Sabbath vs. Sunday
An Internet Debate

In this installment, Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi discusses "Paul and the Law." Dr. Sam feels this may prove to be one of the most important studies he has ever written in his life.

Today most Christians believe that Paul teaches that Christ has put an end to the Law, and consequently they derive their moral principles from the principle of love revealed by Christ, and not from the moral Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The obvious implication is that Christians are no longer obligated to observe the Sabbath commandment since that is part of the Mosaic Law that Christ nailed to the Cross.

This prevailing view represents not only a blatant misrepresentation of Paul's teachings on the role of the Law in the Christian life, but also one of the most destructive satanic deceptions of our time. The slogan of "New Covenant Christians" that we have met in this Internet debate which is "Not under Law but under love" can hardly increase the amount of true love in the world, because love without Law soon degenerates in deceptive sentimentality. The same is true of Law without Love, which soon degenerates in cold legalism.

The pressing need to counteract the prevailing antinomian (anti-law) deception has given a sense of urgency to this study on Paul's teaching on the role of the law in the Christian life.

Much of this material in this installment has come from Dr. Sam's book The Sabbath Under Crossfire: A Biblical Analysis of Recent Sabbath/Sunday Developments.

NOTE
Although some sections of this installment may seem a little "deep" or technical, this is needed in order to do justice to the topic at hand. The reader is suggested to read one portion at a time if what is read is difficult to understand.

Paul and the Law

In the Sabbath-Sunday debate, it has been customary to appeal to Paul in defense of the abrogation-view of the Old Testament Law in general and of the Sabbath in particular. This has been especially true in the recent attacks launched against the Sabbath by former Sabbatarians. For example, in his open letter posted in the Internet on April 1, 1995, Joseph W. Tkach, Jr., Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God, wrote:

"Paul does not hold the Mosaic Law as a moral standard of Christian conduct. Rather, he holds up Jesus Christ, the suffering of the cross, the Law of Christ, the fruit and leadership of the Holy Spirit, nature, creation and the moral principles that were generally understood throughout the Gentile world as the basis of Christian ethics. He never, I repeat, never, argues that the Law is the foundation of Christian ethics. Paul looks at Golgotha, not Sinai."

Similar categoric statements can be found in the Sabbath in Crisis, by Dale Ratzlaff, a former Seventh-day Adventist Bible teacher and pastor. He writes: "Paul teaches that Christians are not under old covenant Law. . . . Galatians 3 states that Christians are no longer under Sinaitic Law. . . . Romans 7 states that even Jewish Christians are released from the Law as a guide to Christian service. . . . Romans 10 states that Christ is the end of the Law for the believer." (1)

These categoric statements reflect the prevailing Evangelical perception of the relationship between Law and Gospel as one in which the observance of the Law is no longer obligatory for Christians. Texts such as Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18; Galatians 3:15-25; Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:15; and Romans 10:4, are often cited as proofs that Christians have been delivered from the the obligation to observe the Law in general and the Sabbath in particular, since the latter "was the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant and could stand for the covenant." (2)

For many Christians these statements are so definitive, that any further investigation of the issue is unnecessary. They boldly affirm that New Covenant Christians live "under grace," and not "under the Law," consequently they derive their moral principles from the principle of love revealed by Christ, and not from the moral Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

For example, Ratzlaff writes: "In old covenant life, morality was often seen as an obligation to numerous specific Laws. In the new covenant, morality springs from a response to the living Christ." (3) "The new Law [given by Christ] is better that the old Law [given by Moses]." (4) "In the New Covenant, Christ's true disciples will be known by the way they love! This commandment to love is repeated a number of times in the New Testament, just as the Ten Commandments were repeated a number of times in the old." (5)

This study shows that statements such as these represent a blatant misrepresentation of the New Testament teaching regarding the role of the Law in the life of a Christian. They ignore that the New Testament never suggests that Christ instituted "better commandments" than those given in the Old Testament. On the contrary, Paul unequivocally stated that "the [Old Testament] Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good" (Rom 7:12). "We know that the Law is good" (1 Tim 1:8).

This prevailing misunderstanding of the Law as no longer binding upon Christians is negated by a great number of Pauline passages that uphold the Law as a standard for Christian conduct. When the Apostle Paul poses the question: "Do we then overthrow the Law?" (Rom 3:31). His answer is unequivocal: "By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the Law" (Rom 3:31). The same truth is affirmed in the Galatian correspondence: "Is the Law then against the promises of God? Certainly not" (Gal 3:21). Statements such as these should warn antinomians that, as Walter C. Kaiser puts it:

"any solution that quickly runs the Law out of town certainly cannot look to the Scripture for any kind of comfort or support." (6)

There are few teachings within the whole compass of Biblical theology so grossly misunderstood today as that of the place and significance of the Law both in the New Testament and in the life of Christians. Fortunately an increasing number of scholars are recognizing this problem and addressing it. For example, in his article "St. Paul and the Law," published in the Scottish Journal of Theology, C. E. B. Cranfield writes:

