Sign In Sign-Up

Sabbath vs. Sunday

An Internet Debate
Installment #17-Part 1

In this installment, Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi

discusses "Paul and the Law." Dr. Sam feels this may
prove to be one of the most important studies he has
ever written in his life.

Today most Christians believe that Paul teaches that

Christ has put an end to the Law, and consequently
they derive their moral principles from the principle
of love revealed by Christ, and not from the moral
Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The
obvious implication is that Christians are no longer
obligated to observe the Sabbath commandment
since that is part of the Mosaic Law that Christ nailed
to the Cross.

This prevailing view represents not only a blatant

misrepresentation of Paul's teachings on the role of
the Law in the Christian life, but also one of the most
destructive satanic deceptions of our time. The
slogan of "New Covenant Christians" that we have
met in this Internet debate which is "Not under Law
but under love" can hardly increase the amount of
true love in the world, because love without Law
soon degenerates in deceptive sentimentality. The
same is true of Law without Love, which soon
degenerates in cold legalism.

The pressing need to counteract the prevailing

antinomian (anti-law) deception has given a sense of
urgency to this study on Paul's teaching on the role
of the law in the Christian life.

Much of this material in this installment has come

from Dr. Sam's book The Sabbath Under Crossfire: A
Biblical Analysis of Recent Sabbath/Sunday
Developments.

NOTE
Although some sections of this installment may seem
a little "deep" or technical, this is needed in order to
 do justice to the topic at hand. The reader is
suggested to read one portion at a time if what is
read is difficult to understand.

Links to significant points in this installment

Discussion 1:
The prevailing Evangelical perception of the relationship between
Law and Gospel as one in which the observance of the Law is no
longer obligatory for Christians. Objectives of this two-part
Installment.

Discussion 2:
Paul's various usages of the term "Law." The Old Testament view of
the Law. The Jewish View of the Law. Paul's experience of the Law.

Discussion 3:
Paul's view of the Law. The Law reveals God's will. Christ Enables
Believers to Obey the Law. The Law is established by the ministry of
the Holy Spirit. The Law reveals sin as sin.

Discussion 4:
Observance of the Law can lead to legalism. The Law Was Never
Intended to Be A Means of Salvation. The Law pointed to the Savior
to come.

Discussion 5:
Explanation of misunderstood scriptures: 1) Romans 6:14: "Not
Under Law".

Master Index to major arguments in all installments.

Paul and the Law

In the Sabbath-Sunday debate, it has been customary to

appeal to Paul in defense of the abrogation-view of the Old
Testament Law in general and of the Sabbath in particular.
This has been especially true in the recent attacks launched
against the Sabbath by former Sabbatarians. For example, in
his open letter posted in the Internet on April 1, 1995,
Joseph W. Tkach, Jr., Pastor General of the Worldwide Church
of God, wrote:

"Paul does not hold the Mosaic Law as a moral

standard of Christian conduct. Rather, he holds up
Jesus Christ, the suffering of the cross, the Law of
Christ, the fruit and leadership of the Holy Spirit,
 nature, creation and the moral principles that
were generally understood throughout the Gentile
world as the basis of Christian ethics. He never, I
repeat, never, argues that the Law is the
foundation of Christian ethics. Paul looks at
Golgotha, not Sinai."

Similar categoric statements can be found in the Sabbath in

Crisis, by Dale Ratzlaff, a former Seventh-day Adventist Bible
teacher and pastor. He writes: "Paul teaches that Christians
are not under old covenant Law. . . . Galatians 3 states that
Christians are no longer under Sinaitic Law. . . . Romans 7
states that even Jewish Christians are released from the Law
as a guide to Christian service. . . . Romans 10 states that
Christ is the end of the Law for the believer." (1)

These categoric statements reflect the prevailing Evangelical

perception of the relationship between Law and Gospel as
one in which the observance of the Law is no longer
obligatory for Christians. Texts such as Romans 6:14; 2
Corinthians 3:1-18; Galatians 3:15-25; Colossians 2:14;
Ephesians 2:15; and Romans 10:4, are often cited as proofs
that Christians have been delivered from the the obligation to
observe the Law in general and the Sabbath in particular,
since the latter "was the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant and
could stand for the covenant." (2)

For many Christians these statements are so definitive, that

any further investigation of the issue is unnecessary. They
boldly affirm that New Covenant Christians live "under
grace," and not "under the Law," consequently they derive
their moral principles from the principle of love revealed by
Christ, and not from the moral Law given by God to Moses on
Mount Sinai.

For example, Ratzlaff writes: "In old covenant life, morality

was often seen as an obligation to numerous specific Laws.
In the new covenant, morality springs from a response to the
living Christ." (3) "The new Law [given by Christ] is better
that the old Law [given by Moses]." (4) "In the New
Covenant, Christ's true disciples will be known by the way
they love! This commandment to love is repeated a number of
times in the New Testament, just as the Ten Commandments
were repeated a number of times in the old." (5)

This study shows that statements such as these represent a

blatant misrepresentation of the New Testament teaching
regarding the role of the Law in the life of a Christian. They
ignore that the New Testament never suggests that Christ
instituted "better commandments" than those given in the
Old Testament. On the contrary, Paul unequivocally stated
that "the [Old Testament] Law is holy, and the
commandment is holy, righteous, and good" (Rom 7:12).
"We know that the Law is good" (1 Tim 1:8).

