Gospel Words: Law
You can also watch two videos that deal with this topic: Lesson 1, Lesson 2.
When we talk about the gospel, there are a lot of different ideas about our relation to law. One of the popular ideas is that the Law of Moses continues to be God’s moral law for everyone but when we are in Christ we are no longer held accountable to law. That is part of the good news! We cannot sin any longer because there is no law for us! This idea can be clearly seen in various Calvinist websites. I can’t tell you exactly how this idea ties in with the tenets of Calvinism, so I won’t say that it is a Calvinist idea but I have seen it mostly from those who have the beliefs of Calvinism. I am going to quote from an article someone I know wrote and keep it anonymous in the hope that he no longer believes this. But it is worded in a way that makes the position pretty clear and that is what I want to focus on here.
Moses brought law. Jesus brought Grace and Truth.
Someone recently shared with me an epiphany. The New Testament never contrasts “the old law” with “the new law.” It makes no such distinction. NOR does the New Testament ever use the words “the old law”; it simply states “the law.” Neither does the Bible use the term “new law.” It distinguishes between the “old covenant” and the “new covenant” but never between the “old law” and “new law” (and there’s a difference between laws and covenants; see Gal. 3.17 for an example of this distinction).
Galatians 3:17 says this:
And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
This is making a distinction between the covenant God made with Abraham and the law of Moses (the covenant God made with Israel), not saying that there is a difference between a covenant and a law. So is there a difference between God’s covenants and His laws?
Are Law and Covenant Two Separate Things?
For various reasons, there is sometimes an attempt to separate the idea of a covenant from the idea of law. There is a distinction made between the Old Covenant and the Old Law. There is a reason for using different terms to place an emphasis on different aspects of it but in reality they are the same thing just as Jesus is both Son of God and Son of Man. You can refer to Him in either way but be talking about the same person. If you talk about God’s covenant with Israel or the Law of Moses, you are talking about the same thing. I think the following verses will make that clear.
Exodus 24:7
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.”
The covenant directly involved obedience. The covenant they made was to obey the law of God. This was how they were going to be God’s people and He was going to be their God.
Exodus 24:12
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”
Exodus 34:27-28
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments were the words of the covenant. They were also clearly the law of God. There is no distinction between the Law of Moses and the covenant God made with Israel.
Deuteronomy 4:13
So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
Again, the Ten Commandments are called the covenant. It is a covenant they were commanded to perform–the law.
Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 15
When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
“So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
The Ten Commandments are called the tablets of the covenant.
Deuteronomy 29:21
And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,
Curses of the covenant were written a book of the law. The law was the covenant and it was not only the Ten Commandments. It was all of the law.
Joshua 8:34
And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
Here it does not make any distinction between the blessings and curses being part of the covenant. It just says that they were part of the law.
Perhaps we did not need so many verses to make this point, but I believe this makes it abundantly clear that God did not view the covenant and the law as two separate things. They are two ways of talking about the same thing.
The Law of Moses Was Only for Israel and Those Who Lived Among Them
The law of Moses was a national law as well as a religious law. There were instructions on how they were to handle murder cases, divorce, and other civil matters. That is why, by the way, the instructions about divorce were in that law. Jesus said it was because of their hardness of hearts. It was to handle the law regarding divorce on a national level, but even in the Old Testament God made it clear that He hated divorce. In our national laws, we have the ability to divorce but we also need to be aware that God has never approved of it for any reason other than fornication, although He overlooked it as sin under the Law of Moses just as He did polygamy. Jesus has made it clear that neither of these things will be overlooked anymore. See Matthew 19:1-9 for more on that.
But what I want us to see is that if the Law of Moses is still in effect, it can only be in effect for those for whom it was already in effect. That is only the Israelites–the Jews. If you are a Gentile and you were not living among the Jews in Israel, you were never bound by the Law of Moses. It was never our law and so for it to become our law, Jesus would have needed to make it our law. But the scriptures are clear that He did not do that.
Exodus 12:49
One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”
While the Law of Moses applied to the Gentiles who lived among the Jews, it did not apply to those who lived in other places. It was a national law and only those in the nation were bound by it.
2 Kings 17:34
To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel,
This is talking about the Samaritans, the people brought from other areas of the Assyrian empire to live in the land after they removed the Jews. They were criticized for not keeping God’s law to the Jews because they were living in that land. So while they were not really Jews, they were still expected to keep the Law of Moses since they were living in the land that was governed by that law.
