The Old Law is Gone, completed, perfected, abolished
compare:
"For God did not send his Son into the world to Judge/condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him."--John 3:17
*Though Jesus is the Judge, and many are condemned, His
purpose in coming was to SAVE, but does not make
void his role as Judge.
and
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword (division)."--Matthew 10:34/ Luke 12:51 *clearly Christ does want peace on peace because he says in Matthew 5:9 "blessed are the peacemakers", but He will cause division in families and spiritual wars. If anything this may be linked to the next verse, Matt. 5:10: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake." as Matthew 10:35 speaks of division and alienation, especially in families, because of the Gospel.
with a parallel structure in this verse that ALSO says "do not think that I have come to..I have come.." This verse is typically used by Judaizers:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish* the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill."--Matthew 5:17 *Again the Old Law is abolished, he fulfill the law and the prophecies, the law with the emphasis of love is fulfilled, but also is abolished, the New Law, the Law of Christ, is based on the emphasis of the Old Law of "love thy neighbor" which is put into action under the New Law, while the Old Law had certain prohibitions against acts that they New Law considers charitable. Abolished can ALSO be read "weakened", "loosened." Also, the Law or Torah and the Prophets are referring to the Jewish Scriptures, the Hebrew Bible, books cannot be abolished but the laws in the Torah can be changed since Jesus is the Author of Life and the Law.
Another verse which people seeking to put man under the Old Law try to justify Saturday-sabbath keeping with is:
"Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God."--Hebrews 4:9
Our sabbath rest is in Christ, but to be more precise this is a reference to a sort of spiritual sabbath, not a physically sabbath in which we are required by Mosaic Law to observe under penalty which may include death. The emphasis of a spiritual sabbath can be seen in the following two verses.
And whoever enters into God's rest, rests from his own works as God did from his. Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience. --Hebrews 4:10-11
Also the saints receive rest in Heaven from their labors Revelation 14:13.
"..Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," said the Spirit, "let them find rest from their labors, for their works accompany them."--Revelation 14:13
More verses commenting on the passing of the Old Law...
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You shall no longer bring vain meal-offerings, it is smoke
of abomination to Me; New Moons and Sabbaths, calling convocations, I cannot
[bear] iniquity with assembly. Your New Moons and your appointed seasons My
soul hates, they are a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing [them]..—Isaiah 1:13-4
From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.—Isaiah 66:23
You are observing days, months, seasons, and years. I am afraid on your account that perhaps I have labored for you in vain.-- Galatians 4:10-11 *Paul claims he wasted his time since they keep their old ways still.
It is I, Paul, who am telling you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I declare to every man who has himself circumcised that he is bound to observe the entire law. You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.--Galatians 5:2-6
'For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."' - Galatians 5:14 ...for Tertullan's commentary on it
"Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ." - Galatians 6:2
'When he speaks of a "new" covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. And what has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.'--Hebrews 8:13 (on Jeremiah 31:31)
'The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.'--Jeremiah 31:31
"When there is a change of priesthood, there is necessarily a change of law as well."--Hebrews 7:12
On the one hand, a former commandment is annulled because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law brought nothing to perfection; on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.--Hebrews 7:18-19
For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second one.--Hebrews 8:7
'First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in." These are offered according to the law. Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will." He takes away the first to establish the second.'--Hebrews 10:8-9
'For if what was going to fade was glorious, how much more will what endures be glorious.Therefore, since we have such hope, we act very boldly and not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not look intently at the cessation of what was fading. Rather, their thoughts were rendered dull, for to this present day the same veil remains unlifted when they read the old covenant, because through Christ it is taken away.'--2 Corinthians 3:11, 14
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ.....obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross;..... Let no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath. These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ....For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace,--Ephesians 2:11-15
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ. You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And even when you were dead (in) transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross; despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by it. Let no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath. These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ.--Colossians 2:11-17
But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter.--Romans 7:6
" for a righteous man the law was not made; the law is good, if a man use it lawfully." -- 1 Timothy 1:8-9
"That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."--Mark 2:28
For we are the circumcision, we who worship through the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus and do not put our confidence in flesh,--Philippians 3:3
..Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray at about noontime. He was hungry and wished to eat, and while they were making preparations he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all the earth's four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky. A voice said to him, "Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat." But Peter said, "Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean." The voice spoke to him again, a second time, "What God has made clean, you are not to call profane." --Acts 10:9-15 *These verses clearly state unclean meats are now allowed to be eaten, the meaning of this vision was God wanted to gospel to extend to the Gentile which Peter says later. No where in the New Testament are Christians after pentecost told they may not eat meat formerly unclean, if anything God seems to tell Peter eating those meat and more importantly those who eat them can be acceptable to God and therefore the Gentiles are to be evangelized and they are not unclean as show in the following..
