Common Objections
Common Objection #1:
“But Paul said the Law was nailed to the Cross!”
The verse that is commonly misread to suggest that the Torah was ‘nailed to the Cross’ at Golgotha is found in Colossians 2:13-14. We will use the King James Version here: 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 blotting out 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. [Colossians 2:13-14, KJV]
Christians say that the handwriting of ordinances that was against us is the Law, which is why Yeshua had to be sent to nail it to His Cross. However, if we look at this passage in the
Aramaic (Peshitta), we see that what this passage actually says is that Yeshua blotted out the handwriting of our debts. What this passage actually means, then, is that when Yeshua died to atone for our sins (both individual and corporate) what He nailed to His Cross was the record of our sins. Thus our criminal record was blotted out, and we were given a clean slate, so that we could begin again: 14 He has blotted out by His commandments the handwriting of our debts (i.e. the record of our sins). [Colossians 2:14, Peshitta Aramaic]
Common Objection #2:
“I don’t understand. Scripture calls it a ‘New’ Covenant. Doesn’t the fact that it is a ‘New’ Covenant imply that the Old one was done away with?”
We know that the Apostle Shaul’s writings are difficult to understand. One of the things that the Apostle Shaul says in the Book of Hebrews, then, is that the Old Covenant is now old; and therefore it is now obsolete, and is almost ready to vanish: 13 In that He says, "A New Covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. [Ivrim (Hebrews) 8:13]
All Scripture is true; but we have to understand that there is a hidden meaning to this passage.
In the Hebrew, the term ‘New’ Covenant is actually the term ‘Renewed’ Covenant, because in Hebrew, the word ‘New’ is the word Chadash (pronounced ‘Hadash’, with a hard Middle-Eastern ‘H.’) This word Chadash does not imply that the Covenant is ‘brand’ new; but that it has been made new yet again. This word Chadash implies that the Covenant would be re-newed, meaning its principles and tenets would remain the same as before. One useful analogy is how we talk about a ‘new’ moon, in English. We call it a ‘new’ moon, even though it is the exact same moon as before. In the same way, it is the same Covenant as before: just re-newed.
In order to understand this better, let us look at Jeremiah 31:31 (which Shaul quoted):
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says YHWH, when I will make a Renewed Covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah — 32 not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My Covenant which they broke, though I was a Husband to them, says YHWH. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says YHWH: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. [Jeremiah 31:31-33]
This Renewed Covenant was different in that it was to be written in the people’s minds, and on their hearts: It says nothing about the adoption of different days of worship. It is also interesting to note that while verse 31 tells us that this Renewed Covenant would be given to both Houses, verse 33 specifies that the Renewed Covenant would first be given only to Israel (Ephraim). Also, an interesting interplay between Genesis 49:10 and Deuteronomy 33:21 (which will be discussed in detail in Nazarene Scripture Commentary) will show us that the ability to set Halachah (the ability to bind on earth what had already been bound in the Heavens, as was done in Acts Chapter Fifteen) was transferred from the House of Judah to the House of Ephraim after the destruction of the Temple; and that it presently rests with the House of Ephraim. This will be explained in greater detail in Nazarene Scripture Commentary.