The Law Fulfilled in US
Oct 19th, 2008 by Nathan White
The assertion made in the last post was that Jesus in Matthew 5:17-20 taught that there was no aspect of God’s Old Testament Law that has been abolished or nullified, even in this day. In other words, Jesus taught the entire church of God to obey the OT Law in it’s entirety, and He condemns the one who advocates the relaxing or breaking of even the least of the commandments.
In this post, so that there is no confusion, let us qualify that statement and present some additional evidence for and explanation of this position.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. - Rom 8:1-4
This by no means is a full treatment of this passage, but I’d like to point out a few things here that relate to the previous post.
What is Paul saying here?
Verse 1: Those who by faith rest and trust in Christ are under no condemnation whatsoever for their breaking of God’s Law (follow Paul’s logic here from 7:24-25)
Verse 2: In Christ, by His Spirit granted to us at regeneration, we are freed, *not* from the duty of obeying, through love, the OT Law, but we are freed from ‘law of sin and death’, which is the wretchedness of sin dwelling in the unregenerate man (see 7:12;14, 18, 23-25).
Verse 3: The Law of God is powerless to regenerate. The Law has many functions, but because of the weakness of our flesh, it is powerless to justify or sanctify on its own. Instead, God through Jesus Christ condemned our sin in the flesh. Christ did what the Law could not.
Verse 4: What is the end of Christ’s work? What becomes of His condemning our sin in the flesh? So that the righteous requirement of the law… –Which Law? The OT Law? The NT Law? The ‘Law of Christ’? Clearly, without a doubt the context teaches us that is it the Old Testament Law which is fulfilled in us, who no longer walk according to the flesh. What does it mean to not walk according to the flesh? It means the Law no longer serves as a means of sin and death to us, but indeed, the Spirit provides the very power and freedom from condemnation necessary to properly obey the OT Law of God –indeed the only Law of God.
And who is this law fulfilled in? The text does not say ‘fulfilled FOR us’, but it says ‘fulfilled IN us’. In this text, Paul teaches that the fulfillment of the OT Law isn’t just regulated to Christ alone. We are the ones who fulfill this law and its righteous requirements!
Don’t be mistaken: no one would dare argue that the Law is not fulfilled in Christ, for it is in its entirety. But are we severed from our Living Head? Are we not His mystical Body? Would we not take part in His fulfillment? We most certainly do. One important aspect of Christ’s fulfilling of the Law is that His members follow down this same path of obedience to it.
Conclusion:
Those in Christ do not face condemnation by the Law. The Law is no longer a curse to us. The Law is no longer a binding covenant upon us. The Law is no longer rigorous to us. The Law no longer holds any eternal accusations over us. Indeed, we are freed from the Law in every way, and the bondage of every single command within, given that we are in Christ.
But freedom from the Law and its condemnation does not mean that we are not still called to obey it. As the Apostles says above, Christ has freed us from the condemnation of the Law so that we would fulfill the essence of the Law in our walking by the Spirit.
You see? Christ’s words in Matthew 5 fit perfectly with Paul’s words here. Not one word, not one letter of the Law has been set aside, but believers being freed from its bondage, now have been given the power to fulfill it entirely.
“…’with the mind I myself serve the Law of God’…with this agrees James 2:8 ‘if ye fulfill the royal law according to scripture…ye do well’. What Law this was, he (James) shows in the eleven verse to be the Decalogue…Therefore since Christ, who is the best expounder of the Law, so largely strengthens and confirms the Law (witness the Sermon on the Mount, and also Mark 10:19); since faith does no supplant, but strengthens the Law; since the Apostle so often presses and urges the duties commanded in the Law…I must conclude that the Law, for the substance of it, still remains a rule of life to the people of God.” Samuel Bolton, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom
We do not overthrow the law by our freedom from it in faith. By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. We establish the Law. And we dare not relax even the smallest of its commandments…
Nathan,
This is a subject that is not really taught in churches (as far as I know) and it is one which I am struggling with right now. It seems in my conversations with people that the relationship between law and gospel is not really understood (myself included) and it seems to lead to a whole mess of other confusion between law/grace, OT/NT, works/faith, etc. The most common understanding I have come across is the OT saints were under the law but the NT saints have been freed from it. But is it more accurate to say that the unsaved are under the (curse of) law and the saved have been freed from it, OT and NT alike? Not free from obedience to it, but free from the death and curse that it brings? And that no one is free from obedience to it, but that obedience has been fulfilled by Christ and imputed to us and that is the basis of our justification, and not only ours, but the OT saints as well? I’ve read a bit about it on the Monergism website, but would appreciate it if you could steer me to some good teaching or the names of some scholars who have written on it. Thanks, Hannah
Hannah–
Excellent words. I believe you are right on with what you said.
Of course, Classic Dispensationalism affirms that OT saints were saved by Law-keeping; something that is easily proven to be a fairly serious error (we’ve discussed some of this off-line already).
Also, yes, all outside of Christ are under the curse of the Law. It condemns them and exposes their sin, particularly in the ten commands or ‘moral/essence’ of the Law. And the saved have been freed from the curse, dominion, bondage, etc, of the Law, but the saved are still commanded to obey the Law in love, as seen through the lens of love and the freedom of Christ, and not in any way as a system of merit. We all stumble in many ways.
And perfect obedience to the Law is indeed necessary for justification, and that perfect obedience was accomplished by Jesus Christ, in His life and death, and is imputed to those who have faith in Him. This imputation covers the OT saints as well.
