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.'"
It is commanded by the fact that Jesus (our Example) kept it. He also said "IF ye love Me, keep my Commandments". No reason not to keep it except to expose yourself to persecution of the world (like Jesus and His Disciples were).
You are 100% correct. I was going to quote the same passage if no one beat me to it. The Ten Commandments still apply to us - the Bible includes both OT and NT for a reason.
Clown at pulpit
What an ATHEIST IDIOT!!
He advocates the Sermon on the Mount, which is a higher law than the Ten Commandments. Not only do you NOT commit adultery, you don’t even LOOK upon a woman with lust.
whats your point.
I may be wrong , but nowhere does he claim we’re not to obey the commandments. He merely state that we should not use them as a model of our salvation. Salvation came through Christ on the cross, not through the keeping of the laws. The new covenant accomplished what the old covenent could never do. We are saved by grace, not works of our own. This is heresy? I don’t read KJV, and I don’t base my salvation on my following of the old covenant. I guess I’m a heretic.
I think he is mistaken.
I believe that the study you implicitly referenced seems to verify the story of Noah, since we all genetically descended from just two people. The study implied the two were all that was left after some great calamity, say, a flood, maybe?
No, He never said that. The Law stands forever (Psalms 111:7,8). The Old Covenant expired and the New Covenant replaced it but the Law remains the same. The only law that was abolished and nailed to the cross was the law of ordinances and ceremonies which did nothing to save us but POINTED to to the sacrifice of Christ. Do not conflate the two totally different laws.
I have it from contemporary Jewish authority that there were originally 15 commandments.
;-)
People seem to not notice or just outright ignore that.
The Sermon on the Mount sets the bar far higher than the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments deal with outward actions. The Sermon on the Mount gets into the intent of the Law and the intent of the heart.
The Pharisees who kept the outward observance of the Law, and Jesus had some pretty harsh words for them. Vipers and white washed tombs full of dead men’s bones comes to mind.
Which one of the commandments does he want his neighbor to ignore, or his lawyer, or the man counting out his change at the various stores, etc.
Matthew chapters 5-7 are no less “Old Covenant” than the Ten Commandments. There is no redeeming blood there, and the New required the death of the Testator. All of our Lord’s earthly ministry to the Resurrection is directly cross-referenced to the Old Testament prophesy and still under the LAW of Moses.
You are talking about the esteemed Biblical rabbi Mel Brooks of course.
Show me a scripture that says that. Paul's example in Romans 7 is the tenth commandment.
He’s also a liberal on many social issues in particular homosexual sin
I wouldn’t listen to any clown who calls himself a preacher and wear jeans. This guy is a heretic.
I’m not sure if that is what Andy Stanley is saying, but I would agree that is what Paul says in his epistles.
Pretty shocking.
Andy Stanley is son of Charles Stanley, a Baptist minister in Atlanta area. I have occasionally come across his radio or TV programs and he was solid Bible fundamentalist.
I am fairly certain Andy’s dad would not agree with his theology.
Guess in this case, the apple fell pretty far from the tree—and it rolled a fair distance too :(
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