THE CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE IS UNIQUE
July 23rd 2006

THE CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE IS UNIQUE
Christianity is not Judaism
By Frank Alofokhai, January 2005

THE APPARENT LACK of depth of knowledge of the Christian way of life by many Christians today is appalling. Unfortunately this extends even to the pulpits. In fact this failure, shown in the generality of Christians, is a reflection of what they receive from various pulpits. This short-coming is manifested in the way and manner Christians lives their lives today. The very obvious result is the lack of impact by Christians in their various communities and the society at large. Looking at the issue at hand, it might be helpful to begin by asking some pertinent questions. Some of these questions include the following; Is Christianity different from Judaism? Is Christianity special in any way? Do we have in writing all that we need for the Christian way of life? Does the New Testament stress the critical things for the Christian way of life? Was anything vital or necessary for the Christian way of life left out by Paul and the other Apostles? Getting answers to these questions will go a long way toward helping to appreciate the uniqueness of Christianity as opposed to any other system or lifestyle. This understanding will clear up a lot of things and give the individual Christian the freedom to live a life that will bring glory to God. Now, looking at the issue at hand let us examine some claims. Some claim that because certain things or practices predate even the Mosaic Law, then they must be binding on all generations. Others say too that if God gave Israel binding commands, these must also apply to the Church. Still others believe that since it is the same God at work, we can take anything from anywhere in his word and use it as we deem it fit. Can Christianity 'borrow' anything from Judaism and use it as it deems fit? A look at one subject matter should clarify this.

The Circumcision Issue In Acts of the Apostles chapter 15 we see how some Jewish Christians were insisting that

1. ’unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved' v. 1
2. 'the Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses' v. 5 Paul and Barnabas had argued with them on these issues very strongly. But the debate continued. Eventually the apostles and elders could not sweep it under the carpet. This then led to the first council at Jerusalem. It is clear that the Law of Moses was given by God. In addition, circumcision which they had singled out was a very serious issue as far as the law was concerned. When God instituted the covenant of circumcision (Gen. 1713-14) he gave it as an everlasting covenant between himself and his people Israel. Anyone in Israel who refused to do it was to be cut off from the nation. It was that serious. In fact Moses was almost killed by God because he forgot to circumcise one of his children (Gen. 4.24-26). So one can see the reason why the Jewish Christians were insisting on it and other requirements of the law. Yet when it came to the church what do we find? The matter was referred to the early leadership of the Church. The Holy Spirit intervened and the verdict was that Christians were not to be burdened with the requirements of the law. Some may be quick to ask 'why?' Christians are in Christ and Christ fulfilled the law. Christ is the end of the law for everyone that believes in Him, Rom. 104. Case dismissed. What we get from here therefore is that the church is different. The church is unique. The same issue was re-emphasized in Galatians 5.1-14. The fact that a practice existed in the Old Testament does not necessarily make it binding on the church age believer. The church is not the nation Israel!

Under a New Covenant!
This understanding may go against the belief of many Christian groups. The issue however is 'what does the word say? Many Christians justify the practices in their groups on the ground that such practices can be found in the Old Testament. Their failure to 'rightly divide the word of truth' leads them off course. Christians belong to a New Covenant. To have a New Covenant presupposes that it is different (at least in some ways) from one that existed earlier. Even if the parties are still the same (God and man) its newness means there must be some difference. The New Covenant is different from the Old. And the New Covenant is better than the Old.
It was this emphasis on the difference between the old and the new that led to the persecution of many Christians by Jews including Paul (Saul as he was then known). Many Christians appear to have forgotten this. If no difference was stressed why was there so much opposition in places where the gospel was preached to the Jews? Even in places outside the land of Israel. Clearly they saw something that was not the same as what they had. While some accepted it, others with all their might fought against it. Sadly today's Christian does not even realize that he is entirely under a New Covenant, not to talk of seeking to find out what that New Covenant entails. As a result of this lack of awareness of what it takes to be in a New Covenant majority of Christian groups pick and choose and borrow bits and pieces from here and there in the old covenant and make it a way of life for those under the New Covenant. The fact that even the Lord Jesus began to emphasize the difference early in his ministry is not even obvious to them.

