벨직 신앙고백서 25항 강해 설교 "그리스도, 율법을 성취하신 분", 찬양: 오직 예수 다른 이름은 없네 [...성경을 연구하거...

온 땅 위에

홀로 높으신 이름

하늘 위 높이 들리셨네

온 땅 위에

홀로 높으신 이름

영광과 존귀와 찬양 드리세

오직 예수

다른 이름은 없네

주 이름만

우리에게 주셨네

오직 예수

다른 이름 없네

오 영광과 존귀

권세와 찬양

받으실 분 오직 주 예수

No other name but the name of Jesus

No other name but the name of the Lord,

No other name but the name of Jesus is worthy of glory

and worthy of honor and worthy of power and praise (x2)

His name is high above the heavens

His name is exalted far above the earth

Give glory and honor and praise unto His name

No other name but the name of Jesus

No other name but the name of the Lord,

No other name but the name of Jesus is worthy of glory

and worthy of honor and worthy of power and all praise

기도 "나의 영혼아 잠잠히 하나님만 바라라 무릇 나의 소망이 그로부터 나오는도다" (시편 62:5)

"너희가 성경에서 영생을 얻는 줄 생각하고 성경을 연구하거니와 이 성경이 곧 내게 대하여 증언하는 것이니라" (요한복음 5:39)

우리는 율법의 의식과 상징들이 그리스도의 오심으로 폐지되었으며 미래에 이루어지기로 예견했던 것들이 성취되어서 그러한 사용들이 기독교 공동체 안에서 중지되어야 한다는 것을 믿습니다. 그러나 그 율법의 진리와 내용들은 예수 그리스도께서 성취하신 대로 우리를 위하여 그 안에 남아 있습니다. 율법의 의식을 사용함이 폐지되었음에도 불구하고, 우리는 그 율법과 선지서가 가르치는 증거들을 계속적으로 사용합니다. 그들이 우리로 하여금 복음 안에서 확신하게 하며, 우리가 하나님의 뜻을 따라서 하나님 영광을 위하여 온전하게 살도록 우리의 삶을 인도하기 때문입니다.

히브리서8:13 [개역개정] 13. 새 언약이라 말씀하셨으매 첫 것은 낡아지게 하신 것이니 낡아지고 쇠하는 것은 없어져 가는 것이니라 [NIV] 13. By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. 히브리서10:1 [개역개정] 1. 율법은 장차 올 좋은 일의 그림자일 뿐이요 참 형상이 아니므로 해마다 늘 드리는 같은 제사로는 나아오는 자들을 언제나 온전하게 할 수 없느니라 [NIV] 1. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 로마서10:4 [개역개정] 4. 그리스도는 모든 믿는 자에게 의를 이루기 위하여 율법의 마침이 되시니라 [NIV] 4. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 누가복음24:27 [개역개정] 27. 이에 모세와 모든 선지자의 글로 시작하여 모든 성경에 쓴 바 자기에 관한 것을 자세히 설명하시니라 [NIV] 27. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

히브리서8:13 [新改譯] 13. 神が 新しい 契約と 言われたときには， 初めのものを 古いとされたのです． 年を 經て 古びたものは， すぐに 消えて 行きます． [NASB] 13. When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. 히브리서10:1 [新改譯] 1. 律法には， 後に 來るすばらしいものの 影はあっても， その 實物はないのですから， 律法は， 年ごとに 絶えずささげられる 同じいけにえによって 神に 近づいて 來る 人¿を， 完全にすることができないのです． [NASB] 1. For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 로마서10:4 [新改譯] 4. キリスト が 律法を 終わらせられたので， 信じる 人はみな 義と 認められるのです． [NASB] 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 누가복음24:27 [新改譯] 27. それから， イエス は， モ ― セ およびすべての 預言者から 始めて， 聖書全體の 中で， ご 自分について 書いてある 事がらを 彼らに 說き 明かされた． [NASB] 27. Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

주신 말씀을 붙들고 같이 기도합시다.

인도네시아(INDONESIA)를 위한 기도

2월에 욥기를 통한 성경적 원리 훈련이 진행될 것입니다. 이 훈련을 통해 생활에서 부딪히는 도전들에 대한 성경적인 관점을 얻고 경건하게 일상생활을 해나가는 방법을 찾을 수 있기를, 인도자들에게 지혜를 주시고, 모든 참가자들이 배울 준비가 되어 있고 배운 것을 실제로 적용하게 되기를 기도해주세요.

Article 25: Of the abolishing of the Ceremonial Law. Featured

We believe, that the ceremonies and figures of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished amongst Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime, we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty, to the glory of God, according to his will.

CHRIST, THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW

ARTICLE 25

We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law have ceased with the coming of Christ, and that all shadows have been fulfilled, so that the use of them ought to be abolished among Christians. Yet their truth and substance remain for us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have been fulfilled.

In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken from the law and the prophets, both to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel and to order our life in all honour, according to God's will and to His glory.

CONTEXT

Articles 22 and 23 confessed Christ’s work of justification and Article 24 Christ’s work of sanctification.  DeBres continues his confession concerning Christ in Article 26 by mentioning His intercessory work at God’s right hand. Yet deBres saw a need to insert within this sequence of articles dealing with the work of Christ an article concerning the Old Testament laws and ceremonies.  One wonders why.  Why would deBres wish to interrupt his confession concerning Christ’s work with an article devoted to the law of the Old Testament?  DeBres saw a need to state clearly that the work of Christ on the cross was so complete that the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Old Testament law had been fulfilled. 