In other words, I didn’t add anything to what you said above, and that’s because you nailed it so well! If you have questions about a particular point, or if you’d like to see some scriptures references for each particular point, let me know and I’ll be happy to divulge further.
As far as other resources: the best little book on the gospel, and on this subject, I think, is RC Sproul’s Saved from What? Excellent, excellent book. I’d look into all of his resources as he is very strong in this area. Other than that, Monergism.org is the place to go for the good material.
Hope that helps,
Nathan
Nathan,
I may have seemed to “nail it” but that’s because i got most of it from Michael Horton’s “What’s Really At Stake” which I found on Monergism. In short, he says law & gospel appear in both the OT and NT; divine grace is not divine clemency but divine satisfaction of justice and legal propriety; the personal fulfillment of the law by the mediator (Christ) is imputed to the sinner through faith; faith is a passive instrument and (this one really caught my attention) in scripture justification is never said to be on account of faith.
I think most people would stumble over that sentence. They would say we are justified by faith and not by works, thereby seeing faith as the basis of their justification and not Christ’s obedience which has been imputed to them, and from there feeling free to say that the law has no more hold over the NT saint because they are “faith” and not works.”
Hannah–
I completely agree. Some systems of theology make OT law as somehow worse than NT law, but clearly they’re both the same in that we have no ability to perfectly keep either one, and they serve (partly) to expose our sin and need for Christ.
Again, I should agree, and most Christians should. Justification is based upon the perfect life of Another, and the perfect substitution/payment for our sins, by Another as well. Thus, though God’s love and forgiveness play a very important role in our salvation, we are ultimately justified based upon satisfaction of sin and righteousness. For if God were to justify on any other grounds than sin atoned for and perfect righteousness, He would deny His very attribute of being a just God. Forgiveness for humans is based upon we’re sinners as well as the one who sinned against us; for God to simply forgive without satisfaction for sin would be a grave injustice.
Well, yes, some would stumble over this, but this is the very heart and soul of protestant doctrine, and that which distinguishes us from the Roman Catholics, for example. But being careful how you word this will probably keep people from disagreeing with you. First, faith is what saves us, but faith is not a work. That is, faith is not something we can inherently ‘do’ as pleasing to God. And the reason for this is two-fold: first, faith is a gift from God, not of our own creation (ye must be born again; Eph 2:8-9, Phil 1:29, etc.), and secondly, faith is simply the means for which joins us to Christ.
I use this corny example of how faith justifies us when explaining this to my wife: when we go to church, we drive in our cars. The car is the means by which we go to church, but it is not church or the ‘end’ itself. Yes, when someone asks us ‘how do you get to church?’, we can rightly say ‘by driving our car’. Likewise, when someone asks, ‘how do you get to heaven?’, or ‘how is one saved?’, we can rightly say that faith in Christ is the answer. But if we say that faith is the end, it is as if we loaded our car on Sunday morning and said ‘we’re there!’ without leaving the driveway. For we would be resting in the means of salvation rather than the object of it. Christ is the object. His perfect life of obedience and His payment for sin our necessary for our justification. But the only way to have His perfect life and death accredited to us is by faith.
So, don’t be mistaken: we are definitely saved by works. But the works by which we are saved by (or could ever be saved by), are not our own; they are the works of Christ. His perfect works are the only way to the Father. Let’s not confuse that with our portion, faith, which is not a work, but rather an empty hand that accepts the works of Another.
Nathan,
I have a few more questions. Would you say that all men of all time are under law? If not the Mosaic law then the law of nature or the law of conscience, and that serves to condemn them? Would it be right to say that anyone who comes to faith in Christ is transferred from being under law to being under grace, including the OC saints? So even though they observed the law, made the sacrirfices and kept the rituals, it was an act of obedience (just as we today should keep the commandments) and they had, in reality, been freed from the curse of the law? And everyone, including those before Christ, were either in Adam under law or in Christ under grace, but not in both at the same time, nor in neither?
Thanks for bearing with me.
Hannah–
Sorry for the late reply. I’ve been out of town the last few days, and without internet access.
Here is the best ’short answer’ I can give to your questions:
Yes, according to Romans 2:12-15, 3:19, etc. The Law condemns all men, old testament, new testament, etc., as sinners before God, and will be used to judge all men on the Final Day.
I believe it can be clearly shown that the law of nature/conscience is indeed captured in the Mosaic Law, specifically in the 10 commandments.
Well, yes, in that the Law’s demands have been satisfied, both in judgment for offenses committed, and in full righteous obedience, by Jesus Christ in His Person and work. But I’m not sure I understand what you mean by ‘transferred’, because the Law serves to define sin for all men, justified or not. But of course, those in Christ are not ‘under’ the Law, as in under its curse, condemnation, etc.
Yes, it was an act of obedience, to which the ones who were truly saved (Example, David), understood that the rituals and sacrifices only pointed them to the Savior, and were worthless in themselves.
Yes. All men have a Covenant head (this is called the doctrine of federal headship). All who are in Adam die; all who are in Christ will be made alive. All men, all time, are in one of two categories: they are like Adam in that they are trying to please God by their works (which all will fail as he did), or they are in Christ, and are resting in Faith in His works.
Did I understand you properly and answer what you were getting at? This is tough to discuss in a short space…
SDG
Nathan,
Yes, and thank you. What I mean by transferred is a person is either under law and must keep the law perfectly to be saved, or is under grace and receives salvation by faith. No one can keep the law and be saved by it, so it only serves to condemn men in that sense. When a person comes to faith in Christ they are transferred from the curse of the law and condemnation to the kingdom of God and salvation.