Apart
from the Law
By Brian Hennessy
Part 3
Did Paul keep
the Law?
Mosiac Christians always insist that Paul kept the Law even as an apostle. Although Paul did keep the Law on occasion (as we read in Acts 21) - which might lead one to conclude Paul was under the Law - he clearly tells the ekklesia (the church) at Corinth that this was not the case.
He explains his seemingly contradictory behavior this way:
"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law - though I myself am not under the law - so to win those under the law. To those not having law, I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Messiah's law), so as to win those not having law....I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." (1 Cor 9: 19-22)
Obviously, to Paul, the Law could be used as an evangelistic tool when necessary. And although he says that he personally isn't under the Law - it doesn't mean he is under no law. He confesses that he is very definitely under the New Covenant Law of Love which he terms "Messiah's law." The extreme choices are legality and license - but he shows that Spirit-controlled liberty is the right path to follow.
Given the volume of writing that Paul devoted to combating the idea that the followers of Messiah (especially the Gentiles) had to keep the Law, there is just no way we can say that Paul was a closet keeper of the Mosaic Law. If so, I should think he'd be guilty of the same type of gross hypocrisy he accused Peter of at Galatia. (By the way, Paul's confrontation in Galatians 2:14 reveals that even Peter, whose ministry was to the Jews, wasn't a Law keeper either: "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not as a Jew. How is it then that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?")
It would seem that Paul had no problem with his fellow believing Jews maintaining their customs (i.e. traditions that may have been part of the Law, but which now no longer carry a penalty) - as long as they did not tie them to justification or sanctification. Or try to impose them on the Gentiles. But as one Bible commentary notes, he probably wouldn't have tried to stop them either if they chose to abandon them.
And finally it must be pointed out that, as Paul himself pointed out, if he kept the Law, "why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished." (Gal 5:11)
Mosaic Christians say, well what were the "traditions" that Paul taught if they were not the works of the Law?
If you start from the premise that God still wants us to keep the Law, then you might assume that the "traditions" which Paul told us "to hold firmly to, just as I delivered them to you" (1 Cor 11: 1,2/2Thess 2:15) were the Mosaic Law. But that assumption would not be correct. The word "traditions" does not automatically mean old or ancient ways - it can refer to new traditions, also. The "traditions" Paul was referring to were the ordinances and teachings he had received, not from Moses, but directly from Jesus. Reading further along in 1 Cor 11, verse 23, Paul says, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread:..." Again in 1 Cor 15:3, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, ..."
Here he shows
that included in his teaching was the identification of Old Testament prophesies
given in word and picture pointing to the death and resurrection of Messiah. So
in that sense you could say some OT traditions were handed on - but not as
rituals and laws to be practiced, but as types and shadows pointing to New
Testament realities.
The
“Fulfilling” Ministry of Jesus
Another argument of those who say the Law should still be practiced by
Christians today are the words of Jesus. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came
to abolish the Law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” (Matt. 5: 17) What was He saying? If He didn’t
come to abolish the Law, does that mean -
as so many in the Moses Movement argue - that He is saying we are still supposed
to keep the Law? Especially when He says in the next two verses, “not the
smallest letter or stroke shall pass away until all is accomplished. Whoever
then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall
be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches
them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
To understand what Jesus
meant, a distinction has to be made between
“keeping the Law” and “fulfilling the Law.” We know that Jesus
“was born under the Law,” and lived His whole life under the Law, “so that
He might redeem all those who were born under the Law.” (Gal. 4:4) We also
know that He was the only member of the human race to actually “keep the
Law” perfectly. BUT “KEEPING THE LAW” WAS NOT HOW HE ”FULFILLED THE
LAW!” His unblemished record on Law-keeping simply qualified Him to be the
perfect, unblemished sacrifice that the Law required to atone for sin. His
promise of “fulfilling the Law” had to do with His bringing into existence
the spiritual realities that the Law pointed to by shadow, some of which I
alluded to in the previous section. Jesus was therefore saying that not one
shadowy detail of the Law would go unfulfilled. Heaven and earth would not pass
away until He had fulfilled every
“jot and tittle.” That was a large part of His mission!
At the same time, He reminded His audience that they themselves were
still under obligation to “keep the whole Law,” since the Mosaic Law at that
time was still the covenant de jour. (The New Covenant wouldn’t become
official until his death and resurrection.) And lest anyone think keeping the
Law was possible, He told them that the righteousness of the Pharisees, who
promoted themselves as the leading keepers of the Law, wasn’t good enough.
They’d have to do better. He then raised the bar even higher by saying that if
anyone sinned even in their thought life, they had
broken the Law. I’m sure many in the crowd, upon hearing that, probably
choked on their beards.
Of course, He knew that He
was the only one who could meet that impossible standard, And what’s more He
knew that the righteousness He spoke of could only be achieved through faith in
His atonement. But that explanation would have to wait until His work was done
and he had returned to heaven.
