The Law of Liberty

Freedom from sinToday, so many doctrines are spreading around the churches teaching that the law of liberty is a law of bondage.  The world looks at the church and the word of God as something laughable, and they scoff and continue in wickedness just as they did before the days of the flood when “the thoughts of men were continually evil”[Gen 6:5] until God’s spirit was rejected and “no longer was with men”[Gen 6:3]. 

A point comes where the people sin so much that it is continual.  And God calls this filling up the cup of your iniquity[Rev 18:6] until finally that cup overflows and becomes the wrath of God upon the earth[Rev 15:1]. 

Some today in the church are saying that there are only certain fragments of the law that are to be kept and that no one can keep it perfectly, or that the law was done away with and in this taking the writings of some to there own destruction.[2 Pet 3:16]. 

This will be a study and analysis as to what the bible says regarding the law in the new testament and what it reveals, and what it means to us today.  We will ask God and allow him to answer us by his word. 

 

What is a definition of sin in scripture?

1Jn 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW.

The Good News Bible puts it this way:   “Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God's law, because sin is a breaking of the law.”  Sin is breaking the law. 

What is the Penalty for breaking the law?

Eze 18:20  The soul that sinneth, it shall DIE.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is DEATH; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Note:  Sin is breaking the law, and the penalty for breaking the law is death. 

Is God willing to forgive us for breaking the law?

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US our SINS, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we are willing to give up sin he is faithful and just to pardon our sins. 

How willing is God to forgive us for breaking his law?

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Note:  Our penalty for breaking God’s law is death.  There is no way around this penalty.  Sin is so serious that God had to give up his perfect son.  One who was loved and adored in heaven, one who never would disobey his fathers commandment and “Did always the will of his father”.

After receiving the sacrifice of Christ to die in our place and accepting God’s grace and pardon for breaking God’s law.  Will the sinner continue to break God’s law knowingly?

Rom 6:1-2  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? GOD FORBID. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Jas 2:10  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Heb 10:26  For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

Note:  To the true converted sinner.  After understanding what sin is, the effect of sin, the death of God’s innocent son, the convert will hate the ways of the wicked.  Having true love the sinner will no longer willfully or knowingly break the law of God.

What is the law that we would not break, that is against us when we break it?

if you love me keep my commandmentsRom 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, THOU SHALL NOT COVET.

Paul is quoting the 10th commandment.  Paul is saying that he had not known sin except the law said “Thou shall not covet”.  Paul did not know sin except the law said “Thou shall not bear false witness”.   Paul did not know sin except the law said “Thou shall have no other Gods before you”.   Paul did not know sin except the law said “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.”   Sin is breaking the law.  And the law is against us when we break it. 

Did Jesus say anything about the law being changed?

Mat 5:17-19  THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus says “THINK NOT”, “Don’t let the thought enter your mind” that one tittle of the law is changed.  And if you teach men that it is then you will be in big trouble when you see him. 

What did Jesus actually do with the law? 

Isa 42:21  The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will MAGNIFY the law, and make it honorable.

Christ magnified the law.  He showed that the weightier matters of the law explaining that not only was there the letter of the law but the spirit of the law.  For instance the spirit of the law is love.  Christ said that “If you hate your brother you are a murderer”[John 3:15].  Or that even to lust is adultery. [Matt 5:27,28]

What does God’s law do for us?

Jas 1:23-25  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

The law is the reflection of what the perfect man is.  A reflection of the perfect character of Jesus who fulfilled the law.  The law is like a mirror so that we can look in it and see if there is any dirt on our face.   The law also protects us from many wicked things. 

Imagine a world where there is no law.  With no law there are no standards.  And everyone makes up there own standard.  Well in the law of the world there are many 1000s of laws, many that even contradict others such as new laws today in the United States which are unconstitutional.   However often such commandments that God has made such a “Bearing False Witness” and “Adultery” cannot be enforced by secular powers in this state of this world.   Nor would they be followed out of love, but merely by fear or force could the world enforce it. 

And this is not how God would have his people obey him.  It would then only become a dictatorship of force which is in violation of the heavenly principle of love which is the only way that the law is fulfilled. 

This law is the law of liberty, freedom to obey.  Liberty is contrary to force.  And so the law is in violation of the principles of Satan and after Eves disobedience, this world has become the example of disobeying the perfect law of liberty, and the example of what lieing, stealing, adultery, covetry, murder, disobedient to parents. 

