Over the next 30 weeks, we will share 30 different Bible Contrasts that show distinctions that matter when studying God’s Word. It is important to understand this perspective or we may get confused.
We see a number of dissimilar wordings within God’s Word. Some have seen them as contradictions in the Bible. We prefer the term “contrasts.” The main reason for these differences is that God is setting forth two separate programs (intimated even in Genesis 1:1). The first deals with the earth and Israel. The other concerns the heavens and Christ’s Body Church. It was given to the Apostle Paul to lay out these differences. He is God’s “apostle of the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13).
So then we must recognize such Bible divisions if we’d truly understand God’s Word and be approved by Him (II Tim. 2:15). Then we must follow the last directives given by God through Paul as “the commandments of the Lord” for this present time (I Cor. 14:37).
UNDER MOSES’ LAW: The Lord gave “the law which Moses set before the children of Israel” to “keep and do” (Deut. 4:44; 5:1-3). If the “house of Jacob” obeyed, they would “be a peculiar treasure… above all people” (Ex. 19:3-5). God promised Israel “life and death, blessing and cursing” in accord with their obedience to the law’s commands (Deut. 30:10-20). Christ on earth was “made under the law” (Gal. 4:4). He did not “come to destroy the law…but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). Under the “new covenant with…Israel,” God will put His “law in their…hearts,” and they will “do them” (Jer. 31:31-33; Ezek. 36:26,27).
NOT UNDER THE LAW: Gentiles never were under the law of Moses and were exempted when the issue arose (Acts 15:5,19-24; 21:24,25). The Apostle Paul declares that God’s people today “are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14,15). “My brethren, ye also are become dead to the law” (Rom. 7:4). That old covenant has been “done away,” “abolished” (II Cor. 3:6-14). “Christ is the end of the law…to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 10:4).
For more information and understanding, we recommend doing the PMA “Understanding your Bible” 8 part lesson series available for free download at Free Bible Correspondence – Prison Mission Association
(These points come from Pastor David Adams, booklet, Bible Contrasts used by permission)