ROMAN CATHOLICS: CONTINUE TO SACRIFICE CHRIST DAILY

The Belgic Confession was completed in 1561, not long after the Great Reformation had passed through Roman Catholic Europe.  In deBres’ day the Roman Catholic Church taught that though the ritual cleansings as prescribed in the Old Testament were no longer required, we still need to keep the Old Testament ceremonial laws.  The daily forgiveness of sins, they said, can only be obtained through the daily sacrificing of Christ.  Hence the Roman Catholic Church maintained the sacrament of the Eucharist, in which the priest offered Christ daily to God (cf Lord’s Day 30.80).  DeBres and his congregation had been brought up from childhood with this teaching.  The Reformers, though, had opened the Scriptures and learned that daily sacrifices for sin were no longer required because Christ had already fully paid for sin – as deBres gratefully confessed in Articles 22 and 23.  But if Christ has indeed fully paid for sin and reconciled the sinner to God, there was simply no need for the sinner still to keep the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament.  This is the conviction deBres expressed in Article 25.

CHRIST: THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW

DeBres writes in this article that the Old Testament laws have been “fulfilled”.  This sentiment echoed Christ’s instruction in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).  In Article 5 we saw how the Old and New Testaments complemented each other.  The Old Testament looked forward to the Cross of Calvary, while the New Testament reflects back on that cross.  Well now, Jesus did not destroy the Law and the Prophets that foreshadowed His coming, but rather accomplished perfectly what the Law foretold concerning Him.  

 

Should New Testament believers now keep the Old Testament ceremonies?  No, says deBres, “We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law have ceased with the coming of Christ, and that all shadows have been fulfilled, so that the use of them ought to be abolished among Christians.”  This means that if we should become aware of any sin against the law on our part, we no longer have to take an animal to the priest and make a sacrifice to atone for that sin (see Leviticus 4).  As the apostle to the Hebrews wrote, “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood (Christ) entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).  Christ has fulfilled the law’s requirement for blood so that we no longer need to sacrifice blood to atone for our sins. 

 

The Old Testament laws, ceremonies, and feasts were “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:17).  “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24), writes Paul, and we learn from that that the ceremonies of the tabernacle foreshadowed Christ’s work and directed Israel’s attention to the work He would do.  So “Christ is the end,” the purpose and goal “of the law” (Romans 10:4).  Now that His work on the cross is complete, Christ has fulfilled the ceremonies of the law so that the New Testament church needs no longer perform those ceremonies as the people of Israel did. 

ANABAPTISTS: A FULFILLED LAW IS AN OBSOLETE LAW

While the Roman Catholics in deBres’ day maintained that the ceremonies of the law should still be performed in New Testament worship, the Anabaptists on the other hand (they were the Protestants who swung too far to the other extreme) claimed that in having fulfilled the ceremonies of the law, Christ made them obsolete and hence they have no role at all any more in the New Testament dispensation.   In turn, the law (and with it much more of the Old Testament) could safely be ignored.  This thought is still alive today, and explains why much preaching (in the Western world) is drawn solely from the New Testament.  This thinking is also behind the printing of New Testament Bibles, without the Old Testament.

 

DeBres could not agree with this sentiment of the Anabaptists, and saw distinct value in the Old Testament law for the New Testament church.  Back in Article 5 deBres repeated after God what He had revealed in His Word about the authority of Holy Scripture.  He (and we with him) said, “we receive all these books, (including books as Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, focused as they are on the ceremonies and symbols of the law), ... as holy and canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and confirmation of our faith.”  We find these words echoed in Article 25, “In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken from the law and the prophets, both to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel and to order our life in all honour, according to God’s will and to His glory.” 

 

The point is that the Old Testament explains what the Lord teaches us in the New Testament.  It is not only the New Testament that reveals the gospel of the forgiveness of sins, but the law and the prophets do this too.  Those ceremonies of the Old Testament law are vivid pictures of how it is that the Lord has obtained salvation for us in Jesus Christ.  One need but recall the action of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement, when he had to lay his hand on the goat, confess over it the sins of the people, and then send the goat away into the wilderness to perish.  Here is a clear picture of how our sins were transferred onto Jesus Christ so that He perished in our place.  When the priests and Levites of the Old Testament dispensation explained the ceremonies of the tabernacle (see Leviticus 10:11; Deuteronomy 33:10), they were in fact preaching the gospel of redemption in Jesus’ blood.

 

Furthermore, the Ten Commandments teach us to “order our life in all honour according to God’s will and to His glory.”  The New Testament certainly promotes and reinforces a lifestyle in obedience to God’s Ten Commandments as recorded for us in the Old Testament.  But it is to the Old Testament that we ought to turn to learn how saints as Abraham and Joseph, Moses and David, lived a life of trust in God and obedience to His commands.  It is not for us to cast aside as obsolete the Old Testament revelation God preserved for us; our obligation instead is to read these Scriptures, to familiarize ourselves with them and to treasure them. 

 

Christ has finished the work the Father gave Him to do.  The Father’s mandate for the Son was written in detail in the ceremonies and symbols of the Old Testament law.  So the church does not offer sacrifices for sin today.  Yet the Lord has preserved for us in His Word what He required in these ceremonies so that we might the more fully understand and appreciate the righteousness Christ attained for us and thereby be confirmed in our faith.  So the Old Testament remains a source of rich instruction as New Testament saints delight in the completed work of Jesus Christ.

 

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Points for Discussion:

1.    Why did deBres include at this point in his confession an article about the Old Testament ceremonial law?

2.    Why does the Christian no longer need to keep the Old Testament ceremonial law?

3.    Why does Christ no longer need to be sacrificed for us?

4.    What does it mean that Christ “fulfilled” the law?

5.    What role do the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament play today?  What value does the rest of the Old Testament have?  Is it necessary for Christians today to read the book of Leviticus?  Why?

6.    What function does the Moral Law have today?