Cleanliness and the New Covenant
Mr. Petit,
I wanted to write to you concerning our discussion Friday night. I left saying that I wished that Joe? would have a more concrete answer about his question about the relevance of laws of cleanliness from the book of Leviticus in his life as a born again Christian living according to the New Covenant. I remained silent during the conversation, and was feeling unsure that I was concrete in my understanding of the New Covenant. I regret how I wished that he would get a more concrete answer to his question however because I think that there is no more concrete answer than Jesus’ blood makes us both clean and forgiven and that is sufficient. I do feel that he was not convinced so I wanted to explain what I believe to the truth according to Scripture.
First, the New Covenant was prophesied in the Tanakh and in the book of Jeremiah it states.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (NASB95)
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Now it says, “not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.”
This means it is a new different covenant than the one delivered by Moshe.
This is what is explained by the parable of Jesus concerning the new wine not being put in old wineskins and also the new cloth patch being sewed on an old garment. The New Covenant is new and different.
Matthew 9:16–17 (NASB95)
16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.
17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Having said that, the B’rit Hadasha portion we read was amazingly placed in our discussion.
Mark 7:14–23 (NASB95)
The Heart of Man
14 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:
15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
16 [“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]
17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.
18 And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,
19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.
21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
Now the Law has rules about what food to eat and what is an abomination—as we read last night. So to say that “there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him,” is different than the Old Covenant. Jesus is issuing in the New Covenant—a new, different covenant. The Old Covenant is said by Paul—who more than the other Apostles explains the terms of the New Covenant—states that the Old Covenant is a tutor or a child’s mentor or guardian (παιδαγωγός)
Galatians 3:24–28 (NASB95)
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
We are no longer under a tutor but we clothe ourselves with Christ. We are all one under Christ. Jesus above tells us it is the man’s heart that is the issue.
Matthew 12:34 (ESV)
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Mark 7:20–23 (ESV)
20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
The tutor of the Law pointed to the absolute holiness of God, which we all fall short of, and we find ourselves lost and with cleanness and righteousness like filthy rags.
Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Christ is the answer to our uncleanliness and unrighteousness.
Romans 10:4 (NASB95)
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
He is the fulfillment and cessation of dependence on the Law. It was and is a tutor to lead us to Christ, in whose blood we have a New Covenant, but the circumcision now under the New Covenant is by the Spirit not the letter of the Law.
Romans 2:29 (NASB95)
29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
Now the terms of the New Covenant, the commands are the commands of Christ and commands of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:18 (NASB95)
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Ezekiel relays from God that the New Covenant is one of a new heart by the Spirit.
Ezekiel 11:19–21 (NASB95)
19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
21 “But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.
Paul describes what is the Way of the Spirit and what is detestable.
Galatians 5:1–26 (NASB95)
Walk by the Spirit
1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
10 I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.
12 I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.
13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
Christ—Jesus Christ—set us free from the burden of the Law and the truth has set us free. We are not to set ourselves under the yolk of bondage under the Law again. If we do we have fallen from grace, which is frightening and terrible to even mention. Now, in the New Covenant—a covenant based on the heart, what matters is faith working through love. The new Covenant is now one of putting to death the deeds of the flesh and being led by the Spirit.
Romans 8:3–4 (NASB95)
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Now in mention of circumcision, the whole law is implicated. If you pick and choose parts of the Law and regress, you stumble once again on the stumbling block.
Romans 9:30–33 (NASB95)
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33 just as it is written,
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
Galatians 2:16–18 (NASB95)
16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!
18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
But the question was of cleanliness and how that fits in to the terms of the New Covenant. First, the Law refers to all of the Law, both that of commands about sin and also commands about cleanness.
Romans 14:14 (NASB95)
14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Also again the Lord Himself declares that it is not what enters a man that makes him unclean. This is the new different terms of the New Covenant.
Remember the account of the leper made whole by the Lord.
Matthew 8:2–3 (ESV)
2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
According to the Law of Moses didn’t it say that Christ was to be unclean? But no, Christ ushered in the New Covenant? Christ made the leper clean. Now there is the example of the wretchedness of one whose flesh is rotting on his living body, which is the state of cleanliness of a man without Jesus Christ, but Christ commands him, and heals him by saying be clean. Instead of being made unclean by the leper, the leper is made clean by Christ. That is a picture of the New Covenant.
We are only acceptable and clean by Christ. We do not enter back into observance of the Law. Now if your conscience does not permit you to eat or touch whatever is not by faith is sin.
Romans 14:23 (NASB95)
23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
But, you are free, free to practice righteousness, and free of the burden of the Law that no one could keep—only Christ.
Romans 8:3–4 (NASB95)
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Galatians 4:4–6 (NASB95)
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
We fulfill the Law. How by belief in the Son of God who fulfilled the Law for us—there is no other way.
Let me say, Jews and those of the name of Messianic may disagree with this, but I have faithfully shown you from Scripture and I have peace to say these things by the Holy Spirit. If you have a conscience that tells you to eat Kosher or you find other things unclean, then again it is sin to you to eat or touch, but I want you to be careful to accept grace. Be wary to take up the yolk of the Law of which you cannot meet the requirements.
John 8:36 (NASB95)
36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Freedom is from sin. Freedom is also from the letter of the Law. We have a new and different covenant than the Law of Moses. You are now a free man, slave to righteousness that is fulfilled by faith in Christ and obedience to the terms of the New Covenant, which is the Law of Christ and obedience to His Spirit—there is no difference. God bless you and may the grace of God be poured out on you! May your cup overflow! The power of Christ fill you fully! Jesus come quickly! Amen