Lesson 23
How Does the New Covenant Relate to the Law of Moses? What is Legalism?
AMBASSADOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGE‐ Dr. Keith Slough
INTRODUCTION
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ITH THIS BIBLE STUDY LESSON WE begin a whole new series on the Christian's duty to God. The Bible defines our duty very simply as to "Fear God, and KEEP HIs COMMANDMENTS: for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes12:13). However, most denominations of Protestant Churchianity today have preached that the Laws of God are today "done away." I have been told that even the Ten Commandments are now "done away" at the cross of Calvary. Yet how can that be? What then is a Christian supposed to DO in order to live a godly life? Is there nothing at all God expects us to do? This lesson introduces one of the most fascinating topics in this entire series of Bible lessons. Jesus commands us to keep the Ten Commandments in Matthew 19:17‐18. Yet the world's churches say the Law is "done away." Who is right? Jesus said man is to "live by every Word of God (Luke 4:4). Yet the world's churches tell us that the entire Law of the "Old Testament" passed away at the cross. Who is right? Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law and Peter said Jesus is our Example that we should follow in His steps (Matthew 5: 17 and I Peter 2:21). But the world's churches tell us that Jesus fulfilled the Law so we don't have to keep it. Who is right? Jesus taught that until Heaven and Earth passes, not one jot or title of the Law (comparable to the "dot" over the letter "i") will pass away from the Law and that all the Law will still be in force and effect. But the world's churches teach that the entire Law was abolished at the cross ‐ long before Heaven and Earth ever passes away. Who is right? The apostle Paul said the age of grace through faith did not do away with the Law, but rather ESTABLISHED THE LAW (Romans 3:31). But the churches teach the Law was abolished. Who is right? Paul said he ‐as a New Covenant believer ‐believed ALL THINGS which are written in the Law of Moses (Acts 24:14) But the church world in modern times tells us Paul taught against the Law. Who is right? The world thinks God's Ten Commandments and other Laws of the Old Testament are a ''yoke of bondage." But the apostle Paul taught that the Law was holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12) and that he himself delighted in keeping it! (Romans 7:22, 25). Obviously what the Bible teaches, and what the world’s Babylon of confused religious denominations teaches are two totally separate things! The question before you is, who will you believe, the Word of God or the traditions of men? The traditions of men say the Law is now laid aside! Jesus said you worship Him in vain if you lay aside the commandment of God in order to keep the traditions of men (Mark 7:7‐9, 13)! So, who will you believe? You have learned to prove for yourself the truth of God by trusting in the Bible only and not religious traditions! Now learn what the New Testament says about the Law of God and whether or not we have any obligation to it today living under the New Covenant!
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NEW COVENANT? Was the Law of Moses ABOLISHED under the
Most church goers assume that the LAW of the Old Testament days was abolished, abrogated, "made void" or simply "done away" when Christ made the New Covenant. If that is true what did God mean when He said He would write His LAWS in our hearts when He made the New Covenant? Most Christians have NOT UNDERSTOOD that the Laws associated with the Old Covenant were not suspended but were carried over to the NEW Covenant; believe it or not this means that the Law of God is still in effect! It is time to PROVE ALL THINGS by the Word of God. WAS JESUS CHRIST EVER MARRIED? Did He ever enter into a marriage covenant? The surprising answer is YES! But few people understand it. According to the Bible, Jesus was never married to a physical human wife, but He was in a marriage covenant with ancient Israel. As you learned in Lesson 6, Jesus was the "God" and the "LORD" (the Jehovah, or the ETERNAL) of the Old Testament (see I Corinthians 10:4, John 1:1‐3, Ephesians 3:9, etc. etc.). Notice what the "LORD" of the Old Testament whom we have proven to be Jesus Christ, said to ancient Israel: "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am MARRIED unto you"! (Jeremiah 3:14; see also Ezekiel 16:8). The "Old Covenant" was, in the sight of Christ, a marriage covenant. Christ was to love and provide for His "wife" Israel, and she was to submit to and obey Him (compare Ephesians 5:22, 25, and 32). God required that His "wife" obey His Laws. She was, like a Godly wife, to be faithful to Him and not serve other gods! Just as there are laws governing a marriage covenant between a husband and wife, so there were laws that governed the "marriage" covenant between God and Israel. As God was, "spiritually" speaking, "married" to Israel, then if Israel worshipped other gods, bowing down before idols, participating in pagan rituals, etc. then she was, in this God‐given analogy, committing "adultery"! This is what God meant when He commanded her to turn from her backsliding. So when Christ made what we call the "old" covenant with Israel, it was likened to a marriage covenant. And it was based on God's Laws. Yet the prophet Jeremiah prophesied that Christ would one day make a New Covenant. Since Christians are under this New Covenant it is important to understand what its conditions are. Read Jeremiah 31:31‐33 in your own Bible very carefully. Notice God said He would make this New Covenant with Israel and with the Jews (verse 31).
