God's Law of Love: the Perfect Law of Liberty: Jehovah's Ten Commands Still Apply Today
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About this ebook
It is time for our nation to repent and turn back to our liberty-giver, the true God of Israel. Gods Law of Love is needed for liberty to thrive. The Ten Commandments still apply today. Find the thorough answers to the questions above and more within the pages of this book.
Tara Lang Chapman
Tara lives in the southwestern Missouri Ozarks with her husband and their two young sons. After leaving college herself, she worked at home as a writer and editor until her husband finished college. He now runs his own business, which allows Tara to be a full-time mother and home educator.
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God's Law of Love - Tara Lang Chapman
God’s Law of Love:
The Perfect Law of Liberty
Jehovah’s Ten Commandments Still Apply Today
Tara Lang Chapman
iUniverse, Inc.
Bloomington
God’s Law of Love: The Perfect Law of Liberty
Jehovah’s Ten Commands Still Apply Today
Copyright © 2010 by Tara Lang Chapman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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ISBN: 978-1-4502-5941-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4502-5942-2 (ebook)
Printed in the United States of America
iUniverse rev. date: 11/23/2010
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One—God’s Law Still Applies
Chapter Two—Two Greatest Commandments and
The Ten Commandments
Chapter Three—The First Commandment
Chapter Four—The Second Commandment
Chapter Five—The Third Commandment
Chapter Six—The Fourth Commandment
Chapter Seven—The Fifth Commandment
Chapter Eight—The Sixth Commandment
Chapter Nine—The Seventh Commandment
Chapter Ten—The Eighth Commandment
Chapter Eleven—The Ninth Commandment
Chapter Twelve—The Tenth Commandment
Conclusion
Useful Resources I Recommend:
Endnotes
Introduction
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed (James 1:25).
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty (James 2:12).
I love God’s law of love, his perfect law of liberty. I’ve long been interested in the topic of law. While still in my father’s house, my mother once told me, You’d make a good lawyer; you love to argue.
I did have interest in becoming a lawyer, so when I received academic scholarships to go to college, I attended and started my major in Criminal Justice. I planned to end up as either a lawyer or criminologist, the latter because I also loved solving mysteries. At the same time, though, I struggled with my desire to do something in the field of Biology, the study of life. I’d maintained a 100% average in high school biology class and dearly loved it. I also enjoyed writing. The second semester of college, I changed my major from Criminal Justice to Biology and aspired to be a college biology professor. Shortly thereafter, I ended up dropping out of college and never going back, although I never stopped my studies.
Just as I had a hard time choosing whether to go into law or biology, Adam and Eve apparently had a hard time choosing as well. Among the other trees, there were two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden with the names, The Tree of Life
and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The tree of life would have been eternal-life-giving food. It offered only life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil revealed that there is the choice one can make in opposition to life. A person can choose death. The knowledge of good and evil is law. Romans 3:20 says, 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. See also Romans 7:7. Verses 8-11 of chapter 7 says, But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
If a person just aims for life, there is no need for a written law, and where there is no law, there is no death, which brings us back to life. It’s not that law itself is bad. Quite the contrary: Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good (Rom. 7:12). The law in its written form, given by Moses to Israel, was added because of transgression
(Gal. 3:19). People did not have a life
mindset, in other words. The knowledge of law is not known until transgression of it occurs. Life was going on quite nicely until Satan opposed life and led a rebellion against God. It was then that the knowledge of good and evil was born. When we live in bodies that are naturally subject to death (being made of earth) and have inherited spiritual sin tendencies, we have a natural tendency to want to oppose life, transgress the law, particularly when given to us in codified form--commandments, statutes, and ordinances. Romans 7:13 says, Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. So, in this way law works death, though the law itself is good.
Adam and Eve were given the choice of life and they were given the choice of the knowledge of good and evil but told not to eat of that latter fruit. They were deceived and did not obey God. Romans 8:2 says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. The law, if followed, is life-giving, but the law, if transgressed, is death-causing. If we choose to have a mindset of life and love, wanting to do only what is life-giving, we are given grace for when we fall short. The Old Covenant contained many carnal ordinances, and it contained a written code of law. Under the New Covenant, we are freed by Christ to serve in newness of spirit, not bound to the oldness of the letter, which also contained carnal ordinances (Rom. 7:6).
Though in this book I magnify the meaning of the Ten Commandments for the 21st century time period, giving many examples of how statutes could be written for our day and age, we should be thankful that we are FREE to serve in spirit, having LIFE as our sole aim. We need to allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit of God in choosing life in everything we do. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Deut. 30:19). Will you consider letting Christ set you free from the law of sin and death so that you can serve the law of liberty in spirit?
