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Bible Study- Lutz, Florida
Established
November 2008
Rightly
Dividing the Word of Truth
(2
Timothy 2:15)
This is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who
desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
Romans
by the Book
Lesson 25
I
want to commend you for putting some time aside for Bible study.
It
doesn’t matter if it’s at your home, this website, or at some other venue; just
so long as you’re receiving the Truth of God’s Word – Rightly Divided.
This
is the mark you must aim for.
When
I ended the last session, we were in the book of Galatians at chapter 4 where
the Apostle Paul offered a clearly constructed illustration dramatizing what
life was like under the supervision of the Law for the Jews.
This
left us with the question how does the Law affect us Gentiles?
We’re
going to answer that question in this Bible lesson.
I’m
coming from the position that the Mosaic Law was intended by the LORD God to be
a temporary covenant. The New Covenant,
to which the Mosaic Law pointed, stands as a “way of life” that is different in
nature to the way of life “under the Law.”
Believers
in the Grace Age live by the Spirit and are guided by love and Truth.
In
other words, the Mosaic Law is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
(We
owe our thanks to theologians such as Martin
Luther, and Jonathan Edwards for
developing these insightful Biblical
Truths.)
All
too often, Christians assume that God deals with Believers in a way that is
shaped by the Law.
Our
preaching, feelings, teaching and lives all too often suffer from problems that
flow from the idea that God relates to us in a way that has more in common with
the Mosaic Law than the New Covenant Gospel.
Please
know the Lord Jesus Christ liberated us from the Mosaic Law to live a life of
Spirit empowered love. But, what does
the book say?
Please
turn to the book of Colossians, chapter 2, at verse 12.
Colossians 2
12: having been
buried with Him (Jesus)
in baptism, in which you were also
raised up with Him through (what) faith
in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13: When you were
dead in your transgressions (sins) and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having
forgiven us all our transgressions,
14: (read carefully –
this is why we’re here) having cancelled
out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us (The
Law), which was hostile to us; and He
has taken it out of the way (or removed it), having nailed it to the cross.
Now
here’s a perfect example of why I use more than one Bible translation when I am
engaged in Bible study. Verse 13 above
isn’t very clear.
Let’s
try the Bible in Basic English.
14: Having put an end to the
handwriting of the law which was against us, taking it out of the way
by nailing it to his cross;
There,
that’s better.
Jesus
Christ liberated (freed) us Believers from the Mosaic Law, when He went to the
cross. Actually, it was His physical
resurrection that put an end to the Law.
John 1
17: For the Law was
given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Please
open your Bible to Galatians, chapter 3, at verse 22-23.
Galatians 3
22: But the
Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in
Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23: But before
faith came, we were kept in custody (bondage) under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be
revealed.
As
I said earlier, the Law was a temporary dispensation.
After
Jesus came, the Law ceased to be the thing that permitted the Jews to have a
relationship with God. Out with the Old
Covenant and in with the New Covenant.
The
fundamental New Testament claim about the relationship between the Law and
Jesus Christ is that Jesus has “fulfilled” the Law.
Jesus
said,
Matthew 5
17: “Do not
think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish
but to (what) fulfill.”
This
verse is often misunderstood. Here’s
what it means:
In
this verse, “fulfillment” means – to bring to the intended consummation or end.
Jesus
fulfilled the Law, which means He brought it to its God intended end.
Here’s
an example. Consider a step on a set of
escalators at the airport.
The
step is designed with the intention of carrying a person up a level in the
building.
This
is the end of its purpose. Once a person
gets on the step, the escalator carries that individual up to the next level
where they exit, and the fulfillment has been reached.
From
that moment onward the step travels in a different mode. It cannot be stood upon on its descent. It would be wrong to assume the step has been
abolished simply because it cannot carry a person on its downward
movement. Once it completes it cycle,
the step is ready to fulfill its purpose once again…and so on.
Therefore,
the Law has not been abolished when Jesus brings its reign to an end, because
fulfillment in Jesus was always the proper appointed end of the Mosaic Law.
Put
another way – never assume that the Law works the same way it did in the past
before Jesus fulfilled it.