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How then can the Church today say it is under the New Covenant? Is this the same covenant as the New Covenant we are under today? Yes! Notice the proof in Hebrews 8. Paul writes that Christ is the mediator of a New Covenant for Christians which is established upon better promises than the Old Covenant (verse 6). And then in verse 8, Paul says that the New Covenant that is given to the Christian Church was prophesied, quoting Jeremiah 31:311. So yes, this is the same covenant. But if the New Covenant is made with Israel and with Judah, is the Christian truly in COVENANT with God at all? Yes! For Galatians 3:28‐29 tells us that if we belong to Christ then God considers us as Abraham's seed ‐or descendents, a part of Israel! ‐and therefore heirs according to the Promise! That promise was bound In a COVENANT, and so Holy Spirit begotten Christians have as much right to the New Covenant as do the Israelites who are the physical seed of Abraham! God first made a covenant with Abraham before making it with Israel and promised him that his seed or descendents would inherit the land of Palestine. This was a promise from God. Therefore God entered into COVENANT with Abraham. But why did God do this with Abraham? God answers, "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my COMMANDMENTS, my statutes, and my LAWS"! (Genesis 26:5). The Law did not begin with Moses. Rather he only taught God's Law to Israel as they had forgotten it in their years of slavery in Egypt. The Law of God (dubbed the "Law of Moses" later by the Jews) was therefore kept by Abraham. God was free to add certain additional statutes at any time for the nation of Israel, but the same basic laws applied. Notice Exodus 19:5 which God spoke before He entered into the covenant with Israel. He told them they would have to obey Him. Or, as the apostle Paul would have phrased it, they would be required to confess Him as Lord (compare Romans 10:9 and marginal reference). Verse 8 shows their response. They promised to obey God ‐to serve Him as Lord and King. With this confession, God accepted them as His people and entered into a covenant with Israel. The next chapter, Exodus 20, begins the first chapter of this covenant (what we call the "Old" Covenant) that God had made. It is simply the Ten Commandments. After these were given, God then gave them the "Judgments" written up in the next three chapters of the book of Exodus. Now, notice Exodus 24:7: "And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people [chapters 20 through 23 of Exodus]: and they said, All that the ETERNAL hath said will we do, and be obedient." Verse 8 then is the ratifying of the Old Covenant with the sprinkling of blood. Moses referred to it as "the blood of the covenant"! (Read also Hebrews 9: 19‐22). The New Covenant likewise was ratified with blood, but it was not the blood of animals this time, but with the blood of God's own Son! (Hebrews 8:14). And this new covenant carries better promises (verse 6). The Old Covenant promised Palestine as a major inheritance plus many physical blessings of prosperity ‐ as long as Israel would obey God's Law! (See Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28). But the Old Covenant did not promise eternal life! You can see therefore that the New Covenant contains better promises: the number one promise being eternal life!
