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The Gospel of Christ and the "Law" of God
William Diehl
Some are erroneously stating that "law" in the New Testament is always referring to the "Torah". To determine how the term "Law" is used in the New Testament one must always consult the historical and linguistic context of the particular passage of scripture under consideration. There are varying uses of "law" to mean the Decalogue at times, the entire Torah at times, the Mosaic old covenant of "obey and live" at times, the Levitical ceremonies at times, the "carnal nature" at times, and the "new man in Christ" at times.
Paul through out his epistle to the Romans varies in his use of the term "law". In Romans the second and third chapter he uses the Decalogue to define sin and bring all the world into condemnation. Even those Gentiles who do not have the written law show that they have a general knowledge of the law of right and wrong "written in their hearts" which convicts them of sin and guilt. It is in the context of using the Law as a definer of sin that Paul speaks in Romans 1-6.
Then in Romans 7 and 8 Paul refers to the "law of sin" and the "law of the Spirit" to refer to the old carnal sin nature and the new spiritual nature that is implanted within the heart of those who are newly "married to Christ". Paul in Romans makes it clear that because all are born in sin and continually fall short of the Law's righteousness, all must be "justified" (to be set right before the Law) by faith alone in the sinless life and atoning death of Christ. It is in this context that Paul says that Christ is the "end of the Law for righteousness (justification) for all who believe". To be "delivered from the Law" in Pauline terminology is to be set free from the penalty of the Law and from using obedience to the Law for ones justification before God.
Once one understands Paul's over-all thesis, one can understand that when Paul says "we establish the Law", he is declaring that by obedience to the Law no flesh can be justified, BUT in the same frame of mind, Paul can say that through the Spirit, God writes the Law upon the heart of the believer and the "righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us" and begins to be revealed in the life of the believer.
Paul always realizes that this inward righteousness that the Spirit places in the heart of the born-again Christian is never able to justify us, because the sanctified obedience of the Christian is always in need of continual justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ. Paul himself never claims to have reached perfect righteousness in his sanctified life but affirms that he continually reaches out for it. "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil 3:12-14 In these very revealing thoughts, Paul shows that he continually is reaching out to reveal the perfect life of Christ in his personal sanctified life which he acknowledges that he already has by imputation by having been justified in Christ.
It is mostly in his epistle to the Hebrews where he uses "law" to refer to the old covenant and the Levitical ceremonies of the Torah which have passed away and met their fulfillment in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the New Covenant which has replaced the old "law" with its symbols and sacrifices. But even here Paul speaks of writing the "law" in the hearts of the believer in Christ whose sins are forgiven by faith in the blood of Christ. This "law of Christ" (see Gal 6) is a term which Paul uses to describe the same "law" mentioned in Romans 7 and 8 for the new man who walks according to the "law of the Spirit" and who has the righteousness of the "law" fulfilled in his life as he begins to be sanctified and a partaker of the divine nature.
The moral "Law" of God for Paul is good. It is spiritual and it reaches not merely to the outward deeds of the individual but even to the inner motives of the heart. The failure of those who seek to be accepted before God on the basis of their obedience to the Law is that they fail to see only the outward letter of the Law and are blind to the spiritual requirements of the Law to be loving and kind in even the very depths of the heart. No man or woman is able to perfectly fulfill the righteousness demanded by God's Law. Thus Paul could say of the Jewish people that they were "ignorant of the righteousness of God" and were seeking to be accepted on the basis of their performance of the letter of the commandments.
In Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, he is clearly stating the new covenant has abolished that the prohibitive rules of the Levitical law which outlawed uncircumcised Gentiles from worshipping God.
"For he is the peace between us, and has made the two (Jews and Gentiles) into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law." Eph: 2:14,15
In stating this Paul is declaring that the rules requiring circumcision of all Gentiles are made void in Christ. Paul is in no way inferring that the Ten Commandments are made void in these verses.
Paul makes it very clear that the life of a Christian is one of continual warfare between his new spiritual mind and his old carnal mind. The old nature, the flesh is at enmity with the Law of God while the new nature which is born of the Spirit delights in the Law and seeks to obey the commandments, not to be justified by this obedience though but rather because the Christian is already justified by faith in the doing and dying of Christ. Paul expresses this in Romans 7:12-8:2
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin , working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin . 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law , that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin . 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
The epistle of James is dealing entirely with the spirit and the letter of the Decalogue. The "Law" of which James speaks is clearly the commandments of God as they relate to the daily life of the believer. James makes clear that those who are justified believers in Christ will be seeking to obey the Ten Commandments. Here the ceremonial Levitical law is not being urged upon the believing community but rather the moral Law of God as a guide in the moral decisions of all who name the name of Jesus.
In light of the use of the "Law" in the New Testament, it is very clear that for any who claims to be following Jesus, there can be no talk of separating the "law of the Spirit" in Christian sanctification from outward and inward obedience to the good and holy and just moral Law of God, the Ten Commandments. This can only be attempted by those who foolishly fail to understand Paul's gospel of justification of death deserving repentant sinners by the unmerited grace of God through faith alone in the sinless life and atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. The gospel of Christ begins in faith and ends in faith. The fruit of the gospel is that the righteousness of the Law will begin to be fulfilled in those indwelt by the Spirit who begin to walk in the newness of life unto all good works and deeds of righteousness.
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