Following Judah's Lion

Requiem for Stone Commandments

II Cor.3:6-11 - Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

For the believer there is no more law. None. Does that mean that the born again child is free to do what he pleases? It depends upon your definition of “free”. In some respects the covenant of grace is stricter than the covenant of law, which was just the covenant of grace in incubation. I reiterate my example.

You have a shed in the backyard and you explicitly tell your son that it is off limits to him. Now after a couple of days your son opens the shed door and goes into it because he is curious. You happen to walk outside and catch him in the very act of disobedience. What do you do? You punish him. But did he break any law? What if your neighbor enters into your shed in the cloak of night and he is caught? He is breaking the law and is subject to its punishment. But your son gets punished as well, but not according to the law. He is punished as a son, not a criminal.

It is the same in the spirit. An unsaved person is judged according to the law, while a child of God is punished as a son. Some quote the words of Jesus as proof that the law is still in effect for believers today. He said, “Think not that I have come to abolish the law, but rather I have come to fulfill it”. But the writer of Hebrews assures us in verse 11 that the law has been “done away with”. So what was Jesus saying?

Of course the Savior was teaching us that He alone could satisfy all the demands of the law and therefore proving Himself a worthy sacrifice in our place. Many suggest that verse 11 only applies to the sacrificial law and the ceremonial law but not the moral law, but those categories are man made and have no basis in Scripture. The law is the law and if we are to be judged by it today then we are all miserable sinners who willingly practice sin of all sorts.

And this is where our legalistic brothers stumble. They believe that by keeping certain aspects of the law they are somehow made a little more righteous before God. And that kind of perspective obliterates the relationship aspect of salvation. The law becomes our judge and not our Heavenly Father. Salvation is not an amalgam of law and grace. God forbid. The law poisons grace and runs the risk of reducing God’s grace to nothing. Everyone reading this post would deserve hell and eternal banishment if you were judged by the law in any way.

Picture the father of the prodigal son as he watches for a sign of his son’s return. Was he standing with a sheriff in order to arrest him for breaking the law. In fact, was he standing with the high priest in order to condemn him for eating with swine? Absolutely not. He was standing in love and forgiveness toward his wayward son, and the love and forgiveness was the point of Jesus’ story. The law kills while grace grants life relationship and life everlasting.

To the degree we are motivated by obedience to the law is the degree to which our love for God is reduced. “The love of Christ constrains me”, says the Apostle Paul. The law of death has been fulfilled and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has filled the vacuum. Away with the stone commandments that no one can obey and let the relationship with our Heavenly Father be our consuming passion. Our lives are to be living sacrifices unto God and not some troop of moral policemen who judge others while we ourselves are being judged.