The Christian’s Deliverance from Religious “Law”
By Arthur J Licursi
Is The Law for Believers?
It is sad that so many sincere Christian believers today can so misunderstand God’s Word that they wrongly assume that “the Law” God gave to Israel is … to help us to be good and please God. They think one’s pathetic attempt at obedience to “the Law” of God (and their denomination traditions) please God. By contrast, Paul wrote this below to us Gentile believers of the church that he calls “the body of Christ.”
“sin shall not have dominion over you: for [because] Ye Are Not Under The Law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)
Still, so many Christians think; ‘We can still please God by keeping His laws.’ I had a Pastor once tell me; “We need a little law or these people won’t come to my church.” He then quoted Heb 10:25 about ‘don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves’ which applies to Israel in the Tribulation period. Not “right dividing the word,” he foolishly mixed Israel’s law and works program … with grace... which then is no longer Grace. Paul as “the Apostle to the Gentile’s (Rom. 11:13) wrote
“If [we are saved] By Grace, Then Is It No More of Works: otherwise grace is no more grace. (Rom. 11:6a).
Paul here below clearly tells us why “the Law” was given.
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for By The Law Is The Knowledge Of [Awareness Of] Sin.” (Romans 3:20 (KJV)
The “Law” then was not given to help us to be good, but rather to reveal Our Sinful Nature to US … that we are all sinners needing a Savior. How foolish to look to “the Law” for help to do what we are not equipped to do. Just as with the secular laws, society charges the criminal and provides for a ‘just trial,’ but cannot empower criminals to live better; “The Law” God gave to Israel did NOT help them to be better. “The Law” was given to make us recognize of our inherent Sin nature to thereby to motivate and point men to faith in Christ’s cross-work as God’s only answer for ‘Sin.’ Christ’s death paid for our sins and His resurrection ‘life’ IN US operates through Us believers to live and do as He wills it for us (cf. Phil. 2:13, 1:6).
Paul clearly declares that The Purpose of “the Law” was...
“(So) That Every Mouth May Be Stopped, and all the world may be brought in Guilty Before God. 19For by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin [as according to the Sin-nature]” (Rom. 3:19-20).
“Moreover the Law entered, (so) that the offence [sin] might abound [become undeniable]. But Where Sin Abounded, [God’s] GRACE Did Much More Abound: (Romans 5:20).
This leads us to Paul’s great conclusion: “Therefore By The Deeds of The Law There Shall No Flesh (human) Be Justified In His Sight” (Rom. 3:20). This makes sense, since doing a few ‘good’ things can’t right the wrongs we have done. God’s one answer for our Sins is “Christ died for our sins” (1Cor. 15:3) and “by Him all who believe are justified [declared righteous before God]” (Acts 13:39).
“… a man is Justified By Faith [in Christ]... WITHOUT the ‘Deeds’ (Works) Of The Law” (Rom. 3:28).
“Believe on [trust in] the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
“But to him that worketh NOT, But Believeth On Him [Jesus] that justifieth the ungodly, his Faith Is Counted For Righteousness. “… as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God Imputeth Righteousness Without Works, 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will NOT impute [count] sin.” Romans 4:5-6, 8 (KJV)
Christians need to know… God’s Law of Commandments was Given… to Israel only, NOT to “the Gentile church, the body of Christ.” Paul wrote: “… ye are NOT UNDER THE LAW, but UNDER GRACE.” (Rom. 6:14)
The fact is that ALL of Mankind is born Already Knowing God’s righteous standard in their consciousness. This came by Adam partaking of “The Tree of The Knowledge of Good & Evil.” Therefore, all humans know “good and evil.” But of course they are unable to keep it. Our conscience accuses or excuses, indicating the knowledge of Sin operating in the flesh and hearts of all men. Here Paul says all mankind is “without excuse.”
Rom.1:19-21 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them [everyone]; for God hath shewed it unto them. the invisible things of him [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE: Because, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became Vain In Their Imaginations, and their Foolish Heart Was Darkened.