"you know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean."--Acts 10:28 *clearly are now told Gentiles are not unclean, even if they eat meat formerly repugnant.
The Council of Jerusalem concerning Mosaic law went as follows:
Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved."--Acts 15:1
"He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith He purified their hearts.Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they.(by St Peter)"--Acts 15:9-11
"It is my judgment, therefore, that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God (by St James, bishop of Jerusalem).."--Acts 15:19
'It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and
of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities*, namely, to abstain from meat
sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from
unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right.
Farewell. (Council of Jerusalem to Church in Antioch)'"--Acts 15:28-29
*note CIRCUMCISION is NOT in the
list of necessities, which was the original problem, ergo Mosaic circumcision
is not necessary
Now we know that what the law says is addressed to those under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world stand accountable to God, since NO human being will be justified in his sight by observing the law; for through the law comes consciousness of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction;--Romans 3:19-22 *Observing the old Law benefits NONE, and it says NO ONE, whether gentile or Jew will be justified by their ability to follow it.
For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law--Romans 3:28
(yet) who know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and NOT by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.--Galatians 2:9
Stupid Galatians.....I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from faith in what you heard?.. --Galatians 3:1-2
For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in doing all the things written in the book of the law." [Deutronomy 27:26] And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, for "the one who is righteous by faith will live." But the law does not depend on faith; rather, "the one who does these things will live by them." Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,"--Galatians 3:10-13
For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. It is I, Paul, who am telling you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I declare to every man who has himself circumcised that he is bound to observe the entire law. You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.--Galatians 5:1-6
As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. Would that those who are upsetting you might also castrate themselves! --Galatians 5:11-12 *St Paul saying something rather vulgar in concerns to circumcision
[Jesus] said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)--Mark 7:18-19
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Jewish Tradition on the temporary state of the Mitzvahs (commandments) of the Torah
"Ordinances of the Kings"
that the King annointed as Messiah will "sit on his kingly throne and
write for himself a Book of the Law in addition to the Law given to our
Fathers" and "He will compel Israel to obey these
commandments".—Risto Santala quoting
RaMBaM
"The Torah will revert
to its original state"--
Pesikhta Rabbati 89,6
"The Holy One -- may
he be blessed -- will sit (in the Garden of Eden) and draw up a
new Torah for Israel, which will be
given to them by the Messiah."—Rabbi Yalqut
Isaiah, Yalqut Isaiah 26, siman 296
"In the future the
commandments will be annulled.”-- Nida 66b.
‘traditions of the Wise’
"At the end the Torah
will be forgotten."—Rabbi Shimon Ben Eleazar, Mechilta, Masechet Piska,
2; cAD 170-200
“This is how it will be in the
days of the Messiah; there will be no 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not'
commandments (zechut ve-hovâh)."—Rabbi Shimon Ben Eleazar, Shabbath
130a-b.
Klausner, in his book
"The Messianic Idea in Israel", explains that, "The natural
interpretation of this is that in the days of the Messiah, the Torah and the
Commandments will lose their significance"—Risto Santala on Klausner
"The Torah which man
learns in this world is but vanity compared with the teaching of the Messiah."—Midrash
of Ecclesiates, Midrash Qoheleth
71,8.
" 'The LORD sets
prisoners free'... What does this 'setting free of prisoners' mean? There
are those who say that in the future the Holy One will make all unclean
animals fit for eating."—Midrash Psalm
146:7, Midrash Tehilim 146,7.**This is similar to Jesus’ and St Paul’s saying
on freeing the prisoners
All sacrifices, except
thankofferings*, will be abolished in future; and even should prayer
be abolished, that portion thereof which comes under Praises will not be
abolished.—Levit. Rabba
9. *The thanksoffering,
or todah, is the Eucharist which means thanksgiving, as it is written Christ
“gave thanks” and said “offer this memorial sacrifice”
“Thus our Sages have stated:
Even if all the festivals become obsolete, Purim will remain. In the Messianic
Era, the joy and tranquility of the festivals will be a daily experience. Their
light will be like that of a candle in the light of day. Yet even in that
spiritually advanced climate, the loftiness of Purim will still be something to
celebrate.”—Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, On
Esther 9:28
Church Fathers
"If then those who had walked in ancient practices attained unto newness of hope, no longer observing Sabbaths but fashioning their lives after the Lord's day, on which our life also arose through Him and through His death ... if this be so, how shall we be able to live apart from Him?"--St Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Magnesians, Chapter 9, c.AD 110
"Moreover, by the works and by the attendant miracles, it is possible for all to understand that He is the new law, and the new covenant, and the expectation of those who out of every people wait for the good things of God." –St Justin Martyr AD 110-165 Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 11: The law abrogated..