The bottom line is that His ministry fulfilled the ministry of Moses,
just as the building contractor fulfills the work of the architect. “Now Moses
was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken later. But Messiah is faithful as a Son over God’s
house whose house we are, if we hold fast
our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.” (Heb. 3:5,6)
Unfortunately, we have a history of not holding fast to our confidence,
which is why we are always in so much trouble.
Backsliding
Boogie
As night follows
day, the people of God have a habit of returning to old religious habits after
coming to the truth. Which is a pretty good definition for backsliding. We often
think the first sign of backsliding is when someone stops going to church. But
the truth is, backsliding usually begins the moment someone starts
regular, compulsory attendance at a local church or synagogue. That’s when he
or she begins to lapse back into a system of Christian or Jewish religious law,
instead of continuing to walk by faith.
It won’t be
noticeable at first, but unless a believer is alerted to this misstep by the
Holy Spirit (a certainty), and he returns to the faith walk, his lawless man
with his lawless ways will soon be back on the throne of his life again. When we
choose to go back and live under the letter of the law we don’t stand a
chance. We are empowering our old carnal nature to arise and ride herd on us
again. Like old Brer Rabbit who wanted nothing more than to be thrown into the
briar patch, our “old carnal nature” wants nothing more than to be put under
law again. Like Brer Rabbit, he’ll even try to convince our “new man” that
this will be the best way to get rid of him for good. Because our wily old
carnal mindset instinctively knows that the Law will always be powerless to stop
him, “weak as it was through the flesh.” (Rom. 8:3) Indeed, the Law will
actually recharge your “self” battery. “For the power of sin is in the
Law.” (1 Cor. 15:56).
This sad turn of
events generally occurs when a person’s particular cultural or religious
tradition reasserts itself (usually through family or friends), causing him to
return to the religious ways in which he had served God before getting
“saved.” That usually means identifying with a particular theology or
pastor, describing oneself by a church or denominational name and religiously
attending services in a particular church/synagogue building once or twice a
week.
Because of the
unrenewed mind of a new believer, and the widespread acceptance of institutional
Christianity, it usually happens pretty quickly after being saved. But sometimes
it doesn’t kick in until years later. I know of several believers who had been
former Roman Catholics, who after 20 years of walking with the Lord, suddenly
returned to Roman Catholicism (mainly because they never left ‘Protestant
Catholicism”). And they are now more Catholic than ever!
The reason
religious works are so difficult to uproot from our thinking is because we are
taught from birth that you don’t get somethin’ for nothin’. We just apply
that to God as well, and jump in and do our part. It sounds right. It feels
right. But it is wrong. “Are you so foolish?” Paul asked the Galatians who
were doing that very thing. “After beginning with the Spirit, are you now
trying to obtain your goal by human effort?” (Gal 3:3)
Our Idol Ways
Of course,
backsliding to our former religious ways isn’t limited just to God’s people
under the New Covenant. When Moses was up on Mt Sinai the Israelites did the
very same thing. Afraid that he wasn’t coming back, they quickly reverted to
the soulish comfort of the religion they had learned and practiced in Egypt for
400 years. They built the golden calf and participated in an orgiastic feast.
The fact that God had just outlawed that type of worship wasn’t enough to
overcome their idolatrous mindset, which had been programmed to worship in that
way.
With Aaron’s help, the one they pressed into service as chief priest,
they just redirected their false worship to the God who had delivered them from
Pharaoh. Referring to the golden idol, Aaron cried out, “This is your God, O
Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” (Ex. 32:4) So they were
addressing the right God! But because they weren’t worshiping Him in the way
He specifically required, their worship was redirected towards demons. (1 Cor.
10:20) And that resulted in God’s wrath being poured out upon them, “and
that day about 3000 of the people died.” (Ex. 32:28). Unlike the
permissiveness of man, God does hold us accountable.
Maybe you think the idolatry they practiced at Sinai to be so flagrant
that they deserved such wrath. But do you think we acted any differently when we
fashioned a god of bread on stone altars, and worshipped it as Jesus Christ for
centuries? Which some still do. Or do you think we have departed from that pagan
worship system after the Reformation because we eliminated the “sacrifice of
the mass?” When we still continue to observe the same major holy days as Rome?
When we still continue to act as if God dwells in a building made with human
hands? When we still continue to submit ourselves and our families to the
authority exercised by our own self-appointed professional priesthood?
I don’t think so.
It was this same penchant for backsliding that initiated the entire
present controversy over the Law at the beginning of the Church age. No sooner
had Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant than the early Jewish believers in the
Church decided the Old Covenant was too laden with memories and proud tradition
to discard it. (Of course, unlike today, the Temple with its animal sacrifices
was still in operation then, so they could at least make a pretense of keeping
it.) But the Jewish believers of the first century weren’t satisfied with just
having Jews keep the Law. They insisted that the new Gentile converts be made to
keep it also. Thank God Paul was given the revelation and anointing to stand up
against the Judaizers of that day to shield us from their influence. And
thankfully we still have all his arguments recorded as Scripture, because we
obviously are going to need them again.
