The Law of God

I talk to people all of the time that say the law of God is done away with or that “The Law” was nailed to the Cross when Christ was crucified! Could this be true? Does the Bible tell us?

The problem is not in the answer, because the Bible does in fact tell us! The problem lies in the people asking the question. Most people ask questions to prove what they think they already know; in fact they study the Bible to prove what they already believe, taking out of context anything that will prove their point of view. My grandfather once said “you can prove just about anything from the Bible” and he was right, if you take out just the parts that you like. There is a term for this in religious study and it is called “Proof Texting”. Meaning that you use small sections of scripture, usually outside of the proper context, to prove a thought or idea.

Here is a good example: There was a minister who was the Pastor over a congregation but he disliked women to wear their hair up in “buns” on the top of their head. For what ever reason he thought it was a disgrace to God. To prove his point he used the following scripture to prove that God said these topknots were not supposed to be worn by the women of his congregation.

Here is the scripture: Mark 13:15 and it says Top not go down! (From the NAS version)

Of course this is an extreme example of “Proof Texting” but here is the actual scripture in its full context.

Mark 13:15 "And let him who is on the housetop not go down, or enter in, to get anything out of his house;

NAS

I understand this passage of scripture to be talking about a time near the end of the age before Jesus Christ returns to start the restoration of all things. It is actually a warning concerning the abomination of desolation that was spoken of by Daniel the Prophet.

So what does this have to do with the Law of God? Nothing, it simply points out a flaw in our human nature, which is the need to prove that we are right.

Let me illustrate this with an example:

Pretend that you grew up in an isolated area where you have no contact with the outside world, as we know it. (There are actually such places today) You grow up with only your family and friends of this isolated community to talk to and everything that you know, you learned from them.

One morning at a young age you are watching the sun come up with your father and you hear him say “what a beautiful sun that is coming up in the WEST”.  You have no reason to doubt what your father has just said so from that time forward you say the sun rises in the West and sets in the East. Everyone you know and have around you says the same thing.

Then one day you leave this isolated area and go off to college. You meet new friends and start to learn about many things that you never knew existed. (This is normal as we all learn from the time we are very young about things we never knew, how could we, since we are born with nothing but basic instinct!)

Then it happens! You are out with your friends to watch a sunrise. You’re excited to be with your new friends and you exclaim “my, what a beautiful sun that is coming up in the WEST”. Your friends start to laugh! You can’t imagine why they are laughing at you. You just stated what you have known all your life to be fact, so why are your friends laughing at you.

Then they start to tell you that you are all wrong! That you are confused! They tell you that the sun actually rises in the East and sets in the West. You are horrified! This can’t be true, your father taught you that the sun rises in the West, and he couldn’t be wrong! His father taught him and his father before him taught him. How could they all be wrong?

This is exactly what has happened to Christianity over the last 2000+ years! Just because you learned it from someone close to you does not necessarily make it correct. As I said earlier in the first paragraph, the problem is not in answering the question, the problem lies in the answer not fitting what many people think they already know!

So you need to stop right here and ask yourself this question. Am I reading this article to prove what I already know or do I really want to know, from scripture, what God is trying to tell me.

I’ll assume that you are not like most Christians of today and that you really are trying to answer one of the most fundamental questions in the life of a truly called and converted Christian. You see, to be a Christian you have to follow Christ! That is what the word “Christian” means. You don’t get to make it up for yourself as you go along as many people have been doing for the last 2000+ years.

This is what Christ had to say about that:

Luke 6:46

46 "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?

NKJV

We can talk more about that in another article, but for now lets take a look at the Law of God!

The main reason most Christians get confused about “The Law of God” is that they are confused over the word “Law” and what it is. If you ask most Christians about the law they will immediately say something like this. Well the “Old Law” was done away with and it’s replaced with the new law of “Love”. Sounds good, but is it true? Or they will tell you that the “Law Of God” was “Nailed to the Cross”. We’ll actually show you what was nailed to the cross later on in this article so keep reading!

One of my gifts has been to explain things in simple logical terms that just about anyone can understand if they are being called by the Father in Heaven. If you are not called, then all of this will just be a good read and you will get nothing out of it. Here is the scripture to support what I just said as spoken by Jesus Christ. (If you have a red-letter edition this is in red, meaning that Christ spoke it)

John 6:44-45

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 

NKJV

And again here:

John 6:65

65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." 

NKJV

Let’s begin our story:

It actually starts before man is created! There is a scripture that talks about the angels sinning.

Here is that scripture: (From the New Testament)

2 Peter 2:4-7

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; NKJV

You can read the rest of the story as you have time but in the meantime ask yourself this question. How could the angels have sinned? What is sin?

Here are the answers from scripture:

Jude 6

6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

NKJV

Apparently God had set bounds for the angels and some did not obey! Under the influence of Satan, no doubt! But to put it plainly, the angels who disobeyed God sinned!

So what is sin? Well we just answered it one way, disobeying God, but here is what the scripture has to say:

1 John 3:4-6

4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

5 And you know that He (Jesus Christ) was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins (Intentionally, {my emphases added}) has neither seen Him nor known Him.

NKJV

If you are confused about intentional sin and unintentional sin we can talk about that in another article. In the meantime, just know that Christ died for us in our place. The death penalty is what we all earned because we all committed sin.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23)

Also read and understand this scripture:

Rom 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NKJV

So if we earned the death penalty, what was nailed to the cross? Our death sentence, as prescribed in the law of God! Just like a stay of execution for a prisoner who is on death row. If that death order is torn up or nailed to the wall then it will no longer have to be carried out.

OK, I think you get the point. Sin is lawlessness. So there must be a law in affect, but what law?

