Faith during the Old Covenant (part two)

To get at the question of what is faith, perhaps it is helpful to begin with the question: What did faith look like for people during the Old Covenant?

For Abraham it was trust ("Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness") and to obey ("walk before me and be blameless.")

For Israelites under the law of Moses it was the same--trust ("so that they may believe that the Lord , the God of their fathers--the God of Abaham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has appeared to you." (Ex. 4:5) and obey ("all that you have commanded we will obey." Ex. 20).

In other words if someone had faith in God between 1400 BC and 4 BC it meant that they would trust in God and abide by all that God instructed in the Mosaic code. Faith is shown by it's fruit--the fruit of obedience. Look at Hebrews 11 for the summary of those who by faith acted to serve God.

If that was faith during the Old Covenant, what is faith during the new? Well, I think it is just as trusting (totally dependent) and just as lively (responsive to the commands of God.)

Then you might ask, "what has changed?" Answer--the system of how that faith is expressed. In the Old Covenant it was faith in God and obedience to the Mosaic code. In the New Testament faith in God means being in the Messiah. Now we do not depend on the stipulations of the Mosaic law to trust in God for justification, our exclusive solution is Jesus who has fulfilled the law. Christ is the end of the law for all who believe. (Romans 10:4)