A portion of Sanlon’s own introduction to this article is sufficient to give you an idea of its contents: “This paper aims to explore the way the Mosaic Law functions within salvation history. The position presented is that the Mosaic Law was intended by God to be a temporary covenant. Further, the New Covenant to which the Mosaic Law pointed stands as a way of life that is different in nature to the way of life under the Law.... Our preaching, feelings, teaching and lives all too often suffer from the problems that flow from the idea that God relates to us in a way that has more in common with the Mosaic Law than the New Covenant Gospel. It is the contention of this paper that much of the joy, freedom and power of the Christian Gospel are derived from the way Jesus liberated us from the Mosaic Law to live a life of Spirit-empowered love.”
When Sanlon says that the Law of Moses is a temporary covenant, he means that Christians are not required by God to keep any portion of it, though it is the word of God given for our instruction in other ways. Meanwhile, Christian obedience is defined by other factors: faith, the indwelling of the Spirit, and love for God and man. His position in this paper is not a popular one, but we are convinced it is biblical, and he makes a good case for it here. The issue is important, or else we will fail to understand how the Old and New Covenants fit together, how exactly Christ freed us from the Law, and how to live as Christians.