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Sonship
Questions About the Law
Studio Session 71
Sam Soleyn
11/2004
I have been very, very blunt and very direct about the law, and I have shown you passages from Galatians, Ephesians, and Hebrews to name a few in the New Testament, all of which unequivocally teach that the law made you a slave, the law was what men had as a result of disobedience, refusal to come into the presence of God, and they ended up under the law. But there are those who would say, “Well I have a lot of questions then. Number one, how then would the Bible say, quoting David in the Psalms, ‘I delight in your law O Lord, and I meditate on it day and night.’” and, moreover, ‘The law is righteous.’” (Inserted – actual verse—“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” – Psalm 1:2) (Inserted – actual verse—“The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.” – Psalm 19:9b) If you say that the law made slaves out of people, how could you also say that the law was righteous? That’s one question. And I have several others from both the Old and the New Testaments.
In addition to that, people say, “But this was the law of God. He wrote it with his own fingers on tablets of stone and Jesus said that He didn’t come to do away with it.” (Inserted – actual verse—“ ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.’” – Matthew 5:17) Let’s begin there. What about the righteousness that is in the law, or for that matter the glory that was in the law? Whose law was it? It was the law that God gave. Why did God give the law? God gave the law until the Seed should come. (Inserted – actual verse—“What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.” – Galatians 3:19)
So then the question is: What was the purpose of the law? The purpose of the law was to preserve the Jews as a people because the enemy, beginning in the ancient reaches of the Old Testament, was the accuser of the brethren. It meant that if the enemy had any chance to bring an accusation against anyone, his name, Ha-Sataan is that of the prosecutor, the one who brings the charge like he did in the book of Job. What is his intention when he brings a charge against someone? To call down the judgment of God upon a person hopefully for their destruction.
Now were the Jews deserving of this? Of course they were. When God brought them to Mount Sinai and invited them to come up into his presence and they refused, what alternative did that leave God except to destroy them? In fact God told Moses, he said, “I am going to send the angel of the Lord with you but don’t disobey him because he won’t be tolerant of you. He will destroy you.” (Inserted – actual verse—“ ‘See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.’” – Exodus 23:20,21) The law was God’s way of protecting Israel from the accuser by setting up punishments, consequences for the infractions of the law—before the fact. So once God had spoken, even the enemy was obligated to abide by the rules.
The law then, ironically, though it enslaved Israel, saved Israel… saved Israel, saved them from annihilation. This is not about saving people from going to hell; it’s to save them from the consequences, the punishments associated with wrongdoing. It’s like the law may keep you out of prison. If a person is inclined to misbehave, the law may in fact so restrain one’s character, restrain one’s conduct as to keep them out of prison. So the purpose of the law: it was God who gave it, so surely it was God’s law, but why God gave it, and the character of God revealed in and through it are just as important considerations. The character of God was to show mercy, as much mercy as could be shown under the law. That mercy did not include the grace of salvation but it did include the mercy that stayed the hand of God, preventing annihilation.
This served the purpose of God because God was looking forward to the time when the Seed would come because the plan of God was to make humans into his heirs and therefore that they would be preserved until that eventuality—that certainly was consistent with the plan of God. When Israel was unfaithful, God yet showed his mercy. On that day when He brought them out of Egypt and they were assembled at Mount Sinai, except for the fact that it was by the hand of God that they were Egyptian slavery, they were slaves. God had set them free but they were still thinking and acting as slaves. So what did they need? They needed to be made into a nation. They needed to be protected from their enemies. They needed some guarantees for their economy and for their health. And all these things God gave them. What did they do to deserve these things? Nothing. These were the benevolent gestures of God. Did they need these things? Of course they did.
It’s somewhat like this: On one occasion my daughter was thinking of moving to the city of Austin in the state of Texas and she was desirous of moving fairly rapidly so she came up with the thought that she needed some help to move, she needed some financial help. So she approached me with a request and I had her make up a budget. Now she listed some pretty obvious items like rent, gas and so on but because in that time she was still pretty young, there were things that she did not think about that she would need money for until she would be able to get on her feet. For example she didn’t think about food. I assume that she just thought that she would get down there and she would have food. She had always had food at my house so why would she not think that getting there she would suddenly have food.
She didn’t think about things like insurance and paying taxes on various things and so on. So I looked at her budget and I knew that she had asked for the major things but I also knew that she needed things that she didn’t ask for. And although it cost me more, I knew that these things—being necessary—that if she didn’t have them I would simply have to pay for them later or she would have to figure out some way of getting them and that way was not apparent to me and I’m sure that she hadn’t even thought about it. So I suggested that she modify her budget to include these additional items and her point of view was, “Oh that’s great. I’m glad that you thought about it.” Well what was I doing? I was being righteous in my being a father to her. Why? Because I knew what she needed even though she didn’t… or she didn’t think to look at those things.
