The Ancient Christian Religion, Book 3 · Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII. Whether a Jew being converted to the Christian Faith, is still bound to keep the Law, namely Circumcision, the Offering of Sacrifices, and all other Rites and Ceremonies, according to the Law of Moses? Being the eleventh Case of Conscience.
SECT. I.
IT is supposed by some, that there is scarce any thing a greater obstruction to the conversion of the Jews than this, That they are bound to forsake the Law of Moses, in the Rites and Ceremonies of it, when they become Christians: And not only so, but the same do also question, whether the Gospel do indeed annul the Law of Ceremonies, with respect to the Jews to whom it was given.
To this we say, Where-ever the Gospel is truly received, the *Note, That we have spoken of the Moral Law in the first Part of our first Book. Here therefore we only speak of the Law of Ceremonies.Law, as aforesaid, must needs vanish away. Yea, it is made void de jure, by virtue of the Life, Death, Resurrection, and Glorification of the Son of God. For he came to fulfil the Law, not to destroy it, as a thing not worthy his observation; but to fulfil it, as he fulfilled the Prophecies which went before of him; which from the time of their accomplishment, serve for no farther use, than as the same may be alledged, to shew how they were fulfilled by him. And thus he is the end of the Law for Righteousness to EVERY ONE that believeth, even to the Jew, as well as to the Gentile.
1. This will appear from Rom. 7. 1, to 7. where first the Apostle directs his Speech to such as knew the Law. Secondly, Shews that the Law, which had been given to the Jews, was of the nature of the Law, by which a Woman is bound to her Husband, so long only as her Husband liveth, during which time she may not be married to another, without being called an Adulteress. The believing Jew is dead to the Law.But if her Husband be dead, she is free from that Law; so that she is no Adulteress, though she be married to another Man. All which is applyed to the liberty which Men had from the Law by Christ Jesus. Vers. 4. Wherefore my Brethren, ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth Fruit unto God. The Law is dead to a believing Jew.And vers. 6. But now being delivered from the Law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of Spirit, and not in the oldness of the Letter. So that unless a Woman may lawfully have two Husbands at the same time, no converted Jew can observe the Law of Ceremonies, and worship Christ according to the Gospel at the same time. Now the first being no way lawful, the second cannot be asserted to be lawful, without contradicting the Apostle, or making him to argue unintelligibly. For thus (or to this effect) he further reasons; If none can (according to Law) both worship God according to the oldness of the Letter, and in newness of Spirit: then none of you, Brethren (which know the Law) can worship God by keeping the Law of Ceremonies, and in the observation of the Gospel: But none can do the former, therefore you cannot do the latter. For, as the death of the Testator gave force or life to his last Will and Testament; even so it remains that all former Testaments, distinct from the last, were made void; among which certainly the Law of Ceremonies at least was included and annulled. Heb. 7. 18, 19. There is verily a disannulling of the Commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. The New Covenant causeth the Old to vanish.And again, In that he said, a New Covenant, he hath made the first Old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth Old, is ready to vanish away, Heb. 8. 13. And these things are the more remarkable to the point in hand, because they were written and sent to the Jews for their instruction (purposely) about the abrogation of the Law, and its Sacrifices.
SECT. II. Legal Sacrifices are ceased, therefore the whole of the Mosaical Ceremonies are ceased.
To argue from so noble a part of those Ceremonies, as the Sacrifices were, to the abrogation of the whole, is a cogent demonstration. Now, that the Sacrifices of the Law, and among the rest the Passover, is abrogated, where the Gospel is received, is evident; because Christ was evidently typed out by the Paschal Lamb; Christ is the Christian Passover.1 Cor. 5. 7. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. When he saith, Christ OUR Passover, he certainly excludes the sacrificing of any other Passover in the Christian Churches; and it is evident, that he writes his Epistles to the believing Jews, as well as to the believing Gentiles. Rom. 7. 1. I speak to you that know the Law; 1 Cor. 1. 2. To all that in every place call upon the Name of the Lord.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we have so full an account of the abrogation of Legal Sacrifices and Priesthood, as it's hard to speak more fully to any thing, than the Apostle speaks to this very Point. For first he shews, Heb. 10. 1. Heb. 9. 1.that the Law had a shadow of good-things to come; not that it hath now a shadow, because the good things are now come; and therefore he tells us plainly, that these Gifts and Offerings were Vers. 9.a Figure for the time then present: not for the time now present, Vers. 10.but till the time of Reformation, which is the time of the Gospel, and Christ's more perfect Tabernacle and Priesthood, as vers. 11, 24. And when 'tis said, Heb. 10. 1, 2.that those Sacrifices could not make the comers thereunto perfect; for then would they not have ceased. Doth he not plainly tell us, they are now ceased, because of their weakness or deficiency? Nor could they be said to have ceased among the believing Gentiles, for they were never given to them, but among the believing Jews must be their cessation, because they were they to whom only they were given. And when Christ cometh into the World, God refuseth to take pleasure in Burnt-Offerings or Sacrifices for Sin. And declared, that he speaks of those very Sacrifices which were offered by the Law. And then came Christ to take them away. Heb. 10. 9.Then said he, Lo, I come (in the Volumn of the Book it is written of me) to do thy Will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. Surely nothing ever was, or can be, more expresly repealed, than the Legal Sacrifices and Offerings are in this place.
