Expert: Scott Talbot - 11/12/2006

Question
What, specifically, does he say that you have questions about?

The fact that all the teachings in Matthew Mark Luke and John were nailed to the Cross.  That's a dramatic teaching.

AL

Answer
Al,

Thanks for the clarification. Let's see if I can shed some light.

If, when he says that the teachings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were nailed to the cross, he means that nothing in the gospels is relevant to us in this day and age, I would strongly disagree.

I could spend hours discussing the concept of Dispensational Theology, but let me try to keep it brief. Throughout history, God has given mankind certain amounts of revelation, sometimes building upon revelation given in previous periods. Mankind was given certain responsibilities in response to that revelation. Every time this has happened, mankind has failed. Judgment followed, always with a path for redemption.

Take Adam and Eve for example. They had none of the commands or principles we have today. They had only a few brief instructions, and a limited amount of revelation. God told them 1) To tend the Garden; and 2) Do not eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. They failed, judgment followed, and a new dispensation was ushered in. Along with it came new revelation, new responsibilities and "rules," ... and new failures.

One of the dispensations is that of the Mosaic Law. One of the covenants God made with Israel revolved around the Mosaic Law. This is where we get the term, "Old Testament." It means "old covenant." The revelation God gave mankind (through Israel) was the Mosaic Law. The responsibility was to obey the Law perfectly. The failure was repeated violation of the Law--individually and collectively. And the judgment included the captivity of the Jews and God's temporarily setting them aside as a nation in His divine eternal plan.

What came next was the dispensation of grace. The Mosaic Law was given for a reason. (All other dispensations also teach the same lesson.) It's that mankind continually fails to keep God's rules. We've sinned in the past, we sin in the present, and we will sin in the future. Individually. Collectively. We're all sinners.

When Jesus Christ, the prophesied Messiah, the perfect God-man, came, He did something no one else ever did. He kept God's laws perfectly. In the end, the Mosaic Law was given, not as a way to earn God's acceptance. Rather, it was given to prove that none of us will ever be able to earn God's acceptance through perfect obedience. It taught that all of us have sinned and have fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23).

It also taught us something that God has taught throughout all dispensations, and that is that we need to rely on God, not ourselves, for a way of escaping His judgment.

When Jesus lived a perfect life and then died on the cross, He served our sentence for sin. By doing so, he offered a way to come to God--by accepting His substitutionary death as a free gift, and by trusting in Jesus Christ to save us.

After this, the Law had served its purpose. Then God ushered in a new dispensation, the one in which we find ourselves today. That is the dispensation of grace. We're taught that we are no longer under the Mosaic Law, no longer responsible to follow it. Rather, we come to God by His grace and mercy. We accept His salvation by grace, and we live our lives by His grace. It's a different set of "rules," so to speak.

This in no way indicates that the Mosaic Law, or anything written or spoken prior to the cross, have no relevance to us today. Many of these things were given to men of all ages as lessons of God's holiness and His grace. Also, many things God revealed during past dispensations are timeless principles, or insights into His eternal character, which never changes.

Jesus Christ is the basis for grace, and therefore is the foundation for this age of grace. While the Mosaic Law did not end and the age of grace did not begin, technically, until Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, Christ's teachings and His life were the foundation of grace, or the New Covenant.

Read the book of Galatians as well as Hebrews to see just how the Old Testament relates to us today. And be careful of one thing. Do not let anyone tell you that these things are irrelevant, ... or that the God of the Old Testament is a different God with contradictory principles.

I hope this helps. Feel free to write back with more questions.

Scott