The New Covenant Does It Abolish God's Law?
Does the New Covenant negate God’s law and do away with any need to obey the Ten Commandments and other laws of God? The belief that it does has long been a popular teaching in traditional Christianity. We’ll thoroughly examine this question in this booklet.
Even more important, we’ll address the real purpose of God’s biblical covenants—more than one—and their vital role in the Creator’s overall plan for mankind. It’s highly important that we understand their true meaning.
How many people even know that the structure of the Bible is organized around a series of divine covenants—what we might call contracts or agreements—that reveal and describe the relationship God would like to have with every human being?
These covenants reveal God’s promises. They also define the conditions that every person must meet to receive the blessings of those promises. God’s covenants are the foundation of His divine plan to properly shape the way all people should think and behave.
God has a specific goal in mind. The final result of His plan is a divine family of sons and daughters who have developed the same righteous character that was evident in Jesus Christ when He was with mankind as a human being.
That character can be created only through an interactive process that takes place between each individual and God. It is a very personal process.
Why freedom of choice?
To make it possible for us to build that divine, holy and righteous character, God gives us freedom of choice. By giving us the liberty to make choices, He allows us to learn by our own experiences that we, with our limited abilities, cannot foresee all of the hurtful con- sequences that wrong choices produce. Only by relying on God’s guidance will we learn how to avoid making bad choices.
Making wrong choices began with our very first human parents, Adam and Eve. They had to choose between two critical options. They could allow God to fully guide their thinking and their way of life, or they could experiment and try to discern the best way to live by their own experiences.
They chose to learn by personal experience instead of fully putting their trust in God’s instruction, guidance and help. All of mankind has followed that same path, reaping the same sad results.
God’s covenants reveal His plan to reverse that dangerous pattern of harmful choices. In these covenants, He promises His divine help and blessing to those who turn to Him with their whole heart for the guidance and help they need.
Some of the blessings He gives for accepting His guidance and help are spiritual, offering us eternal benefits. Others are physical, designed to bless us in this temporary, physical life.
