67. Paul And The Law Series

IN GOD'S IMAGE 67 - PAUL AND THE LAW

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

We have been looking at the subject of the law in relation to the development of spiritual maturity in God’s holy people.

• The last three sessions have focused on six reasons why the New Covenant instituted with Christ’s blood is so much more effective in producing the character and nature of God in His people than the Mosaic Covenant or Torah.

• The last of these six points introduced the concept of “instructions in holiness” to distinguish them from the Torah.

• This was to show that New Covenant believers were expected to develop spiritual maturity in order to imitate their Savior Jesus Christ.

• These six points were to address the seeming confusion and conflict regarding the law in the age of the New Covenant.

• This confusion was magnified in those areas where there was a mixture of both Jew and Gentile converts in the congregation.

• The apostle Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles, was the one who had to manage the transition from the Old to the New Covenant.

• However, there are times where Paul himself speaks positively about the law and times when he speaks negatively about it.

So when we read Paul’s seemingly conflicting views about commandments and the law, we need to bear the following two points in mind.

• 1) When Paul speaks about the commandments of God, he is not trying to slide the old law in through the back door. Rather he is focusing on the need for believers to develop those characteristics that reflect the nature and character of their heavenly Father.

• To understand this principle better, we need to go back to the Torah.

• To start with, as we have mentioned before, we need to make an important distinction between the various aspects of the law that make up the Torah.

• There were the sacrificial and worship laws associated with the tabernacle. There were identity rituals like circumcision and food laws. And there were laws to guide the ethical and moral behaviour of the people like the Ten Commandments.

• As we saw earlier, many of the aspects of the Mosaic Covenant were future oriented as they pointed forward to the coming Messiah.

• So when the Messiah arrived, many of the aspects of the old law became redundant simply because they were fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:44).

• For instance, the sacrifices were no longer necessary as they were replaced by the one sacrifice that really mattered, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God (Hebrews 10:1-18).

• Like the sacrifices, temple worship was transferred from a physical location to Jesus Christ.

• John 2:19-21 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. 20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

• The Aaronic priesthood was replaced by the high priesthood after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:11-28).

• The weekly, annual and festival celebrations too were made redundant when Christ came and Tabernacled with us became our Passover Lamb, our Unleavened Bread, our Atonement and our spiritual Sabbath Rest.

• Colossians 2:16-17 These aspects of the Law were simply shadows and pointed to the reality, Jesus Christ. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

• The focus shifted from worshiping the shadows, sacrifices, rituals, holy days, to worshiping the reality, Jesus Christ.

• As we learned earlier, those aspects of the law, such as those relating to rituals such as circumcision, dietary and clothing laws that were to identify God’s people were replaced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9,14).