THE CHRISTIAN AND THE LAW

“Can a Christian get a tattoo?”  “Do we have to keep the Sabbath?”  Questions like these are common as people seek to understand how the Mosaic Law relates to our lives as Christians.

The Christian’s relationship to the Old Testament Law has a long history. As early as Augustine, the law was divided into moral commandments and ceremonial commandments, with the idea that the ceremonial laws including rituals and sacrifices were rendered obsolete, but the moral laws (such as the 10 commandments) were eternal and binding for Christians. Thomas Aquinas further developed this idea, and it was adopted and articulated by John Calvin in his work Institutes of the Christian Religion.  But is this biblical?
 
Even those who try to divide the Law and make it binding disagree on whether commandments like “Keeping the Sabbath” (one of the 10 commandments) is a moral law that Christians should keep – they usually say “yes, but that one was specifically overturned in the New Testament.”  Ultimately, if God commands someone to do something (which He did in every command in the Old Testament) the command becomes a moral issue for the one to whom God gave the command.

The Bible itself never divides the law…to the contrary, it treats the Law as a unified whole. James 2:10 says that whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles in one point has become guilty of all.  It doesn’t specify which part of the Law…it says if you don’t follow it, you’re a lawbreaker.  Matthew 5:17-18 says that Jesus came to fulfill the Law, and that the smallest letter or stroke would not pass until all was accomplished.
 
Jesus completely fulfilled the Law.  He was “without sin” (Heb 4:15). Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”  Paul explains the Christian’s relationship to the Law in Romans 7.  Since we are identified with Christ’s death when we trust Him for salvation, we are “released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”  The analogy Paul uses is that of a marriage – that if a woman’s husband dies, she is free to marry another.  The “law” or “covenant” between her and her husband is broken by the death of one of the parties.

In our case, the “husband” the church is married to is Jesus. The “old husband” is the Law. Note here that the character of the husband hasn’t changed…God gave the Law, and we are now joined to Jesus (God the Son) who is the exact representation of His nature. Theologically speaking, Jesus is the “same stuff” (Greek: homoousis) as God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  We can learn a lot about God’s character and desire for mankind from the Old Testament law, which describes some of the behavior which God considers abominable. We are now under grace – under the “law of Christ” (1 Cor 9:21).

How should this truth work it’s way out in our lives?

• Romans 3:20 suggests that no one can achieve righteousness through works of the Law.  If we try to achieve sanctification by works of the Law rather than through abiding in Christ, we will live a frustrating Christian life (Romans 7:13-25, Gal 5:1).
• Walk by the Spirit!  (Galatians 5:16-18, 22) The Christian life is more about pursuing a person than following rules.  As you face the right direction and walk with the intention and aim of pleasing Christ, you’ll abide in His word and experience the freedom and abundant life He came to give you.