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Most Christians believe that the Sabbath command is cancelled. And, some believe that all Old Covenant laws are cancelled, including the whole Decalogue. So, why do I believe that all Old Testament laws are cancelled?

In my book “ALL Old Testament Laws Cancelled” I devoted 3 chapters to explaining why the laws from Genesis - Sinai are cancelled. Here are the 3 chapter titles…

13. Since Genesis Is Part of the Law, the Commands From Genesis – Sinai Are Cancelled (Genesis is part of the law as revelation, not as covenant which started later at Sinai.)

16. The Church Is Built on the Foundation of New Testament Apostles and Prophets’ Teaching (Eph. 2:19-20ff., cf. 3:5, 4:11)

17. Archaeology Testifies That the Bible Contains 2 Separate Canons (Rules) (The Old Covenant’s structure has several parallels to ancient, near-Eastern treaties, which included historical introductions. Genesis appears to be the historical introduction to the Old Covenant law of Moses.)

Here is Chapter 13 in its entirety…

“Did you know that Genesis is part of the law as revelation (Old Testament?) Here are 4 reasons showing why Genesis is part of the law…

1. Genesis 21 is called “the law” in Galatians 4:21-22.

“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: one by a slave woman and one by a free woman” (Gal. 4:21-22 referring to Gen. 21; cf. Rom. 3:31ff.)

2. The phrase “law and prophets” means “Genesis – Malachi” (the whole Old Testament).

3. Moses wrote the book of Genesis.

4. Archaeology testifies that Genesis is the historical introduction to the Old Covenant canon. God patterned the Old Covenant’s literary structure with some similarities to ancient, near-Eastern treaties, which included an historical introduction before the actual covenant document.

Ancient covenants were put into effect with a surrounding body of literature, a.k.a. canon. Covenant produces canon. Our Bible is made of 2 major covenants, the Old and New covenants, each surrounded by its own canon, the Old and New Testaments.

(To understand this more, see The Structure of Biblical Authority in #17 below…)

So, when the New Testament says the law is cancelled, that includes Genesis, not just post-Sinai commands.” (Excerpted from the book: “ALL Old Testament Laws Cancelled”, 24 Reasons Why All Old Testament Laws Are Cancelled, And All New Testament Laws Are for Our Obedience, by Greg Gibson, p. 86)

Only 3 Passages, All Negative

As we saw above, the Holy Spirit never uses the names “Ten Commandments” or “moral law” in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, there are only 3 New Testament passages that definitely refer to the whole Decalogue, and they’re all negative…

1. “The letter,” “letters on stone,” and “tablets of stone” (2 Cor. 3:6-9) are:

• Not where the Spirit writes (2 Cor. 3:3)
• (What) kills (2 Cor. 3:6)
• A ministry of death (2 Cor. 3:7)
• A ministry of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9)

2. “The handwriting of ordinances” (Col. 2:14) was:

• Blotted out (Col. 2:14)
• Taken away (Col. 2:14)
• Nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14)

3. “The tablets of the covenant” (Heb. 9:4) are:

• Obsolete (Heb. 8:13)
• Growing old (Heb. 8:13)
• Ready to vanish.” (Heb. 8:13)

(Excerpted from the book: “ALL Old Testament Laws Cancelled”
24 Reasons Why All Old Testament Laws Are Cancelled, And All New Testament Laws Are for Our Obedience, by Greg Gibson, p. 25.)

When you hear the words, “Ten Commandments,” what’s the first thought that comes to your mind? If you automatically think, “The moral law of God,” then your view is very different from God’s view.

Depending on how you classify them, the whole Decalogue and its synonyms appear ~56 times in Scripture. (We’ll exclude the names “ark of the covenant,” “ark of the testimony,” and “tabernacle of the testimony,” even though they would be accurate.) And, in those 56 occurrences, God calls the Decalogue by 12 different names. Listed below, are the number of times He uses each name.

Old Testament:

14 = The tablets (Ex. 32:15, 32:16a,b, 32:19, 34:1b,c, 34:28; Deut. 9:17, 10:2a,b, 10:3, 10:4, 10:5; 2 Chr. 5:10)

13 = The tablets of stone (Ex. 24:12, 31:18, 34:1, 34:4a,b; Deut. 4:13, 5:22, 9:9, 9:10, 9:11, 10:1, 10:3; 1 Kg. 8:9)

10 = The testimony (Ex. 16:34, 25:16, 25:21, 27:21, 30:6, 30:36, 40:20; Lev. 16:13; Num 17:4, 17:10)

3 = The tablets of the testimony (Ex. 31:18, 32:15, 34:29)

3 = The tablets of the covenant (Deut. 9:9, 9:11, 9:15)

3 = The Ten Commandments (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4)

2 = The covenant (1 Kg. 8:21; 2 Chr. 6:11)

1 = The words of the covenant (Ex 34:28)

1 = His covenant (Deut. 4:13)

0 = The moral law

New Testament:

2 = The letter (2 Cor. 3:6a,b)

1 = Letters on stone (2 Cor. 3:7)

1 = Tablets of stone (2 Cor. 3:3)

1 = The handwriting of ordinances (Col. 2:14)

1 = The tablets of the covenant (Heb. 9:4)

0 = The Ten Commandments

0 = The moral law

So, when you hear the phrase “the Ten Commandments,” the first thought that should come to your mind is, “tablets (of stone”), not “moral law.” Remember, another thought that should come to your mind is “the covenant.”

Do you think of the Ten Commandments as “the tablets of stone,” and “the covenant” (Old Covenant made with Israel?) When talking about the Ten Commandments, if you have to rely on words uninspired by the Holy Spirit (like “moral law”) to explain your theology, then you probably have a different theology than the Holy Spirit.

Did you see how many times the phrase “Ten Commandments” appears in the New Testament? Zero! (Think about that.)

(Excerpted from the book: “ALL Old Testament Laws Cancelled”
24 Reasons Why All Old Testament Laws Are Cancelled And All New Testament Laws Are for Our Obedience, Greg Gibson, p. 23-24)

Did you enjoy reading the 3, free chapters last week from my new book “ALL Old Testament Laws Cancelled”? If so, that was only the tip of the iceberg. The book includes 25 more chapters to help you make sense of God’s law in redemptive history.

And, if you’ve been waiting to read the rest of the story, the printer says we are finally ready to ship. So, you can place your order now, here: New Covenant Theology Book

Greg Gibson
JesusSaidFollowMe.org

How would you like to read 3, free chapters from my new book:

“ALL Old Testament Laws Cancelled”
24 Reasons Why All Old Testament Laws Are Cancelled
And All New Testament Laws Are for Our Obedience

(BTW, I’ve edited and expanded this book from the previous e-book by adding 7 new charts and 8349 more words. Now, it’s far clearer than before.)

Here is the book’s Table of Contents:

And, here are the 3, free chapters…

Preface and Introduction (with 1 chart and 3 diagrams)

But the Ten Commandments Are the Moral Law of God

But Christ Did Not Come to Abolish the Law

Please don’t order the book yet, since we are waiting for the printer’s approval. When the book is ready for shipping next week, I’ll announce it here…

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