We are free indeed in Jesus Christ as born-again Christians. We’re delivered from the power of sin, the nature of sin, the guilt of sin, and the demands of the law. Most Christians will agree that deliverance is essential for every aspect of sin. Still, it’s challenging for Christians to understand their need for deliverance from self-effort. We should understand this: to say that we must also keep rules and do good works to be worthy before God is to say that Christ did not fulfill His whole purpose on Earth. Christ has done a complete work in life, death, and resurrection — for us. We need an understanding of the law and how it can severely threaten the pure gospel of grace.
Galatians 2:21 ESV
I do not nullify [cancel out] the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
How does the Bible define Law?
Romans 10:5 ESV
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
The first answer that may come to mind is the Ten Commandments. However, the Ten Commandments summarize a larger volume of laws for the Israelites. Moses repeated 613 laws to the children of Israel to keep themselves pure before God. Jesus summarized these laws in Matthew, saying that the law and the prophets rest on two commandments: Love the Lord with all heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-40). Did you know that the law of God existed in the beginning, in the garden of Eden with Adam? God commanded Adam not to eat the fruit and a subsequent punishment if he disobeyed. We know this is an example of God’s law through Romans 5, which tells us that “sin is not counted where there is no law” (Rom. 5:12-13).
The basic characteristic of a law
So, the definition of law is any rule or standard commanded and upheld for a righteous standing with God. Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), so if disobeying a rule places you in sin, that rule is being upheld as law. The main characteristic of a law is any work or act performed to become or remain righteous before God. Once we understand this, we see how the law applies to us today. If we attempt to keep rules, refrain from sinning, or perform good works to become righteous, we live under the law.
Read more about the Law of Moses
“There is a difference between the good works through Jesus Christ and working to be worthy before God. Ephesians says we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, rather than boast in our good works. In Christ, our good works flow from a position of righteousness where we depend on Christ’s accomplishments to declare us righteous. Under the law, we are attempting to make ourselves right in God’s sight.”
Why is the Law Important to Us Now?
We have discussed that law is about trying to do right or not to do wrong to please God. The teaching of self-righteousness came into the early church and exists today. If we try hard enough or create enough boundaries, we will please God. The fundamental belief of self-effort is that our flesh is not entirely evil. The old nature has moments of kindness, gentleness, unselfishness, and love. It can act refined, educated, likable, and even moral. Unfortunately, we follow the same path as King Saul did with the Amalekites —we are trying to find good in what God has already condemned. Paul notes that the early church was struggling with this also, saying, “For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.” (Rom. 10:3 NLT) We place ourselves under the law if we live trying to repair our flesh’s reputation.
Galatians 2:17-18 NLT
But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down.
Why is it Bad or Unacceptable to be Under the Law of God?
“Is the law sin? God forbid.” Paul explains our deliverance from the law (Romans 7:7). The law of God reflects His holy character. The Bible says it’s holy, righteous, good, and spiritual (Rom. 7:12,14). We cannot dishonor the law, which demands perfect obedience, and transgressors have no mercy. A curse awaits anyone who does not keep the law perfectly (Gal. 3:10). You are condemned if you fail once (James 2:10). With these conditions, we have no hope of righteousness under the law because we have no hope of meeting these requirements. Jesus (John 7:19), Paul (Rom. 2:23), and Stephen (Acts 7:53) all say that no one has kept the law, which leads us to the conclusion that the Lord did not give the law to make us righteous. Galatians 3:19 reveals the function of the law: to show our sin. But, where sin increased, grace increased in abundance (Rom. 5:20).
Galatians 2:16 ESV
we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ … 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.
What if We Could Keep the Law?
