THE CHRISTIAN AND THE LAW

Ephesians 2: 11 So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” which is done in the flesh by human hands. 12 At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

To whom was the Law given? Was the Law of Moses given to the Amorites or the Hittites? No, the Law was given to the sons of Abraham. We were, “Gentiles in the flesh… excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

We were never under the Law.

The only way for a Gentile Christian to come under the Law is to voluntarily step out from under grace and intentionally submit to the Law.

Galatians 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.

Jewish Christians have been rescued from the Law. Gentile Christians never were under the Law.

To refuse grace and place yourself in bondage, under the Law, is to insult the cross of Jesus Christ!

Romans 6:14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

It is a very simple statement:

“You are not under the law.”

• It is simple English and it is translated from a very simple, straightforward statement in the Greek.
• There is no question about what the words mean.
• There are no alternate “possible translations” that might possibly give reason to believe that those words do not mean what they say.
• A third grader could tell you what that statement means.
• If you were in this country on a diplomatic visa, and they arrested you, you could rightly tell the judge that you were not under that law. They might deport you but they could not imprison you. The Laws of the United States cannot be applied to those here with diplomatic visas.
• Possession of a Bible carries the death penalty in North Korea. That does not frighten me. I am not under the Laws of North Korea and I walk freely with my Bible in hand.

No one misunderstands that verse but millions reject that verse.

• They reject that verse because they believe that they are special because obeying a couple of those laws has made them special.
• If that verse is true, going to church on the Sabbath has no merit and abstaining from pork earns no Celestial Brownie Points.
• If that verse is true, those who abstain from pork and go to church on Saturday are no better than those who eat pork and go to church on Sunday.
• That idea is unacceptable, and so they reject plain Scripture and submit to a law that holds no real power over them.
• They trade grace for a ministry of condemnation and death.

It is very, very difficult to let go of legalism. To trade in the opportunity to earn your own righteousness and the sense of self-satisfaction you get from that, for a theology that says, “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe,” is almost impossible. It literally destroys the ego. It hurts like Hell…

We are not under the Law.:

• We are in Jesus.
• Jesus told us to Love God and to love our neighbor.
• That I am glad to do.
• If you love God and your neighbor,
• you will not have idols
• or dishonor your parents
• or murder
• or steal
• or commit adultery
• or covet.

At the same time, Christ becomes your Sabbath Rest and you trade in the Sabbath Day for a 24/7 relationship. You give thanks for pork and lobster and shellfish and you consecrate them through prayer and thanksgiving.

Romans 6:14 says, “For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.”

Either that is true or God is a liar. Your call.

Galatians 5:18 says, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Either that is true or God is a liar. Your Call.

Galatians 5:4 says, “You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.”

Either that is true or God is a liar. Your Call.

2 Corinthians 3 says. “7 But if the MINISTRY OF DEATH, IN LETTERS ENGRAVED ON STONES, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? 9 For if THE MINISTRY OF CONDEMNATION has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.”

Either the Ten Commandments are a ministry of death and condemnation, or God is a liar. Your call.

I had a man who claims to be “Torah Observant” comment: 

“you seem to confuse the Torrah (sic) with the Talmud. Where in the Torrah (sic) does it say I must not touch a chair that my wife has sat on during her period.”

This is what drives me nuts… people who self-identify as “Torah Observant” and / or “Law Keepers” generally have no idea whatsoever what the Torah teaches…

Leviticus 15:19 “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

20 “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21

>>>Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 22

>>>Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 23

>>>Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.

When I posted that Scripture, there was dead silence. He never replied.

I am not fighting the Law.

• The Law is forever.
• The Laws of Kazakhstan are very real, they just do not apply.
• The Law of Moses is very real, it just does not apply.
• “We are NOT under the Law but under Grace.”
• I repeat, “We are NOT under the Law but under Grace.”
• What does the Scripture say?
• Romans 6:15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
• Absolutely not!”

If we are not under the law, how do we define sin?

• By the Law of Christ.
• What is the Law of Christ?
• Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and body and your neighbor as yourself.
• Does Adultery violate that Law?
• Yes.
• How about stealing, murder, gossip or sexual perversion?
• Yes, absolutely!
• How about eating bacon or going to church on Sunday?
• No, no way!
• I can love God and my neighbor while I eat Bacon before church on Sunday.
• How about letting a gentile enter my house (The Torah forbids it)
• No, I love my gentile neighbor too. (Not to mention that I am a gentile.)
• How about going to church after I bury my dead dog?
• The Torah forbids that.
• No, that has nothing to do with loving God or my neighbor.
• How about sleeping with my wife during her time of the month?
• The same Torah that forbids pork, tells me I am not even to touch the chair she sat in.
• Nope… That rule has nothing to do with loving God or my neighbor.

What gets me is the hypocrisy of the “Law Keepers” and the “Torah Observant.”

• The same Torah that forbids pork, forbids women to go to the House of God, during their period or for seven days following.
• That same Torah forbids a man who has touched even a chair his wife sat in during that time of month to enter a house of worship.
• It forbids a man who had an ejaculation the night before to go to church.
• It forbids anyone who touches a dead animal to go to church.
• It forbids you to light any kind of fire or cook on the Sabbath.

All of these rules and hundreds more are found in the Torah, but the “Law Keepers” and the “Torah Observant” rip the dietary laws out of that Torah, insist that they are binding on Christians but that you are free to ignore every other rule in the book.

• That is the dictionary definition of hypocrisy.
• They insist that the Sabbath is mandatory.
• The same Torah that says not to eat pork, contains more than one hundred laws which define exactly what one cannot do and what one must do in order to “Keep the Sabbath Holy”.
• The Same Torah that says not to eat pork tells you how to keep the Sabbath.
• The food laws are binding on Christians but the Sabbath laws in the same book are not?
• What?
• Sounds hypocritical to me…

John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

Some have been looking at this verse in a discussion over whether or not we are “gods” (little g). I see something else in the verse…

Jesus refers to it as “Your Law” as opposed to “My Law” or “God’s Law…”

Jesus did not take ownership of the Law nor did He ascribe ownership to God. In the New Testament, it is called:
• The Law
• Your Law
• The Law of the Jews
• The Law of Moses
It is not called “God’s Law” and Jesus did not refer to it as “My Law.”

When Jesus spoke of his commandments, He specified:
• Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and body
• Love your neighbor as yourself

2 Corinthians 3:7-11 calls the Ten Commandments a “Ministry of condemnation” and a “Ministry of death.”

2 Corinthians 3:⁷ Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to look directly at Moses’ face because of the glory from his face—a fading glory— ⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹ For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory. ¹⁰ In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was fading away was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

Speaking of the Law of Christ, Galatians 6:2 says:

“Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

There is world of difference between carrying another’s burden in order to fulfill the Law of Christ and abstaining from pork and going to church on the Sabbath is some sort of vain and half-hearted attempt to fulfill the Law of Moses

You may try to earn all the Celestial Brownie Points you can by going to church on Saturday and not eating pork. I am satisfied with the righteousness imparted to me in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In Christ, I have become the very righteousness of God. I couldn’t beat that if I never ate Pork and went to Sabbath church a thousand weeks in a row…

It is those who insist that they are more holy than I because they go to church on Saturday, and that I am a reprobate sinner for going to church on Sunday, that I address here. Those who insist that if I would only go to church on Saturday and stop eating pork, I too could earn Celestial Brownie Points and one day, I might even attain to the higher ground on which they stand.

I could care less who goes to church on what day, or what they eat…

David…