All the requirements come down to two commandments and those both require love. Love God and Love one another. I think this is part of the meaning behind I Corinthians 13 when it says:
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
Why would any believer ask "how much do I have to do, God?"
Shouldn't we instead not ask a question, just say "Here I am Lord, send me!"
We should be willing to give up anything and give our all to serve God out of love.
And then even when we fail, and we all do many times, God will supply us with his grace to be forgiven and overcome our faults.
When I examined the Old Law and compared it with the New Testament teachings, I found that every requirement not connected with the temple, priesthood, the Israel nation, or the Sabbath were repeated in some form in the New Testament teachings.
The Sabbath is somewhat a mystery for me, but the teaching on the Sabbath in the New Testament is that we are waiting for our Sabbath to come, a spiritual rest - i.e. Heaven. We are to work while we can - the work of God, not meaning our vocational careers.
In all the other repeated requirements they are raised to a new level.
For example,
instead of "Thou Shalt Not Murder" we get "you shall not hate".
Instead of "Thou shalt not commit adultery" we get "whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her in his heart commits adultery".
Here is what else I found from the New Testament. (V)
Besides the Laws, what else did Jesus take away? He took away the following:
1) the debt incurred when we fail to keep any part of the Old Law - i.e. when we sinned against it
2) the sacrifices, the ordinances concerning them, all those connected with the temple, the feasts, etc. since they have all been fulfilled in Jesus. The new priesthood is Melchizadek's not Levi's and all Christians are each kings and priests in God's kingdom. No need for a high priest of men, since Christ is our new high priest for all time. His sacrifice is for all time. The only sacrifices not taken away are the living sacrifices of our bodies - Romans 12:1-2
Colossians 2:14 –
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Here, the debt from our sins (any sins) has been cancelled by his payment on the cross. It has been taken out of the way. It is not in our way anymore.
Ephesians 2:15 –
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
Here, the Gentiles and Jews are brought together as a new “man” because the “enmity” between them was provided by the Law and it has been abolished in Christ’s sacrifice.
Here is what else I found from the New Testament. (IV)
We should also obey the 'law of the land' in which we dwell. We should obey the king and his authorities because God gave them power to rule over us. We should fear and obey the king because we should fear and obey God. God placed the king in authority over his people.
Which king? Your king, of course. In other words, your rulers, the government.
However, we cannot be obeying God by obeying the king if the king requires us to do something against God’s other laws. This is implied here and borne out in many biblical examples. (Daniel, the 3 young men of Israel in Babylon, Jesus when confronted by the Jewish rulers, etc.) and Acts when Peter and John were confronted by the Jewish rulers. They said we should obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).
The Laws of the Old Testament are done away with but not the principles behind them. The principles are repeated however in the New Testament.
For example, there is no need for further sacrifice for sins at the altar of the temple, but in the New Testament we are to make our bodies a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1), our bodies are the temple for the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 3:16). When we offer incense it is not actual incense now, but prayers (Revelation 5:8).
See how this is taking the requirement to a much higher plane.
Here is what else I found from the New Testament. (III)
In Acts, the elders of the Jerusalem church and the apostles met to decide what requirements from the Old Testament should fall on the Gentiles.
Acts 21:25 –
25 "But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication."
Keep in mind this is before Paul's teachings in the epistles. They required only three things:
1) don’t eat meat offered to idols previously
2) don’t eat blood (presumably meat containing the blood too)
3) don’t commit fornication (a practice of the religion in many places)
To explain the first requirement, eating meats offered to idols was a common practice among the Gentiles as they would be able to buy something in the market that had been first offered to an idol and not kept by the priests. So, that changed when Paul made the teaching found in I Corinthians.
I Corinthians 10:19-20 & 27-29 –
19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
27 If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience' sake.
28 But if anyone says to you, "This is meat sacrificed to idols," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience' sake;
29 I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's; for why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?
Paul is arguing here that the meat is nothing special and okay to eat as long as it does not offend your conscience or the conscience of someone else seeing you eat it. That is the important thing, not the meat. Don’t risk the offense of someone’s conscience. It is not worth it.
Conclusion: One of the above requirements for Gentiles mentioned in the letter from the Jerusalem church is not always a requirement. There is an exception to it. We have only two requirements left.
Here is what else I found from the New Testament. (II)
In the same passage as the above requirement, it is also required that we love one another.
One another probably means believers, but Jesus said we could sum up the entire Law of Moses in two commandments: Love God with all thy heart, soul and might and love thy neighbor as thyself.
So, when asked "Who is my neighbor?" the answer is implied that anyone who needs me. Everyone has the potential to need us at any time, so everyone can be our neighbor.
Here is what else I found from the New Testament (I)
First, we are required to believe in God's Son, Jesus Christ, as our personal Savior and God's Annointed One. This is a requirement of our salvation. That is apparent throughout the New Testament.
I John 3:23 –
23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
“I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it.”
So, it might seem that the New Testament is a repeat, but that's not quite true.
Everything required in the Old and repeated in the New has a higher level of requirement.
No longer can a person point to their physical descent, they must be spiritually walking as Abraham did. Otherwise they cannot claim him as their father.
Every requirement is raised to a new, higher spiritual level or plane.
1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: "THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED."
8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
Jesus presented the New Testament in his ministry and when he died (as the testator) the Testament went into effect. So, we can begin with his teachings. He did not come to destroy or abolish the old law, he came to fulfill it.
(KNT wrote this for me to read it. So, when he uses 'you', please don't take it offend. Thank you!)
The New Testament has first priority over anything in the Old Testament, since it is true the Old Testament is no longer in force. It was the old agreement Yahweh had with the nation of Israel. It is old, hence not the current agreement.
The New Testament is the agreement between Yahweh and the descendants of Abraham. That is the current agreement.
You must understand that the descendants of Abraham are not the physical descendants, otherwise there would be no change in who the agreement is with. Gentiles would be left out still. That is not the case however.
Israel in the New Testament is spiritual Israel, the spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham. So, we look first to the New Testament.
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