Believers and the Law
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On May 12, 1978, I fulfilled the requirements necessary to be awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from what is today Missouri State University (MSU).
My professors required me to read, research, and write. I had to demonstrate with academic rigor that I understood an assigned subject, that I had studied the topic from multiple sources, that I had thought critically about my findings, and that in a class of my peers I could defend my research paper with grace, dignity, and composure under cross-examination.
Forty-eight years have come and gone.
As I contemplate this article at my keyboard this morning, I’m conscious of the patterns I’m using to think about my topic. I have followed a systematic manner of reasoning. I have used about thirty sources to form my thesis. When I consider my writing style, it is disciplined and consistent, presented so that “The Believer and the Law” reaches you without gimmick, distraction, or inefficiency.
Where did this rigor come from?
To the degree you appreciate how I think and write, you can thank my professors at MSU. They maintained an unwavering standard of academic excellence. Once I had fulfilled their requirements, I received my diploma.
I’m telling you this story because I wish to explore the word “fulfilled” and draw a parallel to Jesus’ statement, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Mt. 5:17).
The trend of late is to connect the word “fulfill” to the errors of the church in Galatia. The letter Paul wrote to the Galatians is the angriest book in the Bible—and the inciting cause of Paul’s rant is the Galatians’ mix of law and grace to form a gospel that suited their sensibility. The Apostle wants to know “who has bewitched” them and their crummy theology.
It’s easy to assume that Paul is asking the Galatian church, “What part of fulfilled don’t you understand? The law is fulfilled, over with, done. It’s a new day, but you have departed from grace and embraced legalism by mixing law and grace. This is a perversion of the Gospel!”
Legalism is serious business—the belief that you can supplement the Gospel by doing something to either gain God’s acceptance or improve your standing with Him. Scripture is clear: Christ fulfilled the law. Your justification, your acceptance with God, is not achieved. It is through Christ alone.
So, what is a Christian’s disposition to this fulfilled law?
One of the more popular grace teachers wrote, “The Ten Commandments have zero to do with Christian living.”
Another prominent teacher of grace wrote, “Grace enables us to live our lives apart from law.”
As a Christian, how are you supposed to think about the Old Testament?
Andy Stanley writes, “You were not, are not, and should be glad you’re not included in that [Old] covenant.” He continues, “Participants in the new covenant are not required to obey most of the commandments found in the first half of their Bibles.”
Candidly, I understand the intentions of these teachers, but if the Ten Commandments are not applicable to Christianity, law has no bearing on my life, and the Old Testament is no longer applicable, then I am lawless and free to do whatever I want.
When I visit with these teachers about the implications of their teaching, I hear, “That’s not what I meant.”
“Perhaps not, but it’s what you wrote in your book, what you posted to social media, what you stated in your presentation.”
“Yes, but that’s not what I meant.”
And their presentation of what they call the message of grace continues.
After years of this marginal, imprecise presentation of biblical grace, the outcomes are manifesting themselves. The followers of these teachers of grace openly advocate historical heresies such as universalism, perfectionism, and passivism. These, along with others such as Gnosticism, fall primarily under a heresy called antinomianism (anti, against; nomos, law).
Antinomianism asserts that Christians are under no obligation to obey the moral laws of God, such as the Ten Commandments. The reasoning is that because salvation is achieved solely through faith and divine grace, the moral law—primarily in the Old Testament—is irrelevant to Believers. Unfortunately, this heresy has been a recurring challenge since the earliest days of the church. Because it constantly reappears, the church has had to refute it in almost every century.
“But that’s not what I meant.”
“Perhaps so, but it’s where we are.”
Passivism: I read one of these teachers on social media, “He [Jesus] invites you to live an easy, refreshing, and energizing life!” Another declared, “The Bible never speaks of spending time with God. Why not? Because of your union with Jesus Christ.”
Go to your Bible. Find a single example of a follower of Jesus who lived an easy life. If you locate one, let me know. Return to your scriptures. If the Bible never speaks of spending time with God, what’s going on in Mark 1:35 where Jesus practiced getting up early, retreating to a solitary place, and praying?
Perfectionism: “You and I need never become more dependent upon Jesus. We already are completely dependent. It’s been done for us.” Also, “You’re not a work in progress. You’re already God’s perfect workmanship.”
Examine your Bible again. If you are already completely dependent, how come Paul dies daily in 1 Corinthians 15:31? If you’re perfect, why does Paul write in Philippians 3:12, 14, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus”? Alternatively, go ask your spouse how perfect you are.
“But that’s not what I meant.”
And I suspect this is the honest truth: “But it’s what you put in writing.”
Quote: “What happens if I don’t do what God commands? You can stop fearing punishment and enjoy how God loves you, increasingly becoming perfected in love—not in performance.”
Return again to your source, the Bible. There are dozens of scriptures that speak to the consequences of sin and the aspiration to accurately convey Christ through the exercise of faith, trust, and practice of the spiritual disciplines. Like antinomianism, the above quote smacks of Gnosticism, a heretical philosophy addressed in at least twelve books of the New Testament.
