Lesson No. 11. The Law Today (Question Box)
  As we open our Question Box today, the first question we have is--
  QUESTION NO. 1. "Paul says the Law was not made for a righteous man; why keep it?"
  ANSWER: Let us read 1 Timothy 1:8-10, please: "But we know that the Law is good, if a man use it lawfully; knowing this, that the Law was not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers . . . for menstealers, for liars . . . and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." These verses are easy to be understood if we are willing to take them as they are. Notice verse 8 first. Paul plainly says that we know that the Law is good, if a man use it lawfully. Please note that the Law is good, and has a purpose in the Gospel age. It is good if used lawfully.
  That is the object of these verses, to tell us how to use the Law and not to tell us that we should not use it at all.
  If we are not to keep the Law, then why did Paul say anything about using the Law lawfully? In verses 9 and 10 he tells us that the Law was not made for a righteous man. For whom was it made then? Let Paul answer, "For the lawless and disobedient." What good does the Law do when taught to the lawless and disobedient? "By the Law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). "Sin is the transgression of the Law" (1 John 3:4). "I had not known sin, but by the Law" (Romans 7:7). "That sin by the Commandment might become exceeding sinful" (Romans 7:13). We use the Law lawfully when we use it to give people a knowledge of their sins. When people break the Fourth Commandment by desecrating God's holy Sabbath day, we use the Law lawfully when we teach them to obey the Law of God.
  Look further into 1 Timothy 1:9,10. The Law was made for sinners. Do we have any sinners today? If so we need to use the Law of God to teach them that they are sinners. The Law was made for murderers, for whoremongers and for liars. Paul lists these sins. The same Law that condemns these sins also says "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." If the Law condemns the murderer, the adulterer, and the liar as sinners, how about those who refuse to keep the Sabbath day holy? If we break that Precept we are guilty of all (James 2:10-12; Romans 8:4; 1 John 3:8).
  QUESTION NO. 2: "If Christians are required to keep the Sabbath, how are we to account for the open violation of the Law by Christ, Who is our Example, unless by saying that the power that made the Law can take it away, and that He did it? (Matthew 12:1-8; John 7:22,23)."
  ANSWER: I am indeed glad that the one who wrote this question knows that Christ is our Example, and said so in the question. Christ, our Example, did not violate the Law. If He did, He was a sinner in more than one way. If He broke the Sabbath Commandment as the Jews accused Him of doing in John 7:22,23 and 5:8-18, He is guilty of sin on one count and He is also guilty on another count for He said, "I have kept my Father's Commandments" (John 15:10). If He broke the Sabbath Commandment, He did not keep His Father's Commandment. Peter said that Jesus "did not sin . . ." (1 Peter 2:21,22). Did Peter know?
  Jesus, the "Lord of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28) did not break the Sabbath day, as accused by the Jews, when He healed persons on that day. He taught that it is lawful to heal the sick on the Sabbath day (Luke 13:12-16; John 5:22,23; Matthew 12:10-12). Jesus did set aside Jewish tradition about the keeping of the Sabbath day when they accused His disciples of doing unlawful work on the Sabbath, in Matthew 12:1-8. The disciples were hungry and plucked a few ears of corn to satisfy that hunger. Jesus said that they were "guiltless." They did no more work than the lady of the house when she sets the table for the noonday meal. Read Matthew 12:1-12 again. Jesus taught us how to keep the Sabbath day by precept and example. We are not under Moses' ministration but under Christ's. We keep the Sabbath, as well as the other nine Commandments, as Jesus taught us to live under New Testament conditions of inheritance. There is not a hint that Christ Jesus was setting aside or taking away the Sabbath Law in Matthew 12:1-8 any more than Matthew 5:27,28 teaches that He was taking away the Law condemning adultery.
  QUESTION NO. 3: "If Christians are required to keep the Sabbath, how are they to live in cold climates when it is forbidden to build a fire on the Sabbath? (Exodus 35:1-3)"
  ANSWER: This fire command is not in the Ten Commandments but was part of Moses' ministration, the added law (Galatians 3:10,19; 2 Chronicles 34:14). We keep the Sabbath as Jesus taught it by precept and example (Matthew 12:1-12). Moses' added law ended at the Cross (Colossians 2:14). We hear Christ now (Acts 2:22,23).
  QUESTION NO. 4: "Can you demonstrate that the day you keep is really the seventh day, or Sabbath, coming down in regular succession from the day on which God rested?"
  ANSWER: Surely we can. There are three lines of proof and all agree.
  The first is the Bible, or Word of God.
  The second is history.
  The third is the custom and teachings of those who keep Sunday in honor of Christ's Resurrection.