Romans 9:4
who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
Paul says the giving of the law and the covenants belonged to or pertained to the Israelites. They had an advantage over the Gentiles in that way, although he makes the point that this in no way lessened their need for the gospel.
Acts 15:23-29
They wrote this letter by them:
The apostles, the elders, and the brethren,
To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:
Greetings.
Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment— it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
Farewell.
What law are they talking about here? The Law of Moses. That is the law which commands circumcision. They are not however saying that Gentile Christians did not need to keep any law. They said there were some necessary things…not the moral laws of the Law of Moses, but rather the laws that have always been from God for all people. God has never accepted idolatry, eating blood, or fornication. Eating blood was prohibited when God gave meat to eat after the flood (Genesis 9:4). That applies to all people.
Zechariah 9:6-7
“A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth, And the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, And shall be like a leader in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite.
Why did God say that the blood the Philistines ate was an abomination? They were not under the Law of Moses. But they were held responsible for the law God had given them and the prohibition against eating blood was for all people for all time.
That is why the Gentiles Christians were being reminded in Acts 15 that those things were still necessary–because they were not actually only part of the Law of Moses, but something we learn from the Old Testament that God had commanded all people. The statements about marriage in Genesis and other things teach us about fornication as well.
So it is clear that the law of Moses cannot still be in effect for Gentile Christians as it never was in effect for us–at least if we did not live among the Jews. It has not been made to be our law as Acts 15 makes clear.
Ephesians 2:15
having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
When Christ finished the Old Testament it removed the enmity between Jew and Gentile because the Gentiles were not part of that covenant and law. Now the Jew is not under that law either. We will look at that more later.
Did Jesus Teach That Anyone Must Continue Keeping the Law of Moses?
Again quoting from the article:
While Jesus did change the law and annul the Mosaic covenant (through His death: Heb. 7.11-19), the moral teachings in the law remain (cf. Rom. 8.2-4; 13.8-10; Eph. 6.1-3; 1 Cor. 9.8-9; etc.).
The author appeals to the statements of Jesus that mention the Law of Moses and keeping it, as evidence that we are to continue keeping it today.
Matthew 5:17-18
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Jesus promised to fulfill the law and prophets. He did not simply take them away but completed their purpose to the full. The law of Moses was God’s law and it could not simply be removed before everything was fulfilled. Jesus did that. While this verse is often used to teach that Jesus expects us to keep the Law of Moses, it actually teaches the opposite. It teaches that He was completing its purpose and once that was done, it would no longer be needed. He did not say that the Law would last until heaven and earth passed away but rather that it would last until all was fulfilled. He came to do that and so during the time that it was not yet accomplished, He taught the Jews to continue keeping that law as He did.
Matthew 7:12
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Notice that Jesus does not criticize the Law of Moses. He even appeals to it as He established His own law. It was God’s law and taught good things. This does not mean, however, that Jesus left that law in place. Even in this very sermon, He was making a new law that was different from the Law of Moses–noticeably in how He deals with the subject of divorce. He no longer takes into consideration the hardness of men’s hearts because this is a spiritual law, not a national law.
Matthew 11:13
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
The giving of the Old Law ended with John the Baptist. He was not establishing more law under the Old Covenant but rather preparing people for Jesus and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. What Jesus taught was not part of the Old Law or a clarification of it (while it did clarify some things they had distorted) but rather the establishment of a New Law.
Luke 24:44
Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”
The Old Testament is filled with prophecies and other things that point toward Jesus. Jesus fulfilled all of them. Their purpose was completed.
Just as a side note, we may be tempted to think that the Law of Moses or Old Testament Law is restricted to the first five books because those are called the “books of the Law.” But Jesus makes it clear in other passages that all of what we consider the Old Testament is part of the Old Law–even the Psalms.
John 10:34
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’?
This is a quotation from Psalm 82:6.
John 15:25
But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
This is a quote from Psalm 35:19. Both of these quotations are taken from the Psalms but Jesus calls it their law. This demonstrates that the whole of the Old Testament is included when we talk about the Law of Moses even though we call the first 5 books “the books of the law”.