This prevailing misunderstanding of the Law as no longer

binding upon Christians is negated by a great number of
Pauline passages that uphold the Law as a standard for
Christian conduct. When the Apostle Paul poses the question:
"Do we then overthrow the Law?" (Rom 3:31). His answer is
unequivocal: "By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the
Law" (Rom 3:31). The same truth is affirmed in the Galatian
correspondence: "Is the Law then against the promises of
God? Certainly not" (Gal 3:21). Statements such as these
should warn antinomians that, as Walter C. Kaiser puts it:

"any solution that quickly runs the Law out of

town certainly cannot look to the Scripture for any
kind of comfort or support." (6)

There are few teachings within the whole compass of

Biblical theology so grossly misunderstood today as that of
the place and significance of the Law both in the New
Testament and in the life of Christians. Fortunately an
increasing number of scholars are recognizing this problem
and addressing it. For example, in his article "St. Paul and the
Law," published in the Scottish Journal of Theology, C. E. B.
Cranfield writes:

"The need exists today for a thorough re-

examination of the place and significance of Law
in the Bible. . . . The possibility that . . . recent
writings reflect a serious degree of muddle
thinking and unexamined assumptions with regard
to the attitudes of Jesus and St. Paul to the Law
ought to be reckoned with-and even the further
possibility that, behind them, there may be some
 muddled thinking or, at the least, careless and
imprecise statement in this connection in some
works of serious New Testament scholarship
which have helped to mould the opinions of the
present generation of ministers and teachers." (7)

I share Cranfield's conviction that shoddy Biblical scholarship

has contributed to the prevailing misconception that Christ
has released Christians from the observance of the Law.
There is indeed an urgent need to re-examine the New
Testament understanding of the Law and of its place in the
Christian life. The reason for this urgency is that muddled
thinking about the role of the Law in the Christian life, affects
a whole spectrum of Christian beliefs and practices. In fact,
much of the anti-sabbatarian polemic derives from the
mistaken assumption that the New Testament, especially
Paul's letters, release Christians from the observance of the
Law in general and the Sabbath commandment in particular.

Objective of the Installment

The purpose of this installment is to examine Paul's attitude

toward the Law which is one of the most complex doctrinal
issue of his theology. To determine Paul's view of the Law we
need to examine four specific areas:

1. The background of Paul's view of the Law from the

perspective of his pre- and post-conversion
experience.
2. Paul's basic teachings about the nature and function
of the Law.
3. The five major misunderstood Pauline texts frequently
appealed to in support of the abrogation view of the
Law.
4. Why legalism became a major problem among Gentile
converts.

By way of conclusion I will propose that the resolution to the

apparent contradiction between Paul's negative and positive
statements about the Law is to be found in the different
contexts. When he speaks of the Law in the context of
salvation (justification-right standing before God), he clearly
affirms that Law-keeping is of no avail (Rom 3:20). On the
other hand, when Paul speaks of the Law in the context of
Christian conduct (sanctification-right living before God),
then he upholds the value and validity of God's Law (Rom
7:12; 13:8-10; 1 Cor 7:19).

Part 1: The Background of Paul's View of the Law

Various Usages of "Law."

Paul uses the term "Law-nomos" at least 110 times in his

epistles, but not in a uniform way. The same term "Law" is
used by Paul to refer to such things as the Mosaic Law (Gal
4:21; Rom 7:22, 25; 1 Cor 9:9), the whole Old Testament (1
Cor 14:21; Rom 3:19, 21), the will of God written in the heart
of Gentiles (Rom 2:14-15), the governing principle of
conduct (works or faith-Rom 3:27), evil inclinations (Rom
7:21), and the guidance of the Spirit (Rom 8:2).

Sometimes the term "Law" is used by Paul in a personal way

as if it were God Himself: "Whatever the law says it speaks to
those who are under the Law" (Rom 3:19). Here the word
"Law" could be substituted with the word "God" (cf. Rom
4:15; 1 Cor 9:8).

Our immediate concern is not to ascertain the various Pauline

usages of the term "Law," but rather to establish the
apostle's view toward the Old Testament Law in general. Did
Paul teach that Christ abrogated the Mosaic Law in particular
and/or the Old Testament Law in general, so that Christians
are no longer obligated to observe them? This view has
predominated during much of Christian history and is still
tenaciously defended today by numerous scholars (8) and
Christian churches.

Unfortunately, this prevailing view rests largely on a one-

sided interpretation of selected Pauline passages at the
exclusion of other important passages that negate such
interpretation. Our procedure will be, first, to examine the
positive and negative statements that Paul makes about the
Law and then to seek a resolution to any apparent
contradiction. We begin our investigation by looking at the
background of Paul's view of the Law, because this offers
valuable insights into why Paul views the Law both as
"abolished" (Eph 2:15) and "established" (Rom 3:31),
unnecessary (Rom 3:28) and necessary (1 Cor 7:19; Eph 6:2,
3; 1 Tim 1:8-10)?

The Old Testament View of the Law

To understand Paul's view of the Law, we need to look at it

from three perspectives: (1) the Old Testament, (2) Judaism,
and (3) his own personal experience. Each of these
perspectives had an impact in the development of Paul's view
of the Law and is reflected in his discussion of the nature and
function of the Law.

Contrary to what many people believe, the Old Testament

views the Law, not as a means of gaining acceptance with
God through obedience, but as a way of responding to God's
gracious redemption and of binding Israel to her God. The
popular view that in the Old Covenant people were saved, not
by grace, but by obeying the Law, ignores the fundamental
Biblical teaching that salvation has always been a divine gift
of grace and not a human achievement.

