Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

GENESIS
tions. We hear it said even in our day of enlightenment
that “the whole Bible is binding upon Christians.” Cer-
tainly those who make such assertions do not believe what
they say, or, if they do, they do not practice what they
preach. This writer does not know of a church group in
all Christendom that even makes a pretense of perpetuating
the laws and observances of the Old Covenant. For ex-
ample, under the Old Covenant, God commanded the fol-
lowing: (1) that every male child should be circumcised
on the eighth day, Gen. 7:9-14; (2) that many different
kinds of animal sacrifices should be offered; Lev. 23; (3)
that the Passover should be kept annually Exo. 12; (4)
that the seventh day should be set aside as the Sabbath, as
a memorial of the deliverance of the children of Israel from
Egyptian bondage, Exo. 16:21-30, Deut. J:l2-lJ; (5) that
the people should allow their lands to rest every seventh
year, Exo. 23:lO-11; (6) that a distinction should be
made between “clean” and “unclean” animals, Lev. 11 ;
(7) the Leviticai priesthood, the tabernacle and its ritual-
ism, the Day of Atonement, the many and varied solemn
feasts and convocatiofis, new moons and sabbaths, etc.
Under the Old Covenant no one was permitted to kindle
a fire on the Sabbath day, (Exo. 35 :2-3). In Numbers
1 5 :23-26 there is an account of a violation of this com-
mand, and we read that the guilty man was taken outside
the camp and stoned to death. Capital punishment was
usually inflicted for an infraction of the Law of Moses;
hence, the Apostle speaks of the Old Covenant as “the
ministration of death,” 2 Cor. 3:7. The various Christian
bodies make no pretense of maintaining these Mosaic laws
and observances, and would indeed be foolish to do so, be-
cause they are not in any sense a part of the Christian
Gospel or system. They were for the fleshly seed of Abra-
ham only, and were abrogated along with the Mosaic Law
at the death of Christ.
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