The Law and the Cross
(from December 24, 2015)
Is the Mosaic law still necessary? The short answer to that question is “Yes.” Paul tells Timothy there is a lawful use for the Law, 1Timothy 1:8. Galatians lists 2 lawful uses. The Law points out the sinfulness of man, 2:19. It leads to Christ, 2:24. (Both of those ideas are suggested in the context of 1Timothy 1:8-11) Does the Mosaic Law have some application beyond these? Is the Law a binding principle in the life of a Christian? Here are 5 reasons why I do not believe the Mosaic Law is the standard for Christian living.
1.The New Testament refers to the law as ended. Multiple times the words abolish or nullify are used to describe the Law. Here are a few references. The very strong word katargeo is used in 2 Corinthians 3 (7,11,13,14) to describe the diminishing of the Old Covenant- ‘letters engraved in stone’ refers to the Law. Katargeo means to abolish. Paul says the Law did not just become ineffective; it was brought to an end. In addition and of great significance, believers have died to the Law, Romans 7:4,6. And believers are not ‘under’ the Law, Galatians 5:18. Paul’s use of pronouns in Galatians 3:23-29 (us and you) strongly implies that the Law was not intended for Gentiles. Rather Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ.
2.Some suggest that questions about right and wrong behavior can be answered by dividing the law into three parts- civil, ceremonial, and moral- and applying just the moral laws. The NT never suggests this as a possibility and those under the Law certainly did not expect that type of division. Paul is adamant that if one law is kept all the others must be also, Galatians 3:10, 5:3, and he quotes the fifth book of the Law, Deuteronomy 27:26, to demonstrate that. You cannot pick and choose which laws you want to obey. Righteousness does not come through the keeping of the law, Galatians 2:21.
3.The NT commands obedience to the Law of Christ, Galatians 6:2, which is bearing one another’s burdens. Bearing one another’s burdens is an illustration of how the whole law is fulfilled by love, Gal 5:14. Gal 5:22 adds that the first fruit of the Spirit is love. (Some believe that love corresponds to the singular ‘fruit’ of the Spirit. All the other characteristics flow from that. Love is at least, the primary fruit.) By applying the fruit the behavior of the believer conforms to the standards of law even though the believer is “led by the Spirit” and not “under the law” (Gal 5:18). It is relevant that in this ethical section of Galatians Paul never prescribes Christian behavior with reference to the law. He describes the fruit of a believer’s behavior describing how it conforms to the law because it is based on love and consequently amounts to the Law’s fulfillment.
4.Christ must be central to ‘Christ’ian life. Christ’s coming into the world demands a new focus. To be deliberately redundant, a believer starts his spiritual life where it began- with Christ. New life comes with faith in Christ; it is therefore from Christ that believers must learn how to live the faith-life. Paul warns those who would seek justification by the law, and this is in the context, a message to believers, that they have been severed from Christ, Galatians 5:4. He does not add Christ’s commandments to the Law. He offers a new standard of behavior.
5.Law-keeping tends to legalism which inevitably makes love secondary. Twice Paul refers to certain practices related to law-keeping, Galatians 4:10, Col 2:16. The Galatians had apparently slipped back into these habits because certain Jewish leaders had convinced them this was good. The Colossians had apparently not slipped into similar habits. In the first case Paul tells the Galatians that this type of legalism creates bondage, which is bad. In Colossians Paul exhorts the believers who were being judged poorly because they did not keep these law related mandates, not to be intimidated by those who did practice these things. The application is this: do not fall into legalism and do not allow those who have fallen to judge you. Colossians 2:17 says these things are a shadow of what is to come, but Christ is the substance, the real thing. Why live in the shadows of bondage when you can walk in the light of freedom.
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
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