The Law was given to the Israelites at Sinai, not to enable

them to gain acceptance with God and be saved, but to make
it possible for them to respond to what God had already
accomplished by delivering them from Egyptian bondage.
The context of the Ten Commandments is the gracious act of
divine deliverance. "I am the Lord your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage"
(Ex 20:2). Israel was chosen as God's people not because of
merits gained by the people through obedience to the Law,
but because of God's love and faithfulness to His promise. "It
was not because you were more in number than any other
people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you,
for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the
Lord loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to
your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a
mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of
bondage" (Deut 7:7-8).

Obedience to the Law provided Israel with an opportunity to

preserve their covenant relationship with God, and not to
gain acceptance with Him. This is the meaning of Leviticus
18:5: "You shall therefore keep my statutes and my
ordinances, by doing which a man shall live." The life
promised in this text is not the life in the age to come (as in
Daniel 12:2), but the present enjoyment of a peaceful and
prosperous life in fellowship with God. Such life was God's
gift to His people, a gift that could be enjoyed and preserved
by living according to the principles God had revealed.

The choice between life and death laid before the people in
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, was determined by whether or not
the people would choose to trust and obey the Word of God.
Obedience to the Law of God was an expression of trust in
God which revealed who really were His people. The
obedience demanded by the Law could not be satisfied by
legalistic observance of external commands, like
circumcision, but by internal love-response to God. The
essence of the Law was love for God (Deut 6:5; 10:12) and
for fellow-beings (Lev 19:18). Life was understood as a gift to
be accepted by a faith response to God. As Gerhard von Rad
puts it:

"Only by faith, that is, by cleaving to the God of

salvation, will the righteous have life (cf. Hab 2:4;
Am 5:4, 14; Jer 38:20). It is obvious that life is
here understood as a gift." (9)

It was only after his conversion that Paul understood that the
Old Testament view of the function of the Law as a faith-
response to the gift of life and salvation, and not as a means
to gain life through legalistic obedience. Prior to his
conversion, as we shall see, Paul held to the Pharisaic view of
the Law as a means of salvation, a kind of mediator between
God and man. After his encounter with Christ on the
Damascus Road, Paul was compelled to reexamine his
theology. Gradually he came to realize that his Pharisaic view
of the Law as a way of salvation was wrong, because the Old
Testament teaches that salvation was promised already to
Abraham through the Christ, the Seed to come, 430 years
before the giving of the Law at Sinai (Gal 3:17).

The Jewish View of the Law

These considerations led Paul to realize that salvation in the

Old Testament is offered not through the Law, but through
the promise of the coming Redeemer. "For if the inheritance
is by the Law, it is no longer by promise" (Gal 3:18). It was
this rediscovery of the Old Testament meaning of the Law as
a response to God's gracious salvation, that caused Paul to
challenged those who wanted to make the Law a means of
salvation. He said: "For no human being will be justified in
his sight by works of the Law, since through the Law comes
knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20).

The view that the observance of the Law is an indispensable

means to gain salvation developed later during the
intertestamental period, that is, during the four centuries
that separate the last books of the Old Testament from the
first books of the New Testament. During this period a
fundamental change occurred in the understanding of the
role of the Law in the life of the people. Religious leaders
came to realize that disobedience to God's Law had resulted
in the past suffering and deportation of the people into exile.
To prevent the recurrence of such tragedies, they took
measures to ensure that the people would observe every
detail of the Law. They interpreted and applied the Law to
every minute detail and circumstance of life. At the time of
Christ this ever-increasing mass of regulations was known as
"the tradition of the elders" (Matt 15:2).

During this period, as succinctly summarized by Eldon Ladd:

"the observance of the Law becomes the basis of

God's verdict upon the individual. Resurrection
will be the reward of those who have been
devoted to the Law (2 Mac 7:9). The Law is the
basis of hope of the faithful (Test of Jud 26:1), of
justification (Apoc Bar 51:3), of salvation (Apoc
Bar 51:7), of righteousness (Apoc Bar 57:6), of
life (4 Ezra 7:21; 9:31). Obedience to the Law will
even bring God's Kingdom and transform the
entire sin-cursed world (Jub 23). Thus the Law
attains the position of intermediary between God
and man." (10)

This new view of the Law became characteristic of rabbinic

Judaism which prevailed at the time of Paul. The result is that
the Old Testament view of the Law "is characteristically and
decisively altered and invalidated." (11) From being a divine
revelation of the moral principle of human conduct, the Law
becomes the one and only mediator between God and man.
Righteousness and life in the world to come can only be
secured by faithfully studying and observing the Law.

"The more study of the Law, the more life . . ." "If
a person has gained for himself words of the Law,
he has gained for himself life in the world to
come." (12)

Paul's Experience of the Law

This prevailing understanding of the Law as a means of

salvation influenced Paul's early life. He himself tells us that
he was a committed Pharisee, blameless and zealous in the
observance of the Law (Phil 3:5-6; Gal 1:14). The zeal and
devotion to the Law eventually led Paul to pride (Phil 3:4,7),
boasting (Rom 2:13, 23), and to seek to establish his own
righteousness based on works (Rom 3:27).

As a result of his conversion Paul discovered that his pride

and boasting were an affront to the character of God, the
only one who deserves praise and glory (1 Cor 1:29-31; 2
Cor 10:17).

