Religious Knowledge Thread

[Lief Erikson]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Spock get real. If christianity had nothing to do with the old testament then it wouldnt be part of the bible. And it wouldnt be referenced when convenient by millions and millions of christians.

Okay, I'll wade into this part of the way. It's a big issue that would take a long time to address fully, as Hector points out.

Jesus said that he is the fulfillment of the Law. He also said that the Law, Prophets and Psalms were pointing toward him. They were fulfilled in him. Thus many things that were picture-portrayed then are now given to us in their fullness.

For example, the Law is full of information about what is clean and what is unclean. You may not do this, for it is unclean, but you may do this, for it is clean. This is a mass scale symbolism of sin vs. purity. People are removed from the camp for uncleanness, just as sin is unacceptable in the kingdom of God. People who are clean are accepted in the camp, just as people who are spiritually clean are welcome into eternity. This goes for diseases and all sorts of things in the Law. They're symbols of what has now been fulfilled. They're pictures for us.

Circumcision also is a picture for us. It is the picture of being set apart from God. It is a symbol that has been literally fulfilled, for as Jesus enters people they are, "in the world, but not of the world." They are set apart for God.

The sacrifice of animals also is a symbol, a picture image for us of the sacrifice of Jesus.

And the curtain between people and the ark of the covenant is representative of the spiritual veil that blinds people's eyes from God. This literal physical veil was ripped in half when Jesus died for us, according to the New Testament. This symbolized the fact that everyone now has been offered direct access to the divine.


The Law has been literally fulfilled in Jesus' coming. It isn't abolished, but it is fulfilled. Physical circumcision thus is no longer necessary. It is a guidepost that was pointing toward the reality that is now among us. Animal sacrifice is no longer necessary, for this was a guidepost pointing to the reality in Jesus that has been fulfilled among us. We aren't bogged down in endless laws about physical cleanliness, for these pictures were fulfilled in the spiritual cleanliness that Jesus gives upon entering our lives.