Romans 1:28-29And even as They Did Not Like To Retain God In Their Knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate [depraved] mind, to do those things which are not convenient [appropriate]; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers [gossipers],
Yet, many religious people take upon themselves some of the Bible laws for Israel and other manmade Traditional laws of their ‘denomination’ thinking they will gain God’s favor, acceptance, and love. The fact is that none of us has known the unconditional, pure, love of God until we first receive Christ as Savior. Til then many foolishly think they can ‘work at earning God’s love.’ Many considers their worth to God is according to their good and religious WORKS. But we can’t earn His unconditional love that is based upon grace.
Many mistaught religious folks unknowingly bear the ‘curse’ of having to fulfill “the Law.”
Gal 3:10 as many as are of the works of the Law are Under The ‘Curse’: for it is written [to Israel], CURSED is every one that continueth not in ALL Things which are written in the book of The Law to do them.
James 2:10 whosoever shall keep the Whole Law, and yet Offend in ONE Point, he is guilty of ‘ALL.’
Paul specifically tells us we as grace believers “ye are NOT under the Law but under Grace” (Rom.6:14). Paul gives us a clear example of being totally free from religious Law. You might recognize some of these laws.
Col. 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat [food], or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath Days: 17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [reality] is of Christ.
Under “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Eph. 3:2) today, salvation is by 100% Grace, “not of works.” So, Paul says Christ becomes “of no effect” when we ignore His grace by ‘trying’ to merit favor by serving the outer “Law.” Serving ANY outer or written law, is a ‘dead WORK,’ because we are then operating separate from Christ’s LIFE IN YOU, to regulate our manner of living. Gal. 5:4 Christ Is become of No Effect unto you, whosoever of you [think you are] are justified by [works of] the Law; ye are FALLEN FROM [God’] GRACE.
To Understand “the Law” we must Understand Sin as the Sin-Nature in man’s flesh. The “Law” was given to Stirred up the Sin-nature; to be exceedingly Sinful.
Rom.5:20 … the Law entered, that (so that) the offense might abound. …
1 Cor. 15:56 … THE STRENGTH (Gk., dunamis, Power) OF SIN IS THE LAW.
Satan’s Sin-Nature in man’s “flesh” is EMPOWERED… “by the commandment [religious Law].”
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation [manner of living] in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and Were By Nature The Children Of Wrath, even as others.
Rom.7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were BY “THE LAW,” did Work In Our [body] Members to bring forth fruit unto death [spiritually].
Rom.7:7-9 … I had not known Sin, But By The Law: for I had not known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But ‘Sin,’ Taking Occasion By ‘The COMMANDMENT,’ wrought in me all manner of concupiscence [sensual sin]. For WITHOUT THE LAW SIN WAS DEAD [inactive]. For I was alive without the Law once: but when ‘The COMMANDMENT’ Came, Sin Revived, and I died [I could not resist Sin and was dead toward God].
Rom.7:11 For Sin, Taking Occasion By ‘The COMMANDMENT,’ deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom.7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But Sin, That It Might Appear Sin, working death in me by that which is good; [so] that Sin By The COMMANDMENT might Become Exceeding Sinful.
The LAWS of God are powerless. Moses ‘Law’ was carved on ‘stone.’ Stone is dead, lifeless, and impotent!
Romans 8:3a For what The Law Could NOT Do, in that it was Weak Through [due to] The [Sinful] Flesh…
As we’ve seen, “The Law” informs us of our sin and actually PROVOKES “Sin in the flesh” of man! Thus, we’ve purposely been be set-Up to FAIL by God’s Law… to have us FAIL at trying to keep “the Law”! Yes, unsaved Adamic mankind gained “the Knowledge of Good & Evil,” but of himself he lacks the ‘kind of life’ that can match that knowledge... thus we need ‘Christ’s LIFE.’ So, God expects our failure under “the Law.” He knows that otherwise we would never turn to Christ to receive His righteous LIFE. So, God’s not disappointed in our failure! He uses our failures to turn us to trust Christ’s LIFE as our “hope of glory.” We think we need to be delivered from Sin, the world, the flesh, but really, we needed to be “delivered from relying upon religious “Law” for our righteousness. We need to trust Christ ALONE to be our righteous empowering LIFE.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the CURSE OF THE LAW... (a curse because you can’t keep the law)
2 Cor. 5:21 he [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; [so] that we might be made [become] the righteousness of God in him [in Christ].
