Not Under the Law
May 28th, 2009 by Micah SewellI don’t need to follow all of those rules. I can do whatever I want. I’m under grace not the law! Quit being so legalistic. After all, Jesus rejected the law. Right?
Gal 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Now, I know that not many Christians would go this far, but how many people are thinking like this? I know there was a time that I would have thought something close to this. How many people are continuing to sin because they have the idea that we are “free from the law”? The idea of not being under law is appealing to people. They can pursue their goals and secure their own pleasure all while feeling justified because they are justified by faith and not by works of the law. I think that this thinking is a problem and a problem that is very fixable. Did Paul and Jesus reject all forms of law? Were they ever suggesting that we should stop following moral law?
The word Paul uses in Galatians for “law” is the Greek word “nomoV”. This is also the word used for “law” all throughout the New Testament. I must clarify here that I am not one to seek out mystical surprise definitions of Greek words to produce a fluffy and witty sermon. There are, however, occasions in translation where English equivalents fail to communicate clearly. I think that this may be one. We don’t need to replace the word “law” in our Bibles with another word, we just need to look at the verses using it with new glasses.
It seems to me that the when the writers of the New Testament talk about the law they are not talking about the laws we are accustomed to today. They are not talking about moral law (the internal, right and wrong kind of law). They are talking about the Law the way their Jewish audiences would have understood it. That is the Torah. The Pentateuch. The Law of Moses. Mark, who wrote his Gospel to Gentiles, never even used the word “law” (nomoV) because the word was a Greek equivalent to a Jewish idea and was not relevant to Gentiles. “Law” equals “Torah” all throughout the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles.
Mat 5:17 “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.” Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish the Torah.” The Torah is NEVER referred to negatively in the Bible. It was beautiful and from God. God liked the Torah. He gave it to the people “for their good.” Grace is better, but law is not bad.
The Torah had three parts: Ceremonial law, Civil law, and Moral law. The Ceremonial law is found from Exodus 25 to the end of Leviticus. It included the sacrificial system, the tabernacle system, and the cleanness (physically) system. The Civil law is found in Deuteronomy 6 through 26. It included such things as consequences for stealing and murder, political and criminal laws, property rights and distribution of land. The Moral law is recorded in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 in the form of the Ten Commandments. These laws are special. They are founded in the Character of God and in reality. They are the basic right and wrong understanding that everyone has. They are the eternal law of God. These three parts of the Torah make up one Torah, but are they all of the same importance?
Leviticus 14 commands that a person tithe a yield of their seed year by year. 1500 years later Jesus spoke about this to a group of Pharisees. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” – Matthew 23:23. I ask again, are all the parts of the Torah of the same importance? Jesus seemed to suggest otherwise. He declared the moral law as the part of the law that they should have focused on.
And it is this set of laws that the Christian in my first paragraph is wanting to be out from under. Yet it is the one set of laws that no one can ever declare they are not subject to.
Romans 1:20-32 talks about moral law. It appears to be talking about people as a whole and says that people are without excuse. People know right from wrong. And “law” (nomoV) is not written once in this passage. Moral law has been established since creation and is not exclusive to the Torah. Without the Torah people still know right from wrong. Without the Torah people are still held accountable to moral law.
So what can I say to the guy who says, “don’t hold me to your moral standards. I’m under grace not the law”? In a humble, loving and peace-seeking way I can tell him that he is right. He is no longer required to fulfill the Torah’s civil and ceremonial laws. He is now under grace through faith in Jesus and now must only obey the moral law. He must simply love God and his neighbor as himself.
May 29th, 2009 at 6:23 AM
I’ve had some interesting debates with a friend over this issue.
His assertion is that “the law is the law”, a notion you clearly address. However, how do we address issues found in Leviticus that are clearly still regarded as sin? For instance, the law as it relates to sexual immorality, or prohibitions on child sacrifice, etc. If I read you right, you’re saying that these are part of the ceremonial law, and not a matter of great importance.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Comment from @5woodrabbit on Twitter: I had never read before of “ceremonial law”. I think this is equivalent to NB of “rites” in Confucian system.
May 29th, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Hey Steve! Thanks for commenting. I haven’t read your name in a while.
I think that there are bits of moral law all throughout the Bible. When I spoke of the different parts of the Law and said they were found in certain passages, I didn’t mean to say that those passages ONLY include those things. Just that the ceremonial law could be found in that section. Of course things on sexual immorality, child sacrifice, etc. still apply to us. Those are covered in the Commandments if you think about it anyway. But even better is Matthew 22:37-39. Jesus covers it all with love God and love neighbor (which is what morality boils down to). If we love (choose the highest good for) people then we won’t sacrifice them or damage them through extra-marital sex, etc.
And as for importance: I will never say something in scripture is not important. The Torah is amazing! It speaks of the love and wisdom of God. I only mean to say that the moral law is of greater importance. Torah = good. Love and moral law = THE BEST!
Thanks again for commenting.
As for @5woodrabbit on Twitter: I don’t know about rites in the Confucian system. Fill me in a little. I’m sure there will be some fundamental differences if we look at the two systems closely, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t similarities.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:00 PM
PS. to Steve.
“how do we address issues found in Leviticus that are clearly still regarded as sin?”
for those things in Leviticus that are clearly still regarded as sin we should treat them as sins. I don’t think the definition of sin has ever changed nor do I think it will. God and Moses had to spell things out ridiculously clear for the Israelites because they were coming from pagan Egypt and moving into WAY more pagan Canaan. They needed step by step directions about everything – including practical application of the Ten Commandments.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Great post! Bonhoeffer comes to mind in reminding us not to cheapen God’s grace.
The Law is a difficult thing. Certain laws have been abrogated, such as the dietary laws. And certain things do not make sense to us today in our context. Take for instance Deut 22:8, “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.” This has no bearing on us now (I haven’t seen any Christians that insist on parapets when buying a new house). In the Middle East, the heat from the day is caught in the house and when evening comes, the roof is very cool while the house is very hot. Therefore, you and your guests would go up to the roof to cool off and enjoy the evening. The parapets were like a fence post to prevent people from falling off and dying. So does this law apply to us now? Certainly, but it is clarified by Matthew 22:37-39. The Law in our context could say a number of things all meaning, take care of your neighbor, love him/her by protecting him/her (which thereby prevents you from being guilty of his/her death or injury. I take my speed in a motor vehicle to be a modern application of this law. I do not speed in order to protect those in my car and those around me. I do not place parapets on my roof, but I do not speed, and I am following the same law. Jesus taught us to follow the spirit of the Law, and not simply the letter of it. It does not save us, but those who have been saved will follow it.
(As a side note, the Greek word for “law” is transliterated as “nomos”. For those that do not have the font pack that Micah does it appears on your screen as nomoV, the upper case V is used in that font pack to make a special character in Greek called a final sigma which is simply an “s”, if anybody was interested that is.)
May 30th, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Awesome stuff JackNathan! Thanks for the examples and bringing more clarity. And yeah, sorry about the nomoV :o). It works on everything except Firefox, I think.