Worksheet III - In Christ and the New Covenant

III.a – FULFILLMENT IN JESUS

21. What was the purpose of the Law? (Galatians 3:24-25)
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22. What was the purpose of the offerings (sacrifices)? (see #13)
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23. Who did the priests represent? (Hebrews 4:15, 9:11-15, 10:11-14)
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24. When Christ came, what happened to the Law which necessitated priests & offerings? (Hebrews 7:18-19, Romans 10:4, Ephesians 2:14-15)
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25. Without priests and offerings, what remains for us to do from the Law? (Romans 13:8-10, James 1:27, 2:5, 2:8)
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26. What happened to the curse of disobeying the Law which commanded tithing? (Galatians 3:13)
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III.b – THE NEW COVENANT 'PRIESTS' AND 'TEMPLE'

27. Who are 'priests' in the New Covenant? (1 Peter 2:5-9, Revelation 1:6, 5:10)
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28. Who alone could approach God in the Old Covenant? (Numbers 3:10)
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29. Who can approach God in the New Covenant? (Hebrews 10:19-22)
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30. In the New Covenant:
a. What is God's "building"? (1 Corinthians 3:9) __________________
b. What is God's "temple"? (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) __________________
c. What is the "temple" of God the Holy Spirit? (1 Corinthians 6:19) __________________
d. What is "God's house"? (Hebrews 3:6) __________________

31. Where does God dwell now? Where can He be found?
a. (Acts 7:48-50) _____________________________________________
b. (John 14:16-17, 14:23) _____________________________________________
c. (Ephesians 3:17) _____________________________________________
d. (John 4:20-24) _____________________________________________
e. (Matthew 18:20) _____________________________________________
f. (Luke 17:20-21) _____________________________________________


QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION - III

According to Scripture, do "Levites" and "priests" represent church leaders today? [3] [4]

According to Scripture, does the "Temple" represent "the church building"?

So are Christians "under a curse" if they do not give tithes to churches and pastors?

Do we miss God's blessings if we do not tithe? (See Colossians 2:9-10 and Ephesians 1:3)

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Footnotes & References

[3] It should be noted that the general leader of the church was called an "elder" (πρεσβύτερος) in the New Testament, a position which already existed in Judaism separately from Levites and priests (compare the existence of Jewish elders distinct from priests in Mark 15:1 & Acts 23:14 with the position of Christian elders in Acts 14:23, Acts 15 and Acts 20:17).

[4] Readers may notice that I have not addressed the passage from 1st Corinthians 9 in this study. There are several reasons for this. Firstly the passage does not mention tithe. Secondly, we are accustomed to looking at 1 Cor. 9 through the lens of our modern tradition of "Christian Tithing", but once the picture of tithing in the New Testament is investigated it becomes clear that the 1 Cor. 9 passage cannot refer to tithing, since the early church did not have "paid clergy" or "church buildings", etc. (It should also be noted that Paul was not the "pastor", regular "leader" or church "staff" in Corinth!) The way in which we utilize the 1 Cor. 9 passage to support our modern tradition thus removes Paul's words from their context and attaches meaning to them that did not exist in his day, suggesting that he advocated support for a system that did not yet exist, and would not exist for another several hundred years.