The Harness Of The Lord

Not Under Law

Today there is absolute confusion over the role of obedience under the New Covenant. The vast majority of believers are being taught that obedience is optional after we are saved. A small minority of individuals and groups reject this error, but unfortunately, many of them misunderstand what it is we are supposed to obey. Consequently, both camps misrepresent genuine biblical faith. One is promoting lawlessness and the other is promoting legalism.

A person who has not already been brain-washed would never read the New Testament and walk away thinking obedience is not necessary—there is simply too much scriptural testimony stating the opposite. However, once we accept the absolute necessity of obedience there is a danger of swinging too far to the other side of the pendulum and getting entangled in legalism. What are we to obey? Obviously, we are to obey God. But how are we to obey Him? Paul said we are to be "led by the Spirit" (Rom. 8:14). He said if we are led of the Spirit we are "not under the law" (Gal. 5:18) because when we walk in the Spirit we do not "fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16).

The problem is, how are we to know for sure if we are following the right spirit? All Christians claim they are being led by the Spirit and doing God’s will, yet it is obvious that many of them are not. They may be following a spirit, but they are not following the Holy Spirit. Just look at the Church. There are literally hundreds of Christian sects teaching doctrines that are not only diametrically opposed to each other, but to the Scripture as well, yet each one claims they have the truth and are being led by the Spirit. Clearly, someone is mistaken!

In fact, when a person gets the revelation of just how important obedience really is, he suddenly realizes that the situation of the Church today is much like the situation of the Church in the days of the Judges, when there was no king in Israel and "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judg. 21:25). He thinks to himself, surely it is not God’s intention that the Church runs around like a chicken with its head cut off, not knowing what it is doing and everyone contradicting each other as well as the Scripture. God must have a standard that everyone can be held accountable to. We need a visible king; we need an external framework of spiritual government to keep us from going off the deep end.

For many, it seems that the only logical standard is the Law. Thus, we have individuals and Christian groups who keep the Law (or some portions of it). For them, the only difference between the Old and the New Covenant is that under the old one, it was impossible to keep the Law perfectly because it was written on Stone Tablets and we didn’t have the Spirit dwelling in us the way we do today. However, since the Law is written on our hearts under the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31), and since the Holy Spirit dwells in us in a deeper way, it is assumed that we can now keep the commandments of God perfectly. And exactly how much of the Law should we keep? The answer to that question varies, depending on which group you talk to.

For instance, Messianic Jews—and also an increasing number of "Messianc Gentiles"—view the entire Law, (excluding the sacrifices which represent the Lord) as valid. Other groups, like Seventh-Day Adventists, divide the Law into three categories—civil, ceremonial and moral—and view only the "moral" component (Ten Commandments) as still in force. Still other groups define which parts of the Law are valid according to their own particular criteria. However, the assumption is that common to all of these groups or individuals is that some portion of the Law is not only eternal, but eternally valid and in force.

Some of the scriptures used to prove this are: "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips" (Ps. 89:34); "...his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever..." (Ps. 111:7-8); "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven..." (Matt. 5:19); "...if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matt. 19:17); "...it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17); "If ye love me keep my commandments...He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me..." (John 14:15 & 21); "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Rom. 3:31).

In addition, John defined sin as "the transgression of the law" (I. John 3:4) and said, "whosoever abideth in him sinneth not" (v 6). The conclusion for many is that if we love God we will not sin—we will keep the Law perfectly. But then we are back to the same problem as being led by the Spirit. Who is defining God’s Law for us? Each group has its own definition. Who is right?

First, the Law of Moses was never given to the Gentiles. It was only given to Israel. This is clearly stated throughout the Scripture. When recounting all the wonderful things God had done for the people since leaving Egypt, Moses asks: "what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today" (NIV Deut. 4:8)? Again he asks: "Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have..." (v. 33)? The answer to both these questions is obviously, No. Speaking of the laws that God gave to Israel, King David said, "[He] has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws..." (Ps. 147:19).

