Done With Law and Commandments
Smith
Wigglesworth – “Is it possible to do away with the commandments? Yes and no. If they are not so done away with you that you have no
consciousness of keeping commandments, then they are not done away. If you know you are living holy, you
don’t know what holiness is. If
you know you are keeping commandments, you don’t know what keeping commandments
is. These things are done away. God has brought us in to be holy
without knowing it, and keeping the whole truth without knowing it, living in
it, moving in it, acting in it, a new creation in the Spirit…It is easy as
possible to be holy, but you can never be holy by trying to be holy.”
What is the Law?
The
fundamental and first question that must be addressed before we proceed into
the dissection of the subject of law is to answer basically and plainly what
the Law is. What was/is its
purpose and what did/does it accomplish?
One thing that is often misunderstood with regards to the law and that
is crucial to understanding it is that the law did not come to make a
distinction between right and wrong.
Contrary to popular Christian opinion people do not need basic
instruction on right and wrong.
Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and from
that time not only has sin entered into the world, but people have possessed an
understanding that certain actions could be bad. The law came with Moses, but even before Moses there was a
standard of behavior. Noah and Lot
were both chosen and saved from amidst a wicked people. 2 Peter 2 tells us that Lot was
tormented by the deeds of those around him. I do not believe it came as a surprise to those present with
Moses at the presentation of the Ten Commandments that they were not supposed
to murder. The law is not brought
to make people aware of the fact that some of their behavior is
inappropriate. What then is the
law for?
Firstly,
Paul tells us, “the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is
no transgression.” (Romans 4:15)
It could be easy to assume that the wrath talked about in this case is
the wrath of God against sin or sinner, but such an assumption would be
false. God clearly acts/(or is
perceived as acting) in wrathful ways before the giving of the law. Rather, this wrath that the law creates
is a personal wrath against one’s own sin. “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may
become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) With the law we recognize our guilt and
gain knowledge of sin, which is offense against God. Before law it is natural to know the distinction between
right and wrong, but it is not natural to understand the magnitude or severity
of those bad things. Thus, “the
law entered that the offense might abound.” (Romans 5:20) The law draws out the offensive nature of
transgressions. Rather than just
instinctually knowing that something is wrong, law makes me see that wrong is
actually a problem that must be dealt with. Fundamentally then, law gives me a guilty conscience. It makes me feel like an enemy of
God. Secondly, law also presents
the means for dealing with that problem.
The law says, “If you can say that you have done all these things, than
you can know that you are not living in offense.” At its basest this role of the law is to illustrate the
impossibility of cleaning one’s self, of dealing with wrong, or of climbing up
from the fall. By illustrating
this impossibility, it through frustration brings us to the one who has
actually made us clean, Jesus Christ.
As Paul writes, “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24)
The Passing of the Law
So
the law came as a tutor in an attempt to pound into the head of humanity God’s
will. It came as an outside
influence to highlight the offensive nature mankind had inherited from the
first Adam. Paul describes it in
chapter 7 of Romans as an abusive husband who is always right, but always
degrading in his criticisms of our behavior. However, Paul then goes on to explain that we have a new
husband in Jesus Christ. Further,
as he says in Galatians, “But after faith has come, we are no longer under a
tutor.” (Gal. 3:25) The law no longer relates to us as a
teacher or husband. He has been
kicked to the curb and replaced with Jesus Christ.
I
believe John the Baptist was sent by God to be a living representation of the
law. The Gospel of John tells us
that the Baptist, “came for a witness, to bear witness to the Light, that all
through him might believe. He was
not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” (John 1:7-8) John the Baptist himself said in speaking of Jesus, “He must
increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) John the Baptist came to end an era, to help close out the
time of man’s bondage to the law, and to usher in the era of freedom in Jesus
Christ. As Jesus began His
ministry and His journey to the cross, John’s life and ministry came to an end
with his beheading. The head of
the one representing the law was chopped off because God was putting to death
that way of thinking. The mental
game of following the law and commandments is a task of a former era. We must understand the times that we
live in. The law has passed away.
The Grace and Truth of
Jesus Christ.
“For
the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
(John 1:17) The law consists of
commandments, rules which must be followed, but it has passed away and been
replaced by grace and truth. How
is it then that central to many Sunday school classes is the teaching of the
ten commandments? How is it that
much of the Christian church lives their lives in an attempt to follow various
commandments placed on them? The
answers to these questions are many, one of which is that satan is a deceiver
who loves to keep people in bondage.
Another answer though, is that Jesus himself can be confusing on this
issue. Much of Jesus’ teaching
consists of some pretty impossible commandments. He says things like, “whoever is angry with his brother
shall be in danger of the judgment,” and whoever looks at a woman to lust for
her has already committed adultery in her heart.” (See Matthew 5:22,28) Such statements serve to highlight the
impossibility of satisfying the law.
Jesus taught primarily to point to himself. Thus, Jesus functioned often as a preacher of the very law
he came to fulfill with grace. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or
the prophets. I did not come to
destroy but to fulfill.” (Matthew
5:17) Jesus fulfilled both the law
and the prophets and the word fulfill means to achieve or bring to
completion. Thus, even as John the
Baptist was the final representative of the law, Jesus was the one who actually
brought that era to a close. “Wait!”
you might say, “Jesus himself said he didn’t come to destroy, so how can you
say the law is closed out?” There
is a difference between destruction and the ending of an era. Jesus is saying here that the law is
not the enemy, the law was not a horrible thing that needed to be destroyed,
but it was inherently faulty in bringing people to God, and entrapped people in
bondage to sin. Thus, it needed to
be fulfilled and replaced.
