LAW-ABIDING by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: Thank you so much for praying for us over the past few days. Nicole and I were in England where I was attending a conference on the text of Paul’s letters and ancient bible translations. It was a great conference, and we were also able to visit some other places and film there. This year’s Digging Deep, our summer bible study, will be on the history of Christianity in Britain. Be there and invite friends and family to come.
Today, we are back in our series through Romans, As you know, we are laying down the foundation for our end times series. Before we dive into end-times, we need to have the proper foundation on key doctrines. We have looked at several of these doctrines through Romans but today is a big one – LAW. The Bible repeatedly talks about the law of God, especially Paul in the book of Romans. Today’s message is titled “Law-Abiding.”
Romans 4 (page #1737) 14 “For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
Context: The Greek word for law = “nomos” is found over 190 times in the New Testament, primarily in Paul’s letters, and specifically in Galatians (33 times) and Romans (74 times). It has several different usages (See NIDNTTE): rule, principle, binding regulation. More specifically, it refers to Moses’ word from God (the Pentateuch) and Old Testament Scripture. We don’t have time to look at the various references to the “Law” throughout the New Testament. We are only focused on Paul’s letters, especially Romans. Keep in mind that Paul was writing to the church in Rome in the first century which was divided between Gentile and Jewish background believers. At the core of their disagreement was the continued use of the Law. Don’t forget that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul was also writing to all believers in all churches at all times and all places. This is still the heart of the question – what is the continued significance of the “nomos”? In other words, what is the significance of the “law” for a Christian today?
Application: Does it matter what God has said in the Old Testament? Do you think the Old Testament is outdated? Where do you find your standard for life? Have you made your own law for life?
Again, someone might ask, “What does ‘law’ have to do with end-times prophecy?”Here are 2 end-times passages that talk about the law:
- Isaiah 2 2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Here’s the point: If the law is going to be relevant in the end times and beyond, then it should be relevant even now. The question is “how is it relevant now?” It not only impacts the meaning of justification, but it also impacts the meaning of sanctification. It impacts how you live your daily life towards God. The apostle Paul found it to be relevant, as he says in 1 Corinthians 9 19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 “to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
With all that said, how should we understand the law?
1. Salvation was never by keeping the law.
Paul indicts his fellow Jewish people in Romans 9 (page #1743) 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. A better translation is “Israel made a law out of righteousness, has not attained the righteous law.” (See Walter Kaiser for this section). The first “law” is not the same as the second “law.” For e.g., “If we don’t hang together, we’ll hang separately.” Just like “hang” has 2 different implications, so also “law of righteousness” has 2 different implications. The first was “homegrown” and the other was “God-given.” My translation of Romans 9:31 would be “but Israel, pursuing a ‘homegrown’ righteousness, has not attained to the ‘God-given’ righteousness.”
Romans 9 (page #1743) 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Now, this wrong faith in the law is contrasted with the true faith in Christ in Romans 10 (page #1744) 1 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” The word “telos” for end is used by Paul 13 times in his letters. It had either a perfective/completive (Erasmus, Calvin, and Bucer) meaning or a teleological/fulfillment (Luther, Melanchthon, and Beza) meaning. Later interpreters (Anabaptist, later Lutherans, low view of Scriptures) made telos an end of the law. Instead, this means that before the coming of Christ and since his coming, those who believe in Christ know that Christ is the completion and fulfillment of the Scriptures.
Romans 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” Here Paul is quoting from Leviticus 18:5 “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.” This is the blessing that comes out of life that already knows Christ and seeks to please him. By the way, this “righteousness that is by the law” in Romans 10:5 is not the same as the “law out of righteousness” in Romans 9:31 (homegrown kind). To have the “righteousness that is by the law,” you only need Christ by faith. Romans 10 (page #1745) 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
What about Romans 3:21 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets…?” Keep reading to verse 28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”
Bottom line: Galatians 3:21b “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.”
Application: Are you trusting in keeping the 10 commandments to save you? Have you created your own law/standards to be saved?
2. Salvation is not the end of the Law.
Some people have misread certain passages:
- Romans 3 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
- Matthew 5:19a “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven…”
- Galatians 5:3 “And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.”
- James 2:10 “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Some point out that if we’re going to keep one or some of the Law, then we should keep it all, as the Jewish people did. They refer to the late Jewish tradition of 613 statutes with 365 prohibitions for each day of the week and 248 positives for each member of the body. They need to keep in mind that the first to mention it was Rabbi Shemon ben Azzai in AD110. This is all later Jewish tradition.
We need to clarify the primary intent of the Law: A major source of misunderstanding is due to the translation of the Hebrew “Torah” as “nomos” in the LXX and also as “law” in English. “Torah” = Pentateuch; it comes from “yara” meaning to throw or shoot; to teach or to point the direction. It was not some legalistic document. It was God’s instruction on the path of life for believers in the Coming One/Man of Promise. Leviticus 18:5 “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD” is prefaced with Leviticus 18 1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God.’” Then, it is concluded with Leviticus 18:30 “Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God.’ ” Salvation was not the condition. That was already settled. They already believed in the Coming One. The Torah was God’s open secret to a blessed life.
A distinction between the moral, ceremonial, and civil aspects of the law was understood.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”
- Isaiah 1 11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats…16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.”
- Jeremiah 7 21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
- Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
- Psalm 51 16 “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”
Jesus himself affirmed this – Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
Unfortunately, many Jewish people can’t see it until they come to Christ – 2 Corinthians 3 14 “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
The Law was/is helpful to this day:
- To reveal God’s Character. Leviticus 11:45 “…You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
- To show Israel’s Story of how God protected and guided them. He gave the Law to Israel to protect them from the Canaanites who were living in the Promised Land. In Genesis 15, it talks about the “iniquity of the Amorites.” He gave His Law to His people so that they would not become like their neighbors. Galatians 3:19 “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…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.
- To demonstrate the seriousness and reality of sin. Romans 5:20 “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” Sin/offense was already there in the world. People were already guilty before God but by giving a checklist people realized how much they had sinned. For e.g. Imagine a glass filled with dirty water. If that water has been sitting still for some time, it appears clean until you stir it. Now what happens? It shows all the dirt. What happens when sin is stirred? Listen to the second half of verse 20 “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,” Literally in Greek it means—“where sin increased, grace super-increased.” God is not waiting to strike us at the sight of sin. To the contrary, He is eagerly waiting to pour His super-abounding grace on us.
As believers, we are to diligently keep the Law with the heart of Love:
- Matthew 22. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
- Romans 13 8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
- Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The Holy Spirit empowers us to bear the fruit:
Galatians 5 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Invitation: How do you see the law of God? Are you saved by faith in Christ? Are you led by love to obey God’s Word? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to bear fruit in your life?