"The need exists today for a thorough re-examination of the place and significance of Law in the Bible. . . . The possibility that . . . recent writings reflect a serious degree of muddle thinking and unexamined assumptions with regard to the attitudes of Jesus and St. Paul to the Law ought to be reckoned with-and even the further possibility that, behind them, there may be some muddled thinking or, at the least, careless and imprecise statement in this connection in some works of serious New Testament scholarship which have helped to mould the opinions of the present generation of ministers and teachers." (7)

I share Cranfield's conviction that shoddy Biblical scholarship has contributed to the prevailing misconception that Christ has released Christians from the observance of the Law. There is indeed an urgent need to re-examine the New Testament understanding of the Law and of its place in the Christian life. The reason for this urgency is that muddled thinking about the role of the Law in the Christian life, affects a whole spectrum of Christian beliefs and practices. In fact, much of the anti-sabbatarian polemic derives from the mistaken assumption that the New Testament, especially Paul's letters, release Christians from the observance of the Law in general and the Sabbath commandment in particular.

Objective of the Installment

The purpose of this installment is to examine Paul's attitude toward the Law which is one of the most complex doctrinal issue of his theology. To determine Paul's view of the Law we need to examine four specific areas:

1. The background of Paul's view of the Law from the perspective of his pre- and post-conversion experience.
2. Paul's basic teachings about the nature and function of the Law.
3. The five major misunderstood Pauline texts frequently appealed to in support of the abrogation view of the Law.
4. Why legalism became a major problem among Gentile converts.

By way of conclusion I will propose that the resolution to the apparent contradiction between Paul's negative and positive statements about the Law is to be found in the different contexts. When he speaks of the Law in the context of salvation (justification-right standing before God), he clearly affirms that Law-keeping is of no avail (Rom 3:20). On the other hand, when Paul speaks of the Law in the context of Christian conduct (sanctification-right living before God), then he upholds the value and validity of God's Law (Rom 7:12; 13:8-10; 1 Cor 7:19).

Part 1: The Background of Paul's View of the Law

Various Usages of "Law."

Paul uses the term "Law-nomos" at least 110 times in his epistles, but not in a uniform way. The same term "Law" is used by Paul to refer to such things as the Mosaic Law (Gal 4:21; Rom 7:22, 25; 1 Cor 9:9), the whole Old Testament (1 Cor 14:21; Rom 3:19, 21), the will of God written in the heart of Gentiles (Rom 2:14-15), the governing principle of conduct (works or faith-Rom 3:27), evil inclinations (Rom 7:21), and the guidance of the Spirit (Rom 8:2).

Sometimes the term "Law" is used by Paul in a personal way as if it were God Himself: "Whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the Law" (Rom 3:19). Here the word "Law" could be substituted with the word "God" (cf. Rom 4:15; 1 Cor 9:8).

Our immediate concern is not to ascertain the various Pauline usages of the term "Law," but rather to establish the apostle's view toward the Old Testament Law in general. Did Paul teach that Christ abrogated the Mosaic Law in particular and/or the Old Testament Law in general, so that Christians are no longer obligated to observe them? This view has predominated during much of Christian history and is still tenaciously defended today by numerous scholars (8) and Christian churches.

Unfortunately, this prevailing view rests largely on a one-sided interpretation of selected Pauline passages at the exclusion of other important passages that negate such interpretation. Our procedure will be, first, to examine the positive and negative statements that Paul makes about the Law and then to seek a resolution to any apparent contradiction. We begin our investigation by looking at the background of Paul's view of the Law, because this offers valuable insights into why Paul views the Law both as "abolished" (Eph 2:15) and "established" (Rom 3:31), unnecessary (Rom 3:28) and necessary (1 Cor 7:19; Eph 6:2, 3; 1 Tim 1:8-10)?

The Old Testament View of the Law

To understand Paul's view of the Law, we need to look at it from three perspectives: (1) the Old Testament, (2) Judaism, and (3) his own personal experience. Each of these perspectives had an impact in the development of Paul's view of the Law and is reflected in his discussion of the nature and function of the Law.

Contrary to what many people believe, the Old Testament views the Law, not as a means of gaining acceptance with God through obedience, but as a way of responding to God's gracious redemption and of binding Israel to her God. The popular view that in the Old Covenant people were saved, not by grace, but by obeying the Law, ignores the fundamental Biblical teaching that salvation has always been a divine gift of grace and not a human achievement.

The Law was given to the Israelites at Sinai, not to enable them to gain acceptance with God and be saved, but to make it possible for them to respond to what God had already accomplished by delivering them from Egyptian bondage. The context of the Ten Commandments is the gracious act of divine deliverance. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Ex 20:2). Israel was chosen as God's people not because of merits gained by the people through obedience to the Law, but because of God's love and faithfulness to His promise. "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the Lord loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage" (Deut 7:7-8).

Obedience to the Law provided Israel with an opportunity to preserve their covenant relationship with God, and not to gain acceptance with Him. This is the meaning of Leviticus 18:5: "You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, by doing which a man shall live." The life promised in this text is not the life in the age to come (as in Daniel 12:2), but the present enjoyment of a peaceful and prosperous life in fellowship with God. Such life was God's gift to His people, a gift that could be enjoyed and preserved by living according to the principles God had revealed.

