The Law: Questions, 25of25

~ Summary of The Law ~

The Big Picture  ~  The entire Bible is about Jesus Christ—The Messiah.  In the Old Testament God’s people looked forward in faith to the coming Messiah.  In the New Testament God’s people look both back to The Messiah’s coming, His life, His death, and most importantly His resurrection.  His believers today look forward in faith to the return of Jesus Christ to take His people home to be with Him forever.   

The Role of The Law Today  ~  The book of Hebrews gives many comparisons to what it is like to live under The Law versus being guided by the grace of God (post Messiah’s life on earth).  Living under grace is a fulfillment of many Old Testament passages such as, “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your Law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8).  Another key passage to consider is, “Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:13-14). 

The Law Fulfilled by Christ  ~  “The righteous requirement of the law” (Romans 8:4) was fulfilled by the only Righteous One—Jesus Christ.  He fulfilled the Ten Commandments, and all the moral law, by living a perfect, sinless life in obedience to His Father.  “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).  Jesus said: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).  Jesus Christ is the only One who has lived up to the requirements of the Law. 

The Law and The Christian  ~  The Christian is no longer under The Law.  “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God” (Galatians 2:19).  “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.  But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:4-6).

The Christian’s Laws  ~  While the Mosaic Law is no longer in force for today’s believer they are to strive to keep several laws because of their response to God’s love for them. 

The Law of Liberty—”He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James

The Royal Law—“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well” (James 2:8).

The Law of Christ—The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). 

The Law of the Spirit of Christ—“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4).

 

The Righteousness of The Law—Notice the last part of the above passage.  Jesus came to fulfill The Law (Matthew 5:17) and now we are to fulfill the law: “…that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4).

The Law Fulfilled Today  ~  While on earth Jesus told His disciples that we have really one principle, or law, to keep: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).  Further confirmation is seen in such passages as: “Jesus said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:37-40).  “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14). 

“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). 

The Bottom Line  ~  “Under the old covenant, the priest stood and ministered before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which could never take away sins.  But our High Priest [Jesus Christ—The Messiah] offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.  …  For by that one offering He forever made perfect those who are being made holy.  And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so.  For He says, ‘This is the new covenant I will make with My people on that day, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’  Then He says, ‘I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.’  And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices” (Hebrews 10:11-18 NLT).

The Mosaic Law could not be fulfilled because it depended on man’s ability.  Today, in the time of great grace, we can more fully live up to God’s principles and laws because of the indwelling Spirit of God!  God’s laws are now written in our hearts.  The result is that consistent effort to obey God’s laws is an outflowing of our response to God’s love for us which can, and should be, a joy filled lifestyle.  “You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:16-17). 

Reference  ~  You may be interested in a previous “Abundant Life Now” 14 post series entitled “10 Commandments Today” (from March 1 to June 28, 2018).  “Abundant Life Now” also posted a 12 post series entitled “Law vs. Grace” (from January 22 to December 24, 2013).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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