If we could keep the law, would it be acceptable to God? The Bible says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8). It also says that the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63) and that our righteousness is as filthy rags (Is. 64:6). Jesus said that we are evil but we know how to do good sometimes (Matt. 7:11). We have a sinful nature that has a knowledge of good and evil but not the ability to carry it out. Pleasing God is about who is the source of your actions (Matt. 12:33-35). Are we operating in the flesh or the Spirit? If you operate in the Spirit, you live by faith (Gal. 3:2). Faith is trust in someone else. In Christ, we are right with God (1 Cor. 1:30). Spirit-filled believers must learn to operate by our new source: Christ.
Galatians 5:16,18 ESV
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh … if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Why Do Believers Need Deliverance from the Law?
Galatians 4:21 KJV
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Romans 6 goes in depth about our deliverance from sin. Romans 7 says we’re delivered from the law. We see our need for deliverance from the power of sin. Still, it’s a challenge to grasp the necessity of deliverance from God’s law. We are not able to uphold the law in our strength. Willpower will not be enough for the demands of God’s holy law. But, we can start our new life in the Spirit by faith and revert to the old life of trying under the law (Gal. 3:3).
The Galatian church syndrome
The Galatian church tried to add Moses’s law to Jesus Christ. Christ on the cross has delivered us wholly and thoroughly. God has not left anything undone. But why deliverance? Why does God not give us the power to fulfill the law through the Holy Ghost? Romans 7:8,13 tells us that sin, because it is *exceedingly sinful*, uses the law as an operating base to bring about spiritual death in us. The law demands that we obey, and we try to obey. Our flesh was crucified on the cross so that our sin nature would be inoperable (Rom. 6:6). But, when we move outside of Christ to obey, the flesh is in motion again and the sin nature in us revives. Romans 6 discusses how we identify with Christ’s death and believe in His work on the cross.
Paul is an example of a believer trying to please God from the wrong source
Romans 7:15,18-21 ESV
For I do not understand my own actions. I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. … Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Sounds familiar? It has been my experience. At times, when I wanted to remain calm and not say anything back or let something go for once, sin arises in me, and I cannot let it go. The struggle of self-righteousness is trying to do good and not to do wrong. Why must we receive the Holy Ghost if it doesn’t change our nature? The purpose of the Holy Ghost is to give us Christ.
Christ is the End of the Law
Galatians 3:24 ESV
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
As born-again Christians, we rely on Who we have received from God to sustain us every day. The Holy Ghost is Christ living inside us to perform His work. Christ was born as a man under the law (Gal. 4:4) and lived a perfect life of obedience to God —for us. He was not obtaining righteousness for Himself; He fulfilled the law for our sake. Jesus redeemed us from the law’s curse by becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13).
Christ is our new representative
Setting aside our own sins, through Adam, we are born as transgressors of the law or, sinners. Christ came as the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) and took on the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Jesus represented all those who would be born through Him. We identify with His death, which delivers us from sin and the law by the cross. His resurrection made us alive again unto God, born as a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). We are no longer debtors to do the whole law (Gal. 5:3). Now, we are declared righteous. We live by believing in Christ’s finished work. Our resource is no longer the old nature; we have the nature of Christ to draw from. God did not deposit provision into the flesh; He crucified the flesh. Instead, we receive Christ, and all power is in Him.
Read more about Christ as our representative
Ephesians 1:3 ESV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Conclusion
In conclusion, God’s plan of salvation doesn’t involve self-will or human ability. The reality is God, the Perfect One, trusts only in Himself to live perfectly through us. This is the greatest blessing because a righteous life and hope of glorifying God is possible for everyone who trusts in Jesus. It’s not the smart, the brave, or the strong in the flesh who will succeed. It’s “not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord” (Zech. 4:6). Christ is the only hope we have of living an abundant, fruitful life unto God through faith (Col. 1:24). Faith does not diminish the law, rather it upholds it.
Romans 3:31 NLT
Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.
Author’s note: There literally wasn’t enough space in my post to put all the verses speaking about our deliverance from the law. Paul talked about it often and fought mightily against the traditions of the Jews in honor of the pure gospel.
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