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NASB | Matthew 7:23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 7:23 "And then I will declare to them publicly, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME [you are banished from My presence], YOU WHO ACT WICKEDLY [disregarding My commands].' [Ps 6:8] |
Subject: What is iniquity in Matthew 7:23? |
Bible Note: Greg, I'm at work but I have an article which explains my position. I will copy a portion of it on this post. The apostle Paul was clear on this point: “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions . . . until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made” (Gal. 3:19). The law, in other words, was temporal; it had a fixed life span. In 2 Cor. 3, Paul contrasts the tablets of stone (v. 3) with the “new covenant” (v. 6). Here, it is the former, the “letters engraved on stones” (v. 7), which was idenditifed with “that which fades away” (v.11). Again, we wouldn’t speak this way of something which was eternal, but only of that which is temporal. Finally, according to the author of Hebrews, “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear” (Heb. 8:13). So contrary to many, the old covenant, the letters engraved on stones, was only a temporal covenant. And that which is temporal cannot be perpetually binding. So what exactly was made obsolete? Is there any indication that this covenant was somehow parceled out into civil, ceremonial, and moral divisions, with only the ceremonial (according to the reconstructionists) or only the ceremonial and civil (according to the rest) being made obsolete? None whatsoever! No such division of the covenant is ever made. The whole was made “obsolete.” The whole disappeared with the destruction of the temple, the altar, and the priesthood under Titus Vespasian in a.d. 70. The laws regarding clothing (Deut. 22:11, “You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together”), food, and cleanliness, as well as the sowing of one’s field, the trimming of the beard, the menstrous woman, the breeding of cattle, the tithes, and the sabbaths have all been removed insofar as the covenant has been removed. The fact that the New Testament saints gathered on the first day of the week (as opposed to the Sabbath) clearly indicates that even in their day they saw the obsolescence of the old covenant (the tablets of stone, the ten commandments). In this sense, Christ truly was “the end of the law” (Rom. 10:4). You see, there was a problem with that first covenant (Heb. 8:7, “if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second”). Though the law itself was holy (Rom. 7:12, “the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good”), on account of the weakness of the flesh (Heb. 8:8, “finding fault with them”), no one could attain to the promises contained within (Ex. 19:5, “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples . . . and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”). It proved to be, therefore, only a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7,9). As a result, Paul could say, “as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them” (Gal. 3:10). So the covenant had to be removed, lest the promises made 430 years earlier were to remain only a pipe dream. And removed it was, through fulfillment. Through the obedience of the One. By His obedience (“even to the point of death”—thereby bearing the curse of that covenant), those who belong to Christ (Gal. 3:29, “Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise”) now come into all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20, “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him [i.e., in Christ] they are yes”). “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did” (Rom. 8:3). In this way, God has created in Christ “one new man” (Eph. 2:15), a fruitful nation (Matt. 21:43), “a people for God’s own possession” (1 Pet. 1:9). You may read it in it's entirety at: http://www.solochristo.com/theology/nct/TwoCovenantsOldandNew.htm John |