When the people in Lystra tried to sacrifice an Ox to Paul after he healed a cripple, he said, "...turn from these vanities unto the living God...who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways" (Acts 14:15-16). Speaking of the idolatry of the Athenians, he said, "the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent..." (Acts 17:30). Later he asked what advantage the Jew had over the Gentile. The answer: "they have been entrusted with the very words of God" (Rom. 3:2). The Gentiles were not entrusted with the Oracles of God—that was the privilege of the Jewish people. God separated them from every other nation and gave them commandments that would apply to their peculiar national life. The Old Covenant was made with Israel alone. The only Gentiles ever brought under the Law of Moses were those who joined themselves to the nation in order to serve their God.

Commandments and ordinances have been around from the very beginning. The concept of sin and retribution is not a Jewish thing, nor is it permanently linked to the Law of Moses. The first commandment was not, "Thou shalt have no other gods beside me." Rather, it was, "...of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat." (Gen. 2:17). Breaking that commandment was also the first "transgression of the law." The first use of the Hebrew term for sin—chatta'ah (khat-taw-aw')—is 2500 years before Moses’ Law and has to do with Cain’s bad attitude. God asked him why he was angry and said,"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (NIV Gen. 4:7). Since God told Cain to do what was "right," we can be sure he knew what was right.

Later, speaking of Abraham, God said because he has "obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws," his seed will bless all nations (Gen. 26:4-5). Only a few of those commandments and laws were ever recorded in the Scripture. But apparently there were many ordinances given to Abraham during his life-time and he obeyed them all. God has been giving mankind laws and commandments since He created him. Even though the nations were not given the Law of Moses, they were still held accountable for the laws they did have. God told Abraham he would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because "their sin is very grievous" (Gen. 18:20). In order to have sin, there must be a commandment broken, for John said all sin is the "transgression of the law." What kind of laws did the nations have back in Abraham’s day?

Archeologists have found nine cuneiform writings which make up a special class of document known as "law code." All of them are similar in content and all existed immediately after the flood. The most famous law code comes from a Babylonian king named Hammurabi, a contemporary of Abraham. In 1902 a stone containing a relief of Hammurabi and his laws was found. The relief shows him receiving a scepter and a ring from a Babylonian god, along with his call to "make justice shine forth in the land, to destroy the evil and the wicked, that the strong might not oppress the weak...to give light to the land."

Under Hammurabi’s Code, 600 years before the Law, bearing false witness, robbery, receiving stolen goods, and kidnaping were all crimes, some of which carried the death penalty. There were commercial laws relating to loans of money or seeds, laws regulating partnerships and sales, and laws regulating transportation of merchandise. There were marriage laws involving the rights of both parties, marriage offenses, dowry settlements and divorce. Adultery with a married woman resulted in death for both individuals, as in Moses’ Law. Also as in Hebrew law, an adulterous wife was sentenced to trial by ordeal, death was the punishment for rape, incest is prohibited, the first-born had special rights, and the owner was held accountable for gorings by his oxen.

This explains why 400 years before the Law, in reproving Abraham for deceiving him about Sarah being his sister, King Abimelech said, "thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin" (Gen. 20:9). Abimelech knew that taking another man’s wife was a sin because there was a law forbidding it. Whether these laws came from God directly or through man’s conscience, they were clear and God held the nations accountable for breaking them.

For Gentiles, the "transgression of the law" was not the transgression of Moses’ Law, but the transgression of whatever particular laws they possessed. God never intended the Gentiles to come under the Law of Moses. That is why, when giving the Twelve Apostles their commission to go and make disciples of all nations, Jesus said, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:20). He didn’t tell them to go and teach the nations what Moses said, but rather, what He said.

