“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5: 17-19). Christ explains that he came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. He informs us that the one who encourages the breaking of even the smallest commandment of the Law would be considered as the least in the kingdom of heaven. If so, is it necessary to obey even the smallest of the commandments? While such questions trouble us, a man who came after Christ teaches clearly that the Law does not bind us. “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the Law; rather, through the Law we become conscious of sin” (Romans 3:20). “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under Law” (Galatians 5:2, 18). “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day” (Colossians 2: 16).
(2) What is clear from the above quoted verses is that Paul not only exposes the redundancy of the Law, but also deems it unnecessary to obey such commandments as circumcision and keeping of the Sabbath. If so, according to Christ, would Paul be considered as the least in the kingdom of heaven? That’s impossible since it is the same Paul whom Christ declares as his chosen instrument to bear his name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel (Acts 9:15).
(3) Superficially, the views of Paul and those of Christ appear contradictory. This is one reason why there are some odd Christian denominations that refuse to accept Paul as an Apostle. This is regrettable because there is actually no contradiction between Christ and Paul. Hidden deep inside what appears superficially to be a contradiction is one of the most important doctrines of Christianity. It is absolutely essential to comprehend it correctly. Even during Paul’s times many misunderstood this doctrine and condemned Paul, accusing him of encouraging sin (Romans 3:8). Paul says that this can be comprehended only with a spiritual mind. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2: 12, 14).
(4) Towards the end of this issue, we will consider how aptly Paul’s above-quoted message to the Corinthian church fits our discussion to the dot. Now, let us ponder over what Jesus said in Matthew 5 – “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished”. Yes! The Law needs to be fulfilled to be nullified. That is the only condition stated by Jesus. And later on we find Paul stating that the Law is not applicable to the church. If so, has the Law been fulfilled? Yes, Jesus fulfilled the Law. How? He informs us that He came to fulfil the Law in Matthew 5. Later, when he hung on the cross, he said “it is fulfilled” (John 19:28). Thus, we see that Jesus fulfilled the Law in his lifetime. What we need to understand from this is that since Christ fulfilled the Law, the Law stands nullified. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8: 3,4).
(5) The Law could not be fulfilled by mankind since it was in a fallen state. Therefore, mankind could not attain justification. As Paul aptly puts it, though the mind desired what was just, sinful flesh obstructed the attainment of it (Romans 7:18). This was indeed a difficult state of affairs since man was unable to do good even when he aspired to do so – “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me… What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:17-24). Truly as Paul says, the whole of mankind hoped for a savior to rescue them from the sinful flesh that enslaved them. The next verse puzzles many: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the Law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the Law of sin” (Romans 7:25). Why does Paul praise God here? For what is there to praise God, if in the spirit Paul serves the Law of God but in the flesh he serves sin? Wasn’t this the same state that has always existed from the beginning? So, why is he praising God suddenly? To understand this we need to read further: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Now it is understandable why Paul is praising God! There is no condemnation now, even though the former state still exists (Romans 7:11). Paul explains how this is possible in these verses: For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the Law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:2-4). Since God knew that mankind in its sinful flesh could never fulfil the Law, He sent his only begotten Son in the image of man to condemn sin. This was possible because Christ gave his life as a ransom sacrifice in place of Adam, such that Adam and his descendants escaped from the bondage of sin (Romans 5: 12, 15). It was in this way that all benefitted from a justification that could have otherwise been attained only by obedience to the entire Law. This is what Paul tries to explain in the aforementioned verses. Until the Law is fulfilled it can’t be abolished, said Jesus. Therefore, now that the Law is fulfilled, it is abolished. The Bible states this very clearly here: “by abolishing in his flesh the Law with its commandments and regulations” (Ephesians 2:15); “Having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way” (Colossians 2:14).
(6) These verses reveal very clearly the abolishment of the Law. Even then, although the Law stands abolished, there are some who consider the Ten Commandments special. And that’s why, they say, it was written by God on stone and given to Moses. This is contrary to biblical truth. The Bible does not declare anywhere that the Ten Commandments are more special than the rest of the Law. On the contrary, Paul considers one of the Ten Commandments – the keeping of the Sabbath as unimportant (Colossians 2:16). Paul very directly states the end of the relevance of the Ten Commandments: “You show that you are a letter from Christ… written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts… a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life… if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory...”( 2 Corinthians 3:3-7). Indeed, all the commandments of the Law had equal importance. That is why James says that if we were to break just one then it would be as though we broke them all (James 2:10). Now we can appreciate how much of a burden the Law must have been to man. If a man were to keep all the commandments except just one, he still would have been regarded as one who had broken ALL of them. That is why the Law became a curse to man. We can understand the anguish of Paul when he says: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
(7) Thanks be to God! He sacrificed his son and thus liberated us from the heavy burden of the Law. This is a free gift for us through Christ. Now, let us discuss 1 Corinthians which we had promised to discuss towards the end. Paul speaks of this same gift here: “…now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we may know the things freely given to us by God…” (1 Corinthians 2:12). ‘Things freely given to us’, is the right translation. Yes, God has freely justified us. The justification we could not achieve by fulfilling the Law, God gave it to us freely. This is our faith (Colossians 1:21-23). And Paul says that the people of this world would consider this as madness (1 Corinthians 2:14). It is a puzzle to them as to how we attain justification freely, since people of pagan religions do tough deeds and chant prayers to achieve righteousness. Though our flesh still continues in sin (until the end we live in this sinful body – 1 John 1:8-10), our mind is renewed and we worship God in the spirit (Romans 7:25, 2 Corinthians 4:16). It is impossible for the worldly people to understand this since they can only believe what is visible to their natural eyes.