"The new law requires you to keep perpetual sabbath, and you, because you are idle for one day, suppose you are pious, not discerning why this has been commanded you: and if you eat unleavened bread, you say the will of God has been fulfilled. The Lord our God does not take pleasure in such observances: if there is any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to be so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept the sweet and true sabbaths of God. If any one has impure hands, let him wash and be pure."—St Justin Martyr AD 110-165 Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 12: The Jews violate the eternal law
“And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration."—St Justin Martyr The First Apology Chapter 67. Weekly worship of the Christians. AD 110-165
"Since, however, He has made the law obsolete by His own precepts, even by Himself fulfilling the law."--Tertullian cAD 200 Against Marcion book 5 chapter 17
Thus Christ did not at all rescind the Sabbath: He kept the law thereof, and both in the former case did a work which was beneficial to the life of His disciples, for He indulged them with the relief of food when they were hungry, and in the present instance cured the withered hand; in each case intimating by facts, "I came not to destroy, the law, but to fulfil it," [Matthew 5:17] although Marcion has gagged His mouth by this word. For even in the case before us He fulfilled the law, while interpreting its condition; moreover, He exhibits in a clear light the different kinds of work, while doing what the law excepts from the sacredness of the Sabbath and while imparting to the Sabbath-day itself, which from the beginning had been consecrated by the benediction of the Father, an additional sanctity by His own beneficent action. For He furnished to this day divine safeguards,—a course which His adversary would have pursued for some other days, to avoid honoring the Creator's Sabbath,--Tertullian c. AD 200 Against Marcion Book 4 Chapter 12
"For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: " Go, " He says, " teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. " The comparison with this law of that definition, " Unless a man have been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens, " has tied faith to the necessity of baptism."--Tertullian AD 200 On Baptism Chapter 13
"Jesus Christ; thenceforth He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of heaven, worked miracles; having been crucified, He rose again the third day;"--Tertullian cAD 200 Prescription Against Heretics Chapter 13
"But another reason, too, conspires; nay, not another, but (one) which imposed the law of " the beginning, " and moved the will of God to prohibit divorce"—Tertullian On Monogamy Chapter 9 c.AD 200
Likewise Tertullian in Answer to the Jews writes extensively on the eternal Sabbath, not the 7th day Sabbath/
Concerning Salvation History Aphrates says: “It was handed down from Adam to Noah, it was extended from Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham to Moses and from Moses himself till David; then from David to the exile, and from Babylon till our Savior. The People was scattered and cut off, and all its traditions ceased; the hand of the Apostles passed it on. Blessed be the Lord of their traditions!”—St Aphrates, HcHaer 24,22 (CSCO 169, Syr 76, p. 9)
"And He calls it blood of a New Testament, that of the undertaking, the promise, the new law. For this He undertook also of old, and this comprises the Testament that is in the new law. And like as the Old Testament had sheep and bullocks, so this has the Lord's blood."--St John Chrysostom AD 380-400 Homily 82 on Matthew 26:26-8
"It is therefore apparent what difference there is between the old covenant and the new,—that in the former the law is written on tables, while in the latter on hearts; so that what in the one alarms from without, in the other delights from within; and in the former man becomes a transgressor through the letter that kills, in the other a lover through the life-giving spirit."—St Augustine c.AD 420 On the Spirit and the Letter Chapter 42: Differences Between New and Old Testaments
“Our rest is from evil works, theirs from good; for it is better to plough than to dance. They abstain from good, but not from trifling, works. God proclaims to us a Sabbath. What sort of Sabbath? First consider, where it is. It is in the heart, within us; for many are idle with their limbs, while they are disturbed in conscience....That very joy in the tranquillity of our hope, is our Sabbath. This is the subject of praise and of song in this Psalm, how a Christian man is in the Sabbath of his own heart, that is, in the quiet, tranquillity, and serenity of his conscience, undisturbed; hence he tells us here, whence men are wont to be disturbed, and he teaches you to keep Sabbath in your own heart.”—St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 92, Para. 2, c. AD 410
There are seven sacraments of the new Law, namely baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders and matrimony, which differ greatly from the sacraments of the old Law. The latter were not causes of grace, but only prefigured the grace to be given through the passion of Christ; whereas the former, ours, both contain grace and bestow it on those who worthily receive them. The first five of these are directed to the spiritual perfection of each person in himself, the last two to the regulation and increase of the whole church.--Session 8 to the Armenians -- Council of Florence, November 22, AD 1439, The 17th Holy Ecumenical Council
It firmly believes, professes and teaches that the legal prescriptions of the old Testament or the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, holy sacrifices and sacraments, because they were instituted to signify something in the future, although they were adequate for the divine cult of that age, once our Lord Jesus Christ who was signified by them had come, came to an end and the sacraments of the new Testament had their beginning. Whoever, after the passion, places his hope in the legal prescriptions and submits himself to them as necessary for salvation and as if faith in Christ without them could not save, sins mortally. It does not deny that from Christ's passion until the promulgation of the gospel they could have been retained, provided they were in no way believed to be necessary for salvation. But it asserts that after the promulgation of the gospel they cannot be observed without loss of eternal salvation. Therefore it denounces all who after that time observe circumcision, the sabbath and other legal prescriptions as strangers to the faith of Christ and unable to share in eternal salvation, unless they recoil at some time from these errors. Therefore it strictly orders all who glory in the name of Christian, NOT to practise circumcision EITHER before or after baptism, since WHETHER or NOT they place their hope in it, it CANNOT POSSIBLY be observed without LOSS of eternal salvation.--Session 11 To the Copts —Council of Florence, February 4, AD 1442, 17th Holy Ecumenical Council **