Secondly, the issue of whether or not Gentile believers should keep the Law of Moses—either for the purpose of justification or for sanctification—was dealt with 1947 years ago by the apostles, at the first great council of church leaders, held at Jerusalem in A.D. 52. They came together specifically to settle this question (Acts 15:2-21). The "Pharisees which believed" demanded that Gentile converts be instructed to "keep the law of Moses" (v. 5). Peter’s reply to them was, "why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear" (v. 10-11)? Then, after some further discussion, the apostle James stood up and said, "...my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood" (vv. 19-20).

In mentioning these four practices, James was not trying to reduce the Law of Moses to the minimum possible observance. The question had been settled; the Gentiles were not required to obey the Law in any degree. Rather, he was telling them to abstain from these things in order to encourage a permanent separation from their former idolatry. He was saying, "stay away from even the social trappings and eating habits of that life-style and you will prosper spiritually."

Thirdly, the Scripture repeatedly contrasts living under law with living under grace: "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17); "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets" (Rom. 3:21); "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14); "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another...that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Rom. 7:4); "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" (Rom. 7:6); "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:4); "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Gal. 5:18).

What about the scriptures used by those who say the Law is unchangeable and unending, and therefore we should be keeping it? We will look at them briefly. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips...his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever. In Psalm 89, when God said He would not "alter the thing that is gone out" of His lips, He was not talking about the Law or the Old Covenant. He was referring to a special covenant He was making with King David, wherein He promised that his seed "shall endure for ever, and his throne...be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven" (Ps. 89:37).

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

Hebrews 7:11-12

The writer of Hebrews said Jesus instituted a new covenant, based on a new priesthood, which required a "change also of the law." The Law came from Jesus; it was His Law! Though He would never change its moral underpinnings or violate its ultimate righteous intention, He certainly had the authority to change, replace or annul the ordinances contained therein. Many commandments which are said to "stand fast forever" have in fact, been annulled and/or replaced as the result of the establishment of that better covenant. The Law is not unchangeable. Anybody who teaches that it is, has not read the book of Hebrews very well.

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Not letting "one tittle of the law to fail" does not mean that we all have to keep making atonement with animal sacrifices! It does not mean that we must observe the many Feasts and Sabbaths of Israel. It means everything contained in the Law will come to pass just as predicted. All the types and shadows will be fulfilled.

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. If by this Jesus meant Christians should continue obeying every commandment in the Law—even the most (seemingly) insignificant ones—why don’t those who promote this idea keep those ordinances themselves? Why don’t they sacrifice animals for forgiveness? Why don’t they go to Jerusalem three times a year? Why don’t they celebrate the various Festivals and Sabbaths required in the Law? Why are they not, in fact, living just like Orthodox Jews in Israel? Of course, Messianic Jews do keep all these ordinances, excluding animal sacrifice. But most groups don’t. They claim Jesus was only referring to the Ten Commandments, not the entire Law. Therefore, we are only under obligation to keep that portion of the Law.

Really? In that discourse Jesus mentions six specific commandments. The first two—murder and adultery—are part of the Ten Commandments; but the other four—divorce, breaking oaths, retaliation and our attitude towards enemies—are not. So the argument that Jesus was only referring to the "moral" Law holds absolutely no water. When He spoke these words Israel was still under the Old Covenant. The New Covenant had not yet been ratified. They were in a time of transition and the current system of sanctification was still valid. That is why He referred to the Law many times. That is why He could say, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Under the Old covenant, which was still in effect, obeying the commandments produced sanctification, which brought life.

After making His statement about not breaking the least of the commandments, Jesus went on to say, "except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:20). This puts His previous statements in the proper context. He was talking about what was happening then, not about what would happen after the New Covenant was established.

The Pharisees had divided the Law into categories of important and non-important commandments. In addition, they twisted the Law to fit their lusts. They were worried that Jesus was going to destroy the Law, along with the authority it conferred upon them, and they were telling the people this in order to turn them against Him.

Therefore, the Lord assures the people that He did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. At the same time, He was also warning them not to think they can manipulate the Law the way the Pharisees do and still be great in the kingdom, or even enter it, for the Pharisees were basing their "righteousness" on a legal code that they had fashioned in their own image.

