HEBREWS 7:11–16
For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law
(Hebrews 7:12).
Christians always live under law. As New Testament believers, we are delivered from bondage to the Law in a negative sense, but grace enables us to have a new relationship to the Law, so that we delight in its righteous provisions (Romans 7:22). The curse of the old covenant has been removed, but not God’s standards of holiness.
Notice that I said “as New Testament believers.” Biblically speaking, a testament is a covenant, and, in simplest terms, a covenant is an agreement between two or more people. Every covenant has within it certain benefits and promises, and every covenant contains stipulations and laws. There is no such thing as a covenant without laws, and the new covenant has laws. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Christians are members of a covenant group called “the church.” But do all those people who are neither Jews nor Christians have some kind of covenanted relationship with God? Yes. All men everywhere are at all times participants in a covenant relationship with God.
This is because the first covenant God made with mankind was with Adam. In that covenant, when Adam represented the whole human race, God entered into a relationship not with man-as-Christian or man-as-Jew but with man-as-man. Thus, every descendant of Adam belongs by nature to the covenant of creation.
To be sure, that covenant relationship may be negative, and we may only experience the liabilities of its contract, but we cannot escape the covenant itself. We may deny it or reject it, but we cannot undo it. This means that the laws God gave to us at creation are binding on all people. There are certain principles that God built into human relationships which are valid for all people and all times. We shall look at some of these tomorrow.
CORAM DEO
Isaiah 39–40
Philippians 4
Without looking at tomorrow’s lesson, try to think of several “creation ordinances.” What were God’s requirements in the beginning which still bind all people? Do we as Christians have the duty to require all people in our society to conform to these standards?
For further study: Genesis 2:15–3:24; Psalm 111:1–10; Building a Christian Conscience series
tuesday
october