  God blessed and sanctified the seventh day in the beginning.
  Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27).
  When God led ancient Israel out of Egypt they were commanded to keep that original Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). God Himself taught them the true Sabbath (see Exodus 16:23-30). Jesus acknowledged and kept the same Sabbath day the Jews kept (Luke 4:16; Mark 2:27,28).
  The women that followed Jesus "rested the Sabbath day, according to the Commandment" (Luke 23:56).
  The Church of God was taught to keep the original Sabbath day, the same Sabbath the Jews kept in the days of Christ. There has been no change in the weekly cycle of days since the days of Christ. History proves that fact. The Jews scattered in all nations for centuries would not all make the same mistake and still be in agreement on which is the Sabbath day. God promised to preserve the Sabbath as a sign between Him and the children of Israel forever (Exodus 31:16,17).
  The third and last point of evidence is the custom of those who keep Sunday. Every Easter season many preachers all over the land tell us that Jesus arose on Sunday, the first day of the week. It seems that they are quite sure that Sunday is the first day of the week when they teach this Easter theory. They also claim to keep Sunday and call it "the Lord's Day" because of this supposed Resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week. Yes, many even quote Acts 20:7, where the disciples came together on the first day of the week to break bread, as a proof text for keeping Sunday as a day of worship. All this adds up to one thing: the preachers and most others who keep Sunday know that it is the first day of the week. If Sunday is the first day of the week, as taught by Protestants and Catholics, why should there be any question about which is the seventh day? Again I ask, Why???
  QUESTION NO. 5: "When did patriarch, prophet, or apostle, or anybody else command any Gentile to keep the law of Moses: No dodging here! Proof! Proof!"
  ANSWER: We do not teach that Gentiles or anyone else are now obligated to obey the book of the law given by Moses (2 Chronicles 34:14). That book of the law ended at the Cross (Colossians 2:14). However, for your information I will give proof that Gentiles were commanded to keep the same law of Moses that Israel had to keep before the days of Christ. The Gentiles were called "strangers" (Ephesians 2:11,12). Open your Bibles to Numbers 15:15,16: "One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you . . . as ye are so shall the stranger be before the Lord. One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you." "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 24:22; Exodus 12:48,49). Paul sums it up in Romans 3:29, "Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also." God did not have a double standard back under Moses' ministration, neither does He have a double standard today. What is really meant by this question is, "Where was a Gentile ever commanded to keep the Sabbath day?" The Sabbath is not the law of Moses, my dear friends. The Sabbath Commandment is found in the Ten Commandments, and it did not pass away with Moses' book of the law. Were the Gentiles commanded to keep the Sabbath day? Yes, they were. In the first place, the Commandment itself includes "the stranger" (see Exodus 20:8-11). Also in Isaiah 56:6 we read: "Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord,  to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant." This text shows beyond a doubt that when a stranger, or Gentile, joined himself to the Lord, to serve Him, that stranger, or Gentile, had to keep the Sabbath as part of His service to the God of Israel, Who is the God of the Gentiles also. Jesus taught this same truth in His Gospel when He said, "The Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27). I would like to add for your information that history verifies the fact that the seventh day was originally the recognized Sabbath day  of all Noah's posterity. The earth was of one tongue until God confused their tongue and scattered them abroad (Genesis 11:1-9). A study of the ancient known languages, as well as later languages of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, shows that the last day of the week was designated as Sabbath day in most of those languages. They all had a seven-day week and there is a remarkable similarity in the words used to designate this seventh day as Sabbath. (See "A Chart of the Week" by Rev. William Mead Jones, D.D., 1886, in Library of Congress.)
  This shows that the seven-day week with its seventh-day Sabbath was known and observed as God-ordained by all mankind for some time after the Flood. This was long before the nation of Israel.
  May the Lord give you understanding and willingness to obey God regardless of human traditions.
  QUESTION: "Does Romans 7:1-6 teach that the law of Moses and the Law of Christ are separate, and that we are no longer under the law of Moses, but under Christ?"
  ANSWER:  First we shall go back to 2 Peter 3:15-17. Here Peter gave a warning that Paul wrote some things that are hard to be understood, which some wrest to their own destruction. I am sure that no honest person wants to do that. Romans 7:1-6 is part of what Peter refers to. However, Paul did write many things plainly, so that no one need err about the law of Moses and about the Ten Commandments. These are two different laws and Paul plainly teaches that truth. If we will study these plain texts, we can then understand the hard ones. Shall we use that rule here?
