Law - Jesus Christ Did Not Nail God's Laws to the Cross

Law - it is a lie and false doctrine that Christ did away with all the law, and nailed it to the cross, and that the law is our enemy.

Jesus Christ Himself refuted the notion that He came to do away with the law.

Matthew 5:17-19  "  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all 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: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. "

Luke 16:17  " And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. "

Actually Paul simply taught that we of and by ourselves cannot through our own good works of obeying God's Laws and Commands - earn our own salvation. Paul prior to his conversion was a Pharisee, and the Pharisees taught strict obedience to the Law. However, Paul later realized that his effort to gain salvation through his own righteousness of following God's Laws to the letter was not good enough for God. Why ? Because all (except Christ) have sinned. We cannot keep the Law perfectly. Sin is the transgression of the Law, and all have sinned (except Christ) and the wages of sin is death. 

This was Paul's letter to the Church at Ephesus, which was made up of Gentiles. The Gentiles were not part of the tribes of Israel, of which the Jews (Judah) are one part of. Anyone, who was not part of the twelve tribes of Israel was considered a Gentile.

Ephesians 2:12  " That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

The first covenant favored Israel. God only revealed Himself to Israel (Amos 3:1-2).  In fact Christ Himself did not preach to the Gentiles, but was only sent unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 15:24).The early church consisted practically entirely of people from the tribe of Judah (Jews). Jesus Christ Himself was a Jew. Judah is one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Ephesians 2:13   " But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. " 

God, through Christ has made it possible for the Gentiles to also receive salvation through the shed blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:14  "  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

The wall or partition between the Gentiles and Israel was the Old Covenant, which was made between God and Israel only. God only revealed Himself to Israel. The Gentiles were not a part of the Old Covenant, which was God's contract with Israel. They were excluded. However, Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant, which is made between God and the Church. The Church is not exclusive, but inclusive. The Gentiles are also called to salvation and can become a part of the true Church (Acts 10:9-16) (Acts 10:34-35,44-48).

Ephesians 2:15-18 "  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. "

Through Christ's shed blood there is peace between Israel and the Gentiles. The Old Covenant favored Israel, and excluded the Gentiles. Christ has broken down that wall. The Church is described as spiritual Israel. Christ did not do away with the law, however.

Ephesians 2:15-19  " Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; "

Through Christ the Gentiles can become part of the household of God, and are no more strangers and aliens. They can become spiritual Israelites.

Galatians  3:28-29  "  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. "

Ephesians 2:19-22  " And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. "

The Gentiles, through Jesus Christ and His shed blood, and faith in His sacrifice, can become spiritual Israelites. They can become part of God's building. They must build themselves upon the foundation. That foundation is the prophets, apostles and Jesus Christ. The prophets include people like Moses, David, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Malachi, etc.  - and the Apostles are the twelve, including the Apostle Paul - and Jesus Christ is the key to the foundation - the chief cornerstone. The foundation consists entirely of Israelites. Men who were of the tribes of Israel. The Bible is the foundation the Church is built upon. The Bible consists of both the Old and New Testaments. There are many, many references to the Old Testament in the New Testament, and it fact a lot of the New Testament consists of repeating material from the Old Testament - often word for word.

Christ is greater than the Law (Matthew 12:8) (Romans 6:14-18). Christ is our Master, not the Law (Romans 6:22). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin is the transgression of the Law (1John 3:4). 

In our attempts to save ourselves through keeping the law and commands we fail, because all have sinned (except Jesus Christ) and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Romans 3:20  " Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. "

God's various laws and commandments in the Bible show us what sin is. Sin is the transgression of God's laws as explained in the Bible. If we feel we can save ourselves through our good works of obedience to the law then we deceive ourselves. We are all sinners, since none of us mortal human beings are free from sin. As well we have inherited an evil nature, and also the death penalty, because of our original parent's Adam and Eves direct disobedience to God's specific command in Eden (Romans 5:12-21).

The Law cannot give us salvation. Salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ and His blood shed for our sins. Christ paid the penalty for our sins, which is death. God the Father will forgive us and accept us, and cleanse us from our sins, if we repent of our sins, believe in Jesus Christ, and are baptized (Acts 2:37-40).

So if we meet God's conditions we can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the down payment of the eternal life promised. The Law is then no longer our master. Christ becomes our Master. He bought and paid for us through His shed blood. Jesus Christ is greater than the Law. He is the Law. We are then no longer under the Law, and no longer under the death penalty. Of course we will still die, but there is the promise of the resurrection, and the promise of eternal salvation.