To understand this I will continue with my explanation. If God gave instructions to the Angels and they sinned then they broke God’s law!  Why would God give a law or instructions to Angels? The answer is so simple that man just trips all over it! God gave the Angels rules or laws because He knew what would be best for them. You also need to understand that God is perfect and his instructions are perfect as well. God also says that he never changes. Whew, that’s good because if God’s laws were in affect one day and then He decided to just stop one of them from working, lets say gravity, what do you think would happen. (God has both physical laws and Spiritual Laws) We have learned and the scripture supports that God does not change. We can depend on God! He knows what He is doing even when we do not.

Mal 3:6-7

6 "For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

7 Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the LORD of hosts. "But you said, 'In what way shall we return?'

NKJV

Let’s move on to the time of Noah and Abraham and some other patriarchs as well. Did God give all of His Laws to each one and did God explain them in the same words to each man or woman that He worked with in the Old Testament?

The answer is no! Starting with Adam and Eve God gave instructions through verbal communication. Either face to face in some instances or through Angels (Messengers) in other cases. The point being that God revealed Himself through these explanations and told select people what he required of them. God’s instructions are how they learned about Him! Think about that as we talk about His law.

In Abraham’s case God told him what he was to do.

Gen 26:4-5

4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

NKJV

Abraham did it. All of it and God said, “Now I know what you will do”. Obeying God reveals to God what is really in our heart. This is why we were given physical life in the first place and not just created Spirits like the Angels. God is letting each one of us decide for ourselves through trials in this life whether to choose His way or the way of Satan. News Flash: God isn’t going to have rebellion in His Eternal Kingdom!  So how do you think God is going to prevent that?  There will be laws and rules. Guess what? The same rules that He gave the angels in the beginning.

So what rules apply to us today?

The same rules that God established before he even created man. Or do you think that God had to add these as an after thought because we behaved worse than he thought we would.  No, God knew that Satan would corrupt mankind but God had a plan to redeem His creation. Here is the proof:

1 Peter 1:18-21

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, {False teachings}

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

NKJV

After year and years of giving instructions through the patriarchs, God’s people simply forgot to do what God instructed them to do. He told them he set before them life and death, blessing and cursing and told them to choose life. But as man usually does, man does what pleases him and not what is best for him. God knew what was best! He knew what was best for the Angels and He knew before He created man what would be best for man as well.

Deut 30:19

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

NKJV

After Israel fell into captivity for forgetting God, He finally led them out of slavery through Moses. You probably know that story by heart!

After bringing them out of captivity God did not want them to fall again so He wrote His Laws on the tablets of stone so that they would not forget. This is what we call the Ten Commandments today.

Stop and think about why God had to do this. This is what the New Testament says:

Gal 3:19

19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

NKJV

This scripture has been misinterpreted by many to say that the law was added only until Christ would come. Is that what it is saying? It certainly is not what it says! How can you have transgression before a law is in effect? Remember what scripture said sin was? However the problem lies in man’s definitions of law and covenants.

This is easy to understand if you can grasp the concept that God will and has always had laws, even for the Angels as we read earlier. The “written tablets of stone” were added because Israel was so hardheaded and stiff necked that they couldn’t remember or did not want to remember the instructions that God had given them verbally.  So God did the next best thing. He carved the law into tablets of stone with His own finger and this became a testimony or agreement if you will between God’s chosen people and Himself. Here is what Israel said after Moses read the Law:

Ex 19:7-8

7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.

8 Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.

NKJV

And this became what people today call the “Old Covenant”. It was an agreement between the people of God and God Himself.

But they still didn’t heed God’s instructions, did they? Read that for yourself when you have time.

I can wrap this up by completing the story. God says that He never changes! God says that Sin is Lawlessness! God said that the Angels sinned by not following the boundaries that He set for them! God also instructed the patriarchs to follow His instructions, granted not all of them had a full understanding of God’s laws but they did what was required of them.

This is what ties it all together. God goes on to say that He will write His laws in our minds and Hearts. (This is a future time when the New Covenant is fulfilled in full)

Heb 8:8-10

8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- 

9 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 did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

NKJV

Notice where God is going to write His laws this time! Not on tablets of stone but in our very heart and mind. The very place that we generate thoughts and actions! And what laws do you think they are going to be?  Since God says that He never changes then you can only come to one conclusion: God’s law is always the same. If you want to please God then keep His laws. If you want to have a life that works, live by God’s instructions.

Here is what Christ said:

John 14:15

15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

NKJV

1 John 5:3

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

NKJV

Many will say that ‘love is the fulfillment of the law”.  Well you know what? They are right. God gave us His laws out of perfect love for us. God does not want mankind to suffer. In fact He says that it is His desire that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

NKJV

If we are all to come to repentance, what are we repenting of? Sin of course! And what is sin? The breaking of God’s laws!

Christ said He came to Make Full or “fulfill” the law and that not one jot or tittle would pass away until all was made full in the Kingdom of God.

Matt 5:18-19

18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

NKJV

So does God just do away with his Law in His Kingdom? What kind of kingdom would that be?

You see, God knew when He created the Angels that they needed guidelines to follow just as God knew that man would need guidelines to follow.

God says that we are His children.

1 John 3:1-2

3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

NKJV

We are also told that we are joint heirs with Christ!

Rom 8:15-18

15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

NKJV

We only have so much time here on this earth to figure out whom we are going to follow for eternity. Will we heed the calling of God and listen to His instruction or will we keep on believing the traditions of men?

Written by:

Dave Campbell, Minister

A Church Of God Ministry

A Church of God Ministry, Springfield, Missouri, USA  This site was last updated on November 19, 2008

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