The Mosaic Law... fulfilled "by" Jesus and "in" Jesus: The Law of Moses is divided into three parts, or codes:
1- The Ten Commandments, or Moral Law, (Ex.20, Deut.5), giving guidance to Israel in principles of right and wrong in relation to God and man. This is the Magna Carta or Bill of Rights of human freedom.
2- The Ordinances or the Ceremonial Law (Ex.25-40, Lev.1-10,16,23). Worship, presented in the descriptions of the Tabernacle, the Altar, Sacrifices, the Holy Days, the Levitical Offerings, the Priesthood.
3- The Judgments, or the Social Law (Lev.10-22, Ex.21-24): The Law of Holiness. Secular, social, political, and economic life... Questions of diet, sanitation, quarantine, soil conservation, taxation, military service, how to spend a honeymoon, what to do about divorce, slavery, inheritances, etc. It was a complete set of laws.
A total of 613 commands were given to Israel: 365 negative commands and 248 positive.
All the Law was fulfilled "by" Jesus ... and "in" Jesus Christ (see The Gospel of Grace).
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Mat.5:17).
1- Jesus fulfilled the Ten Commandments, the Moral Law:
- Jesus Christ fulfilled the Ten Commandments by living a perfect and sinless life... and now, when man has faith in Christ, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to that individual so we have justification, we become "a just person". We have Christ’s righteousness so the Law can’t condemn us (Rom. 8:1; 7:1-6; Rom. 5:1; 4:4-8 ).
- In Matthew 5, Jesus redefined murder (21-26), adultery (27-30), divorce (31-32), oaths (33-37), eye for an eye (38-42), love the enemies (43-48 ).
2- Jesus fulfilled the Ordinances or the Ceremonial Law: - Fulfilled by Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension... all the ordinances were a shadow of Jesus Christ who is the real sacrifice, the real High Priest, the real tabernacle, our Passover, our real Salvation... Leviticus 1, Leviticus 3, Exodus 2, Exodus 5, Exodus 6.
- Jesus is the Lamb of God who really takes away the sin of the world. With His Cross the penalty which the Law exercised was paid. There is no condemnation because the believer is “in Christ” (Col. 2:14; Rom. 3:24-25).
3- Jesus fulfilled The Judgments, or the Social Law: - Fulfilled by Jesus Christ observing the Mosaic Law as a good Jew, and he lived under divine institutions and establishment.
- And now He replaces it with a new way of life fitting to our new salvation. He gives provision for the inner man: Christ Himself in us (Gal.2:20), the indwelling Holy Spirit who enables us to experience true sanctification so that we may experience also the righteousness of the Law (Rom. 8:2-4).
Jesus Christ is the "end of the Law":
That's what the Bible says:
- Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Rom.10:4).
- For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Rom.6:14).
Christians are not under the Mosaic Law. New Testament believers are not under Law but under Grace:
Since the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills the Law by His person and work, believers are under a new law; the obligation to walk by the Spirit of Life through faith (Rom. 8:2-4). If we are led by the Spirit, then we are not under the Law (Gal. 5:18 ).
The believer in Christ who functions under the filling of the Holy Spirit takes up where Christ left off and fulfills the Law. Believers in the church age are under a higher law of spirituality: Rom.8:2-4; Gal.5:18,22,23; ICor.13.
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Rom.8:1-4).
Yes, Jesus has not violated the Law nor even ignored it; He has fulfilled it! The Law pronounced the sinner’s doom (Ezekiel 18:4). Christ, the sinner’s Substitute, died under that Law (Galatians 3:13), completely satisfying the demands of that Law (1 John 2:2), fully paying the wages of sin for the sinner (Romans 6:23).
It needs to be emphasized that the end of the Mosaic law, including the Ten Commandments, does not cancel or detract one iota from the eternal moral law of God. The moral principles of the ten laws did not begin with Sinai but are as eternal and immutable as the character of God.
The Law is Great... but it doesn't Save... it rather Kills!:
The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Rom.7:12).
Yes, the Law was great in the OT and it is great in the NT, always great and holy and good and permanent.