God was the same way with the Jews. God knew what they needed. Yes they had been freed from Egyptian slavery but beyond that what did they need? Well they needed these things: they needed to be made into a nation. So the law arranged their relationships to each other and to God, establishing them as a nation. What if God hadn’t given them the law? Then it would have been okay for a man to covet his neighbor’s wife. And if he wanted his neighbor’s wife badly enough there would be nothing wrong with him killing his neighbor to obtain his wife. Well is this anything like what God would have them be? No, of course not.
So the law was righteous in the sense that although they didn’t know what they needed and didn’t know what to ask for, God set it up to protect them and to care for them, but in the sum and substance of the law, in all that the law is, it didn’t touch the transcendent nature of man. It didn’t save anybody’s soul, it didn’t teach them the character of God; it just acted for their best interest. And so when David would see, as debauched as David was—one who would kill another man in order to get his wife, that’s the case of Bath-Sheba and Uriah—when David would see the goodness of God, to himself and to the nation, he, like others before him and like others after him in the New Testament, would comment on the goodness of God.
What would these people have thought if they could truly experience and see the grace of God that appeared through the Lord Jesus Christ? They would hold opinion with Paul, and they would say, “The administration that brought death and condemnation,” this is II Corinthians 3, “…was glorious, but not glorious when compared to the Spirit of God and the administration of his Spirit.” (Inserted – actual verse—“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?” – II Corinthians 3:7,8)
So it was a comparative thing. So is the law glorious? Was the law righteous? Of course it was glorious because it reflected the goodness of God. And was it righteous? Yes, it showed the benevolent nature of God’s character to people who were rejecting him. So the law is about God, or these are dim reflections. It says, in fact, that the law was a shadow of good things to come, but the substance is Christ. (Inserted – actual verse—“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration of a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” – Colossians 2:16,17) And no one can fail to see that point.
So in these questions about the law someone may ask: Was the law righteous? Yes, because it showed the character of God. Was the law good? Yes, it was good in that it showed the goodness of God. But was the law complete in what man needed and what the law purported to do? The answer is: no. The law was weak in that it did not contain any provision for salvation and indeed it couldn’t.
What about the statement of Jesus in Matthew 5, when He speaks about the law not being done away? In the 17th verse of Matthew 5, Jesus says, “ ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.’” And then He goes on to say, “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.’” – Matthew 5:17-20)
So is this passage teaching that the law will not—even in the smallest stroke of the pen—disappear? Is that what it is saying? No, of course not. This is what it is saying: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets…” The first thing you must note is that He is not only speaking about the Law; He is also speaking about the prophets. Now when a prophecy has been fulfilled, is it any longer standing? No. Can we understand that a prophecy might be fulfilled? Are there any prophecies that were fulfilled? Because he says, “…the Law and the Prophets.” What is an example of a prophecy that was fulfilled?
Consider Isaiah 53 (one of the Prophets). And the prophecy says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”—referencing the scapegoat. (Inserted – actual verse—“We all, like sheep, have gone stray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6) Or you may even choose from that to reference the Passover Lamb. The prophecy of the Lamb was fulfilled, was it not? Is not Jesus the Lamb, according to John the Baptist, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.”? (Inserted – actual verse—“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of he world!” – John 1:29)
Did Jesus come and did He die for us? The answer is: Yes, He came and yes, He died for us. Are we then still waiting for this event to occur? No. Then why do people celebrate Passover? Why would a Christian celebrate Passover? To do that is to say that the prophecy has not been fulfilled—the Lamb has not come—because the Passover you see, was a shadow of the Lamb to be slain at the cross. And the eating of the Passover was symbolic to the reference of, “If you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have life within you.” (Inserted – actual verse—“Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” – John 6:53,54)
Now that is not speaking of cannibalism, it is saying that if you appropriate for yourselves the remedies that I have accomplished for you on the cross, like if you ate the flesh of the lamb then you would have the life that I have promised you. But when Christians then celebrate Passover, they are acknowledging that Jesus did not die for them, because if He has died, if He has come and He has died, then the form gives way to the substance. I know that there are some who will say, “Well I just want to be solid with my Jewish brethren or my Jewish friends.” The Jews still have rejected Christ and do not believe and do not accept that Jesus is the Messiah. That’s why they celebrate the Passover.
