New Covenant Ways – BT9:  How can the New Wine of Christ’s atoning blood be spilled out and ruined?

 

 

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We know from the previous 2 BLOGs that the “NEW wine” is Christ’s atoning blood for our righteousness,” and the “NEW wineskins” are “the cup” of Jesus’ body that poured out His blood of atonement, the Father’s commandment to the unsaved to “definitively/wholly have trusting-relying-faith in His Son” and Christ’s completely-different-in-kind “NEW commandment” to the saved:  “ongoing unconditionally-love one another just as I have unconditionally-loved you” combined into 1 commandment from The Triune God (1 John 3:23).

 

However, Jesus said that if you put the “New wine” into the “old wineskins” of the OT Law of commandments for blood atonement and righteousness, these “old wineskins” will burst and the “NEW wine” will spill out onto the ground and both will be ruined (a).  But just how are both ruined?  How does putting the atoning blood of Christ into the “The Law for righteousness” (b) ruin both?  How does the blood of Christ end up on the ground to be trampled underfoot by men?  <Notes> a) Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, b) Romans 10:4.

 

It happens when they “have profaned (a) the blood of the Covenant by which he (b) WAS sanctified (c).”  It happened when this person “outraged the Spirit of unconditionally-loving-favor-of-grace” and in so doing this person has “trample underfoot the Son of God” (d).  This is the “deliberate sin” (e) of which “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but only a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (f).  They have broken the “Law of the Father” which Christ faithfully preached – to “definitively/wholly have trusting-relying-faith in His Son” and thus deserve punishment just as “setting aside the Law of Moses causes one to die without mercy” (g).  How in the world have these Jewish-Christians done this putting of “the atoning blood of Jesus” into the “old wineskins” of the OT “Law of righteousness?”  <Notes> a) treated as common, b) context:  a Jewish-Christian, c) set apart as holy, righteous, and godly, d) Hebrews 10:29, e) v. 10:26, f) v. 10:27, g) v. 28.

 

The teachers of the Law were tempting these Jewish-Christians to go back to putting their trusting-relying-faith in Moses’ “Law for righteousness,” which is all based on earned, merited, deserved, conditional-loving-favor, the opposite of unearned, unmerited, undeserved, unconditional-loving-favor-of-grace.  You can’t do even 1 of the 613 Laws thinking that it means anything to God to improve your relationship with Him, but that’s what they were teaching!  In so doing, they would be treating Christ’s blood on the cross as that of a common criminal instead of as a sacred atoning blood sacrifice to make them righteous by unconditional-loving-favor-of-grace through trusting-relying-faith.

 

ALL the OT commandments negate the value of the blood of Christ, because then the New Covenant blood hasn’t come for you!  To do any of them, puts you back entirely into the palaios “old in time, antiquated, worn-out, weak, worthless” covenant.  If you do, then Christ’s blood would be treated no differently than all other criminal’s blood that filled the streets as they carried their crosses to Golgotha – blood in the streets that people then commonly trampled on.  And what about all the blood at the bases of those crosses that soldiers trampled on daily?

 

Was Christ’s blood sacred or profane?  Going back to the Law of commandments for any righteousness makes His blood profane.  This is the “deliberate sin” that dooms them!  Without Christ’s sacrifice there was absolutely no forgiveness of sins left.  The NT makes that clear!  So as Christians when we put our trusting-relying-faith in ANY palaios “old in time, antiquated, worn-out, weak, worthless” commandment of the OT to make us more “righteous and pleasing to God” then we “have fallen away from unconditional-loving-favor-of-grace because we would be justified/made-right by the Law” (a). <Notes> a) Galatians 5:4.

 

This is very dangerous ground, but I often see Christians turn to OT Law to give them more confidence before God, believing that they make themselves “more right with God.”  Paul would be yelling!  I know too many Christians that go on and on about how we must live by the 10 commandments or at least the 2 greatest ones that sum up the Law and The Prophets, essentially 97.4% of the OT – see Logos Word of God – BT5a, of “loving God and your neighbor as yourself.”  Paul would be yelling!  You can’t mix oil and water no matter how hard you try!  You have fallen from unconditional-loving-favor-of-grace and so there is no sacrifice for sins left.

 

Reflection:

 

 

Even as Christian musicians, I see so many people say that we must do some OT commandments if we want more favor with God because they make us holier and more deserving to be heard and blessed.  I’ve seen so many people treat tithing and fasting this way, but both are strictly OT commandments and an exhaustive study of the NT and early Church history will prove this.  Many other scholars have come to this conclusion.  That’s the reason Jesus and His disciples didn’t fast, because this practice belongs only to OT Law and Oral traditions!  The whole discussion of “wine and wineskins” was Christ’s answer to why they won’t fast, except one last time – at His death, a fasting of mourning.

 

The “New Wine” of Christ’s atoning blood for righteousness in the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant simply can’t be at all associated with old covenant Laws of righteousness, and all 613 must be obeyed or the whole Law is broken.  It’s odd that more Christians who insist on fasting don’t realize that if they had lived with Jesus (and who wouldn’t have wanted to), you would have never fasted or been taught to.  The Catholic monks added “and fasting” to all the passages where Jesus said “demons came out only through much prayer” – no early manuscripts have this.  You don’t see Jesus teaching His disciples about tithing either.

 

There has a been a recent fad to “borrow” other OT Jewish practices, festivals, Sabbath rests, diets, etc., even though Paul also warns about this – they are all fuzzy-shadows of things to come but we have the substance/reality that belongs to Christ (a).  If so, why are we playing around with fuzzy-shadows?  This is a slippery slope that just leads people back into slavery to rules and rituals (b).  “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed religion and/coupled asceticism and/coupled severity to the body, but they are absolutely in fact of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (c).  Only the Spirit of God can do this!  Rules, rituals, Sabbaths, and festivals for latreia ritual-worship-serving or proskuneo worshiping by the means of the Spirit?  Only the latter is “IN the Truth!”  Your choice!  <Notes> a) Colossians 2:16-17, b) Romans 8:15; Galatians 2:4, 5:1; Hebrews 2:15, c) Colossians 2:23.

 

Prayer:

 

 

Lord, we put away ALL of the OT practices that made people right and pleasing to You.  Now we totally surrender to the New Covenant of Your blood for our righteousness and Your Holy Spirit for everything we need in life.  Thank You for making this so simple for us little children and other “least among you” for which the kingdom belongs.

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Education, New wine is Christ’s atoning blood for righteousness, New wineskins is Christ’s body and only 2 New Covenant commandments of faith and love, Going back to the Law of commandments profanes Christ’s blood, It is the deliberate sin that has no sacrifice for sins left, It is falling from grace, Obeying the Old Testament for righteousness negates Christ’s sacrifice, The doing of even 1 commandment to be pleasing to God negates all of Christ’s work, Borrowing Old Testament Jewish rituals is a slippery slope that leads to sin and death