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We will live in wealth and prosperity in the very Kingdom of Heaven, on this Earth. For eternity! As a result of being in this New Covenant with Christ, we will be given glorified spirit bodies (I Corinthians 15:43‐44) which will never grow weary, will never become sick, and will never die! The Old Covenant still exists with Israel today for all who wish to accept it, as the New Covenant has not yet been made with physical Israel ‐and only spiritual Israel (Galatians 3:29) has so far entered into this New Covenant with God. However, Paul said that the Old Covenant is ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:13). He did not say the Old Covenant was abolished at the cross!! But it is "ready" to vanish away after the New Covenant has been instituted with Israel. And that will not occur until they accept Him as Lord and Saviour which, for the majority of them, will be at His second coming to set up the millennial Kingdom of God on this Earth! But those of us who have already become the spiritual Israel now do not have to wait until His second coming to enter into that covenant He will make with Israel and Judah. We can have it now. But are there no laws that apply in this new covenant with Christ? You have heard that the Laws were contained only in the Old Covenant with the Israelites, but there are no laws governing the New Covenant. Think: Paul explained that when a husband or wife dies, the surviving spouse is now free from the law of that marriage covenant (Romans 7:23). The COVENANT is dissolved by death! But the LAWS regarding marriage are not dissolved. The Laws governing marriage still exist! The Law is not done away when one of the marriage partners dies! Yet you have been told that when Christ died the Laws regarding the covenant were suspended, “made void,” “DONE AWAY,” “abrogated,” “abolished,” etc. etc. Is that true? Certainly not! Read in your own Bible Jeremiah 31:33. God promised that the New Covenant would be governed by THE SAME LAWS as the Old Covenant!!! Astonishing? Yes! No, you haven't heard this taught in denominational churches! Yet there it is in your own Bible! God did not say He would abolish His Law. Only the covenant was dissolved ‐ which like a marriage covenant ‐was "until death do us part." Christ ‐the God of the Old Covenant days ‐ DIED. Now He is free to marry spiritual Israel. At His second coming the nation of Israel will accept Jesus as the Messiah, become converted Christians and will no longer be merely the physical descendents of Israel, but will now be "spiritual Israel" as well, just as are all truly converted Christians today Jew or Gentile! Do you understand? Do you see? God did not abolish the Ten Commandments ‐or ANY of His Laws when Christ died. The New Covenant that we have with the God of Israel is still governed by the same Laws! The difference is that under the New Covenant, they will not merely exist on stone where we can observe them only with our eyes. Rather they will be written in our hearts so we can OBEY them! God gives us His Holy Spirit and writes His Laws in our hearts so we now have the capacity to OBEY His Laws (Romans 8:7‐9, Acts 5:32).
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Paul said the Law of God (the "Law of Moses") was not made null and void ‐or abolished. Rather when faith comes it establishes the Law for Christians ‐ those of us living under the New Covenant (Read Romans 3:31). How simple is the truth of God! Will you believe your Bible?
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Just what do you mean
“LEGALISM”? Are we being "legalistic" if we obey the Ten Commandments? Is legalism the attempt to obey the Laws of God? Most Christians are familiar with the term, but FEW church goers truly understand how the Bible defines "legalism."
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ELL, WE CERTAINLY DON'T want to be legalistic, now do we?" H a v e you ever heard anyone make that statement? "We may voluntarily do some of those things in the Bible that God commands in His Law, but we should never feel that we must obey God, because then we would be 'legalistic' "they say! So therefore some feel that Christ has abolished the Ten Commandments. We no longer HAVE to refrain (so they think) from adultery. We only obey it now voluntarily. Else we would be guilty of "legalism" if we imagined we were "required" to obey God! RIDICULES!! ! Yet this is what millions of church goers believe!! Or they will say, "Well brother I think tithing is a good 'principle,' but I would never want to teach it in any church. After all, that was part of "the Law"! That was under the Old Covenant, and we are not supposed to keep those 'old' laws any more. To feel that we are still required to obey God is legalism! Today we just voluntarily do what we feel is right!" So what if you don't particularly feel it is right to be faithful to your wife, or to tithe to support the Gospel Ministry? Or to refrain from lying, stealing, or murder? "But," many will protest, "doesn't the New Testament Scripture teach we are no longer "under the Law"? Aren't we now under grace? Indeed it does! But think! Because we are no longer "under the Law" where our salvation is concerned, does that mean God wants you to live any way you choose, even if that way should be to dishonor your parents, commit murder, lie, steal, covet your neighbor's possessions and commit adultery with his wife? Obviously that can't be right! Was the Law of God (also called the Law of Moses by the Jews) actually "done away"? Did Christ's death on the cross destroy the Law of Moses, rendering it null and void, useless, no longer obligatory on the Christian ‐ no longer "required" to be obeyed? Does that make sense to your logical mind? Why would Christ "do away" (or destroy, make void, abolish, nullify, etc.) a law forbidding adultery when that law was given by God to protect marriage? Can you really believe Christ would destroy the Law of God which forbids murder? Yet that
