The Difference Between the Testaments

`What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' (From Acts 11)

He . . .  gave them a law which shall not pass away. (Psalm 148: 6)

And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." (From Revelation 21)

 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. (From John 13)

If you had to pick the one thing that made the New Testament truly new, what would it be?

The faith of a friend of mine was severely weakened by his lifelong ponderings about the inconsistencies within Scripture - facts that don't match up with other accounts, or statements which seem to go directly counter to what is known in Science and history, etc.  The usual stuff.

This friend also believes that the first generation Church had every reason to believe Christ would return in its lifetime. And when He didn't, that represented a complete lack of follow-through, and a sense that the most important promise of God never happened, at the time it was supposed to happen.

The New Testament is called "new," because of a rather notable departure from the basic tenets of the Old. Why call it "new" unless something was different, enough so to merit making a distinction between the two? The difference would have to be distinct enough, that someone well-versed in the Old, would not recognize it, without an element of faith that would tie it all together.

In Christ, God turned everything upside down. Suddenly, things that were forbidden: foods to eat, associations to make, habits to cultivate, were now allowed. The outward manifestation of one's faith was no longer to be based on these specific requirements. You could not as easily identify a believer by his clothing, his daily routine, his associations.

God said to John, on Patmos, that He is making all things new. Not promised, not far off, but now. Christ's new commandment was now, and it was a law that will not pass away. It was to be eternal, present, and clear: love one another.

Yes - love. Not the way the world loves. Not through physical touch that benefits the giver as much (or more) than the taker. No - love that is totally self-sacrificing. We no longer sacrifice animals. We sacrifice ourselves. And how do we do this? By truly loving . . . as Christ loves.

This is the difference. Christ should be evident, and present, in the world today, because of a Church that loves, and is growing. Let the Church follow this one and only important commandment, "Love one another," and the case will be harder to make, that Christ has tarried too long.