The choice between life and death laid before the people in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, was determined by whether or not the people would choose to trust and obey the Word of God. Obedience to the Law of God was an expression of trust in God which revealed who really were His people. The obedience demanded by the Law could not be satisfied by legalistic observance of external commands, like circumcision, but by internal love-response to God. The essence of the Law was love for God (Deut 6:5; 10:12) and for fellow-beings (Lev 19:18). Life was understood as a gift to be accepted by a faith response to God. As Gerhard von Rad puts it:

"Only by faith, that is, by cleaving to the God of salvation, will the righteous have life (cf. Hab 2:4; Am 5:4, 14; Jer 38:20). It is obvious that life is here understood as a gift." (9)

It was only after his conversion that Paul understood that the Old Testament view of the function of the Law as a faith-response to the gift of life and salvation, and not as a means to gain life through legalistic obedience. Prior to his conversion, as we shall see, Paul held to the Pharisaic view of the Law as a means of salvation, a kind of mediator between God and man. After his encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road, Paul was compelled to reexamine his theology. Gradually he came to realize that his Pharisaic view of the Law as a way of salvation was wrong, because the Old Testament teaches that salvation was promised already to Abraham through the Christ, the Seed to come, 430 years before the giving of the Law at Sinai (Gal 3:17).

The Jewish View of the Law

These considerations led Paul to realize that salvation in the Old Testament is offered not through the Law, but through the promise of the coming Redeemer. "For if the inheritance is by the Law, it is no longer by promise" (Gal 3:18). It was this rediscovery of the Old Testament meaning of the Law as a response to God's gracious salvation, that caused Paul to challenged those who wanted to make the Law a means of salvation. He said: "For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the Law, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20).

The view that the observance of the Law is an indispensable means to gain salvation developed later during the intertestamental period, that is, during the four centuries that separate the last books of the Old Testament from the first books of the New Testament. During this period a fundamental change occurred in the understanding of the role of the Law in the life of the people. Religious leaders came to realize that disobedience to God's Law had resulted in the past suffering and deportation of the people into exile. To prevent the recurrence of such tragedies, they took measures to ensure that the people would observe every detail of the Law. They interpreted and applied the Law to every minute detail and circumstance of life. At the time of Christ this ever-increasing mass of regulations was known as "the tradition of the elders" (Matt 15:2).

During this period, as succinctly summarized by Eldon Ladd:

"the observance of the Law becomes the basis of God's verdict upon the individual. Resurrection will be the reward of those who have been devoted to the Law (2 Mac 7:9). The Law is the basis of hope of the faithful (Test of Jud 26:1), of justification (Apoc Bar 51:3), of salvation (Apoc Bar 51:7), of righteousness (Apoc Bar 57:6), of life (4 Ezra 7:21; 9:31). Obedience to the Law will even bring God's Kingdom and transform the entire sin-cursed world (Jub 23). Thus the Law attains the position of intermediary between God and man." (10)

This new view of the Law became characteristic of rabbinic Judaism which prevailed at the time of Paul. The result is that the Old Testament view of the Law "is characteristically and decisively altered and invalidated." (11) From being a divine revelation of the moral principle of human conduct, the Law becomes the one and only mediator between God and man. Righteousness and life in the world to come can only be secured by faithfully studying and observing the Law.

"The more study of the Law, the more life . . ." "If a person has gained for himself words of the Law, he has gained for himself life in the world to come." (12)

Paul's Experience of the Law

This prevailing understanding of the Law as a means of salvation influenced Paul's early life. He himself tells us that he was a committed Pharisee, blameless and zealous in the observance of the Law (Phil 3:5-6; Gal 1:14). The zeal and devotion to the Law eventually led Paul to pride (Phil 3:4,7), boasting (Rom 2:13, 23), and to seek to establish his own righteousness based on works (Rom 3:27).

As a result of his conversion Paul discovered that his pride and boasting were an affront to the character of God, the only one who deserves praise and glory (1 Cor 1:29-31; 2 Cor 10:17).

"What he as a Jew had thought was righteousness, he now realizes to be the very essence of sin, for his pride in his own righteousness (Phil 3:9) had blinded him to the revelation of the divine righteousness in Christ. Only the divine intervention on the Damascus Road shattered his pride and self-righteousness and brought him to a humble acceptance of the righteousness of God." (13)

The preceding discussion of Paul's background experience of the Law, helps us to appreciate the radical change that occurred in his understanding of the Law. Before his conversion, Paul understood the Law like a Pharisee, that is, as the external observance of commandments in order to gain salvation (2 Cor 5:16-17). After his conversion, he came to view the Law from the perspective of the Cross of Christ, who came "in order that the just requirements of the Law might be fulfilled is us" through the enabling power of His Spirit (Rom 8:4). From the perspective of the Cross, Paul rejects the Pharisaic understanding of the Law as a means of salvation, and affirms the Old Testament view of the Law as a revelation of God's will for human conduct. This brief survey of Paul's background view of the Law, provides the setting for examining now Paul's basic teachings about the Law.