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is what millions of professing Christians believe! That is what many pastors in pulpits have assumed and have preached to their congregations. Where is the logic in this doctrine? Where is the common sense of this teaching? What Jesus Actually Taught What Jesus Christ actually said was the exact opposite of what most professing Christians assumed He taught. For Jesus said, "Think not I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to FULFILL"! (Matthew 5:17). The Jews understood this term '"the Law and the prophets" to refer to more than merely the Ten Commandments. It referred to the entire Old Testament Scriptures! The Greek word translated "fulfill" is pleroo which means to "fill to the full." How did Jesus fulfill the Law? By doing away with it? Hardly! How do you "fulfill" a speed law, for instance? Simple. By obeying it. How do you "fulfill" an errand your boss may give you? By obeying his commands ‐not by nullifying them, making them void. Christ "fulfilled" the Law of God daily in His personal life, setting us an example to do likewise (I Peter 2:21). He obeyed the Law (John 15:10, last part). Of course He did. For the very definition of "sin" is disobedience to the Law of God (I John 3:4). Had Christ disobeyed (or transgressed) a single one of God's Laws He would have sinned! James tells us the same thing (James 2: 10). And yet the Bible says Christ never sinned! never transgressed any of God's Laws (I Peter 2:22) setting us an EXAMPLE of obedience to the Law! The world has it just backwards. Satan has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9). The world teaches God's Law was done away "at the cross" and we are under no obligation to keep the Law ‐ to obey its commands. They assume the statement made by the apostle Paul where he said Christians are no longer "under the Law" means that we no longer need to keep it! So then if they are right in their assumption, they no longer need to refrain from adultery, stealing, murder, etc. Quickly they will answer, "Oh no, I believe it is wrong to do those things!" "Yes but you said you no longer need to keep the Law which forbids you to do these things. Now if you are no longer under the obligation to obey the Law, then would it be wrong to go ahead and do those things forbidden by the Law?" "Well if we love God we wouldn't do those things," they answer. "We voluntarily obey the commandments we think we should keep, and ignore the ones we do not want to keep. Be‐ cause to feel obligated to live by every Word of God would be LEGALISM!" Then why did Jesus (in the New Covenant) command us to live by every Word of God?! (Luke 4:4) ‐which would certainly include the Old Testament. We need a definition of "legalism." Obviously the world is confused by what the Bible actually teaches.
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What is Legalism? Finally, what does the Bible teach about legalism? And what is the Christian's obligation to the Ten Commandments, the Statutes, and the Judgments of Almighty God? While the term "legalism" is not found in the Bible, the term is evoked from reading the book of Galatians. Here Paul's theme is "justification." Most religious people have a hard time defining this theological term simply because they do not understand it. However the word "justification" merely means righteousness. Many Christians have no problem defining what they think "righteousness" is, but then ask them what ''justification'' is, and they aren't sure. Scofield explains how these two terms are similar in a reference note at Romans 3:28. "Justification. Summary: Justification and righteousness are inseparably united in Scripture by the fact that the same word (dikaios, "righteous"; dikaioo, "to justify") is used for both." (Scofield Reference Bible, footnote 4, page 1195). So when you see the term ''justify'' just think "to make righteous." When you see the term "just" think "righteous," and when you see the word ''justification'' just remember it is the same word translated as "righteousness" in the inspired Greek text. Now with this understanding of the Greek terms used, let's examine Paul's teaching in the book of Galatians. The theme of the entire book is given in Galatians 2: 16. When you see the words ''justified'' or ''justification'' remember these words could have just as easily been translated "made righ‐ teous" or "righteousness." Now read it with this understanding: "Knowing that a man is not justified [made righteous] by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified [made righteous] by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh by justified [made righteous"] (Galatians 2:16). Now understand. Paul is saying that our law‐keeping is no longer what makes us righteous. However did he say the Law has been destroyed? Remember, Jesus said that His coming did not destroy the Law (Matthew 5: 17). What is the definition of righteousness then and how do we attain it? Two Kinds of Righteousness Under the Old Covenant a man could be "justified" or made righteous by keeping the Law ‐but he had to keep all the commandments without fail. He could not break any. Notice: "...for all thy [God's] commandments are righteousness" (psalm 119: 172). Romans 10:5, refers to this as the "righteousness which is of the law." If you obeyed all the works of the Law, keeping all the commandments you would then be righteous.
