The New Covenant of Grace brings forgiveness, whereas the Old
Covenant of Law brought condemnation. So why did God give the Old Covenant? The
Law was given to show us that we can’t obey God perfectly so we need a Savior
(see Galatians 3:24). Now that the New Covenant has replaced the Old Covenant,
does this mean that we should ignore all of the Law? Certainly not. The Old
Covenant contained ceremonial law, civil law, and moral law. The ceremonial law
with its system of animal sacrifices has been replaced by the one sacrifice of
Christ. The civil law—governing rules of the Hebrew society—does not apply to
our societies today. We might derive useful principles from the civil law, but
the laws themselves are not applicable today. An example of the civil law is
given in Leviticus 19:27. The moral law is to be obeyed today. God
gave moral laws such as “do not murder,” do not commit adultery, and “do not
steal.” By the grace of God, we can be forgiven when we break such laws, but we
should still strive to obey them. (For details and for free course visit <www.missionstraining.org>)
