Book 1 of Musings Fulfilling the Law of Moses

If we live in the Spirit of God rather than in the desires of our sinful nature, God counts that we have fulfilled the Law of Moses perfectly.

Being Gentiles we do not realize what a blessing the new covenant is. When we study the Old Testament we can get some idea of what it must have been like to remember all the details of the Law of Moses, particularly the dietary laws and the details of the sacrifices.

It seems every action of the individual was prescribed: the kind of clothes the Jews were to wear, how they were to cut their hair, what to do in case of a crime, the precepts concerning slavery, charging interest, leprosy.

There was the great moral covenant, the Ten Commandments. As the Apostle Paul pointed out, the Ten Commandments tended to make sin more sinful, rather than providing the kind of relief we get when we ask the Lord to help us overcome sin.

It is interesting to note that the Law of Moses was a yoke on the neck of the righteous Jew.

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? (Acts 15:10)

I was first saved when I was in the United States Marine Corps; at that time I knew nothing about the Gospel. Within a few weeks of my conversion, an elder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church came from Honolulu to the base where I was stationed.

He convinced me that I was not to do any work on Saturday.

Have you ever noticed that the moment someone takes a step toward the Lord, he is tested?

A mature Christian Marine, Carl Hoferer, became so concerned over my getting into this bondage he became ill.

Meanwhile I received in the mail a copy of The Robe, by Lloyd Douglas. It was sent to me by my aunt, Gertrude Sallies.

While reading the book I came across a custom the Jews invented to get around the rule concerning a Sabbath's days journey. They would carry some extra spools on which scrolls were wound. When they had gone a Sabbath day's journey they would drop a spool on the ground. Now they could go the same distance again, because they had established a residence by dropping the spool. They were permitted to go just so far from their residence; so by dropping a spool now and then they could go as far as they wished.

But I learned a valuable lesson. Obeying the Law turns your attention to the Law and how well you are keeping it. Following the Holy Spirit keeps your attention on Jesus to see what He wants each moment.

I do not despise those who, in order to honor the Law, eat certain foods or observe any of the feast days. These are entwined in their faith and are not sinful acts. But for those who can receive it, the program of Christian redemption retains no part whatever of the Law of Moses.

Even the Ten Commandments are superseded by the law of the Spirit of Life. The reason Christians do not commit adultery, for example, is not because adultery is forbidden in the Ten Commandments.

First, adultery is named by the Apostle Paul as an action that will prevent our inheriting the Kingdom of God.

Second, the Holy Spirit will never lead us to commit adultery.

This is why we do not commit adultery, not because it is prohibited in the Ten Commandments.

As far as the Sabbath is concerned, it is fulfilled as we give our entire life to the Lord Jesus, not speaking our own words or following our self-will. This is the true Sabbath rest of God, and it operates seven days a week.

The Law of Moses governs the natural man. But when we count ourselves crucified with Christ and risen with Him, we come under an infinitely more demanding law - the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

"But how about righteousness," the devout Jew might ask. "How can we be counted righteous if we abandon the Law of Moses?"

When we look up from the Law and place our faith in Christ, God views us as having fulfilled the Law perfectly. This is because Christ kept the Law perfectly and then died on our behalf. He paid the price for our sin. Now His righteousness is attributed to us.

The problem today is that Christians are taught they are not under the Law of Moses but under grace. They interpret this teaching of Paul to mean they are free to do whatever they wish. This is a totally destructive position.

We are free from the Law of Moses, and yet perfectly righteous, only as long as we are walking in the Spirit of God. When we choose instead to live according to our sinful nature, the Law of Moses condemns us to death even though we are a Christian.

The Law served until the one Seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to earth. Now that Christ is here we are to follow Him. Christ always leads us to fulfill the intent of the Law, just as He always fulfilled the intent of the Law. The Pharisees, of course, could not understand Christ was fulfilling the intent of the Law when He healed on the Sabbath. Because the Pharisees did not look to the Lord, only to the Law, they could not understand how Christ could heal on the Sabbath and yet be righteous.

But He was.

And so are we when we live always in the Presence of Christ, obeying the Holy Spirit in all matters, in every decision we make throughout the day and night.

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)