Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  4000 Creation  »  4900 Time  »  4906 abolition

The final ending and elimination of practices or states of affairs. Scripture looks forward to God's final abolition of the present order, through the inauguration of the new Jerusalem.

Things to be abolished in the kingdom of God

War and destruction

Hosea 2:18 See also Psalm 46:9-10; Isaiah 9:5; Zechariah 9:10

Illness and suffering

Exodus 23:25-26 See also Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 7:15; Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:16-17 pp Mark 1:32-34 pp Luke 4:40-41

Sin

Romans 6:6 See also Ezekiel 36:25-26 God speaks here of his abolition of sinful, human hard-heartedness; Romans 8:3-4; Hebrews 9:26

Death and mourning

1 Corinthians 15:24-26; Revelation 21:1-4 See also Isaiah 25:7-8; Isaiah 65:17-20; 1 Corinthians 15:54-55; 2 Timothy 1:10; Revelation 20:13-14

The abolition of idolatry in Israel

Israel was commanded to abolish Canaanite worship

Exodus 23:24 See also Exodus 34:13; Numbers 33:50-52; Deuteronomy 12:2-3

The abolition of mediums and spiritists

Deuteronomy 18:9-12; 1 Samuel 28:3-9; 2 Kings 23:24

In Asa's reign

1 Kings 15:11-13 pp 2 Chronicles 14:2-3

In Hezekiah's reign

2 Kings 18:4 pp 2 Chronicles 31:1

In Josiah's reign

2 Kings 23:4-20 pp 2 Chronicles 34:3-7 pp 2 Chronicles 34:33

The abolition of the temple

Sacrifice in the temple abolished

Daniel 11:31 Antiochus Epiphanes abolished the daily sacrifice in the temple in 168 B.C., thereby attacking the symbolic centre of Israel's life. See also Daniel 12:11

Jesus Christ was accused of seeking to abolish the temple

Matthew 26:61 pp Mark 14:58 See also Matthew 21:12-13 pp Mark 11:15-17 pp Luke 19:45-46 Jesus Christ's action may have been understood as a symbolic abolition of a defiled sacrificial system; Matthew 27:39-40 pp Mark 15:29-30; Acts 6:14

The final abolition of the temple in the new Jerusalem

Revelation 21:22

Abolition and the law

The law has not been abolished

Matthew 5:17-19 See also Romans 3:31

The law has been abolished as an instrument of condemnation

Colossians 2:13-14 See also 2 Corinthians 3:6-17; Ephesians 2:14-16; Hebrews 10:1-10

The law does not abolish God's promises

Galatians 3:17-18 God did not abolish his promise of righteousness to Abraham when he gave the law, because the promise was not conditional upon keeping the law but is received by faith. See also Romans 4:14

The offence of the cross is abolished by accepting circumcision

Galatians 5:11 Jews found offensive the Christians' claim that salvation did not come through keeping the law, but instead through faith in a crucified Messiah, whom the law had cursed. Paul regarded “the offence of the cross” as central to the gospel, and refused to make salvation conditional upon circumcision and obedience to the law. See also 1 Corinthians 1:22-24; Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 3:13; Galatians 5:2; Galatians 6:14-15

See also

4175  mediums
5297  disease
5333  healing
5375  law
7334  circumcision
7374  high places
7466  temples
8768  idolatry
9020  death
9115  antichrist, the
9160  new heavens & new earth