Text – Galatians 3:24-25 – “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 school master”
As we round off the teaching on Spiritual laws today, we would be considering the stand of the Moral Laws in the New Testament. While Hebrews mostly refers to religious ceremonial laws, and Romans refers mostly to civil laws (which are mostly tied to moral laws; I explained this link in the third part of this teaching), Jesus refers most specifically to Moral Laws in his sermon on the mount.
The summary of everything Jesus said as regards moral Laws is recorded in Matthew 5:17-19:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke on such things as Murder, divorce, adultery etc. and in fact gave stricter rules on all of them. For example, he said looking at a woman lustfully is as guilty as actually committing adultery.
So then, upon careful inspection, we see that the moral requirements in the New Testament are actually stricter than that of the Old Testament. The good thing however is that God’s grace is available for restoration when these laws are violated, unlike in the Old Testament, where punishment must be meted out.
I like how Romans 7:7-14 explains the Moral Laws to us: “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was of the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’.
But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the 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. For Sin… deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful We know that the law is Spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as slave to sin”
Beloved, the law (Moral Law) is not evil, it is good and spiritual. It is the sinful man that is unspiritual, having been deceived by sin. Sin shows man his inadequacy to please God by himself, and that exactly is why we need Jesus Christ.
We need Jesus Christ to help us solve the problem of Sin, not the problem of the law; the law in itself is good and spiritual. That’s why Romans 7:25 goes on to say, “Thanks be to God who delivers me (from the law of sin and death) through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Jesus didn’t die so that we can cast off all restraint, and live just as we please, all in the name of Grace. He made grace available so that our desire to please God with our lives will not be a journey of frustrations.
PRAYER
Lord, please help me delight in your law, and to appropriate your grace as the Holy Spirit guides in daily in pleasing You with my life.
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