Part 2: Paul's View of the Law

This preceding brief survey of Paul's background view of the Law, provides us the setting for examining now Paul's basic teachings about the Law.

(1) The Law Reveals God's Will

It is important to note, first of all, that for Paul the Law is and remains God's Law (Rom 7:22, 25). The Law was given by God (Rom 9:4; 3:2), written by God (1 Cor 9:9; 14:21; 14:34), contains the will of God (Rom 2:17, 18), bears witness to the righteousness of God (Rom 3:21), and is in accord with the promises of God (Gal 3:21). Repeatedly and explicitly Paul speaks of "the Law of God." "I delight in the Law of God in my inmost self" (Rom 7:22); "I of myself serve the Law of God with my mind" (Rom 7:25); the carnal mind "does not submit to God's Law" (Rom 8:7). Elsewhere he speaks of "keeping the commandments of God" (1 Cor 7:19) as being a Christian imperative.

Since God is the author of the Law, "the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (Rom 7:12). The Law is certainly included among "the oracles of God" that were entrusted to the Jews (Rom 3:2). To the Jews was granted the special privilege ("advantage") to be entrusted with the Law of God (Rom 3:1-2). So "the giving of the Law" is reckoned by Paul as one of the glorious privileges granted to Israel (Rom 9:4). Statements such as these reflect Paul's great respect for the divine origin and authority of God's Law.

Paul clearly recognizes the inherent goodness of the moral principles contained in the Old Testament Law. The Law "is holy and just and good" (Rom 7:12) because its ethical demands reflect nothing else than the very holiness, righteousness, and goodness of God Himself. This means that the way people relate to the Law is indicative of the way they relate to God Himself. The Law is also "spiritual" (Rom 7:14), presumably in the sense that it reflects the spiritual nature of the Lawgiver and it can be internalized and observed by the enabling power of the Spirit. Thus, only those who walk "according to the Spirit" can fulfill "the just requirements of the Law" (Rom 8:4).

The Law expresses the will of God for human life. However, what the Law requires is not merely outward obedience, but a submissive, loving response to God. Ultimately, the observance of the Law requires a heart willing to love God and fellow-beings (Rom 13:8). This was the fundamental problem of Israel "who pursued the righteousness which is based on Law" (Rom 9:31), that is to say, they sought to attain a right standing before God through outward obedience to God's commandments. The result was that the people "did not succeed in fulfilling that Law" (Rom 9:31). Why? Because their heart was not in it. The people sought to pursue righteousness through external obedience to commandments, rather than obeying the commandments out of a faith-love response to God. "They did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works" (Rom 9:32).

The Law of God demands more than conformity to outward regulations. Paul makes this point when he speaks of a man who may accept circumcision and yet fail to keep the Law (Rom 2:25). On the surface this appears to be a contradictory statement because the very act of circumcision is obedience to the Law. But Paul goes on explaining that true circumcision is a matter of the heart, and not merely something external and physical (Rom 2:28-29).

For Paul, as C. K. Barrett points out:

"obedience to the Law does not mean only carrying out the detailed precepts written in the Pentateuch, but fulfilling that relation to God to which the Law points; and this proves in the last resort to be a relation not of legal obedience but of faith." (14)

The failure to understand this important distinction that Paul makes between legalistic and loving observance of the Law, has led many to wrongly conclude that the apostle reject the validity of the Law, when in reality he rejects only its unlawful use.

(2) Christ Enables Believers to Obey the Law

For Paul the function of Christ's redemptive mission is to enable believers to live out the principles of God's Law in their lives, and not to abrogate the Law, as many Christians mistakenly believe. Paul explains that in Christ, God does what the Law by itself could not do, namely, He empowers believers to live according to the "just requirements of the Law." "For God has done what the Law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirements of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom 8:3-4).

The new life in Christ enables the Christian to keep the Law, not as an external code, but as a loving response to God. This is the very thing that the Law by itself cannot do, because being an external standard of human conduct, it cannot generate a loving response in the human heart. By contrast, "Christ's love compels us" (2 Cor 5:14) to respond to Him by living according to the moral principles of God's Law. Our love response to Christ fulfills the Law, because love will not commit adultery, or lie or steal or covet, or harm one's neighbor (Rom 13:8-10).

The permanence of the Law is reflected in Paul's appeal to specific commandments as the norm for Christian conduct. To illustrate how the principle of how love fulfills the Law, Paul cites several specific commandments: "The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in the sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law" (Rom 13: 9-10).

His reference to "any other commandment" presupposes the rest of the Ten Commandments, since love fulfills not only the last six commandments that affect our relationship with fellow-beings, but also the first four commandments that govern our relationship with God. For example, love fulfills the Sabbath commandment because it motivate Christians to truly love the Lord by giving priority to Him in their thinking and living during the hours of the Sabbath.

