Read the Catechism in a Year
Day 244 - The Old Covenant
What significance does the Law of the Old Covenant have?
In the Law (the Torah), and its centerpiece, the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue), the will of God is manifested to the people of Israel; following the Torah is for Israel the central way to salvation. Christians know that we can tell by the Law what ought to be done. They also know, however, that it is not the Law that saves us.
Every man has the experience of finding that something good is, so to speak, “prescribed”. But one does not have the strength to accomplish it; it is too difficult; one feels “helpless” (see Rom 8:3 and Rom 7:14–25). One sees the Law and feels that one has been handed over to sin. And so precisely through the Law it becomes clear how urgently we rely on inner strength in order to fulfill the Law. That is why the Law, as good and important as it is, only prepares the way for faith in the saving God.
How did Jesus deal with the Law of the Old Covenant?
“Do not think”, says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Mt 5:17).
Jesus, being a faithful Jew, lived according to the ethical ideas and requirements of his time. But on a series of issues he departed from a literal, merely formal interpretation of the Law. (YOUCAT questions 335-336)
Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (1963-1986) and other references here.
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