**This council tells us not only should we NOT follow the Old Law for justification but not follow it for any reason.
The holy Synod declares first, that, for the correct and sound understanding of the doctrine of Justification, it is necessary that each one recognise and confess, that, whereas all men had lost their innocence in the prevarication of Adam-having become unclean, and, as the apostle says, by nature children of wrath, as (this Synod) has set forth in the decree on original sin,-they were so far the servants of sin, and under the power of the devil and of death, that not the Gentiles only by the force of nature, but not even the Jews by the very letter itself of the law of Moses, were able to be liberated, or to arise, therefrom; although free will, attenuated as it was in its powers, and bent down, was by no means extinguished in them.-- Council of Trent, Session 6 January 13, 1547 CHAPTER I. On the Inability of Nature and of the Law to justify man.
"Whence it came to pass, that the heavenly Father, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, when that blessed fulness of the time was come, sent unto men, Jesus Christ, His own Son-who had been, both before the Law, and during the time of the Law, to many of the holy fathers announced and promised-that He might both redeem the Jews who were under the Law, and that the Gentiles, who followed not after justice, might attain to justice, and that all men might receive the adoption of sons. Him God hath proposed as a propitiator, through faith in his blood, for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for those of the whole world.---Council of Trent, Session 6, January 13, 1547, Chapter 2: On the dispensation and mystery of Christ's advent.
"If anyone shall say that man can be justified before God by his own works which are done through his own natural powers, or through the teaching of the Law...let him be anathema."-- Council of Trent, On Justification Canon 1
: "However they are not attempting to observe the precepts of the old Law, which as everyone knows have been revoked by the coming of Christ."-- Pope Benedict XIV, Ex Quo Primum, #59
"The first consideration is that the ceremonies of the Mosaic law were abrogated by the coming of Christ and they can no longer be observed without sin after the promulgation of the Gospel."--Pope Benedict XIV, Ex Quo Primum, #61:
Pius VI, DS 1519-1520 (condemned the following): "Likewise, the doctrine which adds that under the Law man 'became a prevaricator, since he was powerless to observe it, not indeed by the fault of the Law, which was most sacred, but by the guilt of man, who, under the Law, without grace, became more and more a prevaricator'; and it further adds, 'that the Law, if it did not heal the heart of man, brought it about that he would recognize his evil, and, being convinced of his weakness, would desire the grace of a mediator'; in this part it generally intimates that man became a prevaricator through the nonobservance of the Law which he was powerless to observe, as if 'He who is just could command something impossible, or He who is pious would be likely to condemn man for that which he could not avoid' (from St. Caesarius Serm. 73, in append., St. Augustine, Serm. 273, edit. Maurin; from St. August., De nat, et "rat., e. 43; De "rat. et lib. arb., e. 16, Enarr. in psalm. 56, n. I),-- false scandalous, impious, condemned in Baius (see n. 1504).
1520 20. "In that part in which it is to be understood that man, while under the Law and without grace, could conceive a desire for the grace of a Mediator related to the salvation promised through Christ, as if 'grace itself does not effect that He be invoked by us' (from Conc. Araus. II, can. 3 [v.n. 176]),-- the proposition as it stands, deceitful, suspect, favorable to the Semipelagian heresy.
29:
"And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished; then the Law of Christ together with its mysteries, enactments,
institutions, and sacred rites was ratified for the whole world in the blood of
Jesus Christ...but on the Gibbet of His death Jesus
made void the Law with its decrees fastened the
handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross, establishing the New Testament
in His blood shed for the whole human race. "To such an extent,
then," says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord,
"was there effected a transfer from the Law to
the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from
the many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as Our Lord expired, that mystical
veil which shut off the innermost part of the temple and its sacred secret was
rent violently from top to bottom." 30: "On the Cross then the Old Law died, soon
to be buried and to be a bearer of death, in order to give way to the New
Testament of which Christ had chosen the Apostles as qualified ministers"
--Pope Pius XII: Mystici
Corporis 29-30