The OT Law, Today

[glf]

Mt5:18 "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."

**Heaven and Earth are still here and Jesus has not yet been seated on King David's throne, so not one little bit has passed from the law.**

Mt5:17 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."

**Speaks for itself**

Gal3:23-25NAS "But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."

**Here we see that Paul is speaking to gentile believers and is telling them that "we" were kept in custody under the law and that "we" are no longer under a tutor, the law. So the law is in effect upon all those who have not come to Christ. It is the standard by which the Lord will judge the lost, beginning with the two greatest commandments that apply even to us as New Testament believers. The life that Jesus lived was obedient to the Spirit of the law and therefore met every outward requirement of the OT law. That righteous life that was lived in obedience to the law is imputed to us who have faith and since we have died with Christ, we too are dead to the law to serve the Lord after the Spirit.**

Gal3:27-29 NAS "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise."

**When we come to Jesus, we join with the Jewish believers who accepted him and are grafted into the cultivated olive tree where there is one body, one faith, one baptism, but those who reject the Lord Jesus are under the curse because they have sinned along with the Jews who have not accepted their Messiah.**

Gal2:19NAS "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God."

**How could I die to the law if I was not under the law.**

Rom 3:19KJV "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."

**here we see that the law speaks to those who are under the law and that every mouth, not just jewish mouths, that all the world may be guilty before God.**

Rom 7:4-6KJV "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. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 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."

**How can one become dead to the law, if they were never under the law in the first place? By telling us that we can be married to another, lets us know that we were married to the law before being crucified with Christ. When we were in the flesh the working of sin which was by the law, did work in our bodies to bring forth death. Now, we are delivered from the law by being dead wherein we were held; so that we can serve the Lord in the newness of the Spirit and not the oldness of the letter. Can't be oldness of the letter if the Roman gentiles, who are being addressed by this letter, were not under the law themselves before they came to Christ. And since it applied to them, it applies to us today.**

Rom2:6-15 "Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;"

**It isn't the hearers of the law who will be justified before the Lord, it is the doers of the law that shall be justified, Jew and gentile. Here we see that even the gentiles who are without the law in the world can show the work of the law written in their hearts, doing by nature the things contained in the law. So wither we have the written law available to us or not, we are all required to be doers of the law, to the Jew first and then the gentile. This is the standard that we are all judged by before faith. For those who do have the written law available to them, it points them to Christ. But once Christ comes, we are no longer required to be doers of the law to be justified before the Lord. We are now justified by faith in Jesus, whose perfect life under the law is imputed to us, fulfilling every single requirement of the law in each one of us. Then we die to the law with Jesus and are raised in the newness of the Spirit to walk after the Spirit and no longer after the oldness of the letter of the law. OT law = the law of sin and death = the letter of the law = Old Covenant or Testament = law of Moses = law and the prophets**

Rom 8:4 "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

**The statement that the law ended at the cross is true for the one who is crucified with Christ. Humanity is required to be doers of the law to be justified before the Lord. Again, it is the standard that those who are without faith will be judged by on that day. Of course, that is the same standard that only Jesus fulfilled, who was a doer of the law in every single instant of his life. In both the OT and the NT times, "the just shall life by faith." And, "blessed is the man to whose sins are forgiven and whose God is the Lord." We then are under obligation to live according to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads us to obey the law of the Spirit, which is the same commandments and promises of the OT law, but now its the intent of the heart and not by the outward letter. The OT law says, do not commit adultery, but the law of the Spirit says, do not look on another with lust or you have committed adultery in your heart. The OT faithful studied the law to do according to all that is written therein or he will die. The difference in the NT is that those same scriptures and commandments that led them to death because of disobedience, now by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, transforms us by the renewing of our minds and leads us to life and peace. The Holy Spirit illuminates the word of God that we put into our minds, thus fulfilling the New Covenant promise of writing the Lord's commandments into our hearts and minds. This leads to our predestinated growth into Christ's moral image as we perceive sin in our hearts more and more as the Lord does and the Holy Spirit will even use our own guilt or godly sorrow that leads to a repentance not to be repented of, to set us free. The Lord's power is perfected in weakness. If we do sin, we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, our New Covenant High Priest whose blood paid our debt in full and who makes intercession on our behalf before the Father; who will forgive us our sin, cleanse us from all unrighteousness and will remember our sin no more.**

**A clear conscience and the sleep of the innocent is available to even the worst of us when we turn to Jesus and follow the Spirit into growth. Unlike salvation which is the Lord's free gift, growth has to be worked for or earned. If one has faith, that one will produce works appropriate to repentance and grow thirty fold, or sisty fold, or a hundred fold. This growth is a component of our relationship with the Lord. Jesus said, "he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he is is that loves me and the Father will love him and I will love him and manifest myself to him." The Lord is found in his word. Ps 138:2 "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." or 2Pet 1:3,4 "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust" The above verse in Peter is a New Covenant power promise. As far as the OT promises are concerned, 2Cor 1:20 "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."**

1Jn3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." **Jesus come quickly!**

I hope you enjoy...

Greg

Praise the Lord in Jesus' name, our God and King!

[OneLight]

It is easily summed up in these verses ...