The Law and the New Covenant
While the law is not condemned in the New Testament writings, what is emphasized is that the New Covenant places us under a higher law referred to by several names, for example, The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8.2). Consequently our way of life is according to this 'NEW LAW'. Our way of life is not one lived in fear or dos and don'ts, but of joy and freedom to serve God in holiness and righteousness by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul turned away from Judaism
In the book of Galatians, Apostle Paul clearly taught that he had a previous way in Judaism-113; that when Apostle Peter sought to return to the way of Judaism he opposed him-211-21; that he was pained about the Galatians' Christians seeking to embrace observances as a means to spirituality-31-5,48-11,51-4; and that the Christian way of life is one of freedom,, but lived by the Spirit of God as a life of love-513-26. What these show obviously is that Christianity is not Judaism. What the Christian needs to ask himself therefore is 'what constitutes the Christian way of life?' And why is this important? It is important because failure of the Christian to live as God wants him to will result in God's disapproval of whatever he or she does. In other words living contrary to God's acceptable way of life will simply be wood, hay or straw which will be burned up at the evaluation throne of Christ. To qualify for eternal rewards the Christian must live a productive life in line with God's plan and not according to any other system outside of God's purpose.

Dispensations

God dealt with Israel as a nation. In addition, he wanted a spiritual relationship with her. So God's dealing with Israel had to do with her as a national entity as well as for the individual Jew to have a spiritual relationship with Him. As a result, God designed a system of administration for Israel. A system particularly designed for the era of Israel. Israel was to be a theocracy. That she rejected this is another story. On the other hand the church is more of a spiritual entity- a new creation of God according to 2 Corinthians 517. The church is not a national entity. The church belongs to an entirely new era. The two are distinct. The two are different. In Philippians 320 Paul stressed the fact that 'our citizenship is in heaven'. The church consists of citizens of heaven residing on earth. God's design of administration for the church and for the individual Christian is therefore different from what he had for Israel. Failure to recognize this difference and the uniqueness of the church era results in wrong or sloppy interpretation of the Word of God.


Christianity
Is Special The first Person that ever mentioned that something new was about to happen, was our Lord Jesus, when he declared that He will build His Church (Matt. 16.18). From the Lord to the Apostles, we see them declaring something that was a 'mystery' but now revealed. It was something that was previously concealed, but now made open. A new revelation! Its uniqueness then means that there would be things in it that are peculiar to it. The Church and the Church-age are different from any other before it or after it. Its doctrines too are different and unique. The Christian way of life goes far beyond that which existed under the specialized priesthood of Israel. For instance, in Christianity every Christian is part of the royal priesthood. In other words, every believer is a PRIEST. This among other things means that he represents himself before God- a major departure from the Old Testament way. Of course in the church some out of the priests are given the honour of being Pastor-teachers. These ones exercise authority in each local assembly. Their main function is, according to Eph. 412 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. We see here that every Christian is in full time service and the place of equipping is in the local assembly by the Pastor-teacher who is specially gifted for this purpose. So what we find in the New Covenant is that we no longer need to go to the priest to reach God. Each Christian can reach God directly. Of course we can and should pray for one another. Also we can solicit for others' prayers. But we must understand that there is no longer a 'class' of priests who alone can reach God. Failure to appreciate this has led to the creation of 'prayer merchants' who for money or other material things undertake to pray for others. Failure to understand this has led to many falsely assuming that they have been called to only pray and do nothing else.
Failure to grasp this has led many Christians to run helter-skelter seeking 'prophets' that they think can reach God on their behalf. Judaism had a class of priests. That was God's ordained system for that era (Numbers 85-26. In Christianity, every believer is a priest in a kingdom of priests (1 Peter 29) In Judaism God instituted several rituals. [Now this word ritual- must not be looked at from a negative point of view. Ritual means observance, practice, procedure, protocol and the like done at intervals or regularly or from time to time]. One major reason for the rituals is that God wanted them (the rituals) to be pointers toward the coming messiah Jesus Christ. Consequently when the Messiah came the shadow had to give way to the reality. The Jews knew that these rituals were figurative. Christians should know better.