The Law reflects the holiness of God, and God's holiness is a permanent standard of morality. The Law reflects the holiness of God and cannot be changed. Whether we read in the Old or New Testaments. As John so plainly says, The one who says 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him (I John 2:4). God's unchanging holiness and thereby His unchanging law is an abiding standard of knowing Him and being like Him.
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. This is what God tells us in Psalm 19:7.
The Great Problem of the Law... Grace:
God's perfect Law could not declare the sinner righteous; it could only condemn and execute him:
- For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)... Nobody could fulfill the whole Law, not even Moses!
- Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Rom.3:20).
- I would not have known what sin was except through the law... For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. (Rom.7:7-10).
God gave His perfect Law to demonstrate to sinners that we cannot stand before Him on the basis of our own merit...on law ground. Law can only condemn the law breaker; it cannot save him. The sinner must not seek his salvation on the grounds of law keeping, for, even if he kept the entire law and committed just one infraction, the Law would justly demand his doom (James 2:10). No, the sinner can only approach God on the grounds of God's Grace.
Law kills, it can do nothing else! Grace makes alive; it too, can do nothing else! The Law is a prosecutor, and a good one--the best one that the Universe will ever see. Grace is a defense attorney pleading the finished work of Christ. The best defense attorney of the world. Grace will never lose a case, even against the great prosecutor, Law, because the Judge is also the Savior. After fixing the sentence for outlaws (Gentiles) and law breakers (Jews), this Judge arose, removed His judicial garments, came down before the bench, and Himself paid the bailiff!.
Yes, the Law is perfect, but it is "weak through the flesh," and because it is weak through the flesh, there is something it could not do; it made nothing perfect. It is a perfect Law that made nothing perfect! (Hebrews 7:19; 9:9; 10:1). Grace, the once-for-ever death of our Substitute on Calvary, perfects forever those who put their trust in Him! (Hebrews 10:14).
So, what is good for the Law?:
It is a guide of good conduct, it shows the holiness of God... but most important, it brings us unto Christ!... when we see we can't fulfill the Law, that we are sinners, we have the need of a Savior, and it is Jesus Christ living in us, and with Jesus in us we can fulfill the Law... yes, the fulness of the Law, and not I, but Jesus who lives in me (Gal.2:20).
The Law so is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Jesus Christ!:
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Galatians 3:24-25).
The Law and Grace do not Mix!:
If we live under the Law, we die under the Law... if we live under Grace, we have live under Grace... they do not mix, we can't live under both... but if we just live under Grace, we have the Law!.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Gal.5:4).
Someone once objected that "God requires repentance and obedience for grace." God not "require" ANYTHING for grace. That is why it IS grace! By definition, grace is unconditional. Nothing is "required" of the recipient of grace. Grace is fully dependent upon the One giving it. Thus, instead of saying that "God requires repentance and obedience for grace," the Truth is, "Repentance and obedience are the OUTCOME of grace."
In Romans 7, we are reminded that a married woman cannot take a second husband without becoming an adulteress. God and Paul use the case of the married woman to show us that we cannot mix Law and Grace without committing spiritual adultery.
The Galatians were being courted by the Law Party. They had begun in the spirit, and were now being seduced into returning to the flesh as their base for life and ministry. When we recognize that the Galatian Epistle is not only Paul’s letter to the Galatians, but God’s letter to the Body of Christ, we must realize the seriousness of our sin in trying to live the Christian life on Jewish ground. When any member of the Body of Christ seeks to approach God on the basis of human merit rather than God’s Grace, he is rejecting God’s plan in favor of Satan’s!
There is the great problem with seeing the Grace of God as something that helps us get to heaven, as if we put forth the best we can, and then grace supplies the rest. Never! Grace doesn’t help, it does it all. All of our righteousness comes from the work of Jesus for us.
The barren ground of Law has been replaced by the fertile ground of Grace (Romans 7:4).
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:21)
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16).
The Law of Christ has replaced the Law of Moses (Gal.6:2)... And in this way, for Paul, the divine purpose underlying Moses' law is vindicated and accomplished.
One last note: The gospel is NOT: "Believe in Christ, or I'll send you to hell!" Rather, if we reject Christ, we remain dead. The gospel, rather than a threat of punishment, is an offer of life. God is saying, "You are dead. I have come to give you life." (Jn.10:10).