Col. 2:14 [Christ] Blotting Out the Handwriting of Ordinances [the Law] That Was Against Us, Which Was Contrary To Us, and TOOK IT OUT OF THE WAY, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS;
Romans 10:4 …CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS to every one THAT BELIEVETH.
The Grace of Christ’s Death and Resurrection Life IN US As Us is all we Need to Live the Christian Life.
Christ Dealt with the Satanic ‘SIN’ Nature of Our ‘Old Man’
Being now “In Christ,” Grace became the new paradigm for our living the Christian life.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could NOT do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (cf. Heb 4:15), and for sin, Condemned [locked away] Sin In The Flesh,
The Cross-Death of The Lord Jesus disarmed “Sin” of its Power and Dominion Over Believers.
Col. 2:11 In [union with Christ] whom Also Ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in Putting Off The BODY Of The Sins Of THE FLESH by the circumcision [physical flesh death] of Christ [AS US]:
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were Baptized Into His Death?
Christ liberated us from “the Law;” FREEING us from the power of Satan’s “SIN [nature] in the flesh.”
1 Cor. 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength [Gk. dunamis, POWER] OF SIN IS THE LAW.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall Not have dominion over you: for [since] ye are NOT Under The Law, but Under Grace.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could NOT do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the Likeness Of Sinful Flesh, and for sin, condemned SIN IN THE FLESH:
We as believers are now seen by God ‘as female’ in a love relationship with the Lord... freeing us from “The Law” of my impotent “Old Man” (v6 below).
Rom.6:6-7 ... Our Old Man ‘is’ Crucified with him [Christ], that the Body of Sin might be destroyed (Greek, kartargeo, “made of no effect”), that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For He That Is Dead Is Freed From Sin.
Rom.7:1-4 Know ye not [don’t you know], brethren, (for I speak to them that know the Law,) how that the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the Woman which hath an husband is bound by THE LAW to her Husband So Long As He Liveth; but if the husband be DEAD, She Is Loosed From The Law Of Her Husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: BUT if her husband be Dead, She Is Free From That Law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man [Christ]. Wherefore, my brethren, YE also are become Dead To The Law by the [dead flesh] body of Christ [cf. Rom. 6:6, above]; (so) that ye should be married to another, even to him [Christ] who is raised from the dead, [so] that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
So, the issue for believers is Christ’s Cross and LIFE IN US. The outer written “Law” can Give LIFE.
Galatians 3:21b ... if there had been a law given which could have given LIFE [Christ’s life], verily righteousness should [then] have been by the Law.
Christ’s Own Righteous Resurrection Life and Power indwells our spirit. His life spontaneously works in us by faith in the life-regulating nature of the “law [operation] of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” Christ’s “Spirit of Life” within the believer automatically guides and empowers the believer moment by moment in accord with the Scriptures. His life empowers us to overcome Sin’s temptation as we trust “the word” and our inner union with Christ. We need to co-operate with the inner sense we have of the Lord’s life, which... prompts, restrains, and guides us.
Rom.8:2 the Law [the spontaneous operation] of the SPIRIT OF LIFE in Christ Jesus hath [already] made me free from the Law of Sin And Death [operating in the flesh].
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the [grown up] sons of God.
What’s then was the God’s Purpose for the Written LAW?
The Law works to reveal Sin In Us (Rom. 3:20b), frustrating us, that we would hate our FAILURE, at trying to keep the Law. Then our failures are to Convince us that we are hopeless In Ourselves, that we need cross-work and LIFE. The Father uses “all things,” including our failures, to reveal our need of Christ as our life.
