Topical Studies
God's Law Done Away
(From Forerunner Commentary)
|
Romans 6:12 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Paul is not saying the law is done away. Nor is he saying that grace gives us the right to live apart from the government of God. He really nails this down.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Grace Upon Grace
|
|
Romans 6:13-14 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Why should sin not have any dominion over us? Because we are under grace! Contrary to what these people were saying—that grace does away with law—Paul is saying that the very fact that we are under grace is what nails us to the floor, that we must obey the law! Why? Because grace makes us so obligated that we had better obey God. Our own acts, our conduct, have brought upon us the need for grace, and the fact that God has given it obligates us to keep His law.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Grace Upon Grace
|
|
1 Corinthians 14:34 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
An examination of the whole context reveals that God's law was Paul's sole authority. One could be misled by the word also, as if it were just an aside or a secondary confirmation. No, Paul relied on the law to guide him in his decision. But is he not the man who said that the law was "done away"? However, in I Corinthians 9, concerning the remuneration of the ministry, Paul's authority was again the law. Does God care only for oxen? No! Paul used that law to be applied to the New Testament ministry. Here, regarding order in church services, Paul again appeals to the law. All of this confirms that the Old Testament was written with the New Testament church in mind. Yes, it covered situations of immediate concern to people in the area and at the time in which it was written, but it is more concerned with the New Testament church, as Paul writes, "on whom the ends of the ages have come" (I Corinthians 10:11; see also Romans 15:4).
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 16)
|
|
Galatians 2:17-21 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This introduces us to another Protestant "ditch" we do not want to fall into. They assert that, because it is obvious that we cannot keep the law (because we sin from time to time), Christ kept it for us. "Christ did it all," they say. In so saying, they provide some with an excuse for not even trying to keep it and others with a justification for being passive and careless in their keeping of it. In these five verses, Paul begins to show that the law is far from being done away and that we have a serious obligation to give our all in obedience to it if Christ lives in us and the fruit of God's Spirit are to be produced in our lives.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 26)
|
|
Galatians 3:16-17 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Under the New Covenant, the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant are valid, and Abraham is our spiritual father, as it were. He is the model of the family, with whom God first made the covenant, and he obeyed God's voice (Genesis 26:5). He kept the commandments and the laws, and Abraham's children are going to do the same thing! Otherwise, they will not really be his children. Paul is not doing away with the law! He is simply saying that the law cannot justify us. We see here, by God's own witness, that Abraham lived up to the terms of the covenant. Because he did, it was passed on to Isaac for him to do as his father had done. The problem of transgressions in the Old Covenant was not resolved until the promised Seed, Christ, came. He lived perfectly, qualifying to be the payment for sin, and at the same time, He confirmed the promises that were made unto Abraham—and they were made absolutely and eternally binding. God then proposed the New Covenant that He had previously shown in prophecy (Jeremiah 31). God has presented it to all of mankind—not just to Abraham's physical descendants. It is not circumcision that makes one a part of this covenant. Rather, it is circumcision of the heart! The sign is repentance and faith in the sacrifice of the promised Seed, Jesus Christ. The receipt of the Holy Spirit is the seal; it authenticates what has occurred. It completes the making of the New Covenant with the individuals whom God calls. Nowhere does God say that the laws that define sin are done away. On the contrary, the One who made the New Covenant possible said that not one jot or tittle would pass from the law until all was fulfilled (Matthew 5:18). God's moral and spiritual laws have been from eternity, and an agreement between Him and mere man is not going to do away with them. God Himself would have to pass from existence for that to occur. In addition, the loving intent of those laws as they apply to human relationships is still valid.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 27)
|
|
Galatians 3:16-17 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Ceremonies identified Israel as a nation that was in the world but separate from all the other nations. It played a part in driving the Gentiles up the wall and building barriers between them. What makes the spiritual family that God is drawing us into separate and distinct from the world? God makes it clear: It is the way we live, not ceremonies or rituals! Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:53). God insured that the ceremonies could not be performed. He allowed the Temple and the altar to be destroyed, and scattered the Levites all over the world. Those three things were necessary for making sacrifices. In order to get the focus away from the nation of Israel and the Old Covenant, God made sure that they could not make those sacrifices. (1) They had to be made at the Temple. (2) They had to be made on one altar. And (3) it had to be done by the Levites, and, specifically, the family of Aaron. God got that out of the way because He wants people to focus on the way His children live! And His children live according to His law. If you do away with His law, you cannot live according to His law. You cannot show the characteristics of God unless you know the way that He lives, and He lives according to His law, which describes Him. Though God no longer requires ceremonies, this in no way means that the spiritual intent of those ceremonies is done away. Though we are no longer required to cut an animal's throat, bleed its blood out, and burn it on an altar—the intent, the stretching out of those principles, still applies. Thus, Jesus said in Matthew 18:9, "If your eye offend you, pluck it out." Jesus requires sacrifices so that we do not sin. Paul also said, "Put to death therefore your members which are on earth" (Colossians 3:5). He restates this in Romans 12:1 and Ephesians 5:2. The principle of sacrifice remains. This is why Jesus could say that not one jot or tittle of that law would pass until all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18). In the book of Galatians, the laws of God are hardly even in question except as they pertain to justification. Those laws that define sin, which guide us in the way of God, are just as binding as they ever have been, and they will remain so because God is using them to prepare us to live at one with Him and His Family.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 27)
|
|
Colossians 2:11-15 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
In verses 11 through 14, Paul shows how Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins and now our past sins, brought about by conforming to the ways, practices, and philosophies of this world, are completely blotted out and nailed to His cross. He reminds them that Christ has completely conquered all of the evil spirits who continue to rule this present, evil world and who inspire the pagan philosophies that had so influenced the Colossian society: "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" (verse 15).
Earl L. Henn (1934-1997)
Are the Sabbath and Holy Days Done Away?
|
|
Jude 1:3-4 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The mystery of lawlessness was already working (II Thessalonians 2:7). The false church appropriated the true church's central figure—its savior, Jesus Christ—but rejected the law of God and turned His grace into license (Jude 4; see Titus 1:16). By rejecting the law of God and inserting pagan beliefs, they really also rejected the central figure, Christ, as well, which is very interesting to consider. A dichotomy is produced. They accept the name of Christ, the central figure, the great hero, then turn right around and reject His law. It is double-mindedness, and yet people fall for it.
John W. Ritenbaugh
A Place of Safety? (Part 4)
|
XML RSS
feeds available
|
 |
The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment
Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. See what over 50,000 subscribers are already receiving each day.
Email Address:
|
We respect your privacy. Your email address will not be sold, distributed, rented, or in any way given out to a third party. We have nothing to sell. You may easily unsubscribe at any time. |
|
|
Printer-Friendly
E-mail this page
