When the word "law" appears in the Bible, we Christians usually think the word refers to the Ten Commandments. However, first and foremost, the word "law" in the New Testament refers to the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, and sometimes called the "law of Moses" or just "Moses". The Jews call it the "Torah". The Law, the first five books, contains the Ten Commandment law, ceremonial law, dietary law, and various laws and ordinances dealing with servants and each other in ordinary circumstances of life. The Jews tell us that there are 613 laws in "The Law" or first five books of the Bible.
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets …". The Prophets are another classification of some books of the Bible. Primarily these are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve minor prophets and the Psalms.
The expression "law, or the prophets", clearly indicates that here the word "law" means the first five books of the Bible, and not just the Ten Commandments.
Of course, the Ten Commandments are included, and are mentioned further on when Jesus says, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill" (verse 21). And, in verse 27, "Thou shalt not commit adultery".
Other parts of the first five books are referred to as Jesus continued His discourse in Matt. 5. Examples are:
Matt. 5:31 - Putting away a wife - Deuteronomy 24:1
Matt. 5:33 - Not swearing - Leviticus 19:12
Matt. 5:38 - An eye for an eye - Exodus 21:24
Matt. 5:43 - Love thy neighbor - Leviticus 19:18So when Jesus says, "I am not come to destroy", He is speaking of Moses' law; the first five books of the Old Testament and of the entire 613 laws contained therein.
Note that when Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment in the Law, he quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, not the Ten Commandments (Matthew 22:36-39).
Not one jot or one tittle was to pass from the law.
Not one letter or stroke of a pen was to pass from the law.
Not one change, however small, was to be made UNTIL.. …
Until when? Until all be fulfilled.
On the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished" (John 19:30).
All, all had been fulfilled.
The One who was to crush the head of the serpent had come (Genesis 3:15).
The Seed of Abraham who was to be a blessing to all the nations had appeared (Genesis 12:3).
Jesus was the Angel who wrestled with Jacob; the ladder that reached to Heaven (John 1:51).
Joseph was a type of Christ. His own brethren betrayed him, but this is what saved them later in Egypt.
Jesus was the I AM, that appeared to Moses at the burning bush.
Just as Moses delivered God's people from Egyptian bondage, so Jesus delivers His people from the bondage of sin.
He was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
Moses told the Israelites, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken" (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 7:37).
Jesus is the fulfillment of all; all of the first five books of the Bible. He is the substance of every shadow, the anti-type of every type, the reality and fulfillment of every figure and prophecy.
It was John the Baptist who said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
He is both the High Priest and the Sacrifice. He did not come to destroy … but to FULFILL. The fact that there was a change in the priesthood shows clearly that there was a change in the law, the first five books, and not just the ceremonial law.
"For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity A CHANGE ALSO OF THE LAW" (Hebrews 7:12).
The Ten Commandment Law sets aside the seventh day of the week, Saturday, in which no work is to be done. It was to be a day of rest. God created the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. God did the work so that when man was created on the sixth day, there was no work to do. God had done it all. Man had only to enter in to God's rest on the seventh day.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).
"For he that has entered into his rest, he also hath CEASED FROM HIS OWN WORKS, AS GOD DID FROM HIS" (Hebrews 4:10).
God ceasing from His work on the seventh day of creation prefigured an even greater work, that of the salvation of man. It was planned even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20; Hebrews 4:3). Salvation predates creation because it was planned beforehand in the mind of God.
Man cannot be saved by his own works, but only by the works of God. All man can do is to accept that God has performed the work necessary for man's salvation and enter in to God's rest of which the seventh day was a type, figure, and shadow.
"For we which have believed do enter into rest … For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, AS GOD DID FROM HIS" (Hebrews 4:3,10).
To the Christian has been revealed "… things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 13:35).
The New Testament is clear that the rest for the Christian is in a Person and not a day.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye SHALL FIND REST unto your souls" (Matthew 11:28,29).
The believer's REST is in Jesus, and not in a day.
God resting on the seventh day, after the six days of creation, was a figure of the rest that fallen, finite, fallible man was to have IN JESUS CHRIST. Adam was a figure of Christ, the second Adam (Romans 5:14).
The rest that the believer was to have was in the mind of God BEFORE the actual creation and the Creator resting on the seventh day.
The fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath Day", is the sign, the seal of the Ten Commandments. In it, the Law Giver and His authority are identified as the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Circumcision was a sign, a "seal of the righteousness of the faith", given to Abraham for the Israelites (Romans 4:11).
When Christ's generation asked for a sign, Jesus said the only sign to be given would be the sign of the prophet Jonah: the three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. In other words, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:39).
In the New Testament, it is the Holy Spirit, Jesus' representative, that is the seal for the believer (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30, John 3:33 and 6:27; 2 Timothy 2:19).
The Holy Spirit is the seal, the sign of the new covenant. The law is written on the believer's heart (Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:8-10).
