In Matthew 5:17-18, our Lord declared, “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.” Notice, Christ did not come to do away with the law, but to “fulfill” it. This is the key that unlocks the door to our understanding of God’s eternal law.
We must always begin our interpretation of God’s Word with the context of the passage of Scripture under consideration. When it comes to the Bible’s repeated references to the law, we must always determine whether the context of the passage within which a particular reference is found is indicative of the moral law, civil law, or ceremonial law. When it comes to the Mosaic Law, some references will be found to point to the Torah as a whole. The Torah is simply the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—which are also known as the Pentateuch or the Books of Moses. Other references to the Mosaic Law will be found pinpointing a specific part of the Torah. For instance, sometimes a reference to the law is specifically referring to the Decalogue—Ten Commandments—alone.
Now, I’ve said the above so that you will not make blanket application of all that I’m about to say to every Scriptural reference to the law. While I’m convinced that what I’m about to say is biblically sound, stretching it to apply to ever mention of the law in the Bible will lead you to misinterpret certain passages. For example, take Paul’s reference to “the law of the Spirit” in Romans 8:2 or Daniel’s reference to “the law of the Medes and Persians” in Daniel 6:12.
To understand what the Bible means by the Law, we must understand the difference between the Old and New Testaments. Let’s begin with the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament God gave His Law. The purpose of the Law was to show us what we were like. According to the Apostle Paul, the Law did three things for us (Romans 3:19-20). First, it proved that “all the world [is] guilty before God.” Second, it silenced “every mouth”; that is, it left us all without any excuse. God’s Law said don’t and we did; God’s Law said do and we didn’t. Finally, and most importantly, the law brought to us “the knowledge of sin.” Notice, it did not bring to us the knowledge of sins—what we do—but the knowledge of sin—what we are.
Contrary to popular opinion, our real problem is not the wrong things that we do, but the fact that there is something horribly wrong with us, which is evidenced by all of the wrong things that we do. What is wrong with us is “sin.” The reason none of us can live up to God’s Law is because all of us are sinners (Romans 3:23). This fact about ourselves was made undeniable by the giving of God’s Law in the Old Testament.
When God gave His Law, He gave us His standard of righteousness. He gave us the standard to live up to in order to be right with Him. According to the Apostle Paul, God’s Law requires perfect obedience on every point (Galatians 3:10). James adds that the slightest infraction of any part leaves us as guilty before God as if we had broken the whole Law (James 2:10). Thus, to be right with God under the Old Testament one was required to live perpetually in perfect obedience to God’s Law.
Obviously, such a standard; namely, sinless perfection, was far too lofty for sinners to live up to. For this reason, the Apostle Paul taught that none of us have any hope of ever being right with God by living up to the Law (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16). If this is true, then the Law of God was completely incapable of saving us from our sins. This is not to say, however, that there was anything wrong with God’s Law. Instead, there was something terribly wrong with us, something that it took the Law to point out to us (Romans 7:7-13).
Although many will be startled by this revelation, God didn’t give us His Law to get us saved, but to get us lost. The Law was, as the Apostle Paul teaches in Galatians 3:24-25, “a schoolmaster” teaching and preparing us for the coming of Christ. What lesson was it that the Law had to teach us to prepare us for the coming of the Savior? Was it not that sinners like us can never save ourselves by living up to God’s Law? Once our lesson was learned and we were convinced that we needed a Savior, we were at long last prepared for Christ to come.
Before turning our attention to the New Testament, permit me to point out one more important truth about the Law. Along with serving as our “schoolmaster”—preparing us for the coming of Christ—Paul also taught that the Law was “a shadow”—picturing for us the coming of Christ (Colossians 2:13-17). According to Paul, now that the substance (Christ) has come, we no longer live in the “shadows.” For instance, we are no longer obligated to offer animal sacrifices for our sins now that the one who was symbolized by those sacrifices has come and “put away [our] sin by the sacrifice of Himself” once and for all (Hebrews 9:26).
