Law and Grace - 1
In order to have a better understanding of the relationship between law and grace and their effects on the lives of Christians let us first study their Scriptural meanings.
Law
In the Old
Testament the Hebrew word used for law is “Torah”. It is
used for Divine instruction (Psm. 1:2; 19:7) and also for human instruction
(Pro. 1:8). Of all the laws in the
Scriptures the Ten Commandments are very distinct from the others. God wrote them on two tablets of stone
Himself (Ex. 24:12; 32:16; 34:1,28; Deut. 10:4). They were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant where the
presence of God was manifested (Ex. 25:21-22).
These are the moral laws that God has declared to be the rules that
mankind shall live by, therefore they cannot be abrogated. God will judge mankind by the Ten
Commandments on Judgment Day. (Ecc. 12:13-14)
In
the New Testament the common Greek word used for law is “Nomos”
(Rom. 2:12).
The Ten Commandments is called “the perfect law
of liberty” (Jas. 1:25); and “royal
law” (Jas. 2:8).
Every one of the Ten Commandments must be kept (Jas. 2:8-13). The Lord Jesus Christ taught keeping the Ten
Commandments is essential to “have eternal life.” (Mt.
19:16-19) “Blessed
are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of
life, and my enter through the gates into the city.” (Rev.
22:14 NKJV)
There
is another set of law that comprised of the statutes, judgments and ordinances,
which are also given by God mainly to the children of Israel through Moses (Ex.
35:1-4). It is called the law of Moses
(1 Kng. 2:3); given through Moses (Lev. 232:1-44; 25:1-2; 26:46; Jn. 1:17);
spoken by Moses (Ex. 24:3’ Lev. 1:2); written by Moses in a book (Deut. 31:9; 2
Chr. 35:12; Lev. 26:46).
The Ten
Commandments were not called the law of Moses, but rather the Law of God. The
law of Moses consisted of: (1) the civil laws—the statutes and judgments that
Moses relayed to the people from God, recorded in Exodus 21-23 and the
remaining books of the Law—and (2) the ritualistic laws called ordinances
(Greek: ergon) were added later,
summarized in Hebrews 9:10. These
ordinances regulated the Levitical sacrifices (Lev. 1-7) and related
duties. Ergon
means “works,” as in the “works of the law” (Gal. 2:16). This referred to the labor involving
Levitical rituals abolished by Christ’s sacrifice. The Ten Commandments were never part of the law of Moses or the
Levitical sacrificial system.
The
Law of Moses is given to Israel Only
The fundamental point that
must be kept in mind is that the Law of Moses that comprised of the statutes,
judgments and ordinances was given only to the nation of Israel and not to the
Gentiles or the New Testament Church (Deut. 4:7-8; Psm. 147: 19-20; Mal. 4:4).
After the establishment of
the New Testament Church, the issue of the application of the Law of Moses
arose when Gentiles began to accept the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Should these new converts be required to
obey the Law of Moses, including the rite of circumcision?
The issue was so important
that a church conference was called in Jerusalem to debate the matter. After
extensive discussion, it was decided that the Gentiles should not be "troubled"
with the observance of the Mosaic Law except for the four
abstentions (Acts 15:1-29).
The Gentile converts were to
observe abstinence from fornication and abstinence from the eating of blood,
things sacrificed to idols, and things strangled (Acts 15:12-20, 28-29). All of
these prohibitions had been included in the Law that God gave to Noah (Gen.
9:1-17). So, Gentile converts to Christianity were not subjected to the Law of
Moses that included the statutes, judgments and ordinances..
Law
of commandments contained in ordinances that were Abolished
”Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of two one new man, so making
peace,” (Eph. 2:15)
There has been a lot of misinterpretation of
this verse. Some wrongly teach that all
the Ten Commandments have been abolished when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the
Cross. This is, of course not true
because our Lord had already declared: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the
Prophets. I did not come to destroy but
to fulfill.” (Mt. 5:17) I want to draw your attention to two words concerning the law. The first word “commandments” refer
to the Moral Law – the Ten Commandments.
Under each commandment there are “ordinances” that describe in
detail how the commandment may be applied.
Let us look at the Fourth Commandment concerning the Seventh Day
Sabbath: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: . . .” Ex.
20:8-11) This commandment is not abolished. We still observe the Seventh Day
Sabbath.
Now let us look at one of the ordinances of this
commandment. “Work shall be done for six
days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the
LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall
be put to death. You shall kindle no
fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.” (Ex. 35:2-3) Anyone reading this
ordinance will agree that it is an extremely draconian and harsh penalty to put
a person to death for working on the Sabbath Day. This ordinance also prohibits kindling fires that means nobody
can prepare any hot meals on the Sabbath Day.
