If we are Israelites by descent then we have the Ten Commandments. If we are Gentiles then we have a similar law written on our hearts. In the last section we read that –either way– the law was given to lead us to Jesus Christ for salvation.
You've Been Told to Keep the Law, But Can You?
As Christians, we continually hear about the need for us to follow, adhere to, obey the law –and we also hear that Christ fulfilled the law. Does that sound like a contradiction? It should!
More often than not, we're told that we need to try to keep the law, but not to worry, because when we fail we can confess our sins and ask God to forgive us. This cycle of failing and asking for God's forgiveness has become a way of life for most of us. Jesus' words from the cross "It is finished!" were meant to break that religious cycle.
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4)
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. (Galatians 3:23-25)
Both of these Scriptures state that coming to faith in Jesus Christ ends the need for the law. We no longer need to compare our behavior to God's commandments. We were humbled and have seen our unrighteous, unholy selves for what we were: guilty and under a sentence of death. We needed –and subsequently received– His grace and mercy so that we now have eternal life through His Son.
The Law Is Only a Shadow of Something Better
Like the parables, the true meaning of the law is hidden. Obviously, the law describes the strict requirements for a person to live a perfect life and it also describes the penalty of death for not doing so. Yet the law also uses shadows –pictures hidden in words– to tell us about Jesus' perfect life and about His death for our sins!
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming –not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. (Hebrews 10:1)
These are a shadow of the things that we're to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Colossians 2:17)
The entire system of sacrifices showed that if we wanted to live, we needed to find someone who is perfect to take our place on that dreadful date with the executioner.
The fact that God set up a priesthood with a high priest as a mediator, showed that someone needed to stand between us and Him. That high priest had to be someone who knew what it was like to be a lowly man and also understand the righteousness that was required to stand before God. These were foreshadowings of what Jesus was coming to fulfill –being both Son of Man and Son of God!
Are You Living Under Law or Grace?
Whenever the statement is made that the law's only purpose is to lead us to Jesus, the response is nearly always the same. "Well, if the law doesn't apply to us any more, then we have a license to sin –right?" That conversation must have been one that even Paul heard because he recorded the question and his response in Romans chapter 6. (As if any of us ever needed a license to sin. We have all managed to sin quite well without a license!)
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! (Romans 6:14-15)
Almost every one of Paul's letters reveals the continual battle that plagued him wherever he ministered. He taught about the grace of God and following right behind him came teachers of the law. He taught about the freedom we have by living in a trust-faith relationship with God –we are holy and righteous because of Jesus' sacrifice for us. They –the teachers of the law– taught that after being saved by grace, a Christian remains holy and righteous by following the law –at least to do as good as he can.
He Didn't Come to Abolish It, or Did He?
There's nearly always another discussion following the one about having a license to sin. It goes something like this: "You say that the law came to an end for believers –that it doesn't apply to us anymore. But didn't Jesus say that He didn't come to abolish the law? And didn't He also say that the law would never disappear? So, if what you say is true, then how do you explain Jesus' words?"
"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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)
Did you notice that He said that the law wouldn't disappear "until everything is accomplished"? The solution to this mystery can be understood by knowing what needs to be accomplished. Jesus came as His Father's first-hand witness to explain:
- The law was to judge a man's heart –not merely his outward actions.
- Jesus was the substitute sacrifice –the Lamb of God– eliminating the need for any further sacrifices for sins.
- He freely gives life –eternal life– to all who put their trust in Him.
The law works on each of us in one of two ways. It either lays a heavy burden of guilt and shame on our hearts; or it exposes a great emptiness that is in need of being filled by Him. I ask you, "Did the law (either the Ten Commandments or the one written on your heart) make you realize that you needed God? Did you accept His sacrificial death for you? Did you put your trust in Him so that you now have His gift of eternal life?" If the answers to these questions are "yes" then the law has done its work –it can do no more for you.
Although the law has come to an end and no longer applies to those who are saved, there are others that still need to be convicted by that law so that they too will come to faith in Jesus. Everything has not been accomplished until that last person is convicted and saved. And shortly thereafter, heaven and earth will go through an amazing transformation.
As Far As You're Concerned, Is the Law Abolished?
Jesus lived the perfectly sinless life that we can't so that He could become the perfect sacrifice in our place. Now, because of what He did, the law comes to an end for us –it disappears for everyone who is in Christ. It's because He has accomplished His purpose! He fulfilled the law. For us, "It is finished!"
This passage in Ephesians should settle the matter once and for all –Jews and Gentiles alike– about whether Jesus abolished the law or not:
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16)
Some might ask, "What about Romans 3:31 where it says 'Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law?'" The response is this: We can only "uphold" the law through faith in Christ Jesus' sacrifice, burial and resurrection. Keeping, upholding, living up to, or following the law is only accomplished by trusting that Jesus did it all –leaving absolutely nothing for us to do. –Nothing!
Take a close look at what was accomplished when Jesus died on that cross.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15)
He disarmed the powers and authorities –that's the Devil and all of his helpers– by nailing our record of debt (the written code) and the law (the regulations we broke) to the cross –canceling them. We were forgiven at the cross and we have been made eternally alive –"It is finished!"
