Which Law Are We Under? Not Both!
Which Law Are We Under? Not Both!
There is confusion today about the role of the Law of Moses in the Christian salvation.
Some Christians are keeping the Sabbath. Some, the seven feast days. Some are circumcising their children. Some do not eat pork.
What shall we say about these Christians? As long as they feel they are obeying God they should continue keeping those parts of the Law, although such observances are not required. Whatever is not of faith is sin!
Paul must turn over in his grave at Christians trying to keep parts of the Law of Moses. Paul had some strong things to say about the Judaizers who were trying to bring the Christian under the Law of Moses.
We can tell from Paul's writings that he was thoroughly disgusted if not angry with those who were emphasizing to the Christian believers parts of the Law of Moses.
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. (Galatians 6:15)
As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! (Galatians 5:12)
We who do not observe any part of the Law of Moses should not condemn those who do; nor should those who do keep the Sabbath or some other part of the Law, condemn us who do not keep any part of the Law.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. (Galatians 3:23-25)
Now, does the passage above state that we no longer are under the Law of Moses?
I think the average reader would say that according to the Apostle Paul, we no longer are under the Law of Moses. Would you agree with that?But can't we keep the Sabbath so we will have at least something to boast of?
I don't think so! Not according to the Apostle James.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)
I have been told that the term "guardian" above refers to a Greek slave who accompanied a boy to school so the boy would not be harmed or get into some kind of mischief.
According to Paul, we already have come to the school of Christ, so there no longer is need for a guardian.
I do not know what could be more clear.
To trust in any part of the Law of Moses for our salvation is to give us something to boast about.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8.9)
Whenever the Apostle Paul uses the term "works," he is referring to the works of the Law of Moses.
Because Paul is clear in his writings that we no longer are under any part of the Law of Moses, Christian scholars have come to the conclusion that we are bound by no law except the "law of love," which in its practical outworking is no law at all.
As long as we assent mentally to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we need not be concerned about our behavior. There is no Divine law that governs us, we claim.
This indeed is a calamitous conclusion and has produced moral chaos in the Christian churches.
There is a law that supersedes the Law of Moses. That Law is the Spirit of God Himself.
"According to Jewish tradition, Pentecost commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus." (Wikipedia)
The Jewish feast of Pentecost signifies the giving of the Law. It is easy to see from this that the outpouring of the Spirit on the early Church, on the day of the feast of Pentecost, is announcing the giving to us Christians a new law-- the Law of the Holy Spirit.
Isn't that marvelous?
And may I add that to mix any part of the Law of Moses to the Law of the Spirit serves only to distract us from looking to the Lord Jesus for the decisions we must make during our lifetime.
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (II Corinthians 3:3)
The new covenant is the writing of the eternal moral law of God on our mind and heart. The Spirit of God uses the body and blood of Christ to write the true Law on our personality.
The Ten Commandments are an abridged form of the true and eternal Law. That true and eternal Law is what God is, in moral Character. That true and eternal Law is Christ Himself. It is Christ who is being formed in us, as the Spirit of God, using the body and blood of Christ, renews our mind and heart.
We go from Glory to Glory as we follow the Spirit in overcoming our sin and self-will; and these victories are recorded in our personality. Such is the new covenant.
One can perceive immediately how superior the new covenant is to the Law of Moses, in that the Law of Moses depends on the obedience of the flesh to the statutes written in granite and then on scrolls.
Notice how this works out in daily living:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:16-18)
"You are not to do whatever you want." Why not? Because we are under the Law of the Spirit.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. If you still are confused about the Sabbath, ask the Lord Jesus to have the Spirit lead you to observe the Sabbath.
There might be some special circumstance in which it is an act of Christian kindness toward someone for you to not work on Saturday. But the Spirit of God will never lead you to keep the Sabbath as a requirement established by the Lord Jesus.
Ask the Lord about this.
But what does the Spirit lead us to do? He leads us to confess and turn away from the sins of the flesh.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Romans 8:12-14)
The Spirit of God guides and empowers us as we confess out sins and self-will and turn away from them. When we are obedient to the Spirit, He records our victories, writing them in our mind and heart.
This is what it means to "grow in Christ." We can perceive that the new covenant is Christ in us, formed as we obediently follow the Spirit of God.
If we attempt to add some part of the Law of Moses to the operation of the new covenant, we only bring confusion to the Divine program of redemption.
The goal of the Christian salvation is fellowship with the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Such fellowship can be accomplished only by following the Spirit of God. He is that Eliezer of Damascus, so to speak, who is bringing Rebekah to Isaac. Our efforts to do any religious work of our own succeeds only in misdirecting the camel.
But what does the Apostle say to his Jewish audience?
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
Paul is telling the Jews that God is giving them a new covenant. Naturally the question in their mind is, "Can I leave the Law of Moses and still be saved?"
But notice that it is not just a case of leaving Moses:
Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
If there is a verse of Scripture more needed to be emphasized in the Christian churches, I do not know what it is.
We may blather about a "law of love." A law of love means we are free to do whatever we love to do. Galatians, Five (above) tells us we are not free to do what we want to do.
Next Part But what law are we under?