"What he as a Jew had thought was

righteousness, he now realizes to be the very
essence of sin, for his pride in his own
righteousness (Phil 3:9) had blinded him to the
revelation of the divine righteousness in Christ.
Only the divine intervention on the Damascus
Road shattered his pride and self-righteousness
and brought him to a humble acceptance of the
righteousness of God." (13)

The preceding discussion of Paul's background experience of

the Law, helps us to appreciate the radical change that
occurred in his understanding of the Law. Before his
conversion, Paul understood the Law like a Pharisee, that is,
as the external observance of commandments in order to
gain salvation (2 Cor 5:16-17). After his conversion, he came
to view the Law from the perspective of the Cross of Christ,
who came "in order that the just requirements of the Law
might be fulfilled is us" through the enabling power of His
Spirit (Rom 8:4). From the perspective of the Cross, Paul
rejects the Pharisaic understanding of the Law as a means of
salvation, and affirms the Old Testament view of the Law as a
revelation of God's will for human conduct. This brief survey
of Paul's background view of the Law, provides the setting for
examining now Paul's basic teachings about the Law.

Part 2: Paul's View of the Law

This preceding brief survey of Paul's background view of the

Law, provides us the setting for examining now Paul's basic
teachings about the Law.

(1) The Law Reveals God's Will

It is important to note, first of all, that for Paul the Law is and
remains God's Law (Rom 7:22, 25). The Law was given by
God (Rom 9:4; 3:2), written by God (1 Cor 9:9; 14:21;
14:34), contains the will of God (Rom 2:17, 18), bears
witness to the righteousness of God (Rom 3:21), and is in
accord with the promises of God (Gal 3:21). Repeatedly and
explicitly Paul speaks of "the Law of God." "I delight in the
Law of God in my inmost self" (Rom 7:22); "I of myself serve
the Law of God with my mind" (Rom 7:25); the carnal mind
"does not submit to God's Law" (Rom 8:7). Elsewhere he
speaks of "keeping the commandments of God" (1 Cor
7:19) as being a Christian imperative.

Since God is the author of the Law, "the Law is holy, and the
commandment is holy and just and good" (Rom 7:12). The
Law is certainly included among "the oracles of God" that
were entrusted to the Jews (Rom 3:2). To the Jews was
granted the special privilege ("advantage") to be entrusted
with the Law of God (Rom 3:1-2). So "the giving of the Law"
is reckoned by Paul as one of the glorious privileges granted
to Israel (Rom 9:4). Statements such as these reflect Paul's
great respect for the divine origin and authority of God's Law.

Paul clearly recognizes the inherent goodness of the moral

principles contained in the Old Testament Law. The Law "is
holy and just and good" (Rom 7:12) because its ethical
demands reflect nothing else than the very holiness,
righteousness, and goodness of God Himself. This means
that the way people relate to the Law is indicative of the way
they relate to God Himself. The Law is also "spiritual" (Rom
7:14), presumably in the sense that it reflects the spiritual
nature of the Lawgiver and it can be internalized and
observed by the enabling power of the Spirit. Thus, only
those who walk "according to the Spirit" can fulfill "the just
requirements of the Law" (Rom 8:4).

The Law expresses the will of God for human life. However,
what the Law requires is not merely outward obedience, but a
submissive, loving response to God. Ultimately, the
observance of the Law requires a heart willing to love God
and fellow-beings (Rom 13:8). This was the fundamental
problem of Israel "who pursued the righteousness which is
based on Law" (Rom 9:31), that is to say, they sought to
attain a right standing before God through outward
obedience to God's commandments. The result was that the
people "did not succeed in fulfilling that Law" (Rom 9:31).
Why? Because their heart was not in it. The people sought to
pursue righteousness through external obedience to
commandments, rather than obeying the commandments out
of a faith-love response to God. "They did not pursue it
through faith, but as if it were based on works" (Rom 9:32).

The Law of God demands more than conformity to outward

regulations. Paul makes this point when he speaks of a man
who may accept circumcision and yet fail to keep the Law
(Rom 2:25). On the surface this appears to be a contradictory
statement because the very act of circumcision is obedience
to the Law. But Paul goes on explaining that true
circumcision is a matter of the heart, and not merely
something external and physical (Rom 2:28-29).

For Paul, as C. K. Barrett points out:

"obedience to the Law does not mean only

carrying out the detailed precepts written in the
Pentateuch, but fulfilling that relation to God to
which the Law points; and this proves in the last
resort to be a relation not of legal obedience but
of faith." (14)

The failure to understand this important distinction that Paul

makes between legalistic and loving observance of the Law,
has led many to wrongly conclude that the apostle reject the
validity of the Law, when in reality he rejects only its unlawful
use.
(2) Christ Enables Believers to Obey the Law

For Paul the function of Christ's redemptive mission is to

enable believers to live out the principles of God's Law in
their lives, and not to abrogate the Law, as many Christians
mistakenly believe. Paul explains that in Christ, God does
what the Law by itself could not do, namely, He empowers
believers to live according to the "just requirements of the
Law." "For God has done what the Law, weakened by the
flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in
order that the just requirements of the Law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit" (Rom 8:3-4).

The new life in Christ enables the Christian to keep the Law,
not as an external code, but as a loving response to God.
This is the very thing that the Law by itself cannot do,
because being an external standard of human conduct, it
cannot generate a loving response in the human heart. By
contrast, "Christ's love compels us" (2 Cor 5:14) to respond
to Him by living according to the moral principles of God's
Law. Our love response to Christ fulfills the Law, because love
will not commit adultery, or lie or steal or covet, or harm
one's neighbor (Rom 13:8-10).

The permanence of the Law is reflected in Paul's appeal to

specific commandments as the norm for Christian conduct.
To illustrate how the principle of how love fulfills the Law,
Paul cites several specific commandments: "The
commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall
not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any
other commandment, are summed up in the sentence, 'You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to
a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law" (Rom
13: 9-10).

