You Are Responsible!

YOUR THOUGHT QUESTIONS ANSWERED

1. Doesn't the Bible say the law was (or is) faulty?
Answer: No. The Bible says the people were faulty. God found "fault with them." Hebrews 8:8. And in Romans 8:3 the Bible says that the law "was weak through the flesh." It is always the same story. The law is perfect, but the people are faulty, or weak. So God would have His Son live within His people "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Romans 8:4) through the indwelling Christ.

2. Galatians 3:13 says we are redeemed from the curse of the law.
Can you explain this?
Answer: The curse of the law is death (Romans 6:23). Christ tasted "death for every man." Hebrews 2:9. Thus He redeemed all from the curse of the law (death) and in its place provided eternal life.

3. Don't Colossians 2:14-17 and Ephesians 2:15 teach that God's law ended at the cross?
Answer: No, these passages both refer to the law containing "ordinances," or Moses' law, which was a ceremonial law governing the sacrificial system and the priesthood. All of this ceremony and ritual foreshadowed the cross and ended at Christ's death, as God had intended. Moses' law was added till the "seed should come," and that "seed ... is Christ." Galatians 3:19, Gal 3:16. God's law could not be involved here, for Paul spoke of it as holy, just, and good many years after the cross (Romans 7:7, Rom 7:12).

4. The Bible says, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:10. The Bible also, in Matthew 22:37-40, commands us to love God and to love our neighbors, and ends with the words, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Do these commands replace the Ten Commandments?
Answer: No, the Ten Commandments hang from these two commands like our 10 fingers hang from our two hands. They are inseparable. Love to God makes keeping the first four commandments (which concern God) a pleasure, and love toward our neighbor makes keeping the last six (which concern our neighbor) a joy. Love fulfills the law by taking away the drudgery and by making lawkeeping a delight (Psalm 40:8). When we truly love a person, honoring his or her requests becomes a joy. Jesus said," If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. It is impossible to love the Lord and not keep His commandments, because the Bible says, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3. "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:4.

5. Doesn't 2 Corinthians 3:7 teach that the law written and engraved in stone "was to be done away"?
Answer: No. The passage says that the "glory" of Moses' ministration of the law was to be done away, but not the law. Read the whole passage of 2 Corinthians 3:3-9 again, carefully. The subject is not the doing away with the law or its establishment, but rather, the change of location of the law from "tables of stone" to the "tables of the heart." Under Moses' ministration the law was on stones. Under the Holy Spirit's ministration, through Christ, the law is written upon the heart (Hebrews 8:10). A rule posted on a school bulletin board becomes effective only when it enters a student's heart. Christ's ministration of the law is effective because He transfers the law to the heart of the Christian. Then keeping the law becomes a delight and a joyful way of living because the Christian has true love for both God and man.

6. Romans 10:4 says that "Christ is the end of the law." So it has ended, hasn't it?
Answer: "End" in this verse means purpose or object, as it does in James 5:11. The meaning is clear. To lead men to Christ - where they find righteousness - is the goal, purpose, or end of the law.

7. Why do so many people deny the binding claims of God's law?
Answer: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Romans 8:7-9.

8. Were the righteous people of the Old Testament saved by the law?
Answer: No one has ever been saved by the law. All who have been saved in all ages have been saved by grace. This "grace ... was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Timothy 1:9. The law only points out sin. Christ alone can save. Noah "found grace" (Genesis 6:8); Moses found grace (Exodus 33:17); the Israelites in the wilderness found grace (Jeremiah 31:2); and Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and many other Old Testament worthies were saved "by faith" according to Hebrews 11. They were saved by looking forward to the cross; we, by looking back to it. The law is necessary because, like a mirror, it reveals the "dirt" in our lives. Without it, people are sinners but are not aware of it. However, the law has no saving power. It can only point out sin. Jesus, and He alone, can save a person from sin. This has always been true, even in Old Testament times. (Acts 4:10, Acts 4:12; 2 Timothy 1:9).

9. Why worry about the law? Isn't conscience a safe guide?
Answer: No! A thousand times, no! The Bible speaks of an evil conscience, a defiled conscience, and a seared conscience - none of which is safe. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Proverbs 14:12. God says, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." Proverbs 28:26.
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