Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
When we are born again, we are made free from the Law of sin and death. Although we are free from the Law, we must still resist the temptation to live by it.
Hebrews 8:13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
By Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, He has made the Law of sin and death obsolete.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The strength of sin is the Law. If we continue living legalistically (by the Law), instead of fully embracing the liberty we have under grace, we strengthen sin’s influence over our lives.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
The implication here is that if we insist on living by the Law, sin will again gain dominion over us even though we are under the grace of the New Covenant.
Romans 7:7-12 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Living by the Law allows sin to produce evil desires in us. Which, in turn, gives the enemy more entry points into our thought life. The Law is the primary way the enemy uses the word of God against us.
Verse 11 states that sin uses the Law to take the opportunity to deceive me and eventually kill me.
It is impossible to be justified by keeping the Law. It is impossible to be sanctified by keeping the Law. In fact, the Law is a hindrance to our sanctification.
Galatians 3:19-25 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. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
The purpose of the Law is not to make us righteous, but to magnify sin to expose our transgressions and see our need for a Savior. The Law was actually made to be broken so man could see the magnitude of his fallen condition. By following the Law, we were guarded against judgment every year by the sacrifices of animals. We are no longer being guarded by the law.
The law was our tutor until we came to Christ. The tutor is a teacher. So, what does the Law teach us? It teaches us that we can never meet the requirements of righteousness and holiness in our own strength and effort. Now that we are in Christ, we are no longer under the tutelage of the Law, and we are made righteous and holy in Christ’s strength and His efforts if we believe in Him and remain in Him.
Colossians 2:13-15 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Jesus wiped out the Law with its stringent requirements, which were against us. The Law was not for us, it was contrary to us. Jesus nailed the Law to the cross.
If we continue to live by the Law, we empower sin and arm principalities and powers of the enemy with the very tools they need to shipwreck our faith. We must die to the Law as much as we have died to sin. The Law is not of Faith, and it is impossible to please God without Faith. So, God is not pleased when we live by the Law.
Galatians 2:16-21 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
We destroyed the power of Law and sin over our lives by accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior. If we insist on living by Law, we “build again those things which we destroyed, we willfully make ourselves a transgressor” by setting aside God’s grace.”
Galatians 3:10-14 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
James 2:8-10 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
We can’t live and walk by faith while remaining under the Law. If we try to live by the Law in even one point, we are obligated to fulfill all the requirements of the Law (even animal sacrifice).
1 Timothy 1:9-11 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
We are made righteous in the sight of God when we accept Jesus Christ’s substitutionary work. Keeping the Law can’t make us any more righteous than we already are. The Law is no longer made for us when we become righteous by faith in Christ. It doesn’t fit, it doesn’t make sense, and it sets aside, or “frustrates” the grace of God.
Galatians 4:21-31 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.”
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
This allegory tells us that we must cast out the Law if we are to receive our inheritance in Christ.
Romans 7:1-4 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
We are dead to the Law through the body of Christ, just as much as we are dead to sin. What happens when we insist on living by the Law after we have been born again?
We are legally married. We had a ceremony. We said our vows. But we never have the honeymoon to consummate the marriage. We are legally married, but we don’t become one flesh; we don’t truly become one with Christ by faith.
Galatians 5:1-4 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
We must stand fast in the liberty of New Testament grace and not entangle ourselves in Old Testament Law in even one point. If we do, we become estranged from Christ and fall from grace.
This is a terrible scenario, yet much of the Church is in this condition by practicing Old Testament Laws like circumcision, keeping a weekly sabbath, and tithing, just to name a few. When will the Church open her eyes and live by faith?
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