His reference to "any other commandment" presupposes the

rest of the Ten Commandments, since love fulfills not only the
last six commandments that affect our relationship with
fellow-beings, but also the first four commandments that
govern our relationship with God. For example, love fulfills
the Sabbath commandment because it motivate Christians to
truly love the Lord by giving priority to Him in their thinking
and living during the hours of the Sabbath.

Central to Paul's understanding of the Law is the Cross of

Christ. From this perspective, he both negates and affirms
the Law. Negatively, the Apostle repudiates the Law as the
basis of justification: "if justification were through the Law,
then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal 2:21).

Positively, Paul teaches that the Law is "spiritual, good, holy,

just" (Rom 7:12, 14, 16; 1 Tim 1:8) because it exposes sin
and reveals God's ethical standards. Thus, he states that
Christ came "in order that the just requirements of the Law
might be fulfilled in us" through the dynamic power of His
Spirit "(Rom 8:4).

Three times Paul states: "neither circumcision counts for

anything nor uncircumcision" and each time he concludes
this statement with a different phrase: "but keeping the
commandments of God . . . but faith working through love . .
. but a new creation" (1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6; 6:15). The
parallelism suggests that Paul equates the keeping of God's
commandments with a working faith and a new life in Christ,
which is made possible through the enabling power of the
Holy Spirit.

(3) The Law is Established by the Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Christ's ministry enables His Spirit to set us free from the

tyranny of sin and death (Rom 8:2) and to re-establish the
true spiritual character of the Law in our hearts. In Romans 8
Paul explains that what the Law, frustrated and abused by sin
could not accomplished, Christ has triumphantly
accomplished by taking upon himself the condemnation of
our sins (Rom 8:3). This Christ has done, not to release us
from the obligation to observe the Law, but "in order that the
just requirements of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit"
(Rom 8:4).

The Spirit establishes God's Law in our hearts by setting us

free from tampering with God's commandments and from
"boasting" of presumptuous observance (Rom 2:23; 3:27;
4:2). The Spirit establishes the Law by pointing us again and
again to Christ who is the goal of the Law (Rom 10:4). The
Spirit establishes the Law by setting us free to obey God as
our "Father" (Rom 8:5) in sincerity. The Spirit enables us to
recognize in God's Law the gracious revelation of His fatherly
will for His children. The final establishment of God's Law in
our hearts will not be realized until the coming of Christ when
the "revealing of the sons of God" will take place (Rom
8:19).

The slogan of "New Covenant Christians" "Not under Law but

under love" can hardly increase the amount of true love in
the world, because love without Law soon degenerates in
deceptive sentimentality. E. C. Cranfield perceptively
observes that:

"while we most certainly need the general

command to love (which the Law itself provides in
Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), to save us
from understanding the particular
commandments in a rigid, literalistic and pedantic
manner, we also need the particular
commandments into which the Law breaks down
the general obligation of love, to save us from the
sentimentality and self-deception to which we all
are prone." (15)

(4) The Law Reveals Sin as Sin

Being a revelation of God's will for mankind, the Law reveals

the nature of sin as disobedience to God. Paul explains that
"through the Law comes the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20),
because the Law causes people to recognize their sins and
themselves as sinners. It is evident that this important
function of the Law could hardly have terminated by Christ,
since the need to acknowledge sin in one's life is
fundamental to the life of Christians today as it was for the
Israelites of old.

By showing people how their actions are contrary to the

moral principles that God has revealed, the Law increases sin
in the sense that it makes people more conscious of
disobeying definite commandments. This is what Paul has in
mind when he says: "Law came in, to increase the trespass"
(Rom 5:20; cf. Gal 3:19). By making people conscious of
disobeying definite commandments, the Law makes increases
the awareness of transgressions (Rom 4:15b).

The Law not only heightens the awareness of sin, but also
increases sin by providing an opportunity to deliberately
transgress a divine command. This is what Paul's suggests in
Romans 7:11: "For sin, finding opportunity in the
commandments, deceived me and by it killed me." The term
"deceived" is reminiscent of the creation story (Gen 3:13)
where the serpent found in God's explicit prohibition (Gen
2:17) the very opportunity he wanted to lead Adam and Eve
into deliberate disobedience and rebellion against God.

It is in this sense that "the power of sin is the Law" (1 Cor

15:56). "In the absence of Law sin is in a sense 'dead' (Rom
7:8), that is, relatively impotent; but when the Law comes,
then sin springs into activity (Rom 7:9-'sin revived'). And the
opposition which the Law offers to men's sinful desires has
the effect of stirring them up to greater fury." (16)

The sinful human desires, unrestrained by the influence of

the Holy Spirit, as Calvin puts it in his commentary on
Romans 7:5:

"break forth with greater fury, the more they are

held back by the restraints of righteousness."
(17)

Thus, the Law, in the absence of the Spirit "increases the

trespass" (Rom 5:20), by attacking sinful desires and
actions. To claim that "New Covenant Christians" are no
longer under Law in the sense that they no longer need the
Law to expose sin in their life, means to deny or cover up the
presence of sin. Sinful human beings need the Law to "come
to the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20), and needs a Saviour to
" have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col 1:14; cf.
Eph 1:7).

(4) Observance of the Law can Lead to Legalism

The goodness of the Law is sullied when it is used in a

wrongful way. Paul expresses this truth in 1 Timothy 1:8:
"Now we know that the Law is good, if one uses it Lawfully."
Contrary to what many believe, Paul affirms the validity and
goodness of the Law, but it must be used according to God's
intended purpose. This important distinction is ignored by
those who teach that "New Covenant Christians" are no
longer obligated to observe the moral Law given to Moses on
Mount Sinai, because they derive their moral principles from
the principle of love revealed by Christ. God has only one set
of moral principles. Paul openly and constantly condemns
the abuse, and not the proper use of God's Law.