  Romans 7:1-6 is not dealing withs the law of Moses, but it is dealing with the Ten Commandments and "the law of sin,"or the "law of her husband" (verses 2,3). We are not under the book of the law of Moses, which required circumcision and many other rites and sacrifices that could not take away sins (Hebrews 10:1-10; 9:8-10; Galatians 3:10, 19-26). That law was abolished and is now contrary to us (Colossians 2:14). We live now under the Gospel, or Law of Christ (Romans 1:16).
  The Law of Christ is not, as some teach, a new Law given in place of the Ten Commandments. Galatians 6:2 refers to that Law of love that Jesus gave to His Church in John 13:34,35. Read it. Also 1 John 4:21. You can read all of the four Gospel Records of the life and teachings of Christ Jesus and you will not find Him giving a new law in substitution for the Ten Commandments--but He magnified that Law and taught obedience from the heart (Isaiah 42:21; Matthew 5:17-28; 2 Corinthians 3:2,3). The Moral Law that Jesus taught was not new but was well known to the Jews. He came to take away sin, the transgression of the Law, and not the Law that defines sin (1 John 3:4,5; Romans 3:19,20; 7:7).
  Now let us go back to Romans 7:1-6 and let Paul explain his own meaning of these verses. In verse 1 he says that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. In verses 2 and 3, he gives an illustration that a woman is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. "She is free from that law." What law? The law of her husband.
  Who is the husband that a sinner must be loosed from before he can be married to Christ? Is it the Ten Commandments? Is that what Paul is teaching in this Roman letter? No, it is not. Read chapter 6. Here he makes it very plain that it is "our old man," the body, or life, of sins (transgressions), that must be crucified with Christ . . . that henceforth "we should not serve sin" (verses 1-6). Paul had that experience before he could be married to Christ (Galatians 2:20; verses 17,18). Read carefully Romans 6:10-22. Repeatedly Paul emphasized the fact that those who accept and obey the Gospel of Christ must die to sin . . . sin shall not have dominion over them. Through the power of the Gospel they are made free from sin and become servants of righteousness (verses 11-13, 16-23; Romans 1:16). Anytime the Gospel deals with sin it is by the Law (Romans 3:19,20). When a person repents, he ceases to transgress God's Law and becomes obedient. You cannot remain a transgressor and be married to Christ. That old husband is not the Law that condemns a sinner as a transgressor, but it is that life of lust and sinful habits that rules in the lives of the unconverted. That law of sin, or carnal mind, is the law of that husband (Romans 7:14-23; 8:5-8).
  Romans 7:5,6 explains Paul's meaning of "dead to the law by the body of Christ." Verse 5 says that "the motions of sin which were by the law did bring forth fruit unto death." It was the sin (transgression) that caused the trouble, and not the law that condemns sin. Note the margin in verse 6. "Being dead to that wherein we were held" is the only way to become free from the condemnation of the holy, just, and good law (verses 12-14).
  Now we come to Paul's own explanation (Romans 7:7-14): "What shall we say then?" He does not want to be misunderstood in verses 1-6, so he explains his point. Why don't Bible students read his own explanation, rather than make a private interpretation? The first point deals with the Law of God. "Is the Law sin?" Paul wants no misunderstanding here. He answers, "God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law." What Law? Answer: "I had not known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet." (verse 7). Here Paul clearly identifies the law by which he and all others in this age of grace have a knowledge of sin. The quote was from the Ten Commandments. It was not the Law that caused the trouble, but it was the transgression of that holy and just Law. "Without the Law sin was dead" (verse 8). If that Law was abolished, we have no sin (Romans 4:15). If no Law, no sinners and Jesus died in vain and there is no need to preach the gospel (Matthew 1:21). Paul further explains that there was nothing wrong with that holy Law, but that all the trouble was in the man himself . . . the law of sin in the man. Study carefully Romans 7:9-23. That holy, just, and good law condemns or binds a person to that old husband, life of sin, until that old life is crucified with Christ. Then the  Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from that carnal nature, or law of sin (Romans 8:1-3). That body of sin is destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin. Then, being made a new creature and being led by the Spirit of God, the righteousness of that holy and just Law is fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20).
  The Ten Commandments were not given to justify a man. By the Law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). We are justified by faith in Christ as the One Who died for our sins (Hebrews 2:9; Romans 5:1,2). No amount of obedience can atone for past transgressions. All have sinned (Romans 2:23; 5:12).
  However, the salvation offered man through the Gospel of grace requires repentance with a living faith in Christ in order to receive justification (Acts 2:37,38; Luke 18:3). In repentance we must confess our guilt and turn from all our transgressions or, in short, become obedient to God's holy Law before justification is meted out to us (Ezekiel 18:30,31). We cannot remain a transgressor and receive justification. Paul says that we must become a doer of the Law to receive justification (Romans 2:13).