At least you could say for them that they do it in a state of unbelief. But for the one who says that he believes that Jesus is that Lamb, and then eats the Passover in anticipation of the coming of the Lamb, such a person is absolutely double-minded and has no conviction that Jesus is the One who died on the cross as the Lamb of God. No. So when the Scriptures say, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I didn’t come to abolish them, I came to fulfill them.”—Has He fulfilled the Law and has He fulfilled the writings of the Prophets? That is the question, because if He has, here is the applicable Scripture: it says, “…not the least stroke of the pen will in any way disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Inserted – Matthew 5:16b) “…everything is accomplished.”
Has everything been accomplished? Well according to Paul’s letter to the Colossians, in Colossians 2:14, he says that Jesus fulfilled the law of ordinances that were against us, that was contrary to us, and He took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. (Inserted – actual verse—“Having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” – Colossians 2:14) The cross then represents the fulfillment of everything that was spoken in type and shadow by the Law and the Prophets that Jesus is referring to here.
Now of course since that time, and in the New Testament, you have had other prophecies and other prophets. The prophecies of that, for example the prophecies of John in the book of Revelation have not all been fulfilled so those prophecies have not yet been fulfilled and Jesus was not referring to them. But the prophecies of the Old Testament that have been fulfilled, and the majority of those prophecies have been fulfilled. There are some, like from the book of Daniel and the 70 weeks of Daniel, or some from Ezekiel that speaks of the dispersion of the Jews and their return, some prophecies like that have not yet been fulfilled. But Jesus will fulfill all of the prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled and has fulfilled the majority of other prophecies, especially the prophecies relating to the Messiah. But all of the Law, He has fulfilled. Therefore, the statement, “Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets… it will never pass away.” That’s simply not true; He did fulfill the Law and, having fulfilled it, according to Colossians, He took it out of the way and He nailed it to the cross.
Finally, someone may ask, “Well, should we not learn about our Jewish roots? Should we not learn the Jewish heritage of the Christian faith?” Well first let me say that I am definitely not one against learning about various things, but when you lump things together they need to be pulled apart for you to properly see what it is that you have. The Christian faith did not come out of Judaism. Jesus was born of Jewish heritage, in the flesh. But the Scriptures say in II Corinthians, the 5th chapter, “From this time on we regard no one any longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Even though we once looked at Christ that way, we do so no longer because if any man be in Christ he is a new creation.” (Inserted – actual verse—“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” – II Corinthians 5:16,17) Jesus was a Jew in the flesh, but He was the Son of God. And He did not come to redeem us through the law; he came to redeem us from the law.
The tree, into which we have been grafted in, is not Judaism. The book of Romans, the 11th chapter, refers to the Jews as “natural branches on an olive tree,” and to the Gentiles as “wild olive branches grafted in where the natural branches were broken off.” (Inserted – actual verse—“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” – Romans 11:17,18)
But the tree is not Jewish, the tree is the Living God, and to be grafted in… we are not grafted into Judaism, we are grafted into a heavenly existence in time. This is the kingdom of God. You can’t have it both ways. The history of God’s people is not the history of the Jews. Now if you want to learn about the Jews, if you want to learn about Jewish customs and practices, that’s fine. I don’t have anything against that, but do not import those practices into the Christian faith because they do not belong. Jesus in fact fulfilled the requirements that the law set up.
You were not saved to become a Jew. You were not saved to be grafted into Judaism. Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” (Inserted – actual verse—“ ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5) The vine is the Living God; the branches are humans. The fruit that is meant to be born on the branch is what is already in the vine. We are heavenly beings, we are born again from heaven and we are living on the earth as heavenly beings in time… the children of God. We are not Jewish, we are not descended from twelve tribes unless indeed we are by the flesh, but that profiteth nothing. If you are a Jew you still need to be saved; you need to be saved through Jesus Christ.
The practice of going back and learning about the Torah—if it is educational I don’t have anything against it, but for most people it isn’t educational, they are wanting to learn about how to practice Judaism, and to you I would say, if you are involved in that: you have fallen from grace. And if you are involved in teaching people to go back to it then you have become a deceiver because you are deceiving people who did not have to bear the yoke of the law because they were free in Christ, and if you have gone back to teach them that you are participating in a deception. Now it may be that you haven’t been warned before, but now you are being warned. God is not mocked and God will begin to call to attention and to address this thing, this matter, firmly and directly. So this is as much of a warning to abandon that because it does not in any way belong in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are sons of God; you are not slaves as under the law. Your righteousness is in Christ; it is not in the keeping of the law. I’m Sam Soleyn. God bless you and I’ll see you again.
Scripture References:
Psalm 1:2
Psalm 19:9b
Galatians 3:19
Exodus 23:20,21
II Corinthians 3:7,8
Colossians 2:16,17
Matthew 5:17-20
Isaiah 53:6
John 1:29
John 6:53,54
Colossians 2:14
II Corinthians 5:16,17
Romans 11:17,18
John 15:5