The abuse is found in the attitude of the Judaizers who

promoted the works of the Law as a means to achieve self-
righteousness before God. Paul recognizes that the
observance of the Law can tempt people to use it unlawfully
as a means to establish their own righteousness before God.
He exposes as hopeless the legalist's confidence of seeking
to be justified in God's sight by works of the Law, because
"no human being will be justified in his sight by the works of
the Law, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin"
(Rom 3:20). Human beings in their fallen condition can never
fully observe God's Law.

It was incredible pride and self-deception that caused the

Jews to "rely upon the Law" (Rom 2:17) to establish their
own righteousness (Rom 10:3), when in reality they were
notoriously guilty of dishonoring God by transgressing the
very principles of His Law. "You who boast in the Law, do you
dishonor God by breaking the Law?" (Rom 2:24). This was
the problem with the Pharisees, who outwardly gave the
appearance to be righteous, Law abiding (Luke 16:12-15;
18:11-12), but inwardly they were polluted, full of iniquity,
and spiritually dead (Matt 23:27-28).

The Pharisaic mentality found its way in the primitive church

among those who refused to abandon the unlawful use of
God's Law. They failed to recognize that Christ's redemptive
accomplishments brought to an end those ceremonial parts
of the Law, like circumcision, that foreshadowed His person
and work. They wanted to "compel the Gentiles to live like
Jews" (Gal 2:14). These Judaizers insisted that in order to be
saved, the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and to observe
the covenantal distinctiveness of the Mosaic Law (Acts 15:1).
In other words, the offer of salvation by grace had to be
supplemented with the observance of Jewish ceremonies.
Paul was no stranger to the attitude of the Judaizers toward
the Law of Moses, because he held the same view himself
prior to his conversion. He was brought up as a Pharisee and
trained in the Law at the feet of Gamaliel (Phil 3:5; Acts 22:3).
He describes himself as "extremely zealous for the
traditions of my fathers" (Gal 1:14). From the perspective of
a person who is spiritually dead, Paul could claim that as far
as " legalistic righteousness" was concerned, he was "
faultless" (Phil 3:6; NIV).

After his conversion Paul discovered that he had been

deceived into believing that he was spiritually alive and
righteous, when in reality he was spiritually dead and
unrighteous. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Paul
recognized that "having a righteousness of my [his] own,
based on Law" (Phil 3:9), was an illusion typical of the
Pharisaic mentality. Such a mentality is reflected in the rich
young ruler's reply to Jesus: "Teacher, all these I have
observed from my youth" (Mark 10:20). The problem with
this mentality is that it reduced righteousness to compliance
with Jewish oral Law, which Jesus calls "the tradition of
men" (Mark 7:8), instead of recognizing in God's Law the
absolute demand to love God and fellow-beings. When the
Holy Spirit brought home to Paul's consciousness the
broader implications of God's commandments, it killed his
self-righteous complacency. "I was once alive apart from [a
true understanding of] the Law, but when the
commandment came, sin revived and I died" (Rom 7:9).

In his epistles Paul reveals his radical rejection, not of the

Law, but of legalism. He recognizes that the attempt to
establish one's righteousness by legalistic observance of the
Law, ultimately blinds a person to the righteousness which
God has made available as free gift through Jesus Christ (cf.
Rom 10:3). This was the problem with the legalism which
prevailed among the Jews of Paul's time, namely, the failure
to recognize that observance of the Law by itself, without the
acceptance of Christ, who is the goal of the Law, results in
slavery. Thus, Paul strongly opposes the false teachers who
were troubling the Galatians churches, because they were
promoting circumcision as a way of salvation without Christ.
By so doing they were propagating the legalistic notion that
salvation is by works rather than by faith, or we might say, it
is a human achievement rather than a divine gift.

By promoting salvation through the observance of

ceremonies like circumcision, these false teachers were
preaching a "different Gospel" (Gal 1:6), which in reality was
no Gospel at all (Gal 1:7-9), because salvation is a divine gift
of grace through Christ's atoning sacrifice. With this in mind,
Paul warns the Galatian Christians: "Mark my words! I, Paul,
tell you that if you let yourself be circumcised, Christ will be
of no value to you all. . . . You who are trying to be justified
by Law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen
from grace" (Gal 5:2, 4; NIV). It is evident that what Paul
opposes is the unlawful use of the Law, that is, the attempt to
gain acceptance with God by performing rituals like
circumcision, thus ignoring the gracious provision of
salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

(6) The Law Was Never Intended to Be A Means of Salvation

After his conversion Paul understood that the Old Testament

Law was never intended to be legalistic in character, that is, a
means to earn salvation. From his personal experience he
learned that he could not gain self-merit or justification
before God by faithfully obeying the Law. Gradually he
understood that the function of the Law is to reveal the
nature of sin and the moral standard of human conduct, but
not to provide a way of salvation through human obedience.

This truth is expressed in Galatians 2:19 where Paul says:

"For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to
God". Paul acknowledges that it was the Law itself, that is,
his new understanding of the function of the Law, that taught
him not to seek acceptance before God through Law-works.
The Law was never intended to function as a way of salvation,
but to reveal sin and to point to the need of a Savior. This was
especially true of the promises, prophecies, ritual ordinances,
and types of the Mosaic Law, which pointed forward to the
Savior and His redeeming work. In the great Bible lesson of
all time, Christ expounded "beginning with Moses and all the
Prophets, . . . what was said in all the Scriptures concerning
himself" (Luke 24:27).

