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the
law code is dead
"He
repealed the law code that had
became
so clogged with fine print and
footnotes
that it hindered more
than
it helped (The Message 407)
Opening
I have
found that over the years the Christian community has
created may different rules, regulations and laws
designed to govern the walk of the faithful; some based
on scripture, others based on traditions. In this
paper I will be examining several point I believe
primary to understanding how we, as followers of Christ,
are to view "the law code," or other set of
rules, regulations or laws created by any religious
organization. These point are not
"new." In fact, I developed them over a
long period of study by looking deep into the
Scriptures; with a strong study of Paul's letters to the
Galatians and to the Ephesians. In Galatians Paul
shares with us the true nature of the law code and it's
place - actually it's lack of place - in our lives and
the greater place that God's grace plays in all we are
and do.
the
premise
Let me
start with my basic premise - "The law
code - the whole law code, all of it without exception -
has been repealed. (407)" This
being my premise, I can say that we do not live under
the law, and that following the law will do nothing for
us at any point or any level of our lives. Over
long study and prayer I have come to the conclusion that
if you are walking in Christ, the law code will only
hinder that walk. Because if you are truly in
Christ no law code is needed, the Holy Spirit will
guide you in your faith, beliefs and
practices. Many Christian churches claim
that to be the principle position of the Holy Spirit -
to guide us in our faith, beliefs and practices - yet
they seem to want to "help" the Holy Spirit by
developing guidelines for the followers. Here is
what I have found as reasons Paul gives for the Law Code
being repealed - they echo with a relevance that will
touch your heart today.
People
only choose a selective use of the law code to fit their
particular needs: "You can't pick and choose in these things,
specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law
and ignoring others." (484) - Scripture
supports, and I have found, that no matter who the
person is and no matter their intentions, people always
(without exception) select the law they like and
supports their point of view and they reject
those that do not, or that they feel
"silly." for example, tattoos and
piercing; people are quick to quote the Leviticus Law
that says, "do not pierce yourself or tattoo your
self" yet they leave out the next section which
states not to do it "for the dead or other gods."
They also forget some of the more interesting laws
(right next to the one they half quote) - if you have an
employee you must - must - pay them everyday, not
weekly - every day (Lev 19:13); you forbidden to wear
clothing made of two different types of materials - no
poly-blends in my house (Lev 19:19); you are not allowed
to cut the hair on the side of your head or shave your
beard (Lev 19:27). As you can see this selective
use of the law code is destructive and arbitrary.
Jesus knew this, and Paul simply adds to what Jesus
proclaimed so loudly - that religious people who are
guided by the law will always be called Pharisees and
Sadducees. We believe, as Paul continues to state,
that all good intentions can not change this and
therefore the law code is destructive. People who
selectively choose laws they desire and reject others
have only one aim, to control others - which leads us to
the next point. (403, 484)
It
gives power to others over others in their walk:
"They want to shut you out of the free world
of God's grace so that you will always depend on them
for approval and direction, making them feel
important." (399) - No matter how we
cut the cake, the law makes us slaves, and Christ sets
us free. All religious people who claim that the
law is good and that the law is needed do so only
because they desire to control, and they have no trust
in God to guide people (discussed later as a separate
topic). God is in control of our walk in faith, by
the power of the Holy Spirit, not the law; not even
people who quote the law. In The Message Paul
calls them "Paper Tigers," they think they
have power, but they do not - only on paper (398).
People who quote the law simply desire to control your
walk by telling you what is right and what is wrong.
Keep in mind that control is based in fear, and there is
no fear in love (509). When we allow others to
control our walk, we loose our freedom and our faith in
God, because we trust the law to work for us. (399, 403)
It
steals our freedom and places us under slavery:
"Christ has set us free to live a free life.
So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a
harness of slavery on you. I an empathic about
this. The moment anyone of you submit to
circumcision or any other rule keeping system, at that
same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is
squandered." (400) - The law code controls
and brings about a slave relationship between us, the
law and others. Not only are we to not give-up our
freedom, we are to walk away from those who claim we
must follow the law. These people, people who
demand we follow their rules and "god law" are
simply trying to steal your freedom. When we count
on rules, regulations or the law to replace the freedom
we have in Christ, we replace our faith and trust in God
for the law. (398, 400, 401)
It
shows a lack of faith and trust in God: "Rule
keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith,
but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule
keeping" (396)
- It is easy to be told what to do, and most even look
for this type of relationship. Let's face it, life
is hard and would it be nice to be told how to live?
What's harder to do is trust that God will speak to you
and tell you what you need to do and act. You see
with the law we have others to blame, but when we are
the ones needing to listen to God speak - any problems
that develop are on us, and that we do not like.
We would rather look out a window, then look in the
mirror. Seeking to have others tell us what we
need to do is a lack of trust and faith in God's
guidance, and our willingness to surrender to that
guidance. This lack and trust in God makes us go
deeper and deeper into the law, but the law will never
save us.