Central to Paul's understanding of the Law is the Cross of Christ. From this perspective, he both negates and affirms the Law. Negatively, the Apostle repudiates the Law as the basis of justification: "if justification were through the Law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal 2:21).

Positively, Paul teaches that the Law is "spiritual, good, holy, just" (Rom 7:12, 14, 16; 1 Tim 1:8) because it exposes sin and reveals God's ethical standards. Thus, he states that Christ came "in order that the just requirements of the Law might be fulfilled in us" through the dynamic power of His Spirit "(Rom 8:4).

Three times Paul states: "neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision" and each time he concludes this statement with a different phrase: "but keeping the commandments of God . . . but faith working through love . . . but a new creation" (1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6; 6:15). The parallelism suggests that Paul equates the keeping of God's commandments with a working faith and a new life in Christ, which is made possible through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

(3) The Law is Established by the Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Christ's ministry enables His Spirit to set us free from the tyranny of sin and death (Rom 8:2) and to re-establish the true spiritual character of the Law in our hearts. In Romans 8 Paul explains that what the Law, frustrated and abused by sin could not accomplished, Christ has triumphantly accomplished by taking upon himself the condemnation of our sins (Rom 8:3). This Christ has done, not to release us from the obligation to observe the Law, but "in order that the just requirements of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Rom 8:4).

The Spirit establishes God's Law in our hearts by setting us free from tampering with God's commandments and from "boasting" of presumptuous observance (Rom 2:23; 3:27; 4:2). The Spirit establishes the Law by pointing us again and again to Christ who is the goal of the Law (Rom 10:4). The Spirit establishes the Law by setting us free to obey God as our "Father" (Rom 8:5) in sincerity. The Spirit enables us to recognize in God's Law the gracious revelation of His fatherly will for His children. The final establishment of God's Law in our hearts will not be realized until the coming of Christ when the "revealing of the sons of God" will take place (Rom 8:19).

The slogan of "New Covenant Christians" "Not under Law but under love" can hardly increase the amount of true love in the world, because love without Law soon degenerates in deceptive sentimentality. E. C. Cranfield perceptively observes that:

"while we most certainly need the general command to love (which the Law itself provides in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), to save us from understanding the particular commandments in a rigid, literalistic and pedantic manner, we also need the particular commandments into which the Law breaks down the general obligation of love, to save us from the sentimentality and self-deception to which we all are prone." (15)

(4) The Law Reveals Sin as Sin

Being a revelation of God's will for mankind, the Law reveals the nature of sin as disobedience to God. Paul explains that "through the Law comes the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20), because the Law causes people to recognize their sins and themselves as sinners. It is evident that this important function of the Law could hardly have terminated by Christ, since the need to acknowledge sin in one's life is fundamental to the life of Christians today as it was for the Israelites of old.

By showing people how their actions are contrary to the moral principles that God has revealed, the Law increases sin in the sense that it makes people more conscious of disobeying definite commandments. This is what Paul has in mind when he says: "Law came in, to increase the trespass" (Rom 5:20; cf. Gal 3:19). By making people conscious of disobeying definite commandments, the Law makes increases the awareness of transgressions (Rom 4:15b).

The Law not only heightens the awareness of sin, but also increases sin by providing an opportunity to deliberately transgress a divine command. This is what Paul's suggests in Romans 7:11: "For sin, finding opportunity in the commandments, deceived me and by it killed me." The term "deceived" is reminiscent of the creation story (Gen 3:13) where the serpent found in God's explicit prohibition (Gen 2:17) the very opportunity he wanted to lead Adam and Eve into deliberate disobedience and rebellion against God.

It is in this sense that "the power of sin is the Law" (1 Cor 15:56). "In the absence of Law sin is in a sense 'dead' (Rom 7:8), that is, relatively impotent; but when the Law comes, then sin springs into activity (Rom 7:9-'sin revived'). And the opposition which the Law offers to men's sinful desires has the effect of stirring them up to greater fury." (16)

The sinful human desires, unrestrained by the influence of the Holy Spirit, as Calvin puts it in his commentary on Romans 7:5:

"break forth with greater fury, the more they are held back by the restraints of righteousness." (17)

Thus, the Law, in the absence of the Spirit "increases the trespass" (Rom 5:20), by attacking sinful desires and actions. To claim that "New Covenant Christians" are no longer under Law in the sense that they no longer need the Law to expose sin in their life, means to deny or cover up the presence of sin. Sinful human beings need the Law to "come to the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20), and needs a Saviour to " have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col 1:14; cf. Eph 1:7).

(4) Observance of the Law can Lead to Legalism

The goodness of the Law is sullied when it is used in a wrongful way. Paul expresses this truth in 1 Timothy 1:8: "Now we know that the Law is good, if one uses it Lawfully." Contrary to what many believe, Paul affirms the validity and goodness of the Law, but it must be used according to God's intended purpose. This important distinction is ignored by those who teach that "New Covenant Christians" are no longer obligated to observe the moral Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, because they derive their moral principles from the principle of love revealed by Christ. God has only one set of moral principles. Paul openly and constantly condemns the abuse, and not the proper use of God's Law.