The fact that the Law served as a shadow picturing for us the coming of Christ, not just a schoolmaster preparing us for the coming of Christ, is important for you to remember, especially in a day when so many equate the perpetuity of God’s Law with the perpetual practice of Old Testament rites and rituals. For instance, today’s Seventh-Day Adventists teach that all Christians are still obligated to observe the Jewish Sabbath, since God’s forever Law is still in force. Yet, the New Testament teaches that everyday is a Sabbath for Christians who are resting in Christ and that Christians are not to be judged by their observance of “sabbath days” (Hebrews 4:1-13; Colossians 2:16).
As stated earlier, Jesus’ declaration that he had come to fulfill the Law, not to destroy it, is the key to unlocking our understanding of God’s eternal Law. Here, we see the first part of Christ’s fulfillment of the Law; namely, His moving it from shadows to substance. Those things physically pictured by the shadow of the Law in the Old Testament became substantive spiritual realities in the New Testament, spiritual realities presently possessed by all Christians in Christ. Thus, as Christians, we no longer observe the shadows, but enjoy the substance, since Christ neither rescinded nor repealed the Law, but simply realized it.
In the New Testament God gave us His Son. Unlike the giving of His Law in the Old Testament, God didn’t give us His Son to show us what we’re like. Instead, He gave us His Son to show us what He is like. All we have to do to know what God is like is to come to know Jesus Christ (John 1:18; 12:44-45; 14:9; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3).
Whereas God gave us His Law to get us lost—convince us of our need of salvation and a Savior—God gave us His Son to get us saved. Since we could never make ourselves right with God by living lives of sinless perfection, Christ came into the world to live a sinlessly perfect life in our stead. According to the Scripture, Christ “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21), “did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22), and “was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). As a result, Christ, as the only sinless one, has fulfilled the righteous requirements of God’s Law (Matthew 3:15).
This is the second part of what Christ meant by declaring that He had not come to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it. By living His sinless life in our place Christ fulfilled the Law so that we don’t have to. All we have to do is accept by faith the sinless life that He lived in our stead and the substitutionary death that He died for our sins. The moment we do, Christ’s perfect righteousness becomes ours and we become right with God, not because of the life we’re living, but because of the righteous life that Christ lived and the redeeming blood that He shed for us on the cross of Calvary (1 Peter 1:18-19).
As the Book of Hebrews masterfully teaches, the New Testament brought to our world a far better covenant with far better promises. No longer are we to seek to obtain our own righteousness by living up to the Law. Instead, righteousness is now obtainable “through faith in Jesus Christ,” totally “apart from the Law” (Romans 3:21-22). The instant we place our faith in Jesus Christ, He becomes “our righteousness” and we become right with God, not because of anything we have done, but because of everything Christ has done for us that we could have never done for ourselves.
As Christians—those indwelt by Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit—God’s Law is written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3). We are no longer bound by external regulations, the “letter” of which “kills”; that is, proves that we are sinners (2 Corinthians 3:6). Instead, we are changed by internal transformation, the “Spirit” of which “gives life”; that is, proves that we are saints. Rather than being forced by guilt and fear to bear the burden of God’s burdensome Law, we are compelled by “the love of Christ” to delight ourselves in obeying His every command, none of which are “grievous” to us (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 John 5:2-3).
Let me conclude with the words of a beloved old Hymn. Its author, Philip Bliss, certainly had a good understanding of what the Bible teaches in regard to the Law.
Free from the law, O happy condition!
Jesus has bled, and there is remission;
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.
Now are we free, there’s no condemnation!
Jesus provides a perfect salvation;
“Come unto Me”—O hear His sweet call!
Come and He saves us once for all.
Children of God, O glorious calling!
Surely His grace will keep us from falling;
Passing from death to life at His call,
Blessed salvation, once for all!
Once for all, O sinner receive it!
Once for all, O brother believe!
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all!
