Have you ever seen a mainstream Christian try to claim that New Testament anti-Mosaic law keeping verses outnumber pro-law verses? No, OF COURSE not, because by ANY CRITERIA, the number of pro-law keeping verses REALLY IS SUBSTANTIALLY LARGER than the number of supposedly anti-law verses. There are 291 NT, mostly explicit verses that obviously and quite clearly support Mosaic law keeping, which would include the safe meat, mostly prophetic festival, tithing, and rejuvenating Saturday rest laws. A number of verses, however, which is MUCH SMALLER, does exist in the NT that INITIALLY APPEAR, AT FIRST GLANCE, to support the belief that the Old Testament laws have been abolished. When the context and/or definition of pivotally important Greek words in ALL of those SEEMINGLY NEGATIVE verses are closely analyzed with an unbiased, open mind, though, you will be able to see that either they do not actually confirm the annulment of those laws, or that there is so much reasonable doubt that they cannot really be considered as true anti-law verses. Remember, also, that the Apostles probably considered it unnecessary and quite redundant to list, one by one, all the many OT laws in their epistles to the various scattered churches since they were already recorded, sometimes repeatedly, in the Old Testament copies available in the synagogues where Christians often worshipped the Lord alongside the Jews on the Sabbath. Hand made copies of the Old Testament were so expensive that most Christians could not afford to have one, so initially they attended weekly services with the Jews to have access to the Scriptures. Just because the anti-bestiality, anti-bribery, anti-removal of landmarks laws and those listing all the different tithing and festival laws, for example, are not specifically listed in the New Testament does not mean that those laws have been annulled. This and other pages lists every single pro-law and objectively analyzes every seemingly anti-law verse, one by one, from Matthew to Revelation.
Mainstream Christians have a very bad habit of simply and totally ignoring the strongly pro-law verses while lifting their seemingly anti-law verses “sky high” out of their proper contexts, apparently willingly endorsing a “self contradictory” New Testament. Mainstreamers fail to convincingly explain, or fail to even try to explain, why those many, many pro-law verses are sitting in the Bible, some of which ARE FAR MORE EMPHATIC than any seemingly anti-law verse.
“Pro-Law New Testament verses” refer to all the Mosaic laws plus those magnified by Jesus. These Pro-Law verses do not refer to the now abolished sacrifice, circumcision, Levitical priesthood, or the eternal death penalty (for righteous, law keeping Christians) laws. Most of the following verses are self explanatory needing no further explanation. Pro-law NT verses are defined as containing the words “sin,” “law,” “righteousness,” or one or more specific violations of the law, highlighted in green, in a way that supports law keeping. Remember, 1 John 3:4 defines sin as breaking the law. The following 291 Pro-Law verses were taken from the World English Bible.
PRO-LAW VERSES:
1) Matthew 5:17: “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Explanation: Read the page MATTHEW 5:17: “DO NOT THINK THAT I CAME TO DESTROY THE LAW …… BUT TO FULFILL.” GREEK FULFILL MEANS TO FULLY FILL OR FILL FULL THE LAW, TO EXPAND AND MAGNIFY IT, TO ADD TO IT, NOT TO SUBSTITUTE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS. 2) Matthew 5:18: “For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.” 3) Matthew 5:19: “Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least COMMANDMENTS and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” 4) Matthew 5:20: “For I tell you that unless your RIGHTEOUSNESS exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”….. unless your righteousness exceeds the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” 5) Matthew 7:12: “Therefore, whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the LAW and the prophets.” 6) Matthew 7:23: “Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work INIQUITY.’” 7) Matthew 12:8: “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 8) Matthew 12:12: “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.” 9) Matthew 13:41-42: “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do INIQUITY, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Explanation: The Greek for iniquity means lawlessness. 10) Matthew 19:17: “….. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 11) Matthew 22:38: “This is the first and great commandment.” 12) Matthew 22:39: “A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 13) Matthew 22:40: “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” 14) Matthew 23:23: “….. For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.” 15) Matthew 24:12: “Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.” Explanation: The Greek for iniquity means lawlessness. 16) Matthew 24:20: “Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath.” 17) Matthew 28:20: “teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you …..” 18) Mark 2:27: “….. ‘The Sabbath was made for man ……’ ” 19) Mark 10:17-19: “….. ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ …..” 20) Luke 10:25,26,28: “….. ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.’ ” 21) Luke 11:42: “….. For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.” “These” specifically refers to tithing, a Mosaic law. 22) Luke 16:17: “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.” 23) Luke 18:12: “….. ‘I give tithes of all that I get.’ ” 24) Luke 18:18,20: “….. ‘what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ 25) You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” 26) John 3:36: “One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Explanation: Jesus commanded us to obey the law. 27) John 14:15: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” 28) John 14:21: “One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me …..” 29) John 15:10: “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.” 30) Acts 7:52,53: “Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53 You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!” 31) Acts 10:14: “But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 32) Acts 11:8: “But I said, ‘Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’ ” 33) Acts 13:14-15: “…… They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down. 15 After the reading of the law and the prophets ……” 34) Acts 13:42: “So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” 35) Acts 13:44: “The next Sabbath, almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God.” 36) Acts 18:4: “He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks.” 37) Acts 18:21: “….. ‘I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills …..” 