The abuse is found in the attitude of the Judaizers who promoted the works of the Law as a means to achieve self-righteousness before God. Paul recognizes that the observance of the Law can tempt people to use it unlawfully as a means to establish their own righteousness before God. He exposes as hopeless the legalist's confidence of seeking to be justified in God's sight by works of the Law, because "no human being will be justified in his sight by the works of the Law, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). Human beings in their fallen condition can never fully observe God's Law.

It was incredible pride and self-deception that caused the Jews to "rely upon the Law" (Rom 2:17) to establish their own righteousness (Rom 10:3), when in reality they were notoriously guilty of dishonoring God by transgressing the very principles of His Law. "You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law?" (Rom 2:24). This was the problem with the Pharisees, who outwardly gave the appearance to be righteous, Law abiding (Luke 16:12-15; 18:11-12), but inwardly they were polluted, full of iniquity, and spiritually dead (Matt 23:27-28).

The Pharisaic mentality found its way in the primitive church among those who refused to abandon the unlawful use of God's Law. They failed to recognize that Christ's redemptive accomplishments brought to an end those ceremonial parts of the Law, like circumcision, that foreshadowed His person and work. They wanted to "compel the Gentiles to live like Jews" (Gal 2:14). These Judaizers insisted that in order to be saved, the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and to observe the covenantal distinctiveness of the Mosaic Law (Acts 15:1). In other words, the offer of salvation by grace had to be supplemented with the observance of Jewish ceremonies.

Paul was no stranger to the attitude of the Judaizers toward the Law of Moses, because he held the same view himself prior to his conversion. He was brought up as a Pharisee and trained in the Law at the feet of Gamaliel (Phil 3:5; Acts 22:3). He describes himself as "extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers" (Gal 1:14). From the perspective of a person who is spiritually dead, Paul could claim that as far as " legalistic righteousness" was concerned, he was " faultless" (Phil 3:6; NIV).

After his conversion Paul discovered that he had been deceived into believing that he was spiritually alive and righteous, when in reality he was spiritually dead and unrighteous. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Paul recognized that "having a righteousness of my [his] own, based on Law" (Phil 3:9), was an illusion typical of the Pharisaic mentality. Such a mentality is reflected in the rich young ruler's reply to Jesus: "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth" (Mark 10:20). The problem with this mentality is that it reduced righteousness to compliance with Jewish oral Law, which Jesus calls "the tradition of men" (Mark 7:8), instead of recognizing in God's Law the absolute demand to love God and fellow-beings. When the Holy Spirit brought home to Paul's consciousness the broader implications of God's commandments, it killed his self-righteous complacency. "I was once alive apart from [a true understanding of] the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died" (Rom 7:9).

In his epistles Paul reveals his radical rejection, not of the Law, but of legalism. He recognizes that the attempt to establish one's righteousness by legalistic observance of the Law, ultimately blinds a person to the righteousness which God has made available as free gift through Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 10:3). This was the problem with the legalism which prevailed among the Jews of Paul's time, namely, the failure to recognize that observance of the Law by itself, without the acceptance of Christ, who is the goal of the Law, results in slavery. Thus, Paul strongly opposes the false teachers who were troubling the Galatians churches, because they were promoting circumcision as a way of salvation without Christ. By so doing they were propagating the legalistic notion that salvation is by works rather than by faith, or we might say, it is a human achievement rather than a divine gift.

By promoting salvation through the observance of ceremonies like circumcision, these false teachers were preaching a "different Gospel" (Gal 1:6), which in reality was no Gospel at all (Gal 1:7-9), because salvation is a divine gift of grace through Christ's atoning sacrifice. With this in mind, Paul warns the Galatian Christians: "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourself be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you all. . . . You who are trying to be justified by Law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace" (Gal 5:2, 4; NIV). It is evident that what Paul opposes is the unlawful use of the Law, that is, the attempt to gain acceptance with God by performing rituals like circumcision, thus ignoring the gracious provision of salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

(6) The Law Was Never Intended to Be A Means of Salvation

After his conversion Paul understood that the Old Testament Law was never intended to be legalistic in character, that is, a means to earn salvation. From his personal experience he learned that he could not gain self-merit or justification before God by faithfully obeying the Law. Gradually he understood that the function of the Law is to reveal the nature of sin and the moral standard of human conduct, but not to provide a way of salvation through human obedience.

This truth is expressed in Galatians 2:19 where Paul says: "For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God". Paul acknowledges that it was the Law itself, that is, his new understanding of the function of the Law, that taught him not to seek acceptance before God through Law-works. The Law was never intended to function as a way of salvation, but to reveal sin and to point to the need of a Savior. This was especially true of the promises, prophecies, ritual ordinances, and types of the Mosaic Law, which pointed forward to the Savior and His redeeming work. In the great Bible lesson of all time, Christ expounded "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, . . . what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Luke 24:27).

