Andy Stanley preaches to an estimated 33,000 people every Sunday at North Point Ministries' five metro-Atlanta campuses. | Photo courtesy of North Point Ministries
Posted on 01/10/2019 8:11:47 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Andy Stanley preaches to an estimated 33,000 people every Sunday at North Point Ministries' five metro-Atlanta campuses. | Photo courtesy of North Point Ministries
Christians should quit erecting Ten Commandments displays and should instead consider making monuments dedicated to the Sermon on the Mount, popular pastor Andy Stanley said.
In a column published by Relevant Magazine, the North Point Community Church pastor argued that the Ten Commandments are “the old covenant” and no longer apply to believers.
"[I]f we’re going to create a monument to stand as a testament to our faith, shouldn’t it at least be a monument of something that actually applies to us?" he posed.
“Participants in the new covenant (that’s Christians) are not required to obey any of the commandments found in the first part of their Bibles,” wrote Stanley. “Participants in the new covenant are expected to obey the single command Jesus issued as part of his new covenant: as I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
This new commandment is "a replacement for everything in the existing list. Including the big ten," he maintained. "Just as his new covenant replaced the old covenant, Jesus’ new commandment replaced all the old commandments."
Stanley went on to say that he believed so much of the evils committed by churches over history were connected to them trying to mix aspects of the old covenant with Christianity and that although “Jesus was foreshadowed in the old covenant, he did not come to extend it.”
“Dear Christian reader: Why? Why? Why would we even be tempted to reach back beyond the cross to borrow from a covenant that was temporary and inferior to the covenant established for us at Calvary?” Stanley continued.
“The author of Hebrews says it best. Jesus was the ‘guarantor of a better covenant’ (Hebrews 7:22). Later he writes, ‘the new covenant is established on better promises.’ Besides, you weren’t included in the old covenant to begin with! So why are we fighting to build monuments to it?”
Stanley's comments echo the arguments he made in his recent book, Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World, which was released last September.
In the book, Stanley spoke about "old covenant leftovers," stating that he believed Christians had "an uncomfortable history and habit of selectively rebranding aspects of God's covenant with Israel and smuggling them into the ekklesia of Jesus."
Stanley wrote that while the covenant God made with ancient Israel was "divinely ordained," it was also "temporary," adding, "Careless mixing and matching of old and new covenant values and imperatives make the current version of our faith unnecessarily resistible."
Last year, Stanley garnered controversy when he argued in an April sermon that Christians should “unhitch” themselves from the Old Testament.
To justify this, Stanley cited Acts 15, which described how early church leaders decided that Gentile converts did not need to strictly observe Jewish law to become Christians.
"[First century] Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures," preached Stanley. "Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”
He argued that what launched Christianity was the resurrection of Jesus, not the Jewish scriptures.
Many, including Messianic Jewish author and radio personality Michael Brown, have denounced Stanley's “unhitch” comments.
"A pastor as influential as Andy Stanley needs to distance himself from such heresies, making a public, clear, and unequivocal correction that undoes the confusion he has caused. (He knows that I write this [as] a friend, out to help, not to hurt.)," wrote Brown in a column last year.
"He can preach against legalism and against Judaizing, exalting the grace of God and celebrating the newness of the New Covenant, without undermining the very foundations on which that New Covenant is established."
Ray Ortlund, senior pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and the president of Renewal Ministries, also denounced Stanley’s views in a speech at the Gospel Coalition's West Coast Conference last October.
Preaching from 2 Timothy 1:3-8, Ortlund noted that when the Apostle Paul was writing to Timothy, he stressed his religious heritage through Judaism.
"Paul looks back into his own deepest roots. He goes back to David, to Moses, to Abraham. He reveres the faith that came down to him even filtered through Jewish tradition," said Ortlund.
"Unlike some preachers today, Paul did not 'unhitch' the Christian faith from the Old Testament … And for him personally, Christian conversion did not take his Jewishness away. It made Jesus the Lord over his Jewishness and over his conscience, both of which, he continues to honor."
For his part, Stanley explained that critics needed to understand the context, especially since his remarks were more for an audience that is turned off by biblical arguments.
"I told my kids growing up, if anyone ever asks you 'do you believe Adam and Eve are real people?' here is how you are to answer: do not say 'yes because the Bible says Adam and Eve were real people,'" commented Stanley in an interview with Michael Brown last July.
"You say this: 'I believe Adam and Eve were historical characters because Jesus did. And when somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I go with whatever they say.'"
I know there were other people, but Shem, Ham and Japheth were descended from Noah and his wife.
I kind of follow Stanley, not for his teaching but for his statements that embarrass his father.
It sounds like DavesRepaircom is opting for granular foundation instead of the sure fast rock kind.
Neither Sunday or Saturday are anywhere in the scriptures.
What makes either scriptural?
Mt. 19.16-17 is Jesus as a faithful Rabbi correctly what the Mosaic law said to Jews. Verse 3 says the Pharisees asked “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife...” What law? The New Covenant wasn’t revealed or enacted yet, and what law would Pharisees be interested in anyway? The law of Moses. v17-18 quote the Ten commandments (to these Jews). He wasn’t applying the Ten Commandments to Christians, who didn’t exist yet./
Rom. 13.8-10 isn’t just a synopsis of the ten commandments, for 9 of the ten commandments were repeated in the New Testament. You’d have a case if he had quoted the sabbath commandment.