Rom.7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that SIN By The Commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Galatians 3:23-5 before [the way of] Faith Came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the [way of] faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 The Law Was Our Schoolmaster To Bring Us [push Us] Unto Christ, [so] that we might be Justified By Faith. But AFTER that faith [in Christ] is come, We Are No Longer Under a Schoolmaster.
Now it’s a matter of knowing and trusting His “spirit of life” in us as our new life. Galatians 2:20 I am [my Old soul-self] 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 [faithfulness] of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Recognizing our failure and helplessness
Our recognized failures and helplessness... should Turn us from the Law toward trusting Christ.
Some say, “Okay, I’m dead to “the Law.” What then is the problem, since I still sin sometimes?”
We need to come to hating our helpless condition! That means the frustration of failing is GOOD for us. We see Paul’s frustration of being under “the Law” in Rom.7:14-23. And like Paul, our spiritual progress is always preceded by Dissatisfaction and Hating What We Do. “The Law” to causes us to become aware of how helplessness we are in ourselves. So religious preaching of “the Law” serves the purpose of frustrating us.
Rom. 7:15 ... but (I do) what I hate, that do I. Rom.7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Our heart must “turn” away from “the Law” … to trust Christ alive within, in order for “the veil” of the “flesh” (Heb 10:20) to be made of no effect!
2 Cor. 3:15-17 … unto this day, when Moses [Mosaic Law] is read, the VEIL is upon their Heart. Nevertheless when it [the heart] shall turn [from the Law] to the Lord [Himself], the Vail Shall Be Taken Away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [liberation is freedom found in Christ”].
Christ’s life liberates us from the power of “Sin in the Flesh” (Rom. 8:3). So, we are free to live “By a new and living way, which he (Christ) hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Heb. 10:20). Christ paid the price for our sins, and ALSO Redeemed BELIEVERS from the burden of “the Law.”
Galatians 4:5-7 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God Hath Sent Forth The Spirit Of His Son Into Your Hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
So, Christ has liberated us from “the Law” and … “the Curse of the Law.” We’ve most often operated our life separate from Him - trying to keep “the Law” by the will-power of self, which had us operating on our own; so “the flesh” reigned over us! We we’re in a hopeless state, separated from Christ in our effort to serve “the Law.”
But we can enjoy the “new and Living way” to overcome “Sin in the flesh”; by Christ living His life through us.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (enjoyed in our soul).
Romans 8:13 … if you… THROUGH THE SPIRIT do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body [not sin, but its deeds,] ye shall live [Gk., zao, be alive unto God’s will] (cf. Rom.8:6).
Now it’s a matter of to whom we yield ourselves. We’re no longer “servants [slaves]” of Sin. (Gk. doulos, means “slaves”). Christians are no longer bound to Sin… now we are willing slaves to another (to Christ) by choice.
Rom.6:16 ... to whom ye yield yourselves servants [slaves] to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Rom.6:19 ... for as ye have yielded your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
We acknowledge that we’ve Died with Christ... by letting go of religion’s PBA system to Trust Him Alone.
Romans 6:3 … so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized [immersed] Into His Death?
Romans 6:6 ‘Knowing’ this, that Our Old Man Is Crucified With Him, [so] that the body of sin might be destroyed (kartargeo, made of no effect), [so] that henceforth we should not serve sin.
We as a lost soul ‘died with Jesus.’ But now as believers we are ‘metaphorically’ married, rather ‘joined, to Christ alive’ in our spirit. Only by His Spirit-life in us can we produce acceptable “fruit unto God.”
Romans 7:1-6 ... the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband [man] is bound by the Law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the Law of her husband. ... 4Wherefore, my brethren, YE also are become dead [‘Ye’ as the ‘Old Man’ of Rom.6:6] to the Law by the [dead] body of Christ; [so] that ye should be ‘married to another,’ even to him who is raised from the dead, [so] that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the Law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. BUT NOW we are delivered from the Law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter [Law].
Gal 2:19-21 I through the Law am dead to the Law, [so] that I might live unto God. 20 I Am Crucified With Christ: Nevertheless I Live; Yet Not I, But Christ Liveth In Me… 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain.