To follow the Law or to not follow the Law…
This topic has been a subject of many back and forth discussions between the believers. It seems to be a big distinction between different dominations regarding that and depending on which domination you belong to, then your views and beliefs around that topic will reflect that. From my personal experience I experienced a lot of confusion around that topic. As I grew up in Catholic church, the church was putting emphasis on following 10 commandments. We had to participate in regular confession services and the Law was helping us to know what we have done wrong and what we need to repent of. I guess this was the only good thing about the Catholic church, obedience to the 10 commandments. However, the church changed some of the commandments, which I write more in the post about the Catholic church.
When I converted into Christian domination, because believe it or not, Catholics don’t call themselves Christian and on many occasions highlight the fact that they are Catholics and feel some sense of superiority and importance with that label. Nevertheless, when I joined Evangelical church, I was amazed with how the church was rejecting the Law of God by highlighting that we are no longer bound to the Law and only saved through grace. My learnt behavior was to follow the commandments, write them as a reminder and check if according to the commandments I have been living in an acceptable way to God. However, I was often reminded that we do not follow the Law, because it’s bondage and legalism. It took me a while to actually free myself from that, what they call “bondage”, however I then had a u -turn and came back to it as it just didn’t feel right.
When you think about the argument, that the Law is bondage, consider that “bondage” doesn’t produce blessings, but produces pain and heartache. How can then God want to bound us to pain?
Could it be that people misunderstood what Paul was trying to explain in the book of Romans?
When we look at the book of Deuteronomy, it looks to me that God only wanted to bless those people who followed His Law:
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
“Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
“The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.” Deuteronomy 28:1-13
I can see where the confusion about the Law comes from.
After studying the Old and New Testament, we can see that the Law was very much preached by the prophets of the Old Testament, however in the New Testament, through the apostle Paul, we have a slightly different view on this. However, it is important to first check if we just reject anything that has been written in the Old Testament and not apply it to our lives today or is it still valid and important.
I have met many believers in the church that only live by what they find in the New Testament, by saying the Old Testament is an old and invalid covenant and New Testament applies to us as it’s a new covenant established by Jesus Christ. To go further into explaining, it’s important to see if we should just disregard what is in the Old Testament and focus on the New Testament only.
That which is called the “New Testament” is simply commentary for that which had already been established in the Old Testament. Everything that transpired in the New Testament was first prophesied in the Old Testament and any interpretation in the New Testament that does not line up with the Old Testament must be understood as a wrong interpretation. If something new happened in the New Testament it had to be validated in the original scriptures. Therefore from that, we can say that we should not disregard the Old Testament and New Testament helps us understand what already has been established in the Old Testament.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16
Therefore all scripture is valid for instruction and throughout the New Testament we see statements being backed up with the foundation found in the Old Testament. Now we know we should not overlook Old Testament and it is still valid to apply it to our lives.
The big question is did Jesus do away with the Law when he completed his work on the cross?
First, the Law appears in the Old Testament in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Law commands things like not having other gods before God, resting on the Sabbath day, or loving your neighbor as yourself. People of the Old Testament were expected to follow the Law of Moses to be set apart from other pagan nations that worshiped multiple gods and followed a lot of sexually charged rituals. Many people believe that the expectation to follow the Law changed in the New Testament as Jesus accomplished it, which they interpret as complete, therefore we don’t have to. However, Matthew 5 : 17 – 20 in the New Testament with Jesus words, couldn’t be clearer on this matter:
“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. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
This is clear to me that Jesus highlight that he did not come to destroy, but to fulfill it and show it how it’s done so that we can follow in his footsteps. The Law of Moses is valid “till the heaven and earth pass away”, so pretty much till the end.
Many people in the body of Christ confuse the word fulfilled with abolish and those are not the same words. Fulfil – means achieve, carry out as required, whereas abolish – means put an end to. Jesus clearly said in the above verse that He “did not come to destroy” the Law, but “to fulfill”, which is to show us how to achieve it. That doesn’t mean that only one person needs to fulfill it to satisfy God, because the Law will be valid “till heaven and earth pass away”.
Why people have a problem with following the Law?
The confusion came from a misleading interpretation of the book of Romans, which was a book that apostle Paul wrote to the Gentiles. Gentiles were people who were not under the covenant with God, therefore everything was new to them and they needed to learn God’ ways. Paul was highlighting the importance of the Law that helped him to realize sin in his life:
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” Romans 7:7
He then highlights in further verses that :
“Therefore the law is holy, and the commandments are holy and just and good.”
This is quite clear that he believed the Law is good and important to follow, however Paul throws a curve ball in chapter 7 : 4 by saying “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.”
This verse many interpreted as in Christ we have also died to our obligation to follow the Law of Moses, as we have been “freed from the law”. In further verses Paul continues that
“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 7:6
Many believe that “delivered from the law” means we no longer have to follow the law of Moses, however Paul was referring to the law of death. Living in the spirit and following God’s commandments means we are free from the law of death, because our souls will live with God forever. This concept is more about being free from the flesh which is under the Law and living more in the Spirit. This is a call to the spiritual life where fallowing the Law is not burdensome because you reject your flesh. This does not refer to the law of God, which is still very valid.
“Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” Romans 7:12
“So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” Romans 7:25
Paul talks about two different laws here: the Law of God and the law of sin. Therefore we can be sure that Paul did not reject the Law of God, but the law of sin, which means we are obliged to follow the Law of God and walk in the steps of Jesus.
“But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.” Romans 7:8-11
Here Paul highlights, that the awareness of sin through the Law produced more desire in his flesh to do this. It’s like when I say: don’t think about pink elephant, you will think about pink elephant. If I say: don’t be jealous, because it’s bad, then suddenly you will find ways to be jealous. It’s because of our brain design and confirmation bias. Our brain takes commandments from our mind and thoughts and will always try to bring to your awareness what you thought about. That’s on a side note. Going back to the scripture, Paul explains that before the commandments he was blissfully unaware of his wrongdoings. Then commandments came and his awareness of the sins he was committing killed him spiritually. However, this can be a good thing because the awareness of it can bring your spirit back to life. The awareness of sin and the Law, if you love God, will make you want to obey God and God’s law and bring your spirit back to life.
Once the Law is revealed to us, we have no excuse and to follow it
“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” John 15:22
Jesus highlights that one of His missions on earth was to reveal the Law of God, follow it, fulfill it and show people how to do it. Yes, Jesus was perfect and yes, it is difficult to not sin in this sinful world, however we still have to try. Following the Law is not about salvation, salvation is through grace, however if you love God, you will follow His commandments. It’s to show the love towards God. Besides, you really don’t want to hear those words from Jesus:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:21-23
By Dagmara Z.