For a better understanding of how God’s Law brings liberty, I recommend my article What is True Freedom/Liberty?
found on my website: http://www.endtimecog.net/articles/truefreedom.html.
Chapter One—God’s Law Still Applies
Most people professing to be Christians mistakenly think that God’s laws have been done away.
Is this true? What does the bible have to say?
Jesus/Yahushua said, 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. (Matthew 5:17-18)
Heaven and earth are still here; so is God’s law. The word fulfill
in this verse is number 4137 (pleroo) in the Strong’s bible dictionary. It means, to fill, make complete.
Jesus came to the earth to die, because the law prophesied that He would, and He obeyed all of His Father’s laws.
Notice immediately after Jesus stated he did not come to destroy the law, he said, 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.(Matthew 19-20)
If we do not obey God’s laws, then we cannot expect to be in His kingdom. A few verses later, He magnifies the law, fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah 42:21, which says, Jehovah is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Jesus said that sin starts in one’s thoughts. Being angry with another without a cause is murder and just looking lustfully at a woman is adultery. So, if anything Jesus made the law stricter, certainly not doing away
with it. True Christians are to follow not the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law.
If the law could have been done away,
then Jesus would not have had to die. It would have been such a horrible waste and unnecessary suffering for our Savior if the law could have been destroyed. God could have just said, Okay, I’m doing away with the law.
It would have been that simple.
The reason Jesus came to this earth was to die for our transgressing His perfect law. None of the ten commandments were done away, and the only statutes that were changed were the burdensome animal sacrifices and the laws of the priesthood. Anyone can read the book of Hebrews and get a very good understanding of how Jesus took the place of animal sacrifices with His sacrifice and how He is now our high priest—replacing the earthly priesthood—and returning to the order of Melchisedec.
For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. (Hebrews 7:12)
We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens."(8:1)
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered on sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God. (10:11-12)
Then, in Hebrews 10:6, it says, In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
That’s what has been done away.
It’s been replaced. But, that was always the plan, from the beginning. Nowhere in the law will you read that animal sacrifices or the human earthly priesthood were to be perpetual statutes.
God has always been consistent. Notice these Old Testament
scriptures:
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering has thou not required. Psalm 40:6
For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:16-17
And Samuel said, Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. I Samuel 15:22
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Saith Jehovah: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. Isaiah 1:11
For I desired mercy [faithfulness] and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6
Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands or rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy [lovingkindness], and to walk humbly with God? Micah 6:6-8
To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:3
And some more New Testament scriptures:
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance [to stop transgressing the law]. Matthew 9:13
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:33
These scriptures and more like them clearly show that God has never desired sacrifices, but obedience to His laws. There would never have been any need for any sacrifices of any sort had people always obeyed His laws. This includes the Messiah’s death. And still people are transgressing His perfect laws and now saying that it’s what God wants! People act as if those whom obey the laws in the Torah are sinning!
The biblical definition of sin is found in I John 3:4. It states, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. So, I find it very ironic that there are those who say a person is sinning by keeping God’s laws.
The bible reveals that one can recognize a true believer by whether he or she keeps God’s commandments. I John 2:3 says, And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. It goes on to say in verse 4, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. This is a pretty bold statement by John.
Jesus also said himself, He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him (John 14:21).
Jesus said that we must keep the commandments if we want eternal life. A man questioned him, saying, …Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Jesus answered,
…if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:16-17). See also Mark 10:17-19 and Luke 10:25-28.
Many professing-to-be Christians say that keeping God’s law of love is burdensome and grievous. What does the bible say? For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3). He shows us His love by giving us laws to keep us safe, healthy, and in harmony with everyone. We are supposed to show Him our love back by keeping the laws.
People twist the scriptures to suit their own lusts, and no biblical writer is twisted more than Paul. Those who do not have a heart truly in repentance to God misunderstand the things Paul wrote and don’t keep in mind that they are reading a one-sided conversation. They also put aside the facts of history—what was happening at that time. So, they take his writings and apply totally different meanings to them than what was intended.
Apparently, though, Paul was misunderstood even in those days! Peter addressed this in his second epistle: As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction (II Peter 3:15).
Jesus said, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess until them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Iniquity means, lawlessness, sin, transgression of the law.
Jesus is frequently recorded in the bible as criticizing those who transgress God’s laws in order to keep their traditions. In that day it was the traditions of the man-made religion Judaism. Today, it’s not only Judaism but also the man-made religion of apostate Christianity transgressing God’s laws in favor of their church traditions! Jesus said, Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by your tradition?
and, But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men
(Matthew 15:3, 9). See also Mark chapter 7.