If ye love me keep my commandments...He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. Notice that Jesus didn’t say if we love Him we will keep Moses’ commandments. He said if we love Him we will keep His commandments. When we love Him we prove that love by obeying Him personally, by following what He speaks to us each day through the Spirit.

New Testament Sanctification

Just as the Law was given to sanctify the Old Testament Church and produce a light before the nations, so the Holy Spirit comes to sanctify the New Testament Church in a much deeper way, thus producing a much greater light before the nations. Just as the goal of God under the Old Covenant was the sanctification of the saints, so His goal under the New Covenant is the sanctification of the saints (I. Thess. 4:3). Indeed, this is the whole reason God saves us (v. 7).

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing...

II. Corinthians 6:17

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ...But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

I. Peter 2:5 & 9-10

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

Philippians 2:15

We have the same call as National Israel, and we must be sanctified just as they were—yet with a much higher level of sanctification. This sanctification can never be "imputed" to us. It must be learned (I. Thess. 4:4) and pursued (I Tim. 2:15; Heb. 12:14), for it is not an invisible legal state based on what we believe; it is a possession that must be acquired over time, little by little, as a result of obedience to the Spirit and the Word of God (Matt. 11:29) (John 13:15) (Eph. 4:20) (Phil. 2:5). It is not gained by self-will or self-effort, but through the Spirit (Rom. 8:13; Eph.3:16). He is responsible to complete that work in us, yet we are responsible to yield to it. Thus, we will not be rewarded on the basis of mercy or grace in the kingdom, but according to how much we yielded to the Spirit’s sanctifying work.

Both the New and the Old Covenants are designed to produce sanctification. The difference between them rests in the type of righteousness each was designed to produce. The Old Covenant only dealt with what the New Testament calls our "old man" (Rom. 6:6) (Eph. 4:22) (Col. 3:9 )—which is the fallen Adamic nature. Until the Lord died and made atonement for sin there was no such thing as a "new man." There was only one man—the "old" man. God had no choice but to work within the framework of that first nature. The Law was designed to produce a level of righteousness which the old Adamic man could bring forth. It was not the actual nature or character of God Himself, but rather, a human representation of that character.

However, under the New Covenant, God plants a portion of His own nature in us through the Spirit. The righteousness of that "new man" is not just a representation of God’s character; it is God’s character. The Adamic nature will never be able to bring forth the actual character and nature of God, regardless of what kind of external code or laws he obeys.

Moses is a type of Jesus. It was Moses who brought Israel out of Egypt, even as it is Jesus who saves us out of the sin and bondage of the world. It was Moses who brought them to Sinai, where they received the Law, just as it is Jesus who baptizes us into the Holy Spirit. At Mt. Sinai God wanted Israel to voluntarily accept His Written Torah. When He first spoke to the people out of the mountain and gave them the Ten Commandments they agreed to come under His yoke.

Unfortunately they changed their mind and rebelled. Their problem was that they had been in slavery for so long, after being set free from the yoke of Pharaoh they had no desire to come under another yoke. Like little children, they were totally self-centered, unable to grasp the spectacular destiny God was offering them. Of course, they wanted God to provide for them and bring them into the Promise Land, but they weren’t ready to obey His commandments. They wanted Him to serve them.

Today believers do the same exact thing! After delivering us from the bondage of the world, Jesus brings us to our spiritual Mt. Sinai and baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, who is to become our Living Torah. He comes to bring us under the yoke of obedience, to show us how to live a pleasing life to God, thus helping us fulfil our call as a light to the nations. He comes to lead us (Rom. 8:14) and teach us (John 14:26) and guide us into all truth (John 16:13). Not only doctrinal truth but transforming truth as well.