Paul insists that the Mosaic Law did not disannul the promise
of salvation God made to Abraham (Gal 3:17, 21). Rather, the
Law was added "till the offspring should come to whom the
promise had been made" (Gal 3:19). The function of the
Mosaic Law was not soteriological but typological, that is, it
was given not to provide a way of salvation through external
ceremonies, but to point the people to the Savior to come,
and to the moral principles by which they ought to live.

(7) The Law Pointed to the Savior to Come

The typological function of the Law was manifested especially

through what is known as the "ceremonial Law," the
redemptive rituals like circumcision, sacrifices, sanctuary
services, priesthood, all of which foreshadowed the work and
the person of Christ. Paul refers to this aspect of the Mosaic
Law when he says that "the Law was our tutor . . . to Christ,
that we may justified by faith" (Gal 3:24; NASB). Here Paul
sees the Mosaic Law as pointing to Christ and as teaching the
same message of justification contained in the Gospel. The
tutor or schoolmaster to which Paul alludes in Galatians
3:24-25 is most likely the ceremonial Law whose rituals
typified Christ's redemptive ministry. This is indicated by the
fact that Paul was engaged in a theological controversy with
the Judaizers who made circumcision a requirement of
salvation (Gal 2:3-4; 5:2-4).

When Paul speaks of the Law as pointing to Christ and

teaching that justification comes through faith in Christ (Gal
3:24), it is evident that he was thinking of the sacrificial
ordinances that typified the Messianic redemption to come.
This was also true of circumcision that pointed to the
"putting off of the body of flesh," that is, the moral renewal to
be accomplished by Christ. "In him you were circumcised
with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the
body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ" (Col 2:11). The
moral principles of the Ten Commandments, like "you shall
not steal," hardly represented the redemptive work of Christ.

Paul insists that now that Christ, the object of our faith, has
come, we no longer need the tutorship aspect of the Mosaic
Law that pointed to Christ (Gal 3:25). By this Paul did not
mean to negate the continuity and validity of the moral Law
in general. This is indicated by the fact he explicitly affirms in
1 Corinthians 7:19: "For neither circumcision counts for
anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the
commandments of God." Usually Paul does not distinguish
between the ethical and ceremonial aspects of the Law, but in
passages such as this the distinction is abundantly clear.
Commenting on this text, Eldon Ladd notes:

"Although circumcision is a command of God and

a part of the Law, Paul sets circumcision in
contrast to the commandments, and in doing so
separates the ethical from the ceremonial-the
permanent from the temporal." (18)

The failure to make such a distinction has led many

Christians to mistakenly conclude that Paul teaches the
abrogation of the Law in general as a rule for the Christian
life. This conclusion is obviously wrong, because Paul
presents "the commandments of God" to the Gentiles as a
moral imperative, while he adamantly rejects the ceremonial
ordinances, such as circumcision, for these were a type of
the redemption accomplished by Christ (1 Cor 7:19).

For Paul the typological function of the ceremonial Law as

well as the unlawful legalistic use of the Law, came to an end
with Christ; but the Law as an expression of the will of God is
permanent. The believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit is
energized to live according to "the just requirements of the
Law" (Rom 8:4).

The starting point of Paul's reflection about the Law is that

atonement for sin and salvation come only through Christ's
death and resurrection, and not by means of the Law. This
starting point enables Paul, as well stated by Brice Martin:

"to make the distinction between the Law as a way

of salvation and as a norm of life, between the
Law as it encounters those in the flesh and those
in the Spirit, between the Law as a means of
achieving-self-righteousness and as an
expression of the will of God to be obeyed in faith.
. . . The moral Law remains valid for the believer."
(19)

Part 3: A Look at Some Misunderstood Texts

Several Pauline passages are often used to support the
contention that the Law was done away with Christ and
consequently it is no longer the norm of Christian conduct. In
view of the limited scope of this installment, we will examine
the five major passages frequently appealed to in support of
the abrogation view of the Law.

(1) Romans 6:14: "Not Under Law"

Romans 6:14 is perhaps the most frequently quoted Pauline

text to prove that Christians have been released from the
observance of the Law. The text reads: "For sin will have no
dominion over you, since you are not under Law but under
grace." The common interpretation of this text is that
Christians are no longer under the Mosaic Law as a rule of
conduct because their moral values derive from the principle
of love revealed by Christ.

This is a serious misreading of this passage because there is

nothing in the immediate context to suggest that Paul is
speaking of the Mosaic Law. In the immediate and larger
context of the whole chapter, Paul contrasts the dominion of
sin with the power of Christ's grace. The antithesis suggests
that "under Law" simply means that Christians are no longer
"under the dominion of sin" and consequently "under the
condemnation of the Law," because the grace of Christ has
liberated them from both of them.

To interpret the phrase "under Law" to mean "under the

economy of the Mosaic Law," would imply that believers who
were under the Mosaic economy were not the recipient of
grace. Such an idea is altogether absurd. Furthermore, as
John Murray perceptively observes,

"Relief from the Mosaic Law as an economy does

not of itself place persons in the category of being
under grace." (20)

"The 'dominion of Law' from which believers have

been 'released' is forthrightly explained by Paul to
be the condition of being 'in sinful nature,' being
'controlled' by 'sinful passions . . . so that we
bore fruit for death' (Rom 7:1-6). From this
spiritual bondage and impotence, the marvellous
 grace of God, through the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, has set believers free; but it has
not set them free to sin against God's moral
principles." (21)

Since "under grace" means under God's undeserved favor,

the contrast with "under Law" presupposes the idea of being
under God's disfavor or condemnation pronounced by the
Law. Thus, in Romans 6:14 Paul teaches that believers should
not be controlled by sin (cf. Rom 6:1-2, 6, 11-13), because
God's grace has liberated them from the dominion of sin and
the condemnation of the Law.