No wonder so many Gentile Christians shun the
Sabbath because they think this is the whole package. They have completely misunderstood this verse and have failed to
see God’s original and true intention of the Sabbath is to give man rest,
blessing and sanctification. There
is a prophecy that the Lord Jesus Christ would come to abolish such
unreasonable ordinances. “The LORD is well pleased
for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law and make it honorable.”
(Isa. 42:21)
The phrase "having abolished in his flesh" - from (Greek katargeo) means "to render useless, to make it
ineffective." The ordinance being
abolished was "the
enmity". And
it was the Lord Jesus Christ's own work, in His own body, on the Cross, that
accomplished this. He had removed the barrier between God and man, and between
man and man (Jew and Gentile).
Praise and thank the Lord Jesus Christ for
having abolished “the
law of commandments contained in ordinances” that has all the
severe penalties which is the “enmity”. They
are no longer there. They are all gone
forever. Now Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians can keep the Seventh Day
Sabbath together and have peace with God and with one another.
Handwriting
of Requirements (Ordinances) have been nailed to the Cross
”Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us,
which was contrary to us. And He has
taken it out of the way, having nailed to the cross. . . . Therefore let no one
judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or
Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of
Christ.” (Col. 2:14-17)
The “handwriting of requirements (ordinances)”
is translated from the original Greek “cheirographon
tois dogmasin” - ceirografon toiz dogmasin.
They have been wiped out or abolished and were “nailed
to the cross.” Some
interpret “ordinances” as the
Fourth Commandment because the word “Sabbaths” appear
in verse 16. There
are four primary reasons why this interpretation is incorrect.
First, The Sabbath Commandment is not an ordinance.
Second, the Gospel of Luke records after the Lord Jesus Christ had died
and was buried in the tomb His disciples “rested
on the Sabbath according to the commandment.” (Lk. 23:56)
Third, If the Sabbath
Commandment had been abolished the Lord Jesus Christ would have told His
disciples about this important change before His death. After His resurrection the Lord still had
not spoken a single word about the abolition of the Sabbath Commandment.
Fourth, if the Sabbath Commandment had been abolished there would have
been a much greater religious furor over this than the abolishment of
circumcision. It would have been discussed in the Jerusalem
Conference. There is not one word in
the entire Bible that gives a hint that the Seventh Day Sabbath is abolished.
What then is the “handwriting of
requirements (ordinances)” that was “nailed
to the cross?” Can it
possibly refer to the Annual Feasts of the Lord and the New Moons since the
words “festival or a new moon or Sabbaths” were
mentioned in verse 16? The Feasts of
the LORD are ordinances and not commandments.
There is a problem with this interpretation. If the Feasts of the LORD have been “nailed
to the cross” then how does one explain the Disciples’ observance
of the Feast of Pentecost? (Acts 2:4)
If the apostle Paul meant that the Feasts of the LORD that include the
Feast of Pentecost had been abolished then he would have no reason to rush to
Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 20:16). There is no mention of the “New
Moons” being celebrated by the believers in the New Testament.
Some wrongly assume the apostle Paul was correcting the fully developed
form of Gnosticism that did not appear until the Second Century. Let us consider some Jewish rituals of the
Feasts of the LORD. “These
are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to
offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain
offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day—“ (Lev. 23:37)
The fact that this portion of the Epistle – Colossians
2:11-17 - mentions Jewish rituals such
as circumcision, baptism, handwriting of requirements (ordinances), cross,
food, drink, festival, new moons and Sabbaths, it definitely points to Jewish
legalism more than any other bad influences that Paul was combating. Let us bear in mind that these verses are
directed at the Church in Colosse, which is composed of mostly Gentile
Christians. At the Jerusalem Conference it was resolved the Gentile Christians
were exempted from keeping the laws of Moses that include the Feasts of the
LORD and New Moons that are also called sabbaths (Acts 15:18-21; 28-29). At that time there were “myriads
of Jews . . . who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;” (Acts
21:20). Those
Jewish zealous believers could likely have passed adverse judgment on the
Gentile Christians for not keeping the Feasts of the LORD, New Moons and other Jewish
laws. For this reason the apostle Paul
wrote to the Gentile Christians in Colosse: “Therefore
let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon
or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of
Christ.”
Now the
mystery of Colossians 2:14-17 is completely cleared up. The Gentile Christians
are not bound by the law to keep the ordinances of the annual Feasts of the
LORD and the New Moons with all its meat and drink offerings that had been “nailed
to the cross”. God’s law
of the Ten Commandments with its weekly Seventh Day Sabbath was not affected by
that "wiping out" of the “handwriting of
ordinances.”
A Bible Study based on this article was taught by Paul Wong
to a Congregation in Houston, Texas on August 1, 2003
This is the response to a discussion in the ARK Forum on August 4, 2003
For comments please write first to: [email protected]
May God bless you.
Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International.
His ministry also serves as an architectural service company in Houston.
The ARK Forum on the Internet is international and non-denominational.
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