In Rom 7:1-4, we read:
Know ye not,
brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath
dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be
dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband
liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but
if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no
adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye
also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. (Rom 7:1-4)
Some have argued that this text supports the
belief that, for faithful Jews, the Old Covenant (i.e., Law of Moses) is still
effectual. We will return to this pericope later.
It should first be noted that, in the New
Testament is explicit that the Old Covenant (Law of Moses) is revoked. Note the
following (taken from texts written by Paul or are considered to be strongly “Pauline”
in theology):
But their minds were
hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same
veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. (2 Cor 3:14 NRSV)
Blotting out of the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. (Col 2:14 [on this verse, see Allan
R. Bevere on the "handwriting" (χειρογραφον) in Colossians 2:14 being
the Law of Moses in light of Ephesians 2:15])
For if that first
covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. (Heb 8:7)
There is, on the one
hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and
ineffectual. (Heb 7:18 NRSV)
Then he added,
"See, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order
to establish the second. (Heb 10:9 NRSV)
This was also the understanding of the
earliest Christians. Consider the following from Justin Martyr:
"There will be
no other God, O Trypho, nor was there from eternity any other existing" (I
thus addressed him), "but He who made and disposed all this universe. Nor
do we think that there is one God for us, another for you, but that He alone is
God who led your fathers out from Egypt with a strong hand and a high arm. Nor
have we trusted in any other (for there is no other), but in Him in whom you
also have trusted, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. But we do
not trust through Moses or through the law; for then we would do the same as
yourselves. But now--(for I have read that there shall be a final law, and a
covenant, the chiefest of all, which it is now incumbent on all men to observe,
as many as are seeking after the inheritance of God. For the law promulgated on
Horeb is now old, and belongs to yourselves alone; but this is for all
universally. Now, law placed against law has abrogated that which is before it,
and a covenant which comes after in like manner has put an end to the previous
one; and an eternal and final law--namely, Christ --has been given to us, and
the covenant is trustworthy, after which there shall be no law, no commandment,
no ordinance. Have you not read this which Isaiah says: ‘Hearken unto Me,
hearken unto Me, my people; and, ye kings, give ear unto Me: for a law shall go
forth from Me, and My judgment shall be for a light to the nations. My
righteousness approaches swiftly, and My salvation shall go forth, and nations
shall trust in Mine arm?' And by Jeremiah, concerning this same new covenant,
He thus speaks: ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to
the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by
the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt'). If, therefore, God
proclaimed a new covenant which was to be instituted, and this for a light of
the nations, we see and are persuaded that men approach God, leaving their
idols and other unrighteousness, through the name of Him who was crucified,
Jesus Christ, and abide by their confession even unto death, and maintain
piety. Moreover, by the works and by the attendant miracles, it is possible for
all to understand that He is the new law, and the new covenant, and the
expectation of those who out of every people wait for the good things of God.
For the true spiritual Israel, and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and
Abraham (who in uncircumcision was approved of and blessed by God on account of
his faith, and called the father of many nations), are we who have been led to
God through this crucified Christ, as shall be demonstrated while we proceed. (Dialogue
with Trypho, 11)
The Book of Mormon is explicit that, even
when the Law of Moses was binding, it was not salvific at all. This was the
errant attitude of the wicked priests of king Noah:
And it shall come to
pass that ye shall be smitten from your iniquities, for ye have said that ye
teach the law of Moses. And what know ye concerning the law of Moses? Doth
salvation come by the law of Moses? What say ye? And they answered and said
that salvation did come by the law of Moses. (Mosiah 12:31-32)
Such was refuted by the prophet Abinadi:
And now ye have said
that salvation cometh by the law of Moses. I say unto you that it is expedient
that ye should keep the law of Moses as yet; but I say unto you, that the time
shall come when it shall no more be expedient to keep the law of Moses. And
moreover, I say unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and
were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and
iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding
the law of Moses. (Mosiah 13:27-28)
This was also the same attitude of the
newly converted Anti-Nephi-Lehies:
Yea, and they did
keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of
Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. But notwithstanding the law of
Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law
of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those
outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them. Now
they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of
Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a
hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of
prophecy, which spake of those things to come. (Alma 25:15-16)
In light of this, we can make better sense
of Rom 7:1-4. As one critic of the “two-covenant” theory, as it is called,
wrote:
Merely because St.
Paul alludes to “law” in Romans 7:1-4 does not mean he is either referring to
the Mosaic Law or that the Mosaic Law is still legally in force. In 1 Cor 9:9,
for example, Paul says, “It is written in the Law of Moses: You shall not
muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” Obviously, Paul is not saying that the
Mosaic law concerning oxen still has legal force; rather, Paul is merely
extracting the Mosaic principle of providing for the needs of the worker, in
this case, the Gospel preacher. Likewise, whatever law is cited or practiced
today in Christianity, whether it is natural law, Mosaic law, canonical law, etc.,
it is only because the Church, under its own legal authority, decided to
incorporate those particular principles into the New Covenant. The Church, under
the New Covenant, has the power to decide which doctrine and practices are most
beneficial for the Christian community, leading her to incorporate various laws
from the Old Covenant, albeit with her own modifications (e.g., Rom
13:1-10; Acts 15:28); while discarding others as useless (Col 2:16; Acts 15:10-12).
But whatever law is utilized, it will be legalized and controlled by the New
Covenant, not the Old. At the present time, the Old Covenant’s purpose is to
serve as a model, a precedent, a teacher, for the divine principles that will
be needed to allow the New Covenant to function as efficiently as it possibly
can. But there is only one covenant that has legal force; there is only one
covenant that can save and condemn; there is only one covenant that God
recognizes today, and that is the New Covenant in Jesus Christ.
The idea that the New
Covenant would borrow principles from the Old Covenant should not be hard for
us to understand. We have many good examples from which to appeal, such as the
relationship between the US Constitution and the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta
had some very beneficial insights concerning law and life. These were incorporated
into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Magna Carta itself became obsolete
and was revoked, but whatever principles were borrowed from it, they became
part of the Constitution, and it was only from the Constitution that those
principles acquired legal force. In the same way, Scripture declares that the
Old Covenant was legally revoked (Heb 7:18; 10:9) but its spiritual and moral
principles were utilized in the New Covenant (Heb 10:16-18; Gal 5:14; 1Co 9:9;
Rm 7:7-12). (Robert Sungenis, Catholic/Jewish Dialogue: Controversies and
Corrections [State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International
Publishing, Inc., 2010], 41-42)
