Freed FromThe Law?

The antinomians (now sometimes called hedonists or libertines) say, "Freed from the Law, Oh blessed condition, now I can sin all I want, and still have remission." This is also called the abuse of grace. Watchman Nee says that God gave us the Law to break, not to keep. Rom 3:20 says that the Law gives the knowledge of sin. Nowhere in the New Testament are righteous people told to keep the Law.

There are several verses that relate to this: Gal. 2:21 says that if righteousness were through the Law, then Christ died in vain. Gal. 3:10 says that those who rely on the Law are under a curse. Heb. 10:1 and Col, 2:17 say that the Law is a shadow of things to come. Rom. 6:14 says that we are not under the Law. Eph. 2:15 says that Christ abolished the Law. Rom. 7:7 and 3:30 say that the Law brings the knowledge of sin.

When we strive to obey the Law we have "fallen from grace." We don't have to become "somewhat Jewish" to become a Christian. Neither justification nor sanctification is through the Law. Instead, we are subject to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ. Remember: The Pharisees were guilty of just obeying the letter of the Law and not attending to the "spirit of the Law." "As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the Law."   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Law And The Believer II

Watchman Nee explains the meaning of Romans 7 very well and says that God gives us the Law to break, He knew full well we wouldn't keep it. Gal. 3:10 says that those who rely on the Law are under a curse. Eph. 2:15 says that Christ abolished the Law for the believer. The Law is merely a shadow of things to come and is obsolete (Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1). If the Law could do away with sin, there would be no need for a new covenant, the old covenant was faulted. The Law says we do for God, grace says that God does for us. The Law says we have to, while grace says we want to. The purpose of the Law was to make us knowledgeable of sin (Rom. 7:6-7;3:20), not to be a panacea, but a diagnosis. "...[Indeed] it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are" (cf. Rom. 3:20 in the J. B. Phillips).

We live not under the Mosaic Law, but we live according to the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ" (Rom. 8:2). Nowhere in the NT are we exhorted to obey the Law!  When we say to God, "Oh wretched man that I am ...," this is "music to God's ears," according to Nee. "Our end is God's beginning," says Nee. Remember, 1 Tim. 1:9 which says, "The Law is not made for the believer, but for lawbreakers and rebels." Martin Luther called the Law a hammer that smashes our self-righteousness and a mirror that shows us our true nature, and a whip that drives us to the cross. It is meant to drive us to Christ as a tutor (see Gal. 3:25).

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The Pharisees were guilty of obeying just the letter of the Law and not the spirit. "As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the Law." We don't have to become "somewhat Jewish" to become Christians or grow in Christ. Christianity is not a branch or wing of Judaism. A good rule of thumb is that if a prohibition or command is not repeated in the New Testament it is probably not valid for the Christian, e.g. observing the Sabbath Day. The ceremonial laws and governmental laws are obsolete and the moral principles are still valid because morality never changes.

God never gives us the right to do what is wrong, or to just do what is right in our own eyes, or to be lawless. Martin Luther wrote a book, Against the Antinomians, which was a polemical book against those who thought they could live as they please after salvation. Today this kind of thinking is close to hedonism.

The Reformers who wrote the Formula of Concord in 1577 had a threefold use of the Law: to convict the unbeliever of sin or as a tutor to drive us to Christ; to bring order in society and restrain evil, and to be a light for what pleases and offends God. The Reformers were not as grace-oriented as modern-day evangelicals tend to be, e.g., they had strict Sabbath laws and rules in Calvin's Geneva and in Puritan New England. Actually, the Christian is under the higher law of love with the higher standard of Christ.  In sum, the Law doesn't save mankind it measures them.   Soli Deo Gloria!