God’s laws were in effect at the beginning. They are recorded by Moses and given to Israel, because they’d been in Egyptian bondage for a few hundred years and had forgotten God’s laws! Notice what God said about Abraham, long before Moses was even born: Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. (Genesis 26:5)
Before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses to give to the Israelites, but after He tested them with His Sabbath law (which was in effect at the beginning of Creation—on the seventh day), and they disobeyed (two men had gone out and worked on the Sabbath), God said to Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
(Exodus 16:28). He was referring to their breaking of the Sabbath! Read the entire chapter of Exodus 16. Again, this was before Moses went up the mountain to get the Ten Commandments!
And what about the excuse so often heard that the laws are only for the Jews?
What a fancy way of trying to get out of doing what’s right! And what a foolish remark at that. First of all, the law was in effect at Creation, long before there was a Jew. Secondly, Moses gave the laws to all of Israel, which comprises 12 tribes—of which one is the tribe of Judah, from which the word Jew
is derived. Next, it is clarified over and over again in the Torah/law that God’s laws were to be for everyone, not just Israel. Foreigners were expected to obey as well. A sampling of scriptures that show this are as follows: Leviticus 16:29; 17:8, 10, 12-13; 20:2; 24:16, 22; Numbers 15:15-16, 29; Deut. 16:14 and more.
Numbers 15:15-16 states, One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before Jehovah. One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.
Well, that certainly puts an end to that excuse. When I read those scriptures, I had to admit my blindness and error and repent of breaking God’s perfect law. Furthermore, history and bible prophecy show that the peoples of the United States, British Isles, and many other Caucasian nations make up the House of Israel, so many Americans are Israelites, anyway. This is another reason that excuse just won’t work! Many of us are not gentiles, but if we were it still wouldn’t make a difference, because there is one law for everyone.
The House of Israel and the House of Judah are separate for now, too, and that can be proved with the bible alone, but most people are not reading their bibles! So, of course, they also don’t realize that the United States and Britain (along with Israel
which is really Judah) are the most-mentioned nations in end-time bible prophecy.
God has given us His law so that things, may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, for ever,
and, …Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day
(Deuteronomy 4:20; 5:24, bold emphasis added).
In order to justify their lawlessness, many professed Christians accuse God’s true people of trying to gain salvation by works. This is a false accusation, a direct transgression of the ninth commandment. Those who love God with all their hearts and are diligently keeping His commands know better than anyone that salvation comes only by grace. The Father’s children whom love and keep His commandments appreciate this fact more than anyone else. They are the ones to whom God gives His grace.
Since professed Christians like to use Paul’s writing so much to prove
the law has been done away,
let’s look at Paul’s writing now:
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:12-21).
Did you notice something? Sin is not imputed when there is no law. If there is no law, then there is no sin! When Cain murdered Abel, was it a sin? Did God destroy a sinless Sodom? Was there nothing wrong with Judah sleeping with a harlot? If these are sins, then God had law then. God obviously wasn’t following modern professing Christians’ rules, because there was no such thing as a Jew when Cain murdered Abel and when God destroyed Sodom. And Judah was the man from whom the tribe of Judah came—whom later became known in the English language as Jews.
Let’s look again at verse 19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. By Adam’s disobedience, many were made sinners. By Christ’s obedience, many will be made righteous. Let’s reason together. Do you think this really means that since Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrifice will make many righteous, that we no longer must keep God’s laws? Let’s see what Paul himself had to say:
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? (Romans 6:1-2, emphasis mine)
In other words, if we are God’s people, we will be obeying His commandments. We are not to live in sin any longer. We are to stop sinning. That means we are to stop breaking God’s Law!
In verses 14 and 15 of the sixth chapter of Romans, we read:
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin [break God’s Law], because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
If you really love God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and you really want to please God above all else, Paul’s writings are not really hard to understand. As King David, a man after God’s own heart, said, The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth forever
(Psalm 111:10)
What Paul was saying in the aforementioned verses is that we have God’s grace to cover our past sins and when we falter. This does not mean that the Law has been done away. We are still expected to obey God’s commandments. Under the law
means that we must die for our own sins. Under the law
means that we must pay the penalty of breaking God’s Law, because His Law require penalty when broken. Grace takes away this penalty, but it only does so if a person truly repents and starts obeying God’s Law. Grace didn’t nullify the law. Grace nullified the penalty of breaking the law. In other words, if you are still breaking God’s commandments and do not repent, you are still living under the law.
You will have to pay the penalty for your sins—your law-breaking. Jesus Christ did die so that everyone can have grace and salvation. But, upon understanding the truth, if a person does not repent and start following God’s law, then that person will not receive grace. Only those who repent have grace. Those who do not repent are still living under the law and will have to pay their own penalty.
Verse 16 says, Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Do you claim to be a servant of God? This says you either follow the law of sin or the law of righteousness. What is the law of righteousness? David said, …for all thy commandments are righteousness
(Psalm 119:172b). The law of righteousness is God’s law, commandments, and statutes. If we obey God’s Law, we are led to righteousness. What is the law of sin? I already defined sin. Sin is the breaking of God’s law. And if we obey or serve the law of sin, we are led to death. Simple, right? We either obey God’s law or we obey sin’s law, which is to say we disobey God’s Law.
Verse 18 says, Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. So, Christ made us free from sin, not free to sin. Then verse 19 says, For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. Once more, what is sin? The transgression of God’s law. What is righteousness? God’s law.
Romans chapter seven is really a wonderful chapter. And, if a person reads the entire thing together, it is really simple to understand. Yet, professed Christians by the millions hand-select only the verses within this chapter and many other passages written in Paul’s letters in order to try to justify their wrongdoing.
In the seventh chapter of Romans, Paul uses the law of marriage [in God’s Law] as an analogy. A woman is only bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives, but if he dies, she is then freed from that law and allowed to marry another, if she so wishes (verses 2-3). Simple enough, right? Now, it’s in verse four where many go astray. It says, 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.
Does this mean we are not to keep God’s law?
Verse 5 says, For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law [aroused by the law of God] did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Aha! When we were in the flesh.
Works of the flesh are works of sin. Flesh dies. Sin causes death. God doesn’t have flesh and blood. He has a body, but it’s a spiritual body—not a fleshly body. Flesh tends to seek sin. So, when someone who is in the flesh
knows there is a law to follow, he or she has the natural tendency to rebel and break that law. Let’s look at the next verse: 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" (Romans 7:6).
Remember, I mentioned earlier that Jesus magnified the law, showing that those who receive the Holy Spirit are expected to live not by the letter, but by the spirit of the law, which is a higher calling. Jesus said that if a person is angry with his brother without a cause, it’s likened to murder. So, Romans 7:6 certainly does not excuse law-breaking. Quite the contrary, it teaches a higher standard. The various washings as part of the ceremonial law foreshadowed baptism and the Holy Spirit, for baptism and the Holy Spirit once and for all washes away sins and imperfections. The washings, sacrifices, and Levitical priesthood—remember—is what has been changed. In the very next verse, Paul wanted to make it clear that he was not throwing out God’s Law (the eternal law that was from Creation), as if he anticipated that is exactly what professing believers would do.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law (Romans 7:7). Paul goes on to explain that a person can know what sin is by God’s laws, and being in the flesh, he had the natural tendency to want to sin—to break God’s laws—and so the law condemned Him.
Notice verse 12 says, Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Continuing on, Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid…For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal [fleshly], sold under sin. For that which I [want to do, I don’t do, and what I hate to do, I do] (vs. 13-15). He explains that he wanted to do what is right, but instead he sinned. In verse 22, Paul says, For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
Notice carefully what verse 23 says: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Another law? The law of sin, maybe? What did Paul say back in chapter 6, verse 18? Didn’t he say we were made free from sin? So, this other law,
this law of sin,
—could this be Paul’s point in his analogy with the woman being bound by the law as long as her husband is alive? Could Paul be saying that by Christ’s death and our repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit, that we are made FREE from the law of sin—because we are to put to death our fleshly desires—FREE to marry another…say maybe Christ and His Father’s Law?
Let’s see. I think verse 25, the last verse of chapter 7, sums it all up quite well: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
So, the righteous will obey God’s laws. The sinners will break God’s laws and twist scripture to suit their own lusts—lusts of the flesh. They will serve the law of sin.
Paul clarified this himself in chapter 8. Verses seven through nine read, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Those who have God’s Spirit are going to be obeying His laws. Those who live after the flesh are not obeying God’s laws or are picking and choosing which they will follow. The carnal nature of a human is naturally rebellious to a command, so when hearing the commands, it causes a person to want to disobey. When followed, the law is a law of life, and when disobeyed, it’s a law of death. Verse 13 says, For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Only those who repent and decide to obey God are given the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 5:32), which is given to help them obey (John 14:15-17, 26). The first covenant—made long after law was in existence—was with fault with its sanctuary and tabernacle, sacrifices, offerings, washings, and other fleshly ordinances, and priesthood. The first covenant foreshadowed the new covenant, in which:
Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah [Jews are of the House of Judah—NOT Israel; study the history]: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith Jehovah. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people (Hebrews 8:8-10, quoted from Jeremiah 31:31-33).
The new covenant wasn’t prophesied to do away with God’s laws! No! Rather, the new covenant was a better covenant that would help people keep the law. All the fleshly washing ordinances and sacrifices did not do a good job of helping people. They needed spiritual help and spiritual cleansing. A spiritual sanctuary. A spiritual sacrifice [Jesus had the Holy Spirit]. A spiritual high priest [Jesus is our Spirit-bodied high priest]. A spiritual reminder. If a person will seek, ask, knock, then that person can be given understanding of the bible. Every fleshly ordinance was temporary and foreshadowed something spiritual. There are no fleshly ordinances as part of the Ten Commandments and their statutes!
There were people before Jesus’ sacrifice who were given the Holy Spirit. Examples include Joseph, David, Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel, and all the other righteous men in the Old Testament books of the bible. They were also saved by grace through faith, the same way we are today. They believed God and showed it by keeping His law. They knew God promised a Messiah who would be the ultimate sacrifice. They did not believe the law saved them. Rather, they understood the exact same thing Paul did—that the law condemned them, damned them, because the law included a penalty clause for its being broken.
Let me make this clear. The law has NEVER saved anyone. No one in history was saved by works or keeping the law. This is because ONE sin (James 2:10) is all it takes to reap the wages thereof (Romans 6:23), and ALL (except Jesus the Christ) have sinned (Romans 3:23). A person could be saved by keeping the law, IF that person kept the WHOLE thing without ever breaking it—not once.
The only person who has ever been saved by keeping the law was our Savior, and He was the Son of God who already was perfect and full of glory in Heaven, who voluntarily came to be born as a human. The Father used His Spirit to beget Christ in the womb of a human woman. He was born as a man with the Spirit and was given the Spirit without measure (John 3:34).
We also have to each voluntarily decide to repent and start keeping God’s law in order to receive the Spirit of God. At Christ’s resurrection, He was born again, this time as a Spirit, being given the glory once again that he’d had with the Father before coming to the Earth as a man. Christ was the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18, Revelation 1:5). He was first begotten with the Spirit, and then he was born as a Spirit. A fleshly birth foreshadows that Spiritual birth that some will experience in the future. A sperm unites with an egg to beget a man, but it takes nine months to be born, and what is born is of flesh—a son of man. So it is that a person is begotten of God’s Spirit and when that person is born, the person will be born of Spirit—a son of God. Just as an unborn child is still referred to as a son of [hu]man, though the child has only been begotten and not yet born, a man who has been begotten of God is still called a son of God, even though the person is not yet born. When a person is born of the flesh, the person is born into the family of man. When a person is born of the Spirit, the person is born into the family of God.
And just as human children look up to their older siblings, we should be looking up to our elder brother, who is our example. Jesus lived as the perfect sibling example. We are to follow His example (I Peter 2:21-22, I John 2:6, I Timothy 1:16, I Corinthians 11:1, Phillipians 2:5).
Did Jesus carry out the various washings and give burnt offerings? No, he did not. Don’t forget all the scripture I gave proving that God never desired burnt offerings and sacrifice. He desired obedience. He still desires obedience. Nothing has changed, except that he expects obedience all the more now, because there is absolutely no excuse now!
The Father sent His righteous Son as an example and a perfect sacrifice. What a bargain! What a spit and slap in the face that so many people are giving to God the Father and to the Son! Not only did Jesus DIE an excruciating death as the perfect sacrifice to give GRACE and the free gift of salvation to undeserving mankind, He also gave us an example to follow and the promise to give a Helper (the Spirit of God which seals us for salvation) to those who repent, are baptized, and have hands laid on them, so that they can be helped to obey the law of God. They are given the Spirit to have the mind of God so that they will delight in God’s law and obey it.
We are to walk as Christ walked (I John 2:6), and Christ kept all of His Father’s commandments. They who are not obeying God’s commandments are liars (I John 2:4), and they do not have God’s Spirit. They do not have God’s mind in them. They have carnal (fleshly) minds, and a carnal mind is enmity against God, because, a carnal mind is not subject to the law of God.
It doesn’t matter how much a person claims to love God or how much a person thinks or says he does for God and other people; it doesn’t matter how many good works that person does or how much that person prays or goes to church. If that person does not repent of breaking God’s Law and does not do what is required to receive and keep the Holy Spirit (repent, be baptized, have hands laid on them, and continue in obedience), then that person is NOT saved
like he or she would like to think he or she is.
It doesn’t matter what a person thinks or feels. There are