When God asks us to obey we say yes at first, but just as the Israelites, we are self-centered children and we soon change our mind. Not only are we unable to comprehend the spectacular destiny God is offering us, we are unwilling to give up our new freedom. Of course, we want God to bless us and take care of us and take us to heaven when we die (or in the Rapture), but we don’t want to put on that yoke of obedience. We want God to serve us. This kind of rebellion is only encouraged by preachers who say grace is an "unconditional" covenant, that coming under the Lord’s yoke is not really necessary. As if this lie was not destructive enough, we are then taught how to use the Bible and the "laws of faith" to coerce God into serving us! Our orientation toward salvation is turned completely upside-down.

To say today’s view of salvation is erroneous would be a gross understatement. Since religious leaders don’t understand the sanctifying role of the Written Torah under the Old Covenant, they also don’t understand the sanctifying role of the Living Torah under the New Covenant. Therefore, everything about redemption becomes based not on what we do, but on what we believe. The result is that the "sheep" gradually become lawless.

When the anarchy and rebellion gets to a certain point, people start reacting against it, and they swing all the way to the other side of the pendulum, into legalism. They try to be sanctified by obeying some portion of the Law. As the apostasy intensifies and approaches its climax, more and more believers will resort to some type of legalism as the antidote.

What these brethren need to see is that the establishment of a "better" covenant changed the Old Testament economy dramatically. Torah observance has been replaced by a "new and living way" (Heb. 10:20) called Torah fulfilment. Torah fulfillment produces a much higher degree of holiness and a much brighter light than Torah observance ever could. Not understanding this truth, they go about misinterpreting and misapplying Paul’s statement that the Law is not "made void" by faith, that in fact, faith "establishes" the Law (Rom. 3:31). They assume he meant that we are obligated to obey the Law because it remains in force eternally. But that was not what he was saying.

Because so many of his fellow Jews were seeking to be justified through obedience to Moses, he was forced to continually emphasize the point that we are not justified by obedience, but by faith in Messiah’s work. For those Jews who would feel threatened by such a statement—and also for those Gentiles who would use it as a license to live in lawlessness—he tried to counter-balance the heavy emphasis on faith by saying that even though faith is independent of obedience to the Law, faith does not make void the Law; it establishes it.

So, what exactly does Paul mean when he says those who walk by faith establish the Law? Does he mean that they obey the Law perfectly? Does the word "establish" mean obey? For legalists the answer is yes. But if the term establish means obey, the only conclusion we are left with is that Paul was commanding Gentile believers to take up a life of Torah observance, for his audience included Gentiles as well as Jews. Paul was not using the term establish as a reference to perfect Torah observance. It means something else.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8:3-4

Notice that the issue in this passage is the "righteousness of the law." Paul said Messiah came to condemn sin in the flesh and pay the penalty for that sin so the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Here Paul speaks not of establishing the Law but of fulfilling it. What does the term "fulfil" mean? Does it mean obey? Here again, legalists would say yes. But if the answer is yes, the only conclusion we can draw is that Paul was telling Gentile believers to adopt Torah observance. Fulfilling the Law is a reference to something much greater than Torah observance.

Notice Paul’s explanation of how we fulfil the Law. He didn’t say we fulfil it by obeying it. He said we fulfil it by walking "after the Spirit." The "new and living way" enables the believer to live out the ultimate righteous intention of the Law, thus fulfilling it. It allows us to experience and manifest the Law’s highest righteousness—which is the nature of God Himself—without any reference to its many statutes and ordinances. This is why Paul could say the righteousness of God "without the law" has been manifested (Rom. 3:21). Those who teach a return to law-keeping as the answer to the problem of today’s rebellion and apostasy must ignore Paul’s own testimony. If ever there was a man who knew about the Law, about its proper role and its right relationship to New Testament Christians, it was him. Listen to what he says.

I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city [Jerusalem] at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day...My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee...For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Acts 22:3 & 26:4-5; Galatians 1:13-14

Speaking of his life before conversion, he testifies that he is a Jew and a Pharisee, born in Spain but raised in Jerusalem, where he was taught Torah observance from Gamaliel, the greatest Sage of the day. He was well known in the city, was very zealous for the Law and exceedingly zealous for the traditions of the fathers. He profited (excelled) above his equals in his ability to observe Torah faithfully. It is clear that his whole life was focused on learning, upholding and obeying the Law of Moses.

Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

Philippians 3:4-8

Sharing his testimony with the brethren at Philippi, he says he has much to boast about in the flesh. A Hebrew from the tribe of Benjamin, he was circumcised the eighth day and belonged to the most disciplined religious sect in Judaism. Regarding the righteousness that is in the Law he was blameless—no small feat for any man. He kept the Law better than any modern law-keeper ever will. His great love and zeal for the Lord enabled him to perfect the art of obedience to commandments, statutes, and ordinances. Of course, that same love and zeal also caused him to persecute those who were in union with Christ and fulfilling the Law. Then he tells the brethren that he counts all these things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Not only does he count them all loss, he counts them as dung that he might "win" Christ.

Exactly what "all things" is Paul talking about? What things were "gain" to him? He is talking about the things pertaining to his former life, which was centered around Torah observance as an expression of faith in God. He is talking about Torah observance as a means of pleasing God, as a means of justification and sanctification. He testified very clearly that his goal of maintaining perfect Torah obedience had been replaced by a new goal. That new goal was to win Christ. His new efforts were focused on living in the Spirit and abiding in Christ in order that he might come forth in the nature of God. He saw that the nature of God will never break the ultimate intention of His own Law.

It is impossible to show from the New Testament text that the apostle Paul was utilizing his "new man" and the indwelling Spirit to perfectly keep the Law. Not only is this idea absent in Scripture, it denies his own testimony. Law-keeping as a means of either justification or sanctification is the very life he left behind and counted as loss in order to win Christ! In all of his writings, not once did he say believers are called to obey the Law. He said we are called to fulfil it, to live out its ultimate righteous intention. Obedience to external commandments is no longer a valid path to sanctification. We are sanctified by obeying Jesus directly, through the Spirit—that is how we prove our love for Him.

Everywhere Paul went he had to deal with his fellow Jew’s attachment to the Law. He not only had to tell them the Law was never meant to be a vehicle of justification, he then had to tell them a new and living way had been established that excludes even the proper function of the Law—which was the sanctification of the outward man. While trying to get this message across to his fellow Jews, he had to take time out to explain what he was saying to Gentile believers because they had no prior knowledge of, or affection for, the Law. So he tells the Gentiles in Rome that his fellow Jews are "seeking" to obtain the righteousness of the Law the wrong way (Rom. 9:31). Why were the Jews so preoccupied with righteousness? For one thing, many of them were trying to be justified by obedience. But beyond that, they also knew that living righteously is the "hinge" upon which the Messianic Call "swings." Without righteousness there can be no "light." The same applies to the Church, for we have been called to be part of that same Royal Priesthood.

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?....Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Romans 6:15-16 7:4

Like the Jews of Paul’s day and our day, Gentile legalists cannot accept that we are "dead to the Law." They cannot see we are no longer required to keep any of it: ceremonial, sacrificial or moral. On the other hand, the vast majority of Christians have no trouble understanding or accepting this truth, and they rightly label those who refuse to let go of Moses as legalists. Yet they do not understand why we have been set free from Moses, so they end up in lawlessness. Paul said all who have accepted Messiah have "become dead to the law by the body of Christ" in order that we might be "married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Rom. 7:4).

Being set free from the Law does not mean that there is no longer any requirement to live righteously—this is the great heresy that is being propagated throughout the world under the banner of "grace." Indeed, this very delusion has destroyed righteousness in the Church and spawned a host of other false doctrines as well.

No, the need to live righteously has not been abrogated; it has been elevated to greater importance. Being set free from Moses means there is now a way to fulfil the Law’s ultimate intention without having to be under it. Simply put: we have been loosed from Moses—who demanded an outward righteousness which was Adamic—in order to be married to Jesus Christ—who demands an inward righteousness which is the very nature of God Himself.