Paul insists that the Mosaic Law did not disannul the promise of salvation God made to Abraham (Gal 3:17, 21). Rather, the Law was added "till the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made" (Gal 3:19). The function of the Mosaic Law was not soteriological but typological, that is, it was given not to provide a way of salvation through external ceremonies, but to point the people to the Savior to come, and to the moral principles by which they ought to live.

(7) The Law Pointed to the Savior to Come

The typological function of the Law was manifested especially through what is known as the "ceremonial Law," the redemptive rituals like circumcision, sacrifices, sanctuary services, priesthood, all of which foreshadowed the work and the person of Christ. Paul refers to this aspect of the Mosaic Law when he says that "the Law was our tutor . . . to Christ, that we may justified by faith" (Gal 3:24; NASB). Here Paul sees the Mosaic Law as pointing to Christ and as teaching the same message of justification contained in the Gospel. The tutor or schoolmaster to which Paul alludes in Galatians 3:24-25 is most likely the ceremonial Law whose rituals typified Christ's redemptive ministry. This is indicated by the fact that Paul was engaged in a theological controversy with the Judaizers who made circumcision a requirement of salvation (Gal 2:3-4; 5:2-4).

When Paul speaks of the Law as pointing to Christ and teaching that justification comes through faith in Christ (Gal 3:24), it is evident that he was thinking of the sacrificial ordinances that typified the Messianic redemption to come. This was also true of circumcision that pointed to the "putting off of the body of flesh," that is, the moral renewal to be accomplished by Christ. "In him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ" (Col 2:11). The moral principles of the Ten Commandments, like "you shall not steal," hardly represented the redemptive work of Christ.

Paul insists that now that Christ, the object of our faith, has come, we no longer need the tutorship aspect of the Mosaic Law that pointed to Christ (Gal 3:25). By this Paul did not mean to negate the continuity and validity of the moral Law in general. This is indicated by the fact he explicitly affirms in 1 Corinthians 7:19: "For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God." Usually Paul does not distinguish between the ethical and ceremonial aspects of the Law, but in passages such as this the distinction is abundantly clear. Commenting on this text, Eldon Ladd notes:

"Although circumcision is a command of God and a part of the Law, Paul sets circumcision in contrast to the commandments, and in doing so separates the ethical from the ceremonial-the permanent from the temporal." (18)

The failure to make such a distinction has led many Christians to mistakenly conclude that Paul teaches the abrogation of the Law in general as a rule for the Christian life. This conclusion is obviously wrong, because Paul presents "the commandments of God" to the Gentiles as a moral imperative, while he adamantly rejects the ceremonial ordinances, such as circumcision, for these were a type of the redemption accomplished by Christ (1 Cor 7:19).

For Paul the typological function of the ceremonial Law as well as the unlawful legalistic use of the Law, came to an end with Christ; but the Law as an expression of the will of God is permanent. The believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit is energized to live according to "the just requirements of the Law" (Rom 8:4).

The starting point of Paul's reflection about the Law is that atonement for sin and salvation come only through Christ's death and resurrection, and not by means of the Law. This starting point enables Paul, as well stated by Brice Martin:

"to make the distinction between the Law as a way of salvation and as a norm of life, between the Law as it encounters those in the flesh and those in the Spirit, between the Law as a means of achieving-self-righteousness and as an expression of the will of God to be obeyed in faith. . . . The moral Law remains valid for the believer." (19)

Part 3: A Look at Some Misunderstood Texts

Several Pauline passages are often used to support the contention that the Law was done away with Christ and consequently it is no longer the norm of Christian conduct. In view of the limited scope of this installment, we will examine the five major passages frequently appealed to in support of the abrogation view of the Law.

(1) Romans 6:14: "Not Under Law"

Romans 6:14 is perhaps the most frequently quoted Pauline text to prove that Christians have been released from the observance of the Law. The text reads: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under Law but under grace." The common interpretation of this text is that Christians are no longer under the Mosaic Law as a rule of conduct because their moral values derive from the principle of love revealed by Christ.

This is a serious misreading of this passage because there is nothing in the immediate context to suggest that Paul is speaking of the Mosaic Law. In the immediate and larger context of the whole chapter, Paul contrasts the dominion of sin with the power of Christ's grace. The antithesis suggests that "under Law" simply means that Christians are no longer "under the dominion of sin" and consequently "under the condemnation of the Law," because the grace of Christ has liberated them from both of them.

To interpret the phrase "under Law" to mean "under the economy of the Mosaic Law," would imply that believers who were under the Mosaic economy were not the recipient of grace. Such an idea is altogether absurd. Furthermore, as John Murray perceptively observes,

"Relief from the Mosaic Law as an economy does not of itself place persons in the category of being under grace." (20)

"The 'dominion of Law' from which believers have been 'released' is forthrightly explained by Paul to be the condition of being 'in sinful nature,' being 'controlled' by 'sinful passions . . . so that we bore fruit for death' (Rom 7:1-6). From this spiritual bondage and impotence, the marvellous grace of God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has set believers free; but it has not set them free to sin against God's moral principles." (21)

Since "under grace" means under God's undeserved favor, the contrast with "under Law" presupposes the idea of being under God's disfavor or condemnation pronounced by the Law. Thus, in Romans 6:14 Paul teaches that believers should not be controlled by sin (cf. Rom 6:1-2, 6, 11-13), because God's grace has liberated them from the dominion of sin and the condemnation of the Law.