Does that mean Christ nailed the Law to the cross ? Absolutely not !  He paid the penalty for our sins, which is death. Christ won the victory over sin and death.  So now if we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus and meet God's other qualifications - then we can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then we are no longer under the Law, but under grace. Under grace does not mean we can just go ahead and ignore God's laws.

However, if we do not repent of our sins then God will not forgive us of our sins, and He won't give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are then still under the Law. We are still then under the death penalty - for the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:1-2 "  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? "

It is not our own righteousness that saves us, but Christ's righteousness.

However, faith without works is dead. So God still expects us to make serious efforts to keep His commandments. One of those commands is the one saying we should remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

James 2:14-26  "  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.  Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.  "

None of us has perfect understanding of the scriptures and biblical doctrine. God looks at a persons heart. If we were perfect then Christ wouldn't have had to die for our sins, and we wouldn't need Jesus.

We are not perfect. There are a great deal of commandments in the Bible. The New Testament has quite a few that have been added - that are in addition to the ones in the Old Testament.

Some of the Old Testament Laws have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for our sins. This includes all the various sacrificial laws, the cleansing laws and the various rituals connected with the tabernacle.

As well under the Old Covenant there was a combination of church and state - regarding Israel. This arrangement is no longer in effect, so such sort of civic laws, or statutes given to Israel in the Bible are no longer in effect. For example the laws given regarding oxen in Exodus 21:28-36. The specific penalty for a certain transgression in this area is even spelt out - if an ox was known to be mean in the past, but the owner never kept him locked up - and the ox gored someone so they died, then the ox was to be killed and the owner executed.

These are all very interesting laws, but were more like the civic laws or statutes we have today. However, there is an important principle in place that still applies for us today - regarding the spiritual. It is a sin for you to endanger other people's lives by not keeping your vicious animal, or pet sufficiently constrained. Therefore, if you had a pit bull, or other potentially lethal breed of dog  that attached and killed of seriously injured someone who was just an innocent soul - you have sinned. Because you have shown no love for your neighbour, and have deliberately put their life and limb at risk, by not restraining your pet. Of course if a crook had tried to rob you and your dog attacked them then it is different. Many of these seemingly old fashioned Biblical laws have modern day applications. They can be quite useful for law makers today, as guiding principles.

Another point we must discuss is individual interpretation of Biblical Law. None of us is perfect. There is no perfect Christian, but Christ said we should strive for perfection. Do we all have the same interpretation of the various laws ? No we don't.

However, there should be a basic understanding of the clearly black and white Biblical Laws (and there are a great many laws that are plainly black and white) like : you shall love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not lie, don't covet what belongs to your neighbour, and the importance of not making idols, and not worshipping idols, and not taking God's name in vain, not blaspheming or using very profane language, not hating and killing, not committing incest, honouring your mother and father, not taking God's name in vain, not being a prostitute or homosexual, being angry with someone for no reason, keeping the Passover annually as a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice, and so on.

Other laws are more gray and subject to individual interpretation. Laws like the eating of clean and unclean meats, the keeping of the annual Sabbaths (excluding the Passover), how far or strict should one be or go in respecting the higher powers, some sort of words may be considered swear words by some but others would not regard such words as swear words, the interpretation of things like gluttony and drunkenness - some can hold their liquor better than others and some seem to need to eat more, some parents sleep (we are not referring to sex, but just sleep) with their small children but others may regard this as wrong and maybe even sinful, and we could go on and on - there are tons and tons of gray areas of the law.

The weekly Sabbath command is part of the Ten Commandments. It is quite important, because it is part of the Ten Commandments, and one way of honouring God. I do not feel this is a gray area of the law. The correct time is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. I feel keeping the weekly Sabbath is one key to insuring your salvation, because it keeps one focused on God, and it is a test command, and it is an act of living faith. You are just trusting God, that He will enable you to survive in this world while observing the weekly Sabbath. One must examine ones motives - if we just go along with others by keeping Sunday as the weekly Sabbath (even though there is no evidence to suggest the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh day to the first day of the week -Sunday) then we are simply more concerned about pleasing men then God. We are supposed to put God first in our lives - not society, or other people. I feel very strongly that the weekly Sabbath command is still very much in effect and is a clearly black and white command, and it is one sign you are God's people, and it is the great test command.

God looks at a person's heart - at their motives and intentions. We should examine our hearts. Are our motives pure ?  Regarding the gray areas - if we feel something is wrong - then we are not comfortable with it, and may feel it is a sin to do it. So it would be wise for one to not do such a thing for the sake of our conscience.

God can give us wisdom to deal with these matters sensibly, if we just ask God for wisdom in prayer. There is no clear cut simple answer to these questions. There is no magic bullet. God can give us wisdom to deal with them.