Eventually, this Jewish insistence on the Law drove many of those who
had been gathered from among the Gentiles to separate and form their own
fellowships. Then after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jewish leadership began
to wane and non-Jewish leadership began to dominate in the worldwide Church.
However, it wasn’t long before we too began to slip back into our old former
religious traditions, which of course were pagan. We combined Biblical truths
with worldly religious ideas and let them bake together in our carnal minds for
a few centuries, until out popped a theological loaf of leavened bread known as
Roman Catholicism. The Church then continued to feed on this corrupted bread of
religion until the Reformation provided fresh manna from heaven and set us free
again. Well, almost. For as I say, Protestantism is just Roman Catholicism
without the seeds.
So here we sit after
nearly 20 centuries, still involved in this seemingly endless cycle of being set
free, and then going right back into religious bondage again. When will we ever
accept our freedom and walk in it? “For it was for freedom that Messiah set us
free, so keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery?”
(Gal 5:1)
I can only marvel at the continued mercy and patience of God towards us,
both Jewish and non-Jewish believers, in light of 2000 years of stubborn refusal
to obey His voice and renounce our religious ways. But it’s a new day today!
It’s time now for all of us to grow up and begin to walk as mature sons of
God. To come out from our imprisonment to childish religious regulations that
can neither perfect us or bring us into our inheritance.
“For long ago
I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds; but you said, “I will not serve!” Let
us lie down in our shame, and
let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the
Lord our God, we and our fathers since our youth, even to this
day. AND WE HAVE NOT OBEYED THE
VOICE OF THE LORD OUR GOD.”
(Jer. 2:20; 3:23-25)
Hearing and
obeying the “voice of the Lord our God” is the one commandment to which we
shall all be held accountable. That’s why we must be very careful to pay
attention to what God is saying to us today.
“Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they
provoked Me (in the wilderness.) ” (Heb. 3:15)
The Law is what
God said to us yesterday. Today is the
day of the New Covenant and freedom in Messiah Jesus. If we continue to live in
the past when God has said something new it shows we have hardened our heart. If
we continue, we will suffer the same fate as those who perished in the
wilderness. “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they
also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by
faith in those who heard.” (Heb. 4:2)
The
Law of Liberty
As it stands
today, most Christians don’t feel comfortable without having some kind of
system of do’s and don’ts in place. They are afraid the Church would be
chaotic without having rules and regulations and some organizational authority
to enforce them. So if they are Jewish believers, most opt for the Mosaic Law.
And if they are non-Jewish believers, most opt for what they consider to be a
legitimate list of “New Covenant” commandments, even if many actually come
from the Old Covenant Law. And all this seems perfectly reasonable and fitting
and acceptable to everyone.
However, in
believing this, both Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus overlook and
reject the “controlling” ministry of the Holy Spirit, who is resident within
us (1 Cor. 3:16). Who teaches us all things (John 14:26). Who has promised to be
with us always (John 14 16). Who is at work in us both to will and to work for
God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Who resists all our attempts to carry out
the desire of the flesh (Gal 16,17). Who guides us into all truth and reveals
what is to come (John 16: 13). Who appoints and sends out ministers (Acts13:
2-4) And who guides, encourages, comforts, emboldens, delivers, exhorts,
convicts and does all the work of evangelizing and running of the Church,
including the performance of miracles.
By rejecting
this ministry of the Holy Spirit they are rejecting the Voice of God today,
since He represents the living Presence of Jesus Christ in us. He is the Lord!
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty.” (2 Cor. 3:17) We also hear His will expressed to us today in the
writings of the New Covenant.
Sure, liberty is
frightening. Institutionalized law is always safer. But following the Spirit is
not an option under the New Covenant. James calls this ministry of the Spirit,
“the law of liberty,” meaning it is now THE LAW for us. He also calls it the
“perfect law.” He says, “one who looks intently at the perfect law, the
law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an
effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:25)
How does one
become an effectual doer of the “perfect law, the law of liberty?” By
remembering first that going back to a works righteous mentality and trying to
keep the Mosaic law - or any religious law - is to turn oneself into a
lawbreaker. Because, “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one
point, he has become guilty of all.” (James 2:10) In order to keep the Law
perfectly one has to abandon the impossible dos and don’ts of the Law, rest in
your God-given righteousness and simply “love God with all your heart and all
your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” As Jesus said, “on these two
commandments depend the whole Law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40) In other
words, if we are loving God and loving our neighbor we won’t be breaking any
laws. “Love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law.” (Rom. 13:10)
That is what we
must do if we want to be an effectual doer of the “law of liberty” and be
blessed. It can only be accomplished by walking free in the Spirit - apart from
the Law. Because “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under Law.”
(Gal. 5:18)
“And this do,
knowing the time, that is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now
salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is almost gone,
and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put
on the armor of light.” (Rom. 13:11,12)
“ And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” (Gal. 6:16)