Who writes the law on the believer's heart? The Holy Spirit.
A great outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred to believers on the Day of Pentecost.
Pentecost, meaning fiftieth, was a celebration at the close of the grain harvest which began three days after the Passover when a sheaf of the first fruits was waved before the Lord. Pentecost came fifty days after the First Fruit.
At the resurrection of Christ, humanity was delivered from the bondage of sin. Fifty days later, a great outpouring of the Spirit sealed this truth in the hearts of believers. The law was written on their hearts. What law was this?
The work of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Christ. He speaks not of Himself (John 16:13).
Jesus Christ is the law. He is the law incarnate. He is the law personified.
Moses said, "Do not kill". Jesus said, "Do not hate in your heart". Moses said, "Do not commit adultery". Jesus said, "Do not lust in your heart".
It is the Person of Christ, not the WRITTEN LAW, which is written in the heart in the new covenant.
"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; in the spirit, and not in the letter" (Romans 2:28,29).
Jesus is the living law, not a written word.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us …" (John 1:1,14).
Jesus is the living Word of God, revealed to man.
The largest book in the Bible is Psalms. The longest chapter is Psalm 119. It is about the Law of God.
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. The entrance of thy words giveth light" (verses 105,130). Jesus is the Word and Jesus is the Light of the world. He said the scriptures testify of me (John 5:39).
It is Jesus who, by His representative, dwells in the believer's heart. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Ps.119:11). Not surprisingly, the longest chapter in the Bible is really about Jesus, the Living Law of God.
Why was the law, this written law given?
"It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made" (Galatians 3:19).
The Promise - Jesus is the promise - was made to Abraham. The written law came 430 years later so the people could see their transgressions, their rebellion against God, and their need of a Deliverer, because where no law is, there is no transgression (Galatians 3:17; Romans 4:15).
The law, the written code, also served to keep Israel a separate people so there would be an accurate genealogy whereas to correctly identify the seed of Abraham, which is Christ.
Other cultures upheld moral values such as do not steal, do not kill, do not commit adultery, and do not bear false witness. In the Hebrew system were mingled in among the moral values cultic observances designed to keep Israel a separate people, a distinct culture, such as: circumcision, Sabbath keeping, dietary laws, and ceremonial laws.
When Jesus became a Priest after the order of Melchisedec, " … there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Hebrews 7:12).
All had been fulfilled.
The written law "was added because of transgressions till …", … till WHEN? "Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made" (Galatians 3:19).
Jesus did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill. Nothing was to pass from the law … till … all be fulfilled (Matthew 5:17,18).
Jesus fulfilled the law, the written code that had separated Jew from Gentile.
"But now in Christ Jesus ye (Gentiles) who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both (Jew and Gentile) one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Ephesians 2:13-16).
Christ has taken down the dividing wall, which partitioned Jew from Gentile.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses: Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Colossians 2:13,14,16,17).
Those distinctive Jewish observances which separated them from Gentiles have been done away with by nailing them to the cross so that all - Jew, Greek, bond, free, male, female - may be one in Christ Jesus.
"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).
Jesus of Nazareth is the LAW, the ethical and moral standard for the Christian. He is the living expression of the will of God, greater and more effective than any written law.
Unfortunately, many professing Christians continue to be enamored with the Ten Commandments and have made them an idol. Today many sincere, but misguided people, want them posted in schools and public places. Are we saved by Christ but sent back to Moses' obsolete law for ethical standards??? NO! NO! NO!
The new covenant (testament) is based on better promises: that Jesus is come to do God's will (Hebrews 8:6-9 and 10:7-10). Jesus is the LAW written in the heart in the new covenant.
The Christ rejecting Orthodox Jews keep the Sabbath between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday, which was the sign, the seal of the old covenant.
If "Christian Churches" wish to use the Ten Commandments as the guide for Christian conduct, then they should be meeting for religious services on Saturday, the seventh day of the week, as does the Seventh Day Adventist cult.
Jesus said of Nathanael, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" (John 1:47). A true Israelite has no guile.
Guile is defined as slyness and cunning in dealing with others; craftiness.
Also, it was the publican who had no guile before God, but hanging his head said, "God be merciful to me a sinner". The record said that this man went down to his house JUSTIFIED or rather accepted of God. Acknowledging his need, there was no guile in his mouth.
The Psalmist says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile" (Psalm 32:1,2).
In speaking of how God justifies a believer by faith, the Apostle Paul quotes from Psalm 32:1,2, "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:6-8).
Those who have no guile in their mouths have been justified by faith.
"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Romans 5:1&5).
Those with no guile are those who have been justified, "… in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30).
In the new covenant, Jesus is the law written on the believer's heart by the Holy Spirit, which is the seal of the living God.
"Now to Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen" (Jude 24,25).
Retired Baptist pastor/teacher I am:
James McCutchan
jmccutchan@aol.com