These rituals included various sacrifices, feasts, and observance of holy days. There were the Burnt offering, the Meat (or food, or gift) offering, the Peace offering, the Sin offering, and the Trespass offering (Lev. 1-7). There were the feasts of Passover, First fruits, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles (Lev.23). The rituals in themselves did not provide salvation or atonement from sin. Only Christ's efficacious work did. So when his work was completed there was no longer any need for the shadow. None of these rituals is required of the church. The book of Hebrews brings this out very vividly in chapter 10 "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. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? … it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins". Going on further in the same portion we are told: "….. He sets aside the first to establish the second". v.9b And again: "….. by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" Earlier in chapter 9 we were told that: "Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary ….. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washing, external regulations applying until the time of the new order" (vv.1 & 10). Can anything be clearer than this? Earlier still in chapter 8 we have: "But the ministry Jesus has received is superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is a mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises" v. 6 And then: "By calling this covenant "new", he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear" We are therefore not to seek a return to the old, the obsolete. We are to hold fast to the 'good things' that have come.
The distinction between Christianity and Judaism was also forcefully brought out by Paul in the book of Galatians. In chapter 3 he stated clearly that "the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law". vv. 24-25. Once the new has come we are no longer to be under the old. Typical cases When a Christian, a church or a Christian group opts to observe any of those rituals or holy days mentioned earlier, such ones have failed in the Christian life. In fact they have ceased to live the Christian way of life. They have returned to the old, the obsolete. When the Christian takes the observances, the practice or procedure in the old covenant and make them the norm for his life he has returned to the old, the obsolete, and makes a shipwreck of his Christian life. A friend told me once of a church where members were asked to give money as an offering for sin- much like the old testament believers had to give sin-offering. Is it not absurd to seek to substitute the only offering for sin acceptable to God, the living son of God with money? And base it on a practice in the old covenant? Where is Heb. 9.26b? This is simply a failure to understand how to live the Christian way of life. When a church insists that you must go before a particular person before you can confess and have your sins forgiven, that church has missed the mark and no longer going by the Christian way of life. We are to 'approach the throne of grace with confidence…' Heb. 416, draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith' Heb. 10.22. Where a church maintains that members give first fruits offering, observe one feast or the other of the old covenant, proclaim a Sabbath year, year of jubilee or the like, emphasize a 20, 50, 70, 100 days of prayer or fasting, that church has turned back to Judaism.

In Colossians 2.16-25 we are told "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ … these are based on human commands and teachings …. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgences'. In Gal. 49-11 we have '…. how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you".

Conclusion
Interestingly, in the New Testament epistles, we have line upon line of information as to how the Christian way of life is to be lived. We have directives for worship. We have rules for Christian households. We have instructions for masters (employers), for slaves (employees), for leaders of local congregations and other issues. Not once is the Christian called upon to go back to any ritual or peculiar practice of the old covenant. Not once! Instead, as we have seen, the admonition is to turn away from them. Many Christians and churches are behaving like Israel was, still hungry and thirsty for the cucumbers and garlic, etc of Egypt when God had called them out to FREEDOM! No justification can be found for a return to Judaist practices in the guide for the New Covenant. Many hide under the phrase 'the spirit led me or led us'. But the spirit cannot lead in opposition to the revealed word. Paul was so strong about this that he said that even if an angel gave a different gospel from that which the apostles preached, let such a one be accursed (eternally condemned!) Gal. 1.6-8. This is a very strong statement. Christians are to stand firm in the freedom that Christ has set us free into and not allow themselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery (Gal.5.1). Anyone trying to be justified by the law (Judaist practices) has been alienated from Christ and has fallen (drifted off course) from grace (Gal.5.4). The Christian should seek to know the Christian way of life and live it out by faith in the son of God who loved us and gave himself for us (Gal.2.20). He should let this life of faith express itself through love (Gal.56). This kind of life is certainly not Judaism.