Jesus
was the perfect Israel who never sinned, and as such lived out the perfect
righteousness of God. However, Jesus
died bearing the wrath of God – that is the curse of the Law –
Galatians 3
13: Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us – for it is written,
“CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE” – (see Deuteronomy 21:23).
Relationship
of Mosaic Law to Believers
A
Believer is someone who has been “set free” from the Mosaic Law.
This
is just one of many blessings that Jesus procured for us.
The
rules and commandments that God gave Moses no longer act as the model for a
Believers life. Remember Colossians
2:14; these laws were nailed to the cross.
Many
new Believers (and some old in the faith) use the Ten Commandments or Sabbath
Laws to assist them as they grow in godliness.
But to do so is a denial of the New Testament Covenant Gospel. The Apostle Paul argued that to return to the
Law is in effect to commit adultery with a dead husband.
Romans 7:
1: Or do you not
know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has
jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
2: For the married
woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband
dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
3: So then, if
while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called
an adulterous; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she
is not an adulterous though she is joined to another man.
4: Therefore, my
brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so
that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in
order that we might bear fruit for God.
5: For while we
were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear
fruit for death.
6: But now
we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound,
so that we serve in newness of the (what)
Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
The
Apostle to the Gentiles teaches that having “died” to the Law a Believer is
moved out of the realm of the Law into the realm of Jesus Christ.
A
person cannot belong to both Law and Jesus.
There is a vast difference between a life that is shaped by the Law and
a life that is shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The
Law commands us to “do our righteousness.”
Deuteronomy 6
25: “It will be
righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment
before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.”
The
Gospel, instead of commanding us to do our righteousness, promises to “give
us God’s righteousness.”
Romans 3
21: But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God
has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22: even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
Now that you’re a Believer, the Spirit of
God lives within you.
You and I live by the Spirit and not by the
Law.
Galatians 3
2: This is the only
thing I want to find out from you: did
you receive the Spirit (of God) by the
works of the Law, or by hearing (the Gospel) with faith?
3: Are you so
foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are
you now being perfected by the flesh?
What’s
the message of verse 3?
A
Believer is not to obey rules or commandments relying on these to bring about
righteousness. Rather a Believer is to
realize that the Spirit of God Himself is within him or her, working to grow
His own fruit of righteousness in each one of us.
The
Law could never achieve this.
The
Law is a reflection of the character of God, because the Law comes from the
very heart of God. Therefore, the Law is
good, pure, right, and holy.
This
Law, by its very nature, coming from the heart of God, is a standard for human
conduct, a perfect standard. Because it
is perfect, and we are not, it is impossible for sinful people to keep. This is why the Law became a “stumbling
block.”
The
old system under the Law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good
things to come, not the good things themselves.
Hebrews 10:1
When
God speaks of a New Covenant, it means that He has made the first one
obsolete. It is out of date and will
soon disappear. (Hebrews 8:13;
Colossians 2:14)
So,
does this mean we can act anyway we want because we are under God’s Grace?
We’re
not bound by any law at all? May it never be! Paul makes this point clear.
1 Corinthians 9
20: To the Jews I
became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as
under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those
who are under the Law;
21: to those who
are without law, as without law, though not being with the law of God but under
the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.
In other words,
Grace is not license to sin freely!
We
Believers are under the law of Christ which is the new commandment.
What
is the new commandment?
John 13
34: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
When we truly love
God and love each other – in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, through the power
of the Holy Spirit, we fulfill the law of love.
Think
this through.
If
you love someone, would you murder them?
If
you love someone, would you steal from them?
If
you love someone, would you sleep with their spouse?
If
you love someone, would you covet their possessions?
If
you truly love God, will you worship something or someone else in His place?
Get
the idea?
So
are we supposed to obey the Ten Commandments?
We
follow many of these same commands: we don’t worship other gods, we don’t
murder, we don’t steal, etc. But we
don’t follow them because
they’re the Ten Commandments. We follow them because we follow the way of
Christ and his law of love. To fail to
observe these laws would be to fail to love God and each other.
This is The
Law of Christ which is the New Commandment.
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved