What about God’s Laws?

 

For many years I’ve heard people say that being a Christian was not for them because there are too many rules and “I can’t keep them all so why bother?” Behind that is the idea that rule-keeping is necessary to earning salvation and entering heaven. Today’s focus is on the Mosaic COVENANT, but before my heart goes there, I want to clarify the reason God gave all those rules. It was NOT so His people could become His people; they already were. His Law was given to show them how to behave as His people.

Compare this to being in the army. No one goes through bootcamp to join up; that has already happened. Bootcamp is learning how to be a soldier, not to sign up. In the Mosaic covenant, God is instructing His people how to live. That said, God gave His ‘army’  613 commands (not just 10), 365 do not do this and 248 do this instead. They would be blessed for obedience and suffer for disobedience.

Included in this covenant were blood sacrifices to atone for sin. These provided forgiveness and restoration of fellowship, covering their sin but not removing it as the blood of Christ would later accomplish.

Also included were diet restrictions. One of them, the forbidding of pork, indicates God was protecting them. In those days, no one knew about trichinosis or how to avoid it in that meat. This may apply to other restrictions concerning harmful foods.

Also in these rules, the death penalty was expanded to other sins besides killing another person. This illustrates that certain sins were blatant behaviors that smeared the image of God. Death (separation from God in a spiritual sense) is serious and His people needed to live with the understanding that His grace is not to be abused. Even today, those sins dishonor God far more vividly than the many other things people do in disobedience.

The sign of circumcision remained, not just for Jews but for non-Jews who wanted to be part of Israel. In the NT, they were later warned that being circumcised obligated them to keep the entire Law of God since they had the idea that circumcision would also justify them before God. This is not the intention for this sign then or now.

Another sign or token was given: His people were required to keep the Sabbath or one day of rest out of seven. Oddly, every reason given for the observance of the Sabbath has relevance only to Israel, not to the Gentiles or the Church, nor was it connected to being like God and reflecting His rest after Creation. Not only that the Sabbath was a day of rest, not a day of corporate worship. His people were prohibited from working, traveling, and burden bearing. References to the Sabbath as a holy convocation point to priestly duties only. The term can refer to spiritual renewal, however the NT defines it as the rest that trusts Christ alone rather than ‘working’ for our salvation.

The Law of God was given to reveal God’s holy standards, give rules of conduct, provide occasions for worship, and keep God’s people distinct from all other people. Those rules revealed sin. Humans sinned before the Law but that was clarified when the Law was given. They also revealed that no one could keep it all, driving people to saving faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

The Mosaic Covenant was the basis for the Dispensation of Law. It was conditional and came to an end with the death of the Messiah: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4) because He is our righteousness! Those who think rule-keeping will do it have departed from grace as Paul said, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:21)

Another important truth is that the Law of God is singular, not to be divided into moral, ritual, dietary etc. so that anyone can claim some parts are valid and other parts are not. The Bible is clear that if we break one commandment, we are guilty of all (James 2:10). Instead, “we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6)

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. There is much more that could be said about the Law and how it is not a rule of life for Christians. Instead, we live in freedom from all demands of that Law in the New Covenant. However, I am to not use that freedom as an opportunity to do whatever my sinful flesh wants. The whole law is fulfilled by loving God and “loving my neighbor as myself.” I’m to serve Him and others in love. The only way this is possible is by walking in the Spirit so I will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:13–16) The only way to walk in the Spirit is to keep short accounts through confessing sin, asking the Spirit to fill me, and keeping my eyes on Jesus. In Christ, the Law is fulfilled — in Christ there is no condemnation.