The Obligations of the First Covenant.
By R. F. Cottrell
IN the SIGNS of Aug. 13 is an article by Brother N. J. Bowers, in which is shown with clearness that the ten commandments are not the old covenant. Those who contend that they are, ignore the record of the making of the covenant in Ex. 19, and its ratification, or "dedication," recorded in chapter 24; for the facts recorded in these chapters spoil their theory that the law of God,—the ten commandments,—is the old covenant, and consequently that all written law passed away, being nailed to the cross. Men who profess to believe in God and the Bible, attempt to maintain this blasphemous theory, right in the face of the plainest declarations of Christ and his apostles. Matt. 5: 17-19; Rom. 3: 31; Jas. 2: 8-12. It has been shown repeatedly that the covenant consisted of mutual promises between God and the people; that it was made "concerning" the words of God, which they promised to obey, and that their obedience to his voice was the condition on which his promises to them were based. The obligations of the covenant were mutual, as is the case with every contract between two parties. The people promised to obey the voice of God, and on this condition he promised to care for them as his peculiar people. When they had broken their promise by worshiping other gods, he was under no obligation to fulfill his promises to them. By their failure to meet the condition, they forfeited their claim to his promises. The handwriting of ordinances connected with that covenant was nailed to the cross; but the covenant itself waxed old and vanished away. It was old when the new covenant was promised through Jeremiah the prophet. "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." The people were never released from their obligation to obey the voice of God which they heard from the mount. They were under obligation to obey whether they promised to do so or not. But when they had broken their promise by disobedience, the Lord was released from the obligation to fulfill his promises to them.