The Holy Ghost having thus shewed the abolition of these Sacrifices of the Law, shews it further by the absolute sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice, saying, Heb. 10. 12.This Man after he had offered one Sacrifice for Sins, for ever: Mark! He offered one Sacrifice for Sins for ever, meaning, that thenceforth there ought to be no more, nor any other Offering for Sin; and this done, he sat down on the right hand of God: Which we have again confirmed, Vers. 14.For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. And then further shews, that this is the very same Covenant which God promised to make with the Jews, even then, when he would put his Laws in their Hearts, and their Iniquities he would remember no more. Not that he would put the Law of Sin-Offerings in their Hearts, for he expresly saith, Now where remission of these is, (namely, where remission of Sin and Iniquity is) there is no more Offering for Sin. So that it is to impeach the sanctifying Virtue of Christ's Offering, for any Believer to offer any other Sacrifice for Sin; for it is certain, there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin, Christ having fulfilled all the Will of God in that respect; and therefore it is said, Heb. 10. 10.By that Will we are sanctified, by the offering up of Christ once for all.
And hereupon the Apostle exhorts the Jews, To draw near with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith; not to enter into the Holy Places made with hands, into which the Blood of Bulls and Goats gave entrance, but into the Holiest of all, into which Christ is entred, even into Heaven it self: Heb. 6. 19, 20. For Christ is not entred into the Holy Places made with hands, but into Heaven it self; there, and now, to appear in the presence of God for us. Vers. 20.This is the new and living way which he hath consecrated, for the Jews as well as for the Gentiles, through the Vail, that is to say, his Flesh. The Jews therefore must not think to go to God by the old and dead way, for so the Law was said to be, Rom. 7. that being dead wherein we were held; and in that he saith, a New Covenant, he hath made the first Old. But having an High-Priest (not High Priests) over the House of God, (not Houses) as if the Jews were to be a Church still of a Legal Form, and the Gentiles of an Evangelical; but as having one High Priest, and being one Church; and as having, according to God's Promise, one Heart, and one Way; let us draw near, &c. having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience, and our Bodies washed with pure Water; Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering. And very remarkable is that passage, Heb. 13. 10. We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle. What can be more plain than this, i. e. He, to wit, a Jew, that would yet addict himself to the Service of the Tabernacle, thereby did cut himself short of any right to the Sacrifice offered by Christ our High Priest. They have no right to eat of our Altar, saith the Apostle.
SECT. III. Sheweth briefly the Abrogation of Circumcision; and therein the Abrogation of the whole Law of Ceremonies is further evinced.
It must be granted, That the Apostles (and especially Paul) met with great difficulties in the case of Circumcision, and keeping of the Law. And there is no doubt but that great care was taken, that the Jews might not suddenly be run upon in that case; as that Speech, Acts 21. 20. doth plainly shew, Thou seest, Brother, how many thousands of Jews there are, which believe, and they are all zealous of the Law: They do not say, and we are zealous of the Law; no, they make it not their own case, but their care was for the many thousands, whose zeal to the Law would certainly quarrel Paul, unless some expedient could be found to take off the prejudice which they had against him, by the report which they had heard, that he should teach the Jews which were among the Gentiles, that they ought to forsake Moses, &c. Now this Report was not wholly true, (nor perhaps any truth at all in it) for it is evident, that as yet he did comply with the weakness of the Jews, and therefore did be circumcise Timothy, Acts 16. 1, 2, 3. not because he thought the Law must be observed, but because of the Jews which were in those places: So careful was he to cut off occasion from the Jews, that for their sake he would bear with that, which was not necessary to be done. Howbeit, when he saw this temporizing about the Law was of no good consequence, but that the Judaizers began to disturb the peace of most of the Churches about it; yea, to awe, as it were, the very chief Apostles, Gal. 2. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Then Paul bestirs himself after another manner, and asserts the abrogation of Circumcision, upon the grounds whereby it was meet it should come to its end; Gal. 5. 11.and for this very cause was he persecuted more than the rest of the Apostles: But there had been no reason for this, had he only taught that the believing Gentiles ought not to be circumcised; for all the Apostles took courage to determine that case together with Paul himself, Act. 15. 22, 23.
