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Day 215 - How did Jesus deal with the Law of the Old Covenant? // How are we saved?

How did Jesus deal with the Law of the Old Covenant?

"Do not think", says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, "that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them" (Mt 5:17).

Jesus, being a faithful Jew, lived according to the ethical ideas and requirements of his time. But on a series of issues he departed from a literal, merely formal interpretation of the Law.

How are we saved?

No man can save himself. Christians believe that they are saved by God, who for this purpose sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world. For us salvation means that we are freed by the Holy Spirit from the power of sin and have been brought back from the realm of death to a life without end, a life in God's presence.

Paul observes: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). Sin cannot exist in the presence of God, who is justice and goodness through and through. If sin is worth nothing, what about the sinner, then? In his love, God found a way by which he destroys sin but saves the sinner. He makes him "right" again, that is to say, righteous or just. That is why from ancient times salvation has also been called justification. We are not made just by our own power. A man can neither forgive his own sins nor rescue himself from death. For that, God has to act on our behalfout of mercy, not because we could deserve or merit it.

In Baptism, God grants us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" (Rom 3:22). Through the Holy Spirit, who is poured out into our hearts, we take part in the death and Resurrection of Christwe die to sin and are born to new life in God. The divine gifts of faith, hope, and charity come over us and make us able to live in the light and to obey God's will. (YOUCAT questions 336-337)

Dig Deeper: CCC section (1987-1995) and other references here.