Matthew 22:34-40

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

[Joshua-777]

The verses speak for themselves

John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

1 john 3:23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[

[Arthur Durnan]

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for perfectly fulfilled the entire law & its requirements and emphatically nailing the entire handcuffing lot to Your Cross of Calvary as recorded in Galatians 2:14-17...."Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross....triumphing over them in it....Let no man therefore judge you in food or in drink or in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon or of Sabbath days....which a shadow...." It's the biblical truth which Ellen Gould Harmon White of SDA tragically overlooked! Halleluja for the finished crosswork of our miracle-working Lord & Savior Jesus Christ!

[other one]

Matt 25:31-46

31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

NASB

[glf]

Agape love does more than fulfill the Law and the prophets, it even speaks to the intent of our heart and makes our concern for others active. It is Jesus' kind of love which is seen in both his obedience to the letter of the OT Law and in his compassion for others that continued working even after the requirement to letter of the law had been fulfilled. But the point I'm trying to emphasize here is that in the New Covenant the Lord uses both the OT and the NT scriptures to write his commandments onto the table of our hearts which transforms us on the inside so that we perceive sin more and more as Jesus does in our consciences. This inner process of moral transformation by the ministry of the word and the Spirit is what sets the growing or stumbling believer free from the addictive behaviors that we all have when we come to Christ or have taken on when we stumble. The OT law led to death for disobedience, but now those same scriptures bring us life (forever) and peace (for now) by establishing love from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith in each one of us who are being trained by it.

Edited October 30, 2011 by glf

[Ephesians__6_24]

Hebrews 7

¹²For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

¹³For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.

¹⁴For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

Acts 6:14

For we have heard [stephen] say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

1 Corinthians 9:21 KJV

To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

Romans 8:2 DARBY

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death.

Galatians 6:2 DARBY

Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfil the law of the Christ.

Genesis 49:10

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Psalm 60:7

Judah is my lawgiver

Isaiah 33:22

For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

(Jesus is the LORD - John 10:30)

James 4:12

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy...

[taylor30]

Jesus clearly said the entire law is fulfilled in the commandments to love God with all your being and to love your neighbor as much as yourself. Also, many scriptures talk about freedom in Christ. There is even a verse that says Law came through Moses, and Grace through Christ. Besides, there were 16 crimes with the death penalty back then. If the law is still binding, you have some serious catching up to do. The sabbath law requires 6 days of work. People think they obey the Sabbath on Sunday, but if you worked 5 days, you have disobeyed it. There are exactly 618 laws in the Torah, the first 5 books by Moses. If the law is still binding, you have alot of studying to do to try to obey all of them. Also, where is the NT command for animal sacrifice, which was a HUGE part if the law? THE LAW IS NO LONGER BINDING.

[L.J.]

Jesus clearly said the entire law is fulfilled in the commandments to love God with all your being and to love your neighbor as much as yourself. Also, many scriptures talk about freedom in Christ. There is even a verse that says Law came through Moses, and Grace through Christ. Besides, there were 16 crimes with the death penalty back then. If the law is still binding, you have some serious catching up to do. The sabbath law requires 6 days of work. People think they obey the Sabbath on Sunday, but if you worked 5 days, you have disobeyed it. There are exactly 618 laws in the Torah, the first 5 books by Moses. If the law is still binding, you have alot of studying to do to try to obey all of them. Also, where is the NT command for animal sacrifice, which was a HUGE part if the law? THE LAW IS NO LONGER BINDING.

I agree Pastor,

Paul says in Romans that the Law is binding to those who follow the Law. They are also bound to it's penalties.

Those following Grace are bound by Grace.

I thank Jesus for bringing Grace into the world, so I am know longer held to the expectations of the Law. Something which I would fail miserably.

L.J.

Edited December 31, 2011 by L.J.

[Guest Butero]

There are basically three types of laws in the OT.

1 Laws dealing with the office of the Levitical Priesthood. They were never intended to continue forever, but were only to go on until Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead. He was the final sacrifice. No longer do we need to sacrifice bulls and goats to receive remission for sins, but we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

2 Laws dealing with Israel's separation from the unclean and idolatrous gentile nations around them. They would include things like the mixing of diverse materials in a single garment. That was a symbolic law. The requirement to abstain from certain meats was also symbolic, and we can clearly see it's intended meaning in Peter's vision in Acts. Now that the gentiles are accepted through faith in Christ, we are all one Christian body, so those laws of separation no longer apply.

3 Laws dealing with God's standard of holiness. That would be things like "Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, honor thy Father and Mother," etc. Of course they still apply. Yes, it all comes down to two basic laws, the greatest commandments to love the Lord with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself, but that is because all the moral laws fit into these two commandments. If you keep them, you will keep the rest.

As to penalties in the OT, Israel was governed by the law. That meant they had to have penalties to enforce it. Let's take adultery for instance. Adultery is still sinful in they eyes of God, but in Israel, it was a capital crime. The moral law will be enforced in heaven at the judgement seat of Christ, but individual nations make up their own penalties if any for adultery. Witchcraft was also a capital crime in Israel. Witchcraft is still sinful, but God will punish the transgressors at his judgement. Individual nations will decide how they want to handle the matter.