"When the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law." (Galatians 4:4 NKJV)
The Ten Commandments are holy, but they do not have the power to save – only Jesus does. The Law was given primarily to maintain Israel as a separate people through whom God would send the Messiah to reach the whole world. The Laws were used before the Cross to condemn and demonstrate that human beings inherently have the ability to sin habitually, which the human race continues to be outstanding at today. The Ten Commandments are what makes a person ready for salvation, but merely abiding by them cannot save a person. Religious leaders are always very good at legalism, so they added 603 moral and legal codes (365 thou shalt not's and 248 thou shalt).
One of the main reasons for the law was to prepare the way for the birth of Jesus (Galatians 4:1-7). The nation of Israel was like an immature child who needed a "guardian" to care for them, instruct and protect them, the way enslaved people in the first century cared for their masters' children. But when children mature, the guardians aren't needed anymore. Jesus fulfilled the Jewish ceremonial system revealed in Exodus and Leviticus, but the moral content of God's law remains. Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament for the church to honor and obey. The Sabbath commandment isn't repeated.
Fulfilling the Law
Jesus didn’t “come to abolish the Law or the Prophets,” He came “to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17 ESV). All 613 laws were satisfied in the life of Jesus (Hebrews 8:6; Galatians 3). There are not two plans of God, one of grace and one of works, but there are two phases of the same plan of redemption: preparation and fulfillment. The unity of the Law and the work of Jesus fulfilled the Law in its entirety. Either Jesus fulfilled the Law, or He did not. God's love is unconditional, which means that good works or religious piety do not affect it.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus accentuated the Ten Commandments because they are the key to knowledge about salvation (See Isaiah 42:21; Luke 11:52). The Bible says that "Only in Him (Jesus) is found salvation; for of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved" (Acts 4:12 NKJV). Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6 NKJV).
"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 ESV)
Jesus said that He did not come to abolish (Gk: katalyo) or subvert the Law, but to fulfill it. The word "fulfill" (Gk: pleroo) means to complete, finish, accomplish or expire. Jesus met all of the Law's requirements and standards and all future punishments for those who fall short. The Bible declares that "Christ is the end (Gk: telos) of the law," which means that Jesus is the termination or conclusion of it as a means of salvation (Rom 10:4 NKJV). He did not change the Law nor add to it (Matthew 5:17-19).
Jesus fulfilled and satisfied the Law and all its demands as He lived by it for the sake of humanity, keeping it perfectly as the representative of all people before God, and then died for it, meeting its required punishment for sin. When Jesus said on the Cross, "It is finished" (Gk: teleo), He was proclaiming the fulfillment of the Law, and now all of its requirements, obligations, and demands for all humanity were complete (John 19:30). A person rejects the finished work of Jesus when they make any attempt to go back and seek to be justified by, or remain under, the Law and "have fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4 NKJV).
The Law, in its entirety, still serves an essential role in giving advice and instruction in righteousness to the Christian and offers examples of virtue and models of holiness (1 Corinthians 10:6; 1 Timothy 3:16). The Law is incapable of producing salvation. Only Jesus can save and transform a person from the inside out (Romans 7:7-13, 8:30).
The Bible says, "whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction" (Romans 15:4 NKJV). The Law must be used primarily as examples of righteousness for the family and the Church but not as a binding system of works ( Romans 13:8-10; James 2:8-11; 1 Timothy 1:8).
The Law ceased to be a legalistic code and "ministry of death" that had to be enforced to the letter when Jesus transformed it into the "ministry of the Spirit…and life" when He died upon the Cross and became the propitiation for all sin, breaking the sting of death (2 Corinthians 3 ESV; 1 John 2:2). Although Jesus fulfilled and completed the Law, that does not mean Christians can now live anyway and do anything they want without any moral standards.
Christians did not begin with the Holy Spirit indwelling them at the moment of their salvation only to start being perfected by "the flesh" in the works of the Law (Galatians 3:3). The Bible repeatedly identifies legalism as a work of the flesh or sinful human nature and worldliness.
The Bible also speaks of "the elemental principles of the world," which are the imposed restrictions of legalistic religiosity on the Christian and not any "worldly" practice or behavior (Galatians 4:3 ESV; Colossians 2:8, 20; Philippians 3:1-9).