What did Paul say would come in the last days because of ignorance to Gods law?

2Ti 3:1-4  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

All of this wickedness is inevitable without a standard. 

Is it keeping the law that will save us?

Rom 4:2  For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Eph 2:8-10  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in it.

Many take these words to mean we no longer keep the law after grace is come.  That we no longer do works.  But we can see that we do “good works” which God hath before ordained.  However it is not ourselves who do the works. 

Col 1:29  Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Jas 2:20-22  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

So it is that God works in us.  Not ourselves, and those works are works of faith. 

When faith is come do we no longer fulfill the law?

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, OBEYED;

Rom 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

What Justifies the transgressor of the law?

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith:

After being justified what does is a characteristic of the justified sinner?

Rom 2:13  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

So we can see that faith is what justifies, and the just will be doers of the law, establishing the law, not of his own works, but it is Christ who works in him mightily, exceeding abundantly above what the sinner can ask or think as it is Christ who liveth in us.

Who’s faith is it that we are to have?
Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the FAITH OF JESUS.

This is the gift of God.  Justification by faith, but not any faith.  It is the faith of Jesus.

How do we aquire this faith?

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing BY THE WORD OF GOD.

Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed BY THE WORD OF GOD.

Mat 8:8,10  The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak THE WORD ONLY…When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so GREAT FAITH, no, not in Israel.

So it is that faith comes by the word of God alone.  But again it is not just the hearers but doers who are justified.  “By faith Abraham obeyed” Gods word[Heb 11:8]

How did Jesus overcome temptation to break Gods law?  Where did Jesus faith come from?

Mat 4:3-4  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Satan appeared to Jesus as an angel of light.  But Jesus knowing his fathers word could see past the disguise and recognize the hideousness and as our example trusted fully in the “Word of God” answering the tempter each time “IT IS WRITTEN”.   This is our example, this is where faith comes by.  Faith cometh by the word of God. 

Now if everyone is using a different standard to build a house, for instance an inch is a foot to another man.  What would that house come out like?  And so you can understand where all these churches have come from.  They are divided because they don’t use the same language, most teach the law is done away, or we can’t keep it.  This principle was founded at the tower of Babel.  The builders were building there Kingdom to reach to heaven, but the languages were divided and the standards were different and the tower fell.  The same has happened in Modern churches today and they are symbolized by Babylon.  [Gen 11, Rev 17 and 18]

Who is the Devil mad at?

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Why do so many dislike the law?

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Those that are carnal hate the law.

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

The choice must be made.  We cannot be carnally minded and spiritually minded at the same time.  “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways”[James 1:8]

The bible teaches that “love fulfills the law” does this in any way negate the law?

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

The answer is no, in fact this is love that we keep the law.  Love will fulfill the law.  Love will not 1.“have other Gods” 2. “Make graven images and worship them”  3. “Take his name in vain” 4.  “Break the Sabbath” 5.  “Dishonor your mother and father” 6.  “kill”  7. “commit adultery” 8.  “Steal”  9.  “Bear false witness” or 10. “Covet”. 

Love will not do those things and therefore “Love is the fulfilling of the law”[Romans 13:8]

The bible says “Christ is the end of the law”[Rom 10:4].  Does that mean that the law ended?

Jas 5:11  Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen THE END OF THE LORD; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Well, obviously James is not saying that Christ ended.  And that is the same with what Paul is saying.  The word “end” merely means the “goal”.  Christ is righteousness.  And he was the example of what it is to keep the law. 

People have thought that the law was what justified in the Old Testament? 

Hebrews 11 talks of the many patriarchs such as Moses, Abraham, David, Enoch,  Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the Israelites being “Justified by faith”.   Justification has never come by the law. 

Rom 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Many found grace in the site of the LORD throughout the OT too [Gen 6:8, Exo 33:17, Jer 31:2].  The principle of justification has not changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. 

The bible says “We are redeemed from the curse of the law”[Gal 3:13]  What is the curse?

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death;

Gal 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Please note that the curse is to be hung upon a tree.  Christ was hung on a tree for us.  The curse of the law is death.  Christ died in our place.  We were the ones who deserved the curse of the law for breaking the law. 

