From Sacrifices to Spirit: How Jewish Good Works Transitioned After 70 AD

 From Sacrifices to Spirit: How Jewish Good Works Transitioned After 70 AD


Under the framework of Full Preterism, we understand that the eschatological events foretold by Jesus and the apostles—especially judgment on Jerusalem and the temple—culminated in AD 70. This event marked the end of the old covenant age and the full arrival of the new covenant order. When we pair this with the New Perspective on Paul, which emphasizes covenant membership, faithfulness, and participation in the life of the Messiah, a compelling picture emerges of how Jewish obedience and “good works” transitioned over time.

Pre-AD 70: Lawful Works Within Covenant

Before AD 70, faithful Jews, including those who followed Jesus as the Messiah, were still able to participate in the temple cultus. Offerings, Sabbaths, feasts, and other markers of Torah-faithfulness were not viewed as obsolete but as still having relevance during the transition period. The early Jesus movement (Acts 21:20-26) testifies to Jewish believers continuing to keep the law, not as a means of earning righteousness, but as covenantal expressions of loyalty to God.

Paul, often misunderstood as completely anti-Law, instead framed the Torah as a temporary guardian (Gal. 3:24–25) until the Messiah came. For the Jews, these “works of the law” (e.g., circumcision, dietary laws, sacrifices) were not legalistic efforts to earn salvation but ethnic boundary markers of the covenant people. Until the temple fell, Jewish Christians could rightly continue in these practices, provided they understood that their justification came through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah, not through Torah-keeping.

The Judgment of AD 70: A Covenant Shift

With the destruction of the temple in AD 70, the visible and functional heart of the Mosaic covenant was decisively judged. This was more than a political or military tragedy—it was a theological earthquake. The old covenant system was not merely damaged but rendered obsolete in practice and in redemptive history (Heb. 8:13). The ability to offer sacrifices or fulfill cultic requirements ceased entirely.

This event marked the full establishment of the new creation order. What had been true in principle since the resurrection and ascension of Christ now became historically manifest: righteousness was no longer defined by ethnic identity or Torah observance, but by participation in the Spirit and the life of the Messiah.

Post-AD 70: The Spirit-Filled Works of the New Israel

After the temple's fall, Jewish followers of Jesus were now in the same practical situation as Gentile believers. No longer could they differentiate themselves through physical markers of the Law. All believers—Jew and Gentile—were called to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23) as the new form of covenant faithfulness.

These fruits—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so on—are not abstract virtues but tangible expressions of the life of the age to come. They represent the true “good works” prepared for God’s people (Eph. 2:10), and they function as signs of covenant membership in the Messiah. In this new era, faith working through love (Gal. 5:6) becomes the core marker of the people of God.


Conclusion: A Unified People with a Unified Ethic

The old system allowed for Jewish believers to express covenant faithfulness through the Law. But since AD 70, God’s people—both Jew and Gentile—have been unified not only in identity but in ethical expression. No longer are there two modes of obedience. The Spirit has replaced the shadow; the fruit has replaced the offering. This is not the abandonment of good works but their transformation.The age of the temple has passed. The age of the Spirit remains.

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