In this passage, as John Murray brings out:

"there is an absolute antithesis between the

potency and provision of the Law and the potency
and provision of grace. Grace is the sovereign will
and power of God coming to expression for the
deliverance of men from the servitude of sin.
Because this is so, to be 'under grace' is the
guarantee that sin will not exercise the
dominion-'sin will not lord it over you, for ye are
not under Law but under grace." (22)

Not Under the Condemnation of the Law

Paul expresses the same thought in Romans 7 where he says:

"Brethren, you have died to the Law through the body of
Christ . . . Now we are discharged from the Law, dead to that
which held us captive . . .(Rom 7:4, 6). The meaning here is
that through Christ's death, Christians have been discharged
from the condemnation of the Law and from all the legalistic
misunderstanding and misuse of the Law. To put it differently,
Christians have died to the Law and have been discharged
from it in so far as it condemns them and held them in
bondage as a result of its unlawful, legalistic use. But they
are still "under the Law" in so far as the Law reveals to them
the moral principles by which to live.

This interpretation is supported by the immediate context

where Paul affirms that "the Law is holy, and the
commandment is holy and just and good" (Rom 7:12). Again
he says: "we know that the Law is spiritual" (Rom 7:14). And
again, "So then, I of myself serve the Law of God with my
mind, but with my flesh I serve the Law of sin" (Rom 7:25).
These statements clearly indicate that for Paul the Law is and
remains the Law of God, which reveals the moral standard of
Christian conduct.

Surprisingly, even Rudolf Bultmann, known for his radical

rejection of the cardinal doctrines of the New Testament,
reaches the same conclusion:

"Though the Christian in a certain sense is no

longer 'under Law' (Gal 5:18; Rom 6:14), that
does not mean that the demands of the Law are
no longer valid for him; for the agape-[love]
demanded of him is nothing else than the
fulfillment of the Law (Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14)."
(23)

The point is well-made, because we have found that in

Romans 13:8-13 Paul explains how love fulfills the Law by
citing four specific commandments and by including "any
other commandment."

In the light of these considerations we conclude that far from

dismissing the authority of the Law, Paul teaches that
believers should not transgress the Law simply because
God's grace has "set [them] free from sin" (Rom 6:18). It is
only the sinful mind that "does not submit to God's Law"
(Rom 8:7). But Christians have the mind of the Spirit who
enables them to fulfill "the just requirements of the Law"
(Rom 8:4). Thus, Christians are no longer "under the Law," in
the sense that God's grace has released them from the
dominion of sin and the condemnation of the Law, but they
are still "under Law" in the sense that they are bound to
govern their lives by its moral principles. Thanks to God's
grace believers have "become obedient from the heart to
the standard of teachings" (Rom 6:17) and moral principles
contained in God's Law.

This installment continues in Part 2.

In Part 2 Dr. Sam discusses more misunderstood texts
and the Law as it relates to the Gentiles.
Footnotes

1. Dale Ratzlaff, Sabbath in Crisis (Applegate, California,

1990), pp. 200, 218, 219
2. Ibid., p. 49
3. Ibid., p. 74
4. Ibid., p. 73
5. Ibid., p. 181
6. Walter C. Kaiser, "The Law as God's Gracious Guidance
for the Promotion of Holiness," in Law, The Gospel, and
the Modern Christian (Grand Rapids, 1993), p. 178
7. C.E.B. Cranfield, "St. Paul and the Law," Scottish
Journal of Theology 17 (March 1964), pp. 43-44
8. A convenient survey of those scholars (Albert
Schweitzer, H. J. Schoeps, Earnest Käseman, F.F. Bruce,
Walter Gutbrod) who argue that the Law is no longer
valid for Christians, is provided by Brice Martin's Christ
and the Law in Paul (Leiden, Holland, 1989), pp. 55-58
9. Gerhard von Rad, "Zao," Theological Dictionary of the
New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel (Grand Rapids,
1974), pp. 845
10. George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament
(Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1974), p. 497
11. H. Kleinknech, Bible Key Words (Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1962), p. 69
12. Pike Aboth 2:7. For other references, see H. Kleinknech
(note 11), p. 76.
13. George Eldon Ladd (note 11), p. 501
14. C.K. Barrett, Commentary on the Book of Romans (New
York, 1957), p. 58.
15. C.E.B. Cranfield (note 7), p. 47.
16. Ibid., pp. 66-67
17. John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the
Roamsn and to the Thessalonians, trans. R. Mackenzie
(Edinburg, 1961), p. 141.
18. George Eldon Ladd (note 10), p. 541
19. Brice L. Martin, Christ and the Law in Paul (Leiden,
Holland, 1989), pp. 53, 68.
20. John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1982), p. 229.
21. Greg L. Bahnsen, "The Theonomic Reformed Approach
to Law and Gospel", in Law, the Gospel, and the Modern
 Christian (Grand Rapids, 1993), p.106
22. John Murray (note 20), p. 229
23. Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament (New
York, 1970), vol. 1, p. 262.

[Installment #16] | [Installment #17-Part 2]

This article taken from the Bible Study Web Site at http://www.biblestudy.org/