But the grounds upon which Paul now preacheth down Circumcision, are such as free the Jews from the Yoke, as well as prevent the Gentiles from coming under the Yoke. Gal. 5. 2, 3.I testifie (saith he) again to every Man that is Circumcised, that he is a Debtor to the whole Law. Now if this was a good reason, why the Gentiles should not be circumcised, because it would make them Debtors beyond their Abilities to pay: Why may not this also be as good a reason, why the Jews should not be circumcised, seeing they could no more keep the Law than the Believing Gentiles? No, no, Peter had given a fair hint, to how little purpose it was for the Jews to be such Zealots for the Law, when he call'd it a Yoke, which neithey nor their Fathers were able to bear; and also call'd it, Acts 15. 10.A tempting God to put the Yoke upon the Necks of the Disciples, who from among the Gentiles had turned to God; assuring the whole Assembly, Acts 15. 11.That by the Grace of God they should be saved even as the Jews; where he that will, may easily see a notable Foundation laid to draw off the Jews from Legal Observances.
Again, Gal. 5. 1. when Paul saith, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not intangled again in the Yoke of Bondage; Doth he not propound one self-same freedom both to Jew and Gentile? Or if he speak of either more especially, then he must be understood of the Jews, for they were most under that Yoke whereof he speaks, and were more inclinable to be still going back to it: and indeed they are particularly spoken to in some parts of this Epistle, as Gal. 3. 24. Wherefore the Law was our School-master to bring us to Christ. This could not be said of the Gentiles, who were without the Law: but Paul speaks of himself and the Jews more especially, in these words, The Law was our School-master, &c. And of them it might truly be said, Gal. 3. 23. Before Faith came, we were kept under the Law; and therefore of them it must as truly be said, When Faith is come, we are no longer under that School-master, vers. 25. Again, when he speaks of the former state of those believing Gentiles in Galatia, he does not include himself with them. Gal. 4. 8, to 17. Howbeit, when ye knew not God, ye did service to them, &c. but after ye have known God, how turn ye again, &c. But in the same Chapter, when he speaks more particularly to the Jews, then he includes himself with them in reference to their former state, as vers. 3. even so we, when we were Children, were in bondage to the Elements of the World. And hence it appears, this Epistle was written for the instruction of believing Jews, as well as for the believing Gentiles; and indeed as they are Christians, all distinctions of Jew and Gentile vanish. And therefore the Jewish Religion, according to the Law, cannot remain; for if it do, it must needs make a perpetual difference between the Jewish Church Christian, and the Gentile; insomuch as it would be improbable that they could communicate together: for whilst the Jew keeps the seventh Day, the Gentile works upon it. The Jewish Christian he is slaying Beasts, offering Sacrifice, circumcising Infants, burning Incense, blowing upon Trumpets, sounding of Cymbals; with a multitude of like Ceremonies; about all which the Gentile Christian is unconcern'd. Now God is not the Author of Confusion in any Churches of the Saints; and it is certain, the believing Jew and Gentile may, and ought to communicate together; for Paul did so, he brake Bread with them: and Peter that first converted them, must not be supposed to deny communion with them. We conclude then, that the Law of Ceremonies, or the Law as it was the first Covenant in contra-distinction to the Gospel, is taken away by Christ, and the Christian Jew not bound to keep it.
1. Because it was necessary the first Covenant should be taken away, that the second might be established.
2. Because it was not lawful for the Church, to be married according to the Law of Christ, till the Bond of Moses was dissolved.
3. Because the Law was a Yoke too heavy for the Jews to bear, it was therefore necessary they should be eased of that Burthen.
4. Because, If it be not taken away, their Yoke and Burthen is made heavier by Christ, who commands all Christians to take his Yoke upon them. Which though it be easie in comparison to the Law, yet being added to the Yoke of the Law, it must needs make it more ponderous.
5. Because the reason why the believing Gentile shall not be circumcised, is as cogent why the Jew which believeth, should not be circumcised, viz. Because it makes the Circumcised a Debtor beyond his ability to pay; even to keep the whole Law.
6. Because the believing Jew hath as full remission of Sin, by Christ's Offering once made for Sin. It's therefore as unreasonable, that the Jew should offer for Sin, as it is for the Gentile. Seeing where remission of Sins is received through Christ, there is no more Offering for Sin.
Wherefore we shall close up this Chapter with the words of the Apostle, Gal. 3. 27, 28, 29. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither Bond nor Free, there is neither Male nor Female; FOR YE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS. And if ye be CHRIST's, then are ye ABRAHAM's SEED, and Heirs according to the PROMISE.