In this passage, as John Murray brings out:

"there is an absolute antithesis between the potency and provision of the Law and the potency and provision of grace. Grace is the sovereign will and power of God coming to expression for the deliverance of men from the servitude of sin. Because this is so, to be 'under grace' is the guarantee that sin will not exercise the dominion-'sin will not lord it over you, for ye are not under Law but under grace." (22)

Not Under the Condemnation of the Law

Paul expresses the same thought in Romans 7 where he says: "Brethren, you have died to the Law through the body of Christ . . . Now we are discharged from the Law, dead to that which held us captive . . .(Rom 7:4, 6). The meaning here is that through Christ's death, Christians have been discharged from the condemnation of the Law and from all the legalistic misunderstanding and misuse of the Law. To put it differently, Christians have died to the Law and have been discharged from it in so far as it condemns them and held them in bondage as a result of its unlawful, legalistic use. But they are still "under the Law" in so far as the Law reveals to them the moral principles by which to live.

This interpretation is supported by the immediate context where Paul affirms that "the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (Rom 7:12). Again he says: "we know that the Law is spiritual" (Rom 7:14). And again, "So then, I of myself serve the Law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the Law of sin" (Rom 7:25). These statements clearly indicate that for Paul the Law is and remains the Law of God, which reveals the moral standard of Christian conduct.

Surprisingly, even Rudolf Bultmann, known for his radical rejection of the cardinal doctrines of the New Testament, reaches the same conclusion:

"Though the Christian in a certain sense is no longer 'under Law' (Gal 5:18; Rom 6:14), that does not mean that the demands of the Law are no longer valid for him; for the agape-[love] demanded of him is nothing else than the fulfillment of the Law (Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14)." (23)

The point is well-made, because we have found that in Romans 13:8-13 Paul explains how love fulfills the Law by citing four specific commandments and by including "any other commandment."

In the light of these considerations we conclude that far from dismissing the authority of the Law, Paul teaches that believers should not transgress the Law simply because God's grace has "set [them] free from sin" (Rom 6:18). It is only the sinful mind that "does not submit to God's Law" (Rom 8:7). But Christians have the mind of the Spirit who enables them to fulfill "the just requirements of the Law" (Rom 8:4). Thus, Christians are no longer "under the Law," in the sense that God's grace has released them from the dominion of sin and the condemnation of the Law, but they are still "under Law" in the sense that they are bound to govern their lives by its moral principles. Thanks to God's grace believers have "become obedient from the heart to the standard of teachings" (Rom 6:17) and moral principles contained in God's Law.

This installment continues in Part 2.
In Part 2 Dr. Sam discusses more misunderstood texts
and the Law as it relates to the Gentiles.

Footnotes

1. Dale Ratzlaff, Sabbath in Crisis (Applegate, California, 1990), pp. 200, 218, 219
2. Ibid., p. 49
3. Ibid., p. 74
4. Ibid., p. 73
5. Ibid., p. 181
6. Walter C. Kaiser, "The Law as God's Gracious Guidance for the Promotion of Holiness," in Law, The Gospel, and the Modern Christian (Grand Rapids, 1993), p. 178
7. C.E.B. Cranfield, "St. Paul and the Law," Scottish Journal of Theology 17 (March 1964), pp. 43-44
8. A convenient survey of those scholars (Albert Schweitzer, H. J. Schoeps, Earnest Käseman, F.F. Bruce, Walter Gutbrod) who argue that the Law is no longer valid for Christians, is provided by Brice Martin's Christ and the Law in Paul (Leiden, Holland, 1989), pp. 55-58
9. Gerhard von Rad, "Zao," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel (Grand Rapids, 1974), pp. 845
10. George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1974), p. 497
11. H. Kleinknech, Bible Key Words (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1962), p. 69
12. Pike Aboth 2:7. For other references, see H. Kleinknech (note 11), p. 76.
13. George Eldon Ladd (note 11), p. 501
14. C.K. Barrett, Commentary on the Book of Romans (New York, 1957), p. 58.
15. C.E.B. Cranfield (note 7), p. 47.
16. Ibid., pp. 66-67
17. John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Roamsn and to the Thessalonians, trans. R. Mackenzie (Edinburg, 1961), p. 141.
18. George Eldon Ladd (note 10), p. 541
19. Brice L. Martin, Christ and the Law in Paul (Leiden, Holland, 1989), pp. 53, 68.
20. John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1982), p. 229.
21. Greg L. Bahnsen, "The Theonomic Reformed Approach to Law and Gospel", in Law, the Gospel, and the Modern Christian (Grand Rapids, 1993), p.106
22. John Murray (note 20), p. 229
23. Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament (New York, 1970), vol. 1, p. 262.