The Substance vs The Shadow: Covenants Old and New

Hebrews is making a comparison from chapters 7-11 that the difference between shadows and the substance. The law of Moses is not the substance of the Law. It is the Shadow.

 Recently, I’ve been really taking on this issue of Hebrew Roots when it comes to the Christian faith and its relationship to the origins of the biblical tradition. It seems the whole world is coming to a head with its relationship with God, with who is or is not “Gods chosen people”, with statehood, history and culture. I think no issue more outlines the real heart of the problem than the difference in the threads of thought that separated the Jewish people from the Christians starting with the earliest records surrounding the ideas and problems facing those communities back then and there in ancient first century Judea.

While there’s a whole library of information we could cover on this, I can address at a later time, at this moment, I’m really only writing to answer two questions a Hebrew Roots rabbi friend asked me recently. The question comes out of Hebrews 8 and 10 quoting from Jeremiah 31:31.

The question of WHAT Law is being written on the hearts, and WHY or HOW that is happening. Without getting too lost in the weeds, this is my best attempt to answer that question as concisely as possible, but it requires the disclaimer that focuses on a particular set of Bible verses in the New Testament. First that the scriptures are not the source of eternal life. In the words of Yeshua, “John 5:39 (NASB20) “You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me;”. 

So, our task is not to find ourselves intently focused in texts of scriptures, if we’re to find the life promised by Yeshua in the Gospels. Our task is to find ourselves in the presence of the man Yeshua Himself.

The next scripture clue is in II CORINTHIANS which says, “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.”

This is important to understand in light of how scripture has been treated throughout the ages, both in terms of how it’s been interpreted, and applied, but how it’s been translated and copied as well.

To the point that you have an entire litany of various traditions who all hold themselves as the purveyors and protectors of the true faith, depending on whatever various pet doctrine they cling to. This usually makes itself manifest in a set of certain rudimentary forms if worship and rubric. But scripture warns us about having “a form of godliness, yet denying its power”. Such power, being invisible, while it energizes and animates in various forms, the Spirit itself is not a form, but formless. It is transcendent, and yet transforming. It is changeless, yet its power to change is undeniable,  being itself all power. So it’s important to comprehend the source of that power, so as not to make idols out of powerless forms, which are incapable of anything at all.

So, back to Hebrews 8, and answering the questions posed by my Rabbi friend.

I want to spring board from one particular passage from chapter 9 verse 1 in Hebrews which says:

“Hebrews 10:1 (NASB20) For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, make those who approach perfect.”

What we have here is the author making a distinction between a shadow and the forms of the thing, itself. Juxtaposing the two in order to drive home a point. Namely the difference between the Old and New Covenant. Supposing there is such a difference, that difference is shadow vs substance. Or a “copy”, as it says in the chapter before, describing the forms of worship in the temple.

Then, back in chapter 10, verses7-10, the author makes a clear delineation and distinction between the efforts of the law, which is compared to the sacrificial system, and to “do your will” , which it’s explained as being accomplished in the sacrificial body of Jesus Christ, once for all. Something the authors of the law failed to include as any prescription as a solution to any problem, yet something the prophets intuited by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In other words, a concept and principle that wholly laid outside of the body of the written letters of the text of the law. A concept clearly grasped by Yeshua as the Messiah, by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Another way to say that is that to do God’s Will means taking actions which might be considered outside of the bounds and limits of the written code of law. And what is written in that code is a sort of guide that outlines that requirement. In essence, you recognize what needs to be done be understanding what is missing from the text.

 Without such inspiration, no one would have been any the wiser, and in fact, it’s the reason that our non-believing Jewish friends today struggle to accept that work and that revelation.

But I think in light of all of this, we as believers can conclude very confidently this:

The substance of the Law is in knowing the Spirit that generated the Law and obeying that.

This is fortified by other positions outlined in the New Testament, as well as in understanding the teaching of Jesus Himself, in declaring all foods clean.

The author of Hebrews chooses Septuagint translation. Clearly pointing to a more Ancient Greek source, but it’s not a Hebrew one. And that outlines a clear trust for the spiritual inspiration of the Hellenized literature.

What else could it mean to be a shadow, than to be what is not the light? But the outline of where the light is not. Where the light is -is in the substance of the body, where it stands. Where it is facing. It doesn’t face the shadow. It faces the light.

Where the light is is in the Spirit of the law. What is articulated in the shadows is the letter. That is to say, what is absent of the Spirit of the law. 

So then, what is written on the heart of flesh, is not the law of stone, absent the spirit. But it is the Spirit itself, containing within it all wisdom and knowledge and love, and faith and hope.

It cannot be, therefor, the letter of itself, which is incapable of delivering the Spirit.

Hope that happens is by discerning the Spirit of Life and its difference weighed against the Law of Death. Discerning the Body of Christ which is the Light, and in the Light. Something that can be determined by its life giving force.

The light that delivers on its promise or true liberty. “Whomever the song sweets free indeed”. 

Why it is that way is to deliver freedom for the sake of freedom itself. “It was for freedom you have been set free”. 

“Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty”.

Principles that are wildly radical in the face of the inward desire to be contained by something. The spirit of slavery. The spirit that operates under the law of sin and death.

So naturally this creates great deal of concern. But this concern can be easily navigated with the council of the scriptures of both the Old and New Testament.

But the basis of it is this:

Wherever there is life, liberty, and peace/sound mind, there’s the Law of the Spirit.

And wherever there is death, slavery, and confusion, therein is the law of death.

Does this create a lot of leeway for behavior considered to be “sin” merely on the basis of the merits of an action? Absolutely. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart”.

But does that mean we fool ourselves in to thinking poor behavior is not the result of sin? No, because “God is not mocked,” that which a man sows, he will reap.

So it requires a sensitivity to recognizing and discerning the difference between the spirit of life, and death. Because in a world ruled by the latter, it takes risks to live in the former.