Jesus said:
"...all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus...."
Romans 3:20
"...for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the
bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God."
Hebrews 7:19
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I
did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you,
till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no
means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore
breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so,
shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven...."
Matthew
5:17-18
"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one
tittle
of the law to fail."
Luke 16:17
"But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds,
and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people."
Jeremiah 31:33
"... a man is not
justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ...
For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if
righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." Galatians
2:16-21
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
having become a curse for us...."
Galatians 3:13-14
[Note: The
verses above apply to this precious old hymn, but the first line can
be confusing. We are actually set free from the curse
(or
judgment)
of the law, while God's moral law is still real and active --
in our hearts.
Free from
the law - O happy condition!
Jesus has
bled, and there is remission;
cursed by the
law and bruised by the fall,
Grace had
redeemed us once for all.
Hear the happy melody here:
www.biblestudycharts.com/SH_Once_For_All.html
The old Mosaic Law versus the
new Law of Grace
Note: The Levitical
laws of the Old Testament were fulfilled through Jesus Christ when
He was crucified. His death as the perfect Lamb of God served as the
propitiation needed to redeem all who would believe in Him. No need
to sacrifice a goat or lamb or anything else prescribed in the book
of Leviticus when Jesus Himself met all the conditions for us.
In contrast, the moral
laws of the Old Testament are as applicable today as ever.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6: 17-20.
"Do not think that I
came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy
but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth
pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law
till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of
these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the
kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless
your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
We are responsible for knowing and following those guidelines -- not
by our own strength, but by His life in us. In other words, as we
study His Word (Old and New Testament), know His guidelines, and
depend on His life rather than our own, He enables us to follow Him
and demonstrate His life.
"John bore witness of
Him and cried out, saying, 'This was He of whom I said, ‘He who
comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ And of
His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the
law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ."
John 1:15-17
"For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that
which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly;
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the
letter [of the law]; whose praise is not from men but from God."
Romans 2:28-29
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe
of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier
matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you
ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." Matthew 23:23-24
"These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the
Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.' And
He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the
Scriptures."
Luke
24:44-45
The Law
exposes our guilt & points us
to the cross
"...the Scripture has
confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ
might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we
were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would
afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to
bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But
after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."
Galatians 3:17-25
"Is the law sin?
Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except
through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless
the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'"
Romans 7:7
"For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and
good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not!
But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me
through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might
become exceedingly sinful."
Romans 7:12-13
"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law
no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin."
"But now
the righteousness of God apart
from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the
Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in
Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no
difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a
propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the
sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present
time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus.
"Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
... Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On
the contrary, we establish the law."
Romans 3:19-31
"For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to
Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the
righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs,
faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath;
for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is
of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise
might be sure to all the seed...."
Romans 4:13-16
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and
death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all
sinned.... But the free gift is not like the offense. For
if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God
and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ,
abounded to many."
Romans 5:12-15
"...without shedding of blood there is no remission."
Hebrews 9:22
"Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all
men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s
righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in
justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many
were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made
righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might
abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so
that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 5:18-21
"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were
aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to
death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to
what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of
the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
"What shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin
except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness
unless the law had said,
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all
the Law and the Prophets."
Matthew 22:36-40
"But sin, taking
opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil
desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once
without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I
died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found
to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy and just and good.
"Has then what is good become death to
me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was
producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the
commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am
doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not
practice; but what I hate, that I do.
"If,
then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is
good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells
in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good
dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what
is good I do not find. ... For I delight in the law of God
according to the inward man. But I see another law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man
that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."
Romans 7:1-25
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of
sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
"For
those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things
of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things
of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor
indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot
please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you."
Romans 8:1-9
"And do not present
your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
"What then? Shall we sin because
we are not
under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that
to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s
slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of
obedience leading to righteousness?"
Romans 6:13-16
"...Israel, pursuing
the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of
righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith,
but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at
that stumbling stone. As it is written: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a
stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him
will not be put to shame.'" Romans 9:30-33
"For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For
Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, 'The man
who does those things shall live by them."
Romans 10:3-5
The Law of Love
(agapao - God's love)
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.’
This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it:
‘You shall love
your neighbor as yourself."
Matthew 22:37-39
"Owe no one anything
except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled
the law. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,'
'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear
false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any other
commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.' 'Love does no harm to a neighbor;
therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:8-10
(The source of this
"agapao" love is God -- through the Holy Spirit in us. Ordinary
human affection or "phileo" love does not meet God's standard.)
"For
all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest
you be consumed by one another!
"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary
to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and
the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in
time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the
kingdom of God.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are
Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
Galatians
5:14-24
"Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Galatians 6:1-2
"All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the
power of any."
1 Corinthians
6:12
(This
is only true for those who have been joined to Jesus Christ through the cross
and are led by His Spirit to follow His ways. They are no longer
"under" the judgment of the law but live by God's wonderful
grace. It's not true for those who reject His Word and Spirit!)
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any
longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized
into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were
buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life."
Romans 6:1-4
Stand firm in God's grace;
don't return to legal bondage"
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so
foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made
perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in
vain—if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the
Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham
'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of
Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand,
saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.' So then those
who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
"For as many as are of the works of the
law are under the curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of
the law, to do them.' But that no one is justified by the law in the
sight of God is evident, for 'the just shall live by faith.' Yet the
law is not of faith, but 'the man who does them shall live by them.'
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a
curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a
tree'), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in
Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith."
Galatians 3:1-14
"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His
Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 'to redeem those who
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
'And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son
into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!' Therefore you
are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ."
Galatians 4:4-7
"God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to
the world."
Galatians 6:13-14
"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has
broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in
His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in
ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two,
thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both [Jewish and
"Gentile" believers] to God in one body through the cross, thereby
putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you
who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we
both have access by one Spirit to the Father."
Ephesians 2:14-18
"...circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
"But what things were
gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I
also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the
law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness
which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of
His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the
resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:5-11
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I
press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has
also laid hold of me." Philippians 3:12
"But we know that the
law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is
not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and
insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for
liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is
contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the
blessed God which was committed to my trust."
1 Timothy 1:8-11
"For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the
very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices,
which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach
perfect."
Hebrews 10:1-2
"Previously saying,
'Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You
did not desire, nor had pleasure in them' (which are offered
according to the law), then He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your
will, O God.' He takes away the first that He may establish the
second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Hebrews 10:8-10
"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture,
'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well; but if you
show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as
transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do
not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not
commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor
of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the
law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has
shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."
James 2:7-13
So remember, "There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
made me free from the law of sin and death."
Romans 8:1-2
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