four hundred years and can no longer serve as a mediator between God and Jewish men. But what about the Son of man, Christ Jesus? After his death as a “corresponding ransom,” he was resurrected from the dead and was rewarded with immortal life in heaven with Jehovah God. So he has continued to serve as the “one mediator between God and men.”

2 He is the Mediator of the new covenant between God and the spiritual “Israel of God.” In proof of that, the inspired letter to Christianized Hebrews (8:6-12) says: “Now Jesus has obtained a more excellent public service, so that he is also the mediator of a correspondingly better covenant, which has been legally established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second; for he does find fault with the people when he says: ‘“Look! There are days coming,” says Jehovah, “and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; not according to the covenant that I made with their forefathers in the day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, so that I stopped caring for them,” says Jehovah.’ ‘“For this is the covenant that I shall covenant with the house of Israel after those days,” says Jehovah.’” The writer of Hebrews then goes on to quote God’s explanation of the new covenant as stated in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

3 That the new covenant is better than the old covenant of the Law with Israel according to the flesh, the writer proceeds to show, saying: “How much more will the blood of the Christ, who through an everlasting spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works that we may render sacred service to the living God? So that is why he is a mediator of a new covenant.”—Heb. 9:14, 15.

Answer 4

The fault lies in it's perfection. If no one can live up to it, how perfect is it?  

Answer 5

Your premise is wrong. That covenant law was not perfect, and there is no statement in Scripture that it was.

The "my law" that is placed in the Christian is God's Spirit, and it serves as the guide to the Christian, as the o.c. law served as the guide to Israel.

God's law; God's Spirit; the heart of flesh; all the same thing.

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Answer 6

The law is to prove to you that you're a sinner.  

Abraham was saved by faith alone over 400 years before the law came into being.

The New Covenant is that Jesus (Yeshua), who is the Messiah, died for our sins on the cross and rose again (read Isaiah 53).  

The truth is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven and avoid being sent to eternal h**l is by believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe this and you are saved!

Please pray now: "Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and You rose from the dead. Thank You for eternal life!" You will be in heaven with Him forever when you die. :)

Answer 7

Paul is a good example of this. He was a zealous Pharisee.

He realized, as Christ taught, that the Law was silent on the heart.

Legalism was the normal practice.

If people were starving, a pharisee could turn away and be confident that they were righteous when they had paid their tithe, and observed the law.

Observing the law became ceremonial, and people's hearts were far away from God.

If you study what Christ teaches, you will see that this is a central teaching, that the Law is one thing, and the spirit of serving God, another.

God does not wish to be served technically, and woodenly, but wholeheartedly.