38) Acts 20:6: “We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days …..” 39) Acts 21:24: “….. but that you yourself also walk keeping the law.” 40) Acts 24:14: “….. I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets;” 41) Acts 25:8: “while he said in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I sinned at all.” 42) Acts 27:9: “….. the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast had now already gone by, Paul admonished them.” Explanation: This refers to the 24 hour waterless and foodless fast required during the Day of Atonement, called Yom Kippur by the Jews. The Greek word for “Fast” is nesteia, Strong’s number 3521, referring specifically to the Day of Atonement. Other tribes of ancient Israel such as the Benjamites also kept this fast. Paul was not a Jew. He was a Benjamite. 43) Acts 28:23: “….. persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, …..” 44) Romans 2:13: “For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified” 45) Romans 2:18: “know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,” 46) Romans 3:20: “Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Explanation: The NT explains elsewhere that law keeping PLUS faith are required for justification. 47) Romans 3:31: “Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.” 48) Romans 5:13: “For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.” 49) Romans 6:1,2: “….. Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?” 50) Romans 6:15: “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!” 51) Romans 7:7: “….. Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ ” 45) Romans 7:8: “….. For apart from the law, sin is dead.” 46) Romans 7:11: “for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.” 47) Romans 7:12: “Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.” 48) Romans 7:13: “….. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.” 49) Romans 7:16: ” ….. I consent to the law that it is good.” 50) Romans 7:21: “I find then the law that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.” 51) Romans 7:22: “For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,” 52) Romans 7:25: “….. I myself serve God’s law, …..” 53) Romans 8:2: “…… Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.” Explanation: Jesus freed us specifically from only the death penalty part of the law, not from the general law. 54) Romans 8:3: “For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;” Explanation: Pending. 55) Romans 8:4: “that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” 56) Romans 8:7: “because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.” 57) Romans 9:4: “who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;” 58) Romans 9:31: “but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness.” Explanation: Since Israel never did accept the need to now have faith that the sacrificial death of Jesus atoned for their repented of sins, which did away with the old law of sacrificing goats and rams, the Jews therefore never did “arrive at the law of righteousness.”. 59) Romans 10:5: “For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.” 60) 1 Corinthians 5:8: “Therefore let’s keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 61) 1 Corinthians 7:19: “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” 62) 1 Corinthians 9:9: “For it is written in the law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain’ ….. ” 63) 1 Corinthians 9:20: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;” 64) 1 Corinthians 9:21: “to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.” 65) 1 Corinthians 14:21: “In the law it is written …..” 66) 1 Corinthians 14:34: “Let the wives be quiet in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to be talking except in submission, as the law also says,” 67) 1 Corinthians 14:37: “….. the things which I write to you, that they are the commandment of the Lord.” 68) 1 Corinthians 15:56: “Death gets its power to hurt from sin, ……” (Good News Translation) 69) 1 Corinthians 16:8: “But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost.” 70) 2 Corinthians 6:14: “….. for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have?” 71) 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Therefore ‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.” Explanation: The Greek for “unclean” refers to or includes what is forbidden to eat according to the Mosaic laws. 72) 2 Corinthians 7:9: “….. you were grieved to repentance.” Explanation: Repentance means repenting of sin, and 1 John 3:4 defines sin as breaking primarily the Mosaic laws. 73) 2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret …..” 74) 2 Corinthians 12:21: “….. I would mourn for many of those who have sinned before now, and not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and lustfulness which they committed.” The Greek for “uncleanness” is akatharsia, Strong’s 167, whose first definition is a type of physical uncleanness similar to the kind of Mosaic lawlessness expressed in Romans 6:19 where the Greek anomia occurs twice. Akatharsia appears in verse 19. 75) Galatians 1:4: “who gave himself for our sins …..” The word “sins” refers directly to violating the Mosaic laws according to 1 John 3:4. 76) Galatians 2:17: “But if while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!” Sin refers to breaking the Mosaic laws. 77) Galatians 3:10: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” Explanation: The first “of” above, Strong’s 1537, in the phrase “For as many as are OF the works of the law ……” means, according to the original Greek, primarily a separation, exit, or removal from the law. A more accurate translation is “For as many as have abandoned the works of the law are under the curse, ……” 78) Galatians 3:12: “The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.” 79) Galatians 3:17: “…… the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.” (NKJV) 80) Galatians 3:18: “For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.” 81) Galatians 3:19: “Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.” Explanation: “The law” here refers only to the now abolished sacrifice laws as “spelled out” by Hebrews 9:9,10: “It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and SACRIFICES are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect …… 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed UNTIL THE TIME OF REFORMATION.” (NKJV) The time of reformation refers to the appearing of Jesus. “Transgressions” refer to breaking previously existing and still valid laws, such as the Ten Commandments, food, festival, and tithing laws. “Offspring” refers to Jesus Christ.
Continue reading on to PRO-LAW NT VERSES OUTNUMBER ANTI-LAW VERSES BY 291 TO ZERO, PAGE 2.
All Scriptures are taken from World English Bible and where noted, the Good News Translation and the New King James Version.