Moses will never be able to help us produces the righteousness demanded under the New Covenant. Therefore, we must cleave to Messiah. If it was possible to marry Messiah and remain married to Moses, Paul would have told us so, but he didn’t. He said in order to marry Messiah we are going to have to leave Moses. We are going to have to become dead to the Law and focus on learning how to be "led" by the Spirit. The "new and living way" of grace consists of allowing the Spirit to convict us and deliver us from everything that He—not Moses—defines as sin. Christians can obey external commandments ever so carefully and never overcome the power of sin or walk in God’s nature.

Jeremiah prophesied that God would write the "Law" on our hearts. To legalists this means He gives us a new nature and sends the Spirit to help us obey the commandments contained in the Law. Learning those commandments becomes an absolute necessity, for how can we possibly apply or obey them if we don’t even know what they are? But Paul’s view of the Law being "written" on our hearts was quite different. He said that if we learn how to yield to our new nature we will fulfil the ultimate intention of the Law. Only the "new man" knows how to fulfil and establish the "righteousness" of the Law in our lives, so the thing that is necessary is that we learn to walk and live in the Spirit.

Whenever you run across individuals or groups who are focused on obeying external commandments, understand that you are dealing with people who do not know what it means to have the Law "written" on their hearts. Writing the Law on our hearts has nothing to do with obedience to external commandments. All external commandments—whether they are instituted by God or by man’s religious tradition—pertain only to the outward man. The only permanent answer to the problem of sin is to be governed by a sinless internal life.

This does not mean that it is always wrong to obey any external commandments. Sometimes we must be under an external framework of spiritual government until we have grown enough to where the internal government of the Spirit is leading and guiding our actions. This is especially true of babes in Christ and those who are still young in the Lord. It is sort of like when your child grows up. The older he gets and the more mature he becomes, the less external rules you must keep him under. His maturity cancels the need for cumbersome regulations. As long as people are spiritually immature they need external government. The Bible is not against obeying all external laws. It is against remaining in a perpetual state of spiritual immaturity wherein external commandments continue to be necessary.

There is a proper time and place for obeying external commandments. If God cannot control our actions and desires internally, through the Spirit, He must control them externally, through commandments of some kind—but not the commandments of the Old Covenant. If we need to be held in check by external government, the New Covenant has its own body of Law. There are literally hundreds of commandments given by both Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament, enough to provide an external framework of government while we mature. However, God’s goal for the believer is that we learn to live and move and have our being "in the Spirit." He wants our obedience to advance from the "carnal commandment" to the "power of and endless life" (Heb. 7:16).

The minute we start equating obedience to any kind of external government with the "new and living way" God wants to establish us in, we go back under the principle of legalism and have missed the entire point of the New Covenant! Whenever you run across people who say: "if you were being led by the Spirit, the Spirit would be leading you to refrain from eating certain foods, or the Spirit would guide you into a vegetarian life-style, or the Spirit would be leading you to keep the Passover, or the Spirit would be leading you to keep the Sabbath (Saturday or Sunday), or the Spirit would be leading you to be sure you are in a church every Sunday, or the Spirit would be leading you to join a church, or the Spirit would be leading you to go to the mission field, or any one of a hundred other commandments, understand that they do not have the faintest clue as to why Jesus died for them or what the New Covenant is all about!

Those who are truly being led by the Spirit will be ruled by an internal new and living way. They will be learning how to live and move by the "power of an endless life." The Holy Spirit will have become their Living Torah until they have, as Paul says, come to "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" and are "filled with all the fulness of God." When we have reached that goal, the very nature and character of God Himself will be fully formed in us and that nature will be our government throughout all eternity. This is the Lord’s supreme goal for the body of Christ—it is His main focus in this dispensation. That is what He is offering you and I if we are willing to pay the necessary price, if we are willing to voluntarily put on that yoke of obedience. To pursue anything less is foolish.