Heb 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Is it true that we are under grace now and this means we are no longer under the law?

Rom 6:1-2  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Now please note that we are not under the law.  Do we sin[break the law] because we are not under the law, God forbid.   To be “under the law” means only to be “under the condemnation of the law”.  “Guilty of breaking the law”.   We are not guilty of breaking the law.  “Shall we sin [break the law] because we are not under the law, God forbid”[Romans 6:15] “We establish the law”[Romans 3:31] “We fulfill the law”[Romans 8:4]

Do people who willfully and knowingly violate God’s law know Jesus?

1Jn 2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1Jn 3:4, 6  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW….Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: WHOSOEVER SINNETH  hath not seen him, NEITHER KNOWN HIM.

Mat 7:22-23  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW: depart from me, ye that work iniquity[lawlessness].

The people who continue to break the law do not know Jesus and Jesus will say to them in the last day though they may even be good people who do many good things “I never knew you”.

Colossians 2:14, and Ephesians 2:15 speak of a law that was “against us” that was nailed to the cross, does this refer to part to commandments such as the Sabbath

Mar 2:27  And he said unto them, The sabbath was made FOR MAN,

It cannot be the Sabbath as the Sabbath was made for man before sin even came into the world.  The law that was against us was the curse which was the penalty for breaking the law and this is “contained in ordinances”[Eph 2:15].  This is why Christ was “nailed to the cross”[Col 2:14].  He took upon him the curse of the law.  The curse was death. 

Deu 11:27-28  A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God

The law could only be a curse if it was disobeyed.  And it is the same today.  If we refuse to accept the grace of Christ and do the will of our father, then rather than allowing Christ to “take that curse out of the way”[Col 2:14] We will suffer the consequences ourselves if we knowingly continue in willful sin.[Heb 10:26,28]

Deu 31:26  Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness AGAINST THEE.

This book is the book of Deutoronomy. [Deu 17:18, 28:58 29: 20, 21, 27, 30:10, 31:24, 26]  And it is that the entire law that is against us and by carefully reading these verses it can only be “against us” when we break the law.  Jesus said “truly one tittle shall in no way pass from the law”[Matt 5:18] 

The bible says there was a “change in the law” what change occurred in the law?

Heb 7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

What is it that changed?

Heb 7:27  Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

The sacrificial system is different.  Christ died once for sinners.  These ceremonies and sacrifices merely were “a shadow that pointed to Christ”[Heb 10:1-4].   So it is that Christ was nailed to the cross.  He was sacrificed once. 

1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is SACRIFICED for us:

Does this mean the feasts are nailed to the cross?

1Co 5:8  Therefore LET US KEEP THE FEAST, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Paul in talking about the company that people are “Eating”[v11] shows merely that the sacrificial ceremonies were nailed to the cross in the form of Christ and that the ceremonies were replaced with the “Lords supper” which was the same symbol that these ceremonies represented after the cross.  The wine and bread represented the blood and body which merely point back to the cross even as the death of the animals in the Old Covenant were a shadow that pointed to the cross. 

The actual New Moons, Feasts, and Sabbaths point past the cross[Col 2:17], and therefore cannot have been nailed to the cross.  In fact there are many instances where the apostles can be noted as keeping the feasts.  So it was that Paul told us to “keep the feast”[1 Cor 5:8]. 

Paul said the same to the Corinthians.  Christ our sacrifice is nailed to the cross.[Col 2:14] But let us keep the New Moons, Festivals, and Sabbath Days and let no man judge you Colossians in your keeping of them.  Pauls example was keeping the feasts after the cross.  [Acts 18:21, Acts 20:6].   For Paul to be as he said in Acts 18:21 “by all means must keep the feast” and [1 Cor 5:8] Let us keep the feast, he could not therefore be preaching against it in Colossians 2:14. 

One more problem with the feasts being nailed to the cross would be the fact that Colossians 2:14 says “the handwriting of ordinances against us”.  Like the Sabbath the feasts were made for man.  In fact they were called “celebrations to the LORD”[Lev 23:41].  Joyous commemorations.

The New moons will be kept in the New heaven and New Earth[Isa 66:23, Rev 22:2]

Back to: Faith and Law

See Also:

Under the Schoolmaster

The Added Law

Ceremonial Law in the Spirit of Prophecy

The Feasts - Let no man judge you

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