The Relationship Between The Church And The Law

The Relationship Between the New Testament Church and the Old Testament Law by Jason A. Clark 28 April 1999 The Holy Bible. It remains the most popular book of all time, greatly surpassing both ancient classics of literature and the best-selling novels of today. Millions of believers throughout the ages have subscribed to the teachings contained within the pages of the sacred scriptures. Even the most secular of readers frequently turns to the Holy Bible in search of wisdom and moral instruction. Two of the world’s three great faiths—Judaism and Christianity—name the Hebrew Scriptures as their principal religious texts. Within Christianity alone there exists thousands of individual denominations. Though all read the same Bible, it is understood in at least as many different ways. In such a climate as this, the potential for error and misinterpretation abound. The focus of this paper is an area that has generated considerable controversy among those who hold differing viewpoints: what is the significance of the Law of Moses in relation to the New Testament church? To the Christian, the Bible is commonly divided into two sections called the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament contains the accounts of man’s relationship to God from creation until the time of Christ. The vast majority of the Old Testament details the history and prophecies that pertain to God’s chosen nation of Israel. The New Testament, then, describes the advent of Israel’s Messiah and the establishment of the church of Jesus Christ. Much confusion concerning the Scriptures can arise when one does not carefully examine the context of the passage in view. A promise or command that had been given to one individual or group cannot be applied indiscriminately to any other(s). For instance, Abraham was commanded to slay his promised son, Isaac, but God does not demand the same of the modern Bible reader. While this is admittedly an extreme example, most misinterpretations and misapplications of the word of God stem from the neglect of this very hermeneutic. This error is also manifested by the eagerness of some to require the Christian church to adhere to part or all of the Mosaic Law. The law was given to a specific people—Israel—and any attempt to foist it upon the church is done through a misunderstanding of the function of the law. The matter is further confused by the various uses of the word “law” in the Scriptures. It cannot be assumed to refer exclusively to the Law of Moses, writes Erickson: In John 10:34, when Jesus refers to the law, he actually quotes from Psalm 82:6. In John 15:25, he refers to a clause found in Psalm 35:19 as “what is written in their Law.” … Moreover, Paul refers to a number of different types of passages as “law”: Isaiah 28:1112 (1 Cor. 14:21); Psalms and Isaiah (Rom. 3:19); and even Genesis 16:15 and 21:9, which are narrative passages (Gal. 4:21-22). … It appears that “law” and “prophecy” were often used to designate the whole Hebrew Scriptures.1

Segraves continues: In the New Testament the Greek nomos (“law”) is used in reference also to the law of faith (Romans 3:27), the law of the mind and the law of sin (Romans 7:23), and the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2). The use of the phrase “sin is the transgression of the law” in I John 3:4 should be understood as “sin is lawlessness.” This is the broadest possible use of the word “law.” That is, sin is “defection from any of God’s standards.” 1

Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1983), 236.

As with any other word, then, we must seek the definition of the word “law” from its context. It does not always refer to the Ten Commandments or even to the Torah (Pentateuch).2

The notion that the New Testament church is obligated to keep the commandments of the Law of Moses was the cause for the first church council at Jerusalem: And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. ... But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter [Acts 15:12,5-6].

Peter responded to those who would command the Gentiles to keep the law by asking, “Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (Acts 15:10). The leaders of the church then drafted a letter which read, in part, “We have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law’-- to whom we gave no such commandment” (Acts 15:24). If circumcision and keeping the law were expected of the church, this would have been an opportune time to proclaim it. Instead, the church decreed that the Gentiles were under no obligation to the Mosaic Law. The contention that the observation of the Law of Moses is essential for one’s salvation is one of the earliest heresies to have threatened the church. The apostle Paul wrote his first epistle to combat this pernicious teaching. In his letter to the churches of Galatia he marvels that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ [1:6-7]. 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.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” 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”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith [3:10-14]. 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. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor [3:21-25]. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? [4:9]. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become 2

Daniel L. Segraves, Systematic Theology Two (Stockton: Christian Life College, 1999), 62-63.

circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace [5:1-4].

For generations the people of Israel were responsible to obey the commands of the law of Moses; however, with the coming of Jesus the Messiah they were loosed from their obligations to it, for the law was now to be written on their hearts. (See Hebrews 10:613.) In fact, the Bible reveals that the requirements of the law were taken out of the way and nailed to the cross of Christ (Colossians 2:14). The apostle John elucidated this distinction between old and new covenants when he wrote, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans “that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law… for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 3:28; 6:14). By “under the law” Paul meant under the obligation to keep its commands. He used the scenario of marriage and divorce to further illustrate the termination of the law: 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? 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. 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. 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. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:1-6).

The New Testament also describes the Law of Moses as “weak through the flesh” (Romans 8:3), “the ministry of death … the ministry of condemnation” (II Corinthians 3:7,9), an inferior, faulty covenant (Hebrews 8:1), “obsolete and growing old,” and “ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13). The New Testament is clear in its presentation of the law as a temporary covenant made by God with the nation of Israel. Its commandments are no longer binding upon God’s people, who are expected to walk by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ for salvation from sin. Since the law was intended to be viewed as a single entity, any attempt to impose even one of its commandments upon the church is not only misguided, but, according to Paul, anathema. As he warned the early church, “As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9). Bibliography Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1983. Segraves, Daniel L. Systematic Theology Two. Stockton: Christian Life College, 1999.