Lessons on the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ and His Apostles
Lesson No. Forty-Three

Old Things Have Passed Away and All Things Have Become New

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews – Some New Testament scholars question if Paul wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews.  However, the Prophet Joseph Smith says this Epistle was written “by Paul…to the Hebrew brethren” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 59).  Furthermore, Joseph in his sermons often attributed teachings from the Epistle to the Hebrews to Paul.  Jewish members of the Ancient Church of Jesus Christ were referred to as “Hebrews,” meaning descendants of Abraham, in other words, Israelites. 

Paul taught that the Law of Moses was fulfilled by Jesus Christ – Some Jewish members of the Ancient Church believed that the Law of Moses should continue to be lived by both Gentile and Jewish converts.  Paul wrote to help Jewish converts to the Church understand that Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses.  Paul was raised as a Pharisee, and he used his extensive knowledge to point out references to Jesus Christ and His atonement in the Old Testament. 

The lack of understanding that Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses caused trouble among members of the ancient Church in both the Old World and in the New World as recorded in the Book of Mormon.

The Law of Moses and the Gospel of Christ in the Book of Mormon – Several Book of Mormon prophets, including Jesus Himself, testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ replaces the law of Moses:

• Jacob was accused by Sherem of teaching the people not to keep the law of Moses. (See Jacob 7:7).  Jacob answered, “that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ” (Jacob 7:11) whose coming would fulfill the law of Moses.

• Abinadi answered the priests of king Noah:  “And now ye have said that salvation cometh by the law of Moses…And moreover, I say unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses” (Mosiah 13: 27-28).

• People of Anti-Nephi-Lehi “did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled.  But notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ…Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ” (Alma 25:15-16).

• Jesus taught:  “Behold, I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses.  Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end” (3 Nephi 15:4-5).

A pattern in the latter days – The reluctance of people in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon to accept newly revealed truth, and to understand that “old things had passed way and that all things had become new” (3 Nephi 15:2) is common in the latter days.

Nephi saw in vision the restoration of the gospel that would take place in the latter days.  He saw that the Lord would “work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; and work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other – either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down unto captivity, and also unto destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil” (1 Nephi 14:7).

We learn from this scripture that the restoration of the gospel in the latter days, including the restoration of the priesthood, living prophets, and new scripture, would be a great sieve that would separate those who will inherit peace and eternal life from those who will harden their hearts and reject the truth that is offered to them.  The reason they reject the truth is often, as it was with the law of Moses, because of culture and the traditions of their fathers.

With the restoration of the gospel old things have passed away and all things have become new – Jesus explained to the Nephites that the covenant, meaning His gospel, that He made with His people is not yet fulfilled.  He continued:  “Behold, I am the law, and the light.  Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life” (3 Nephi 15:8-9).

An essential part in fulfilling the covenant that Jesus has made with His people in the latter days is the restoration of His gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  This doctrine of restoration is the great sieve described in 1 Nephi 14:7 as discussed above.  When people are taught about the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith there is one of two responses.  Either they accept the Lord’s great and marvelous work of restoration which leads to peace and eternal life, or they reject it because they, like with the law of Moses, want to continue in their own culture and traditions.

To those in the latter days who accept the doctrine of restoration that old things are passed away and all things have become new, and if they look to the Lord and endure to the end, then they will be given eternal life.  (See 3 Nephi 15:2, 7-9)