The Previous Section: The Torah Defines Sin
Christ came to grant a new covenant. He came to purify the old covenant and distinguish it from man’s traditions (oral law) which had crept in throughout time. He is the atoning sacrifice for sin, forming the sacrificial system into a better covenant. The sacrificial system is not eliminated, but made new. He became our mediator and High Priest through which we are granted the remission of sins, or redemption from law violations. Does this mean that we continually violate the Law? No, it means that our faith in Him means we do not desire to break the law, and if we do, He serves as our mediating High priest and sacrifice. Our hearts are turned from stone to flesh and His laws are written on our hearts if we are in Him, so we do not take advantage of this freedom. For example, continually breaking the law is not possible once you are in Christ. There is a new covenant, not a renewed covenant, for we broke the original, but the new covenant is not the abolition of the law, but living it out in the true manner it was always meant to be, before our transgressions, before Moses, through faith, as Abraham lived it. Read Galatians 3:13-14 again.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.“
Galatians 3:13-19 ESV
Christ died for the remission of sins so that the blessings that Abraham experienced for keeping6 the law, could be experienced by the lost sheep.
“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.”
Romans 4:1-12 ESV
So what was Christ’s blood for? For the payment of violating God’s Torah, for the remission of sin.
“for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
Matthew 26:28 KJV
And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Mark 14:24 KJV
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Luke 22:20 ESV
The book of Hebrews echoes Christ as our mediator and High Priest (of Melchizadek – Gen 14:17-18, Zech 19:5-6, Ps 110:4, Heb 5:6-10, 6:20, 7:1-28). So if Christ is our High Priest, it is through Him that we offer our sacrifices – our offerings for forgiveness of sin. They are not offered in Temples any longer, so those portions of the Torah are not necessarily abolished, they are enhanced through Christ’s sacrifice.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:26-28 ESV
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent[a] that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ[b] has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
Hebrews 8:1-6 ESV
Christ is our High priest and mediator for the remission of sin within the new covenant. Sacrifices are to be through Him, and He grants the forgiveness of our law violations. This is stated explicitly in Hebrews 9:
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,[e] then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctifyfor the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:11-15 ESV
Christ did not die to forgive our violations of the Torah, so that we can continually violate the Torah, which is God’s Law. Christ lived out the Torah fully. He celebrated the feasts, avoided pork, and wore the Tzitzit. We should live as He lived with the understanding that His sacrifice became our eternal sacrifice to God for our sin.
Next Section: Christ Wore the Tzitzit