Do you keep the sabbath? If you do, do you remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and God brought you out? What do you think Paul meant in Col. 2.16 to not let any man judge Christians in respect to a sabbath day? What do you think he meant in one chapter later in Rom. 14 where he said that Christians could esteem every day alike?
Thanks for your response, and for reading this one.
Did you know they weren't all children of Noah and his wife? Shem, Ham and Japheth didn't marry their sisters.
Point taken. We would all still have some portion of Noah’s genes, however.
NO EVIDENCE: If Saturday is not a day, you’re right. If it is, Paul said we can esteem it like every other day, didn’t he, and he said as much in Col. 2.16, “let no man judge you in respect to a sabbath day...”
SABBATH MADE FOR ALL MANKIND: It was made for man, i.e., the benefit of man, but not commanded of all mankind. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t commanded of anyone in Gen. 2, not anyone else until Ex. 16. Genesis doesn’t say it was started to commemorate Creation, just that since God rested on the sabbath is the reason he commanded rest of the Jews on the seventh day.
Technically, you’re right, but do you doubt that the sabbath was observed on Saturday, or that Sunday was the first day of the week?
Its always been my understanding that God laid out what sin was, including the 10 commandments, and we are still judged against that, but through Christ we avoid the penalty of our sins.
Rev 21
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
There’s no question that the ten commandments were the law of God. It was the law of God to build an ark, but not to us. The question is whether it was ever commanded of Christians. You’ve already demonstrated that it wasn’t commanded of Adam and Eve, as far as the Bible says, but you know they were sabbath keepers.
Question: Do you keep the sabbath? How do you do it? Do you remember that you were in Egypt and God brought you out?
Thanks for your response.
I said nothing about Jews.
I mentioned Antichrist Judaism.
A religion that denies the Lamb (The Son)
If Judaism had the Lamb, they would understand that the day after Passover is His Sabbath day.
The day after Passover isn’t called ‘Saturday’.
That’s called Unleavened bread according to scripture..
The Lamb finished His Work on the 6th work day. on Passover.
In accordance with the scriptures.
That is part of the first/chief importance of the gospel Paul taught.
When did Passover change to Friday?
When did Unleavened Bread change to Saturday?
When did First Fruits change to Sunday?
Maybe that’s why the Father said ‘Remember the Sabbath Day’. Israel would forget and be led astray to follow inherited lies. And Antichrist Judaism is following the lies of Antichrist Rome.
And Antichrist Islam to that list too.
They would know the Son finished His work on the final work day and rested on the 7th Sabbath and was raised on the first day of the week.
But those aren’t ‘Friday/Saturday/Sunday’ according to Rome
They are Passover/Unleavened Bread/First Fruits according to Paul and the scriptures.
Like a completely different Jesus emerges..
Paul warns about that very thing in the scriptures.
Antichrist religions may not be the best choice for gaining Truth.
HIs Word is..
See comment 134.
It’s a battle of tradition or inherited lies vs scripture..
One wouldn’t even care about the subtle difference, but because the serpent is subtle, knowing the enemy is one way to overcome..
We are born to have to choose satans false premise/choices and argue from there.
A blessing comes when one no longer accepts the false premise or choice and chooses the scriptures.
And other parts of scriptures may open up eyes previously blinded.
The first, and the most difficult.
Many times sabbatarians say, “Well, if we don’t have to keep the fourth of the ten commandments, that means that we could steal or kill or commit fornication?” Not at all, because God commands Christians under the New Covenant not to do those things. We find the teaching of nine of the ten commandments in the pages of the New Testament. (1) Idolatry is forbidden in Ac. 14.11-15, I Thes. 1.9; (2) Graven images are forbidden in Ac. 17, 19 I Thes. 1.9, I Jn. 5.21; (3) The use of God’s name in vain is forbid¬den in I Tim. 1.19, 20, II Tim. 2.16; (4) Sabbath-keeping is nowhere commanded of Christians, as we have seen; (5) To honor one’s father and mother is enjoined in Eph. 6.1, 2; (6) Killing is forbidden in I Pet. 4.15; (7) Committing adultery is forbidden in I Cor. 6.9, 10; (8) Stealing is forbidden in Eph. 4.28; (9) Bearing false witness is forbidden in Col. 3.9; and (10) Coveting is forbidden in Eph. 5.3. Thus, when a Christian steals, he does not break the ten commandments, which were never given to him. He breaks the law of Christ, the new covenant. When he kills, he breaks the law of Christ, the new covenant.
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Note it does not state it was made for Jews, Hebrews or Israelites but man inclusive (as in mankind).
Matthew 12:8 Jesus declares Himself Lord of the Sabbath. Does that mean He's just Lord of the Jews? Lord of only those who were brought out of Egypt? Or is He Lord of ALL mankind? Is He your Lord?
Good post.
Of course, any moral society requires the Ten Commandments or something nearly identical. The reward of most commandments is a healthy, respectful society quite apart from anyone’s personal salvation, which is always private between an individual and God anyway.
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