Christ Removed the Law of Moses and Established a New Law
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The law did not bring righteousness. It would only make righteous those who did the things written in it and since nobody but Christ did that perfectly, it could not make them righteous. What Christ established brings an end to the law of Moses and establishes a way for all who believe to be righteous, even Gentiles.
Galatians 3:17-25
And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Why would the law annul the covenant God made with Abraham? Because the covenant God made with Abraham involved all the families of the earth and the law did not include all nations. So the inheritance could not be of the law.
The law was until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made–that is Christ. It was not a bad thing. It fulfilled its purpose perfectly but its purpose was never to bring salvation. It was to prepare people for Christ so that we could be justified by faith in Him. We needed to understand sin and the need for a Saviour and the law taught very harshly and perfectly about that idea. But the Law of Moses was only until He came. It was a tutor, but we are no longer under a tutor. The Law of Moses taught that it was going away.
Hebrews 8:7-13
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
He quotes here from Jeremiah 31 which is talking about a new covenant being established which means the Old Covenant would be obsolete. Remember that we have already seen that God makes no distinction between the covenant and the law. This passage certainly states that there will be a law, but if the covenant is being replaced, the law would also have to be replaced–they are one and the same.
Deuteronomy 18:18-19
I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.
Jesus was the Prophet like Moses. Acts 3:19-23 makes that point for us very clearly. God said that when that Prophet came, everyone must listen to Him. We find this idea being stated again when Jesus was on the mountain and Moses and Elijah appeared with him. What did God say?
Matthew 17:4-8
Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
This was not at all to say that what God had given through Moses was bad. On the contrary, it was perfect for its purpose. But part of its purpose was to prepare the Jews to listen to the new Prophet when He came. He would give a law that was for all people for the rest of time.
Romans 3:31
Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Paul is not saying that the Law of Moses is still in effect. But he is saying that when we listen to Christ, we establish the law. In other words, we are listening to the law when we consider it as finished and now listen to Christ.
Hebrews 7:11-12
Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.
There is not an abolishment of law from God but there is a change. God had this planned all along. It is not as though He gave a law and later realized that there were problems with it that needed to be fixed. God’s law that He gave through Moses was perfect for its purpose. His law through Christ is much greater and is what He had planned all along. Also the point is not that the Law of Moses is still in effect with a few changes. The Law has been changed. There is a new law.
2 Corinthians 3:7-11
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
The statement was made in the article I quoted that the moral laws of the Law of Moses remain. Here we see that what was engraved on stones is the ministry of death and ministry of condemnation. This is the Ten Commandments, which is “moral law.” It is passing away, he says, but there is something that remains and that is the ministry of the Spirit. The Bible does not distinguish between different types of laws in the Old Covenant. They are simply the Law and they all stand or fall together.
Jewish Christians continued to keep the Law, at least in part.
Acts 21:20-24
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.
Paul kept the law and did not discourage other Jews from doing the same. The elders in Jerusalem understood this and asked Paul to do something that would demonstrate this to his brethren there so there would not be any problem due to the false reporting about him. He was perfectly willing to worship at the temple and offer sacrifices. I believe it worth pointing out that these sacrifices were due to a vow and not for the forgiveness of sins.
Acts 22:12
“Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there,
Acts 25:8
while he answered for himself, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.”
We see this great Christian Ananias was devout according to the law and Paul said that he had not offended against the law of the Jews in anything. He kept the law of Moses in relation to the temple and whatever was required while he lived among other Jews.
It is impossible to truly keep the Law of Moses and follow Christ.
Romans 7:1, 4-6
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
4 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. 5 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. 6 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.
Galatians 5:3-4
And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Christ did establish a new law.
1 Corinthians 9:20-21
and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;
Galatians 5:18-6:2
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
You are not under law but you are to fulfill the law of Christ. In the context of Galatians, not being under law but led by the Spirit is contrasting the law of Moses with the teaching (law) of Christ. He is making the point that not being under the law of Moses does not mean that we are free to live according to the flesh. Against the fruit of the Spirit there is no law.
James 1:25
But 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.
The law of Moses could not be called a law of liberty. It is Christ who brings liberty–and that includes His law.
2 Corinthians 2:7-18
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
He calls the law of Moses (specifically the 10 commandments) the ministry of condemnation. Liberty only comes through the Spirit of the Lord.
James 4:11-12
Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
Christ is a Lawgiver. There is a law. The good news of Christ is not the removal of law. It is the plan for forgiveness when we have broken the law.