(8) There is no doubt that the Law has been completely fulfilled and abolished. Therefore, there is no need to obey the commandments in the Law. That doesn’t mean that we are at liberty to do anything we want. After listing certain activities as inexpedient (1 Corinthians 6: 9-11), Paul states: Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). Thus, there are a few activities listed as non-beneficial in the New Testament. If we were to indulge in such activities we would hamper our spiritual growth. They would lead us to second death. Therefore, we should not indulge in such activities. Whenever we sin due to fleshly weakness, we need to repent, ask for forgiveness and immediately come into Christ. A list of such non-beneficial activities has been furnished at the end of this chapter. Not only these, but each person must be careful to look out for any kind of activity that could lead one away from spiritual growth. To summarize, we come to know through the Law what sin is. Therefore, breaking the Law is sin (Romans 5:13, 7:7). As long as we do not obey all the commandments in the Law, we are all sinners. We have been freed from this sin only by the sacrifice of Christ. We should never assume that we could ever become justified by our own efforts in keeping the Law. Glory be to God! Our salvation is purely by His grace.
(9) This is the covenant of Christ – the covenant of love. (James 2:8). We are also bound to show such a boundless love to others (Galatians 5:14).
Non-Beneficial Activities
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Judging others, Pride in self-righteousness
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Romans 2:1-3, 14:13, James 4: 11,12, Matthew 7:1, Luke 6: 37- 42, 1 John 1:8-10, Matthew 7:3-5 |
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Hard heartedness, Unbelieving heart
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Romans 2:5, Hebrews 3:12, Hebrews 12:15,16, 2 Corinthians 12:21 |
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Murder, Theft, Lies
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1 Corinthians 5:11, Romans 2:21, 1 Corinthians 6:10, Matthew 5:33-37 |
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Sexual immorality
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Roman 2:22, Romans 13:13,1 Corinthians 5:11, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3
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Idolatry
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Romans 2:22, 1 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 10:7 |
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Lack spiritual zeal, Spiritual/Worldly laziness
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Romans 12:11, Hebrews 10:32-39, 1 Thessalonians 5:14, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 |
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Pride and Arrogance
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Romans 12:16, Romans 12:3, 2 Corinthians 12:1, Philippians 2:3, James 4:16
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Anger, Revenge
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2 Corinthians 12:20, Ephesians 4:26, Colossians 3:8, Matthew 5:22, Romans 12:19, Romans 12:17, 1 Peter 3:9
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Drunken orgies, Unwholesome talk, Indulging in coarse jokes
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Romans 13:13, Galatians 5:21, Ephesians 5:18, 1Corinthians 5:11, 1Corinthians 6:10, Ephesians 4:29, Ephesians 5:4, Colossians 3:8, 1Timothy 6:20, Titus 3:9, James 3:5,6
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Jealousy, Being silent when there is injustice being perpetrated
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Romans 13:13, 1 Corinthians 5: 11-13, Galatians 5:20, Ephesians 5:3, Colossians 3:5 |
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Selfish desires and ambitions, Lust for money, Hypocrisy
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Romans 15:1, 1 Corinthians 9:26, Galatians 5:20, Philippians 2:3, 1Timothy 6:10, , Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 6:19, 1 Peter 2:1, , Matthew 6:5,16, Matthew 7:5
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Slander, Grumbling
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1Corinthians 5:11, 1Corinthians 10:10, 2 Corinthians 12:20, James 4:11 |
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Giving up the fellowship of the church
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Hebrews 10:25, 1 Corinthians 11:17 |
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Disobey the rules of the church, Disrespect the cup of the Lord
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1Corinthians 14:37,38, 1Corinthians 11:27 |
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Yoking together with unbelievers
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2 Corinthians 6:14, James 4:4, 1 John 2:15-17 |
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Enmity, Division |
Galatians 5:20, 2 Corinthians 12:20, 1 John 2:9 ,11, 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:15, 1 John 4:20, Matthew 5:22, Titus 3:10, Romans 13:13
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Passing up a Good deed that can be done
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James 4:17 |