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However, Jesus said that unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (who were exceedingly strict in keeping the Law) we would in no case enter into God's Kingdom (Matthew 5:20). When I first read that, I thought, "I can never make it! How could I ever possibly keep the Law to that degree? How can I ever get righteous enough to be saved?" I almost threw up my hands and quit. However God showed me later that it does not depend upon my works to make me righteous. Rather God imputes righteousness without works to those who believe on Jesus and this is how we have a greater righteousness than the scribes or Pharisees. Notice: "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God IMPUTETH righteousness without works"! (Romans 4:6). The second kind of righteousness is that which has been imputed to us. It is ''the righteousness which is of faith" (Romans 10:6). When we have faith in Christ, God imputes righteousness to us without works ‐ without the deeds of the Law (Romans 3:28). The Doctrine of Imputation To impute means to attribute, to apply something to someone. God imputed or attributed our sins to Jesus and He had to die for those sins just as surely as if He Himself had committed them. Let's understand: Christ lived a perfect life and kept the Law of God perfectly. Now when He died on the cross, God imputed all our sins to Him ‐and He "became sin for us," though He never Himself sinned, or transgressed the Law. If God imputed our sins to Christ, then what did He impute to us? Why, IS RIGHTEOUSNESS ‐ His perfect obedience to God's Law! Notice: "For He [the Father] hath made Him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD in Him"! (II Corinthians 5:21). God took our sins and laid them on Jesus, and therefore though He did nothing worthy of death, He had to die. He was dying for our sins! God then took His perfect righteousness arid imputed it to us, and though we have done nothing worthy of life, yet we receive eternal life! ‐because of Jesus Christ's perfect obedience to the Law! Christ traded places with us on the cross. And we traded places with Him in righteousness. This is a basic restatement of the Gospel itself! Jesus died for our sins that we might live in righteousness before God! But not our own righteousness (or Law keeping) which the Bible likens to filthy rags before God! (Isaiah 64:6). Rather God imputes CHRIST'S righteousness to us. This is the demonstration of God's grace to us. When it comes to being 'justified" (or made righteous) before God it is true we are no longer "under the Law." Rather we are under grace (the unmerited or unearned favor or
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blessing from God). Paul said God's Law was a "schoolmaster" to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). The Law defines sin (Romans 3:20). If the Law is no longer in force, if we are no longer required to obey God's Law then it would no longer be wrong to commit adultery, or steal, murder, etc. etc. If the Law is “done away” or “abolished,” “made void,” etc. how can we be accused of sinning when there is no law to transgress? What is the definition of sin? What is Sin? The Bible defines sin. We do not have to guess about its meaning. Notice: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW"! (I John 3:4). There is the definition. But how could we transgress a Law that has already "passed away" at the cross? Paul wrote: "For where NO LAW is, there is no transgression" ‐no sin! (Romans 4:15). We cannot be guilty of sin if Christ abolished, made void, or destroyed God's Law by His death on the cross! No, the Law is still in force and effect, and to disobey any commandment is sin. James said if we keep the whole Law and yet break one commandment, we are guilty of break‐ ing all the Law! (James 2:10). So we are still obligated to keep God's Law ‐ His Ten Commandments, His statutes, and His judgments. What then is "legalism"? The Biblical Definition Legalism is not attempting to obey God by keeping His Ten Commandments or other laws, statutes, judgments, etc. Rather, Legalism is the BELIEF that one should keep the Law of God in order to be justified from past sin ‐ in order to be "made righteous"! In other words, a "legalist" is a person who tries to earn his own righteousness apart from the free grace God has given us, to freely “impute” Christ's own