You are a new covenant Believer. What do you do with the old covenant, the Old Testament?
The Old Testament is challenging, but this doesn’t mean it is no longer relevant.
Recall that Jesus stated, “Not the smallest letter or stroke of the law shall pass away” (Mt. 5:18). He is recorded by Luke saying that it would be easier for everything that exists to cease to exist than it would be for even a serif of the law to fail (16:17). In a similar line of thought, Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (Mt. 24:35).
Further, the writers of the New Testament quoted the Old Testament about 200 times; they referenced the Old Testament close to a thousand times. See how well your theology holds up if you deem a thousand passages in the New Testament irrelevant to Christianity.
Just because a grace teacher, a Bible teacher, or any teacher for that matter, makes a confident statement about the Bible or their view of grace, doesn’t mean they are correct. Scripture tells you to go look for yourself. Be shrewd, like a snake. Take every thought captive. Be savvy, listen and consider.
I’m writing to alert you, warn you, and draw your attention to a presentation of grace that sounds biblical but is sometimes misguided. Consider the full counsel of Scripture lest you find yourself in an unfortunate belief system. Recall: this is a similar problem to what Paul and Timothy encountered in Ephesus. There were teachers who sounded confident, but their philosophies were dangerous to Christianity. Pay attention!
But the question remains: As a Christian, what is your relationship to the law?
Are you subject to the law?
Is the Old Testament relevant for New Testament Believers?
If Christ fulfilled the law, then are you making the same mistake the Galatians made if you pay attention to the laws of God and assume their relevance to your Christian life?
Consider my opening illustration of fulfilling the requirements for a degree in history. Upon graduation, I was equipped to approach the significant challenges of thinking, reasoning, learning, critiquing, arguing, writing, presenting, and defending. Fulfillment of my degree requirements set me free to live an educated and informed life. Fulfillment of requirements in 1978 has guided almost five decades of learning, enjoying, teaching, and writing history.
Similarly, Jesus’ fulfillment of the law does not mean God’s law is eradicated, rendered irrelevant, set against the Gospel, or contrary to His own work. It means that you are now equipped to think, reason, learn, etc., as a redeemed person. The whole counsel of God, from the opening pages of Genesis to the maps, is yours. As a New Testament Believer, you enjoy the fulfillment of Scripture and the resident guidance of the Spirit to teach it to you. With the indwelling Christ living in and through you, you are free to practice what the Bible calls the “law of Christ”—love, the fulfillment of the law in a word.
By honoring the law, or taking its counsel, do you become more redeemed, more justified, or more acceptable to God? No. The law can’t provide this. It can only demonstrate your need for a different solution to your separation from God—salvation through Christ alone.
Am I advocating that you should supplement the Gospel with law? Absolutely not! The law does not possess the capacity to justify your life before God.
But this doesn’t render the law obsolete. It just clarifies its purpose and simplifies what you do with it, how you think about it.
In answer to the absurdity of, “The Ten Commandments have zero to do with Christian living,” I say that the law of Christ means I’ll not murder you today, sleep with your wife, or covet your lawnmower.
The law is good, Paul says in Romans. It’s not good for justification, but it is good in that by its fulfillment you are set free to live, think, reason, and understand correctly, as a new person should. Once your mind was dark, now you see. Given what you see and know, with the Spirit’s empowering you are able to engage life as an informed, educated, and enlightened follower of Christ.
How does the law of God factor into Christianity?
Ironically, one of the clearest answers to this question is found in the Old Testament. Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah stated that when you are redeemed, you receive a new heart with the laws of God written upon its walls (cf. Ezk. 36:26–27; Jer. 31:33). God’s desires become your heartfelt desires. For good measure, Hebrews 10:16 and 22 affirm what the Old Testament prophets wrote.
Salvation is magnificent. As I have written previously, the Bible presents salvation in three tenses: past, present, and future.
The past tense perspective of salvation presents the completed work of God in Christ. This tense presents the scope of justification: You were dead, now you are alive; cursed, now blessed; distant, now close; a sinner, now redeemed; irretrievably useless, now a member of God’s family.
Salvation from the present tense perspective conveys the working out of what your salvation is and does (Phil. 2:12). This tense equips, empowers, encourages, and enlightens your spiritual battle, the war between flesh and Spirit. It is in the present tense presentation of salvation that you grasp and deploy the law of Christ, i.e., the law of love as defined by the moral law of God.
In the future tense, Scripture presents the hope of salvation. One day, you will see clearly, experience fully, and enjoy absolutely.
In fulfilling the requirements of the law, Jesus set you free to live an informed, enlightened, composed life. The grace of what God did is amazing. The process and grit of grace applied to each day’s problems is reassuring and empowering. The hope of grace is comforting.
But a message of grace apart from this biblical balance is lawless.