The Law Part 2
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
Eternity-Inspiration for Tuesday 4th November 1997
The Law Part 2
Yesterday we saw that there are four main positions about Jesus and
the Law. Today's post will marshall the biblical evidence about the
Law as concisely as possible and try to harmonise it. Unfrtunately I
found no way of splitting this post into parts and having it still
make sense. I apologise in advance for the length. Here are the four
main positions again.
1. The Law Is Not In Force In Any Way For Anyone.
2. The Law Is Still In Force But Only For Unbelievers.
3. The Law Is Still Partly In Force For Christians.
4. Christians Are To Obey The Old Testament Laws In Their Entirety.
I find the second position makes the most sense of the various
teachings in the New Testament regarding the Law. Lets look at some of
the clear NT teachings regarding the Law and how it applies to us.
1. The Law will never pass away until this Creation does. (Matthew
5:17)
2. The Law is holy, righteous and good and is spiritual.
(Romans 7:12-14)
3 .The Law is part of Scripture, inspired by God and is of
continuing application and wisdom. (2 Timothy 3:16, Matthew 5:17-19)
4. There is no condemnation for born-again Christians who are led by
the Spirit. They have passed out of judgement . (Romans 8:1-3, John
5:24)
5. Christians do not have to observe the Law for salvation, in fact
no-one can be justified by works of the Law. Salvation is by grace
alone. (Galatians 2:16-22, Eph 2:8-10, Romans 3:19-28)
6. The Christian is not judged by the Law. The Christian is dead to
the law and not under the Law. (Romans 6:14-15, 7:4-6, 10:4, Galatians
2:16-22, 5:16-18, John 5:24, Romans 8:1,2)
7. The Law is a tutor to lead us to Christ. The Law has a role in
convicting us of sin. Once it has done its job its role is over.
(Romans 7:7-14, Galatians 3:19-26)
8. The change of priesthood from the Levitical priesthood to Jesus as
the High Priest has meant a change of law and a better covenant has
been introduced and the Old Covenant cancelled. (Hebrews 7:11-28)
9. The Law made nothing perfect (Hebrews 7:18,19) it was weakened by
sinful human flesh (Romans 8:3) so we cannot be perfected by the Law
but only by life in the Spirit. (Romans 8:4-6, Galatians 3:1-3,
5:16-24)
10. In the New Covenant there is not law-lessness, instead the law is
written on the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit.(Hebrews
10:8-13) The ethical requirements of the Law are now condensed into
the single command to love your neighbour as yourself. (Romans
13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8 )
11. Despite being one of the Ten Commandments we do not have to keep
the Sabbath for salvation. It is a matter of choice not legislation.
(Romans 14:4-14, Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:27-28, Colossians 2:16,17)
12. We are free to eat any foods, even unclean foods such as pork.
Regulations about foods are not part of the Christian life. (Mark
7:15-23, Romans 14:14-23, Colossians 2:16, 1 Timothy 4:1-6)
13. Christians are not to rebuild the law or seek to be justified by
it. To do so is sin. (Galatians 2:16-22, Galatians 5:1-11, Colossians
2:15-23, 1 Timothy 1:7-11)
14. The Law was 'added because of trangressions' and is for the
wicked, not for the righteous. (Galatians 3:19-26, 1 Timothy 1:7-11)
15. Those who are under the Law will be judged by the Law. (Romans
2:12, Galatians 5:1-11)
16. Even after Christ's death those who sought to be justified by the
Law had to keep it all. Thus it seems that some people (unbelievers)
are still judged by the law. (Galatians 5:1-11)
Points 1-3 above show clearly that the law has some continuing
application. Points 14-16 show that the Law is still in force for the
wicked and the unbelieving. This eliminates the viewpoint that the Law
has been completely abolished for all people(View 1 above).
Points 4-6 make clear that the continuing application of the law does
not involve Christians. Christians are dead to the law and not under
the law. That eliminates the viewpoint that Christians are saved in
order to keep the Law and must live by it (View No. 4 above).
That leaves us to decide between views 2 & 3. Points 7 to 13 have
bearing on this complex issue. The Sabbath was clearly part of the Ten
Commandments (Exodus 20:8) and thus part of the moral law. The Jews
certainly perceived Sabbath observance as a major moral issue. Yet it
is clear that Christians do not have to observe the Sabbath. (Point 11
above).
Neither is there any statement in the N.T. that there is a bit of the
law "left over" that we should still observe or any guidance on
discerning it if there is. In fact the term moral law is not used in
the New Testament. It is a "theological construct" which means it is a
generally useful theological term not used in Scripture. Howvere it
is, to my mind, an unsupportable one. Given the contentiousness of the
issue for the early church if observance of a moral alw was required
it would have been stated in unequivocal terms. Quite the opposite is
the case. Scripture clearly implies that when we died to the law we
died to all the law. Christians do not have to keep any part of the
law's legal requirements in order to be saved. No. 3 thus is
eliminated also.
to be continued....
Prayer:
Thank You Lord Jesus for bringing us out from under the condemnation
of the Law. Thank You for the wonderful and holy liberty we have in
the Spirit. May we live freely and yet obey fully! May You be
glorified in the Spirit because of us. Amen.
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