The law has certainly passed away, but it is not destroyed, because much
of the world keeps it alive by agreeing with the former glory, rather than
accepting the new. Paul writes,
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who
do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2) There is a new law in town and His name
is Spirit! Some know him as Holy
Spirit, Holy Ghost, or the third person of the Trinity, but either way he is a
person, and he desires to tabernacle in men. Holy Spirit is the new law, and He comes from the inside
out, not the other way around.
Thus, in the new era of freedom in the Spirit rather than condemnation
through the written law, all motivation comes from within rather than
without. This is the clearest way
to understand what I mean when I say “law and commandments,” I mean exterior
motivation.
Deleting all law and
commandments, all exterior motivation
The
law of Moses was from the former covenant, but God has replaced it with a new
covenant, one that promises, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on
their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33) Here
it is, the law as it is supposed to exist, how it was fulfilled in Christ
Jesus. Jesus fulfilled all the law
in that he did not violate it at all.
He is the only one who could do it because you in your sinful nature
were in total depravation.
However, your sinful nature has been crucified with Christ, and the very
one who fulfilled the law now dwells inside of you, to fulfill the law inside
of you. This is why Paul tells the
Romans, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” (Romans 3:31) How much more can the law be established, than written on
your hearts? The former law was
faulty and fleeting, just as the tablets it was written on. Moses smashed them, and the recording
of the law was destroyed. How
painfully this illustrates what life is like for one living under law. One moment those under law are doing
alright, they think they are in line, and the next they have failed and in fact
they are a failure. The law is
flippant and moody, it produces a life of ups and downs, and ensures we always
end up on a down. The external law
is free from victory, but full of trying.
Thanks be to God, the law has been established within you!
Because
it is in you in the person of the Holy Spirit, you have no need for it outside
of you. In fact, the Holy Spirit
cannot lead you when you are listening to an external law! Paul tells the Colossians, “Therefore,
if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though
living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations – “do not touch,
do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the
using – according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance
of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body,
but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:20-23) Making rules and following commandments
looks wise, it often feels humble, but it is useless. In fact, to operate under an external law estranges you from
Christ and causes you to fall from grace. (See Gal. 5:4) I exhort you then to, “Stand fast
therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be
entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
(Gal. 5:4) The law written
on our hearts is a spring bubbling up to eternal life, but all external
restrictions we allow to control our lives are a yoke of bondage that keeps us
from the fullness of liberty in Christ Jesus.
Getting Real
It
could be easy perhaps to read these things and escape the conviction of the
Holy Spirit. This message is
contrary to much of what those who grew up in the church have learned their
whole lives. We have learned to
work hard, to do A, B, and C, while avoiding D, E, and F, and the roots of law
run deep in many of us, but I say with Paul, “But to him who DOES NOT WORK but
believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for
righteousness.” (Romans 4:5) It is
the one who DOES NOT WORK that is accounted righteous. The true Gospel is one of passivity, if
I can use a word that will bring great offense. The message of Jesus Christ is simple, “Remain in me,” “Abide
in me.” (See John 15) Did you know that the words remain and abide denote
absolutely no motion or action! If
there is something in you that needs to protect commandments, cast it out, it
is a religious spirit. If there is
something in you that really wants a to-do list, cast it out, it is a religious
spirit. If there is something in
you that wants to defend your sinful nature, cast it out, it is a religious
Spirit. If you are conscious at
all of following a commandment, quit it, it is from a religious Spirit. We are not called to follow
commandments. We are to fulfill them.
We are not to do A, B, C to be holy. We are to be holy. This is the gospel: Jesus Christ died
to fulfill His wrath against sin, and with Him your sinful nature died, you
subsequently were given the Holy Spirit and the law written on the inside of
you, thus if you simply live, the law will be fulfilled in you. If you live in your new nature, you
will live perfectly!
Alright
you say, but it is easy to fall into the law. I agree that it can be, and as long as you know that it is
always a fall when you find yourself under law, you will be alright. I am currently in the process of being
delivered from legalistic tendencies in my own life in the area of
healing. I have learned tons with
regard to the healing power of God in the past year or two, but very often I
have lacked fruit to match. I have
seen several healings, but not a number that would signify the truth of Jesus
living inside of me. The reason
for this is that I have been operating in healing under a law of healing! I have placed outside controls on
myself to make myself pray for sick people, and it has created in me a great
fear of the sick, and has stripped me all too often of faith for healing. Rather than let the love, power, and
faith from the Holy Spirit well up inside of me so it had to flow out, I
recognized a lack of these things in myself and decided to introduce my own
system of controls to hopefully create them from the outside in. This cannot work, and has instead put
me in great bondage, bondage from which the Holy Spirit is presently delivering
me.
So,
for those of us who occasionally find ourselves under a self- or
otherwise-imposed system of law, let us follow the pattern Paul set for us when
he said, “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.”
(Gal. 2:19) Remember we said
earlier that much of the purpose of law was to frustrate us into receiving our
Savior in Jesus Christ. This is
exactly what Paul is saying here.
We can, “through the law,” die “to the law.” Do not try to muster up the energy to resist the law in your
lives. Such striving is of the law
itself and will only lead you further into bondage. The law usually shows up in our lives in areas where we are
weak. Because we are religious,
pharisaic, law-junkies, when we see a weakness in ourselves we tend to try to
fix it. Remember that God
tells us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9) Thus, if you find yourself under the law, let yourself get
fed-up and frustrated with that law and your failure to meet its expectations
to the point that you finally cry out to the One who is perfectly strong in
your weakness! When God
strengthens our weaknesses we live to Him, when we try to strengthen them, we
end up in the bondage of law. So,
the recipe for getting out of legalistic bondage is to ask God to deliver you,
and the recipe for avoiding it is the same. A humble man will not find Himself in bondage to the law,
for where he finds weakness in himself he will admit it and ask God for
strength. However, it