righteousness to us. Legalism is called a “yoke of bondage” by the apostle Paul (Galatians 5:1). He told them if they attempted to be 'justified" by their own works of the Law then "Christ is become of no effect unto you" (verse 4). While it is certainly right to observe Biblical Feasts (the New Testament Church was founded on the Feast of Pentecost, Acts 2:1) nevertheless the Galatians were observing these Biblical days, months, times, and years (Galatians 4:10) because they desired to be "under the Law" (verse 21). If you place yourself "under the Law" to justify yourself before God, you will inevitably place yourself under the curse of the Law ‐ the penalty for not obeying it, "for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to DO them"
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(Galatians 3:10). You and I have not always continued in God's Law. For all have sinned (transgressed the Law) and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Since we have all sinned, then each of us is under the curse ‐the ultimate curse of the second death in the lake of fire! For the wages of sin ‐ even just one sin ‐is death! The greatest curse that can come on a sinner is to be cast into the lake of fire to suffer the second death! But thank God, Christ has redeemed us from the curse ‐the penalty of eternal death! (Galatians 3:13). We are now justified ‐ not by being "under the Law" but we are justified freely His grace (Romans 3:24) ‐ through the imputation of righteousness! (Romans 4:6). What a shame to try to be justified by the legal works of the Law ‐keeping the Ten Commandments, statutes, and judgments, when God is willing to freely impute the righteousness of Christ to us! Well, then if we are not justified by keeping the Law, should we bother with keeping the Law at all? Yes! For today we should keep the Law for a different reason. Jesus commanded, "If ye LOVE me, keep my commandments"! (John 14:15). Today we keep the Law to demonstrate OUR LOVE to God! But would this statement include the Law of the Old Covenant as well? Or perhaps just the two commandments of Jesus ‐to love God and to love our neighbor? (See Jeremiah 31:31‐33 and Hebrews 8: 10 which has already been quoted). Understand! Jesus gave many more commandments than just those two, including a direct command to keep the TEN COMMANDMENTS! (See Matthew 19:17‐18). He also commanded us to live by "every Word of God" (Luke 4:4 KJV) which would certainly include the entire Old Testament! ‐for it too is the Word of God! No, we are not "under the Law" where our salvation and justification is concerned. But under the New Covenant, we are commanded to KEEP God's Law to show OUR LOVE to Him! Can anything be plainer? Read about the reward for keeping and teaching others even the least of the commandments in Matthew 5:18‐19. Jesus did not destroy, do away with, nullify, or make void ANY of God's commandments! Yet nearly all churches teach He did! How incredible! Begin reading now Exodus 20 through 23 ‐the book of the Law which contains God's Ten Commandments and the Judgments that were ordained forever (Psalm 119:44, 89, 142, and especially verse 152). If we fail to obey ALL of God's Law then we are certainly sinning for not only does James 2:10 teach we must observe the whole Law, but Deuteronomy 4:2 commands us not to add or "diminish" (or take away) any of God's commandments and Laws. Understand: Legalism is the attitude that you do not need Christ but you can be justified or earn your salvation from your own obedience to the Law. But you can't ‐not if you have ever sinned! Therefore we are saved and justified by GRACE ONLY! Salvation is 100 percent by God's freely given grace. We only keep the Law today to demonstrate our Love to God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
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How tragic that most churches misunderstand Paul's statement about our not being ''under the Law" and assume he meant God no longer wanted us to obey Him. How utterly ludicrous! Do you now understand? Begin studying God's Law. Pray over it. Ask' God to give you understanding of His commandments. And then commit to obeying the Ten Commandments. Remember, if you have any questions, you may write, e‐mail, or call. All questions will receive a personal response. May God bless you as you seek to keep His commandments!
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