It
will not save us, in fact it just gets in the way: "Legalism
is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the
way" (401)
- One of the biggest misconceptions is that we learn
from the law - let me out it this way, WE DO NOT
LEARN FROM THE LAW, WE LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES
(398). Because our path is set (in Christ), and we
learn from our mistakes - demanding we follow law will
not allow us the opportunity to learn. We, in
turn, will not grow in our faith - in fact, we will
travel the other direction. When we do this we
place our understanding and path in the law - and no one
can live to the law standard. Because no one can
live to the law standard, we believe salvation is out of
our reach and we walk away from the faith, as many have.
I know of people who left the church, both Pastoral and
non-Pastoral, because they felt they were unable to keep
the "laws" others had placed upon them.
Upon leaving, they did not find another church - they
simply left the faith. This leads us to our final
point.
If
the law is, Christ is not: "If
a living relationship with God could come by rule
keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily"
(395) - If we place our trust in the law, and demand
that others follow the law, what we are saying is that
Christ died for no reason, and this is so very wrong.
If we the law as stopping us from sinning we are saying
that sin is what we do, yet this is wrong also. Sin
is not what we do, it is who we are. If
sin is what we do, following the law will save us
because we simply stop doing wrong - we stop sinning.
But, because sin is who we are Christ came to save us -
because the law could not.
Conclusion
The law
code had its place. One very interesting fact that
came to life in my study is that when ever Paul speaks
of the benefits of the law it is always in the past
tense - "the law was" is a phrase used very
often. Because the law did have it's place we need
to see it with respect, but because it no longer has
control - of any kind - in our lives we must keep it at
a distance. We no longer live by the law
code, any of the law code. Christ
repealed the law - all the law. Our walk is based
on our faith and trust in God's promise of salvation in
Christ, and that we have faith and trust that God will
work in the lives of those who follow him. While I
will admit that this is hard for some to deal with, and
I do truly understand, I firmly stand by my
understanding of the scripture. I will admit that
this paper is a work in process and I believe I will
refine this paper over the next few years, but the basic
premise will stand - because the scripture stands.
I would
like to acknowledge the scripture that seems to
contradict what I have said - scripture that calls the
law holy; I agree the law was holy, all that comes from
God is holy, but Christ repealed the law and Christ is
more then the law - the law does not lose its
"holiness" it simply loses its place in our
lives, and as a guide to our faith. I also
acknowledge the call to follow God's Commandments - as
in 2 John 2 (505). In light of what I have just
written I do not see this scripture as a call to follow
the law - but the command to love God with all our heart
and soul and to love others as ourselves (Matthew and
Romans). As I discussed this topic I was asked
several important questions that I would like to share
in this paper:
Discussion
Questions
If no
law, how do we know the parameters of our walk? We trust 100% in the Holy Spirit and use Christ as our
guide.
If we
have no rules, people will do what ever they want - how
can we allow this to occur? First, it is not our place to not allow it to occur.
If we place our trust and faith in the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, God will be the guide of our walk - and
remember that God knows more about others then we could
ever know. With the Holy Spirit working in the
life of others power in Christ can lead the way.
When we believe it is our place to guide people under
the law we become what Jesus Himself argued against.
If no
law, how can we teach people? This
is going to be tough, but here goes nothing: how about
by example! We need to stop telling people what to
do and start living the life we need to - this is how we
teach. My father had a saying, "do as I say,
not as I do" - which is so far outside the
Christian way of life - we must tell people to "do
as we do." Be an example. It is hard
and places a great deal on you as an individual, but it
is very important.
How
do we teach people our faith?
We can not teach our faith - that is impossible.
Faith is something we must demonstrate and allow others
to develop their own. Faith can not be taught - it
simply is.
If
not law code, ok - but this does not include the 10
commandments, right? This is going to sound crazy, but - this includes the 10
commandments. You see, the 10 commandments are
part of the law code. If we exclude the 10
commandments we are simply finding reasons to get back
to the law. We soon find ourselves replacing the
old code with a new code. many try to exclude the
10 commandments from what Paul has said, but in all
integrity we can not exclude them. This may
sound like a funny analogy, but here goes - it's like if
you were an alcoholic - just drinking a little is not
the answer - you must leave alcohol behind, any amount
will hurt you. The same is true with the law, the
second you start making rules to govern faith you start
a new law code based on all the problems we just listed.
Supporting
Scripture
the
following is a list of scripture we have found. We
would never recommend that you read only the "fine
print" but that you read the entire book used for
the determination of our premise. As a guide,
please read Galatians and Ephesians as a sold base to
understanding the law and its relationship to who we are
as Followers of The Way.
"if
a living relationship with God could come by rule
keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily" (395)
"The
purpose of the law was to keep sinful people in the way
of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came.
Inheriting the promise and distributing them to us.
Obviously this law was not a first hand encounter from
God. it was arranged by angelic messenger through
a middleman, Moses." (397)
"If
any kind of rule keeping had power to create life in us,
we would certainly have gotten it by this time"
(397)
Also
read 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 403, 405, 407 -
blessings -
john o'keefe
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