A person either keeps the whole Law or does not (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10; Matthew 5:19; Deuteronomy 27:1; 28:1; 30:8). If they return to the Law and accept just one part of it, they are "under obligation to keep the whole Law" (Galatians 5:3 NKJV). If a person continues to "go on sinning willfully after" they "receive the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment"... "Anyone who set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:26-29 NKJV)
Without the Law, there can be no knowledge of sin:
"What then shall we say? That the Law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the Law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the Law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died." (Romans 7:7-9 ESV)
These verses explain why it was necessary to display humanity's guilt and unrighteousness because of their sinfulness and ultimately point them to their need for God and His merciful grace found through Jesus Christ alone (Hebrews 8:5, 10:1; also Romans 1, 2, 3:20).
Salvation by Grace through Faith
The Bible reveals that salvation is a matter of divine intervention in the human condition that can be received only by faith and not by any work because it cannot change the state of the human heart and the condemnation of sinful nature. Good works (moral transformation) naturally follow saving faith but do not bring salvation God gives by grace, which He will not revoke (Romans 8:26-39; 11: 29).
A person doesn't become Born-Again by merely raising their hand during an emotionally charged altar call and repeating a 'sinners prayer' or having someone pray over them to receive salvation. Belief cannot be willed. A person cannot self-help their way to God either. If they could, then there would be no need for Him. Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:3 NKJV). Faith is something done for fallen humanity rather than by them. It is a gift, not a choice.
"By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8 NKJV)
It is "God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13 NKJV). He is the one who enables the Christian to work out learning how to trust Him. It has to be all God alone when it comes to faith. God calls human beings and saves those who repent of their sin and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God is the giver of faith to become faithful.
Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me" (John 6:44 NKJV). A person does not come to Jesus; they are drawn to Him. Everyone on the planet is drawn to Jesus. The initiative is God's, not theirs. A person has the free will to either accept or reject Jesus.
No one can work their way to God or keep their salvation by doing good works (James 2:26). Continuous and habitual good works result from genuine conversion and prove that the Holy Spirit lives within them and their faith is indeed alive and not dead (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5). Christians naturally stay (abide) in Jesus because they are a “Good Tree” that naturally and automatically produces good fruit accompanying salvation (Luke 8:15; Romans 6:22; 1 John 2:29; 5:18). No one "born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:9 NKJV; also 5:4-5; Revelation 3:5).
The Christian "is justified by faith," which Jesus provided them, and not made void by it (Romans 3:27-31 ESV). No person could ever be justified by deeds of Law or by conformity with the moral or ceremonial law (Romans 3:20-21). The just and righteous demands of the "law" are to be "fully satisfied" in the Christian by God's grace and not by works, which is why Jesus said, "I came not to destroy (the law or the prophets), but to fulfill" (Romans 8:4 NKJV - also Matthew 5:17).
The "Law was given through Moses," but "grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17 NKJV). Jesus always preached law to the proud and arrogant and grace to the meek and humble because He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (Luke 10:25-26; 18:18 20; John 3:1 17; James 4:6). Preaching only grace to proud and unrepentant sinners will bring about false professions of faith (See Hebrews 6). A false convert has never "crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24 ESV). The Law is the instrument of death for the old nature. When a person becomes a Christian, their old sin nature, inherited from Adam and Eve, was dealt with by Jesus when He was nailed to the Cross.
Jesus is “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4 ESV). That means that those who put their trust in Jesus and become a Christian are no longer under the curse of the Law. The Greek word translated as “righteousness” is ‘dikaiosune’ and is the character or quality of being right or just, which is impossible without Jesus because it is an attribute of His holiness (See Hebrews 6). God deals with the sin of both the Christian and those who have not received Him as Lord and Savior through the death of Jesus on the Cross. Only when a person becomes Born-Again does God forgive them for not following the Ten Commandments.
Teaching the Ten Commandments
“1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
“4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:1-9 ESV)
Vs. 4 - The great revelation revealed here is God is one Lord. This is the most critical and essential centerpiece of prayer in the Bible (Heb: Shema – to listen and take heed). The Bible declares the absolute fact that God is ONE. Creation displays it, and faith discovers it. It does not argue or make a case for His existence because you cannot argue belief in God. It declares God is and always has been!
Vs. 5 - The incredible response is to love God emotionally with an intense burning passion selflessly and sincerely! If a person does not, their kids will know if they are giving God lip service and their faith is phony.
Vs. 6-7 - The great responsibility is for fathers to teach their children about God and His ways consistently. When they do, their life will be prolonged. Post them on the wall. Discuss them with children, as well as all of the Bible. Kids are drowning in a moral sewer called social media. If a father is not in the home, the responsibility shifts to the mother.
Fathers are to get their children involved by reading the Bible aloud and diligently teaching them with deep conviction. That can only happen if they genuinely believe them in their heart. Fathers and Mothers prove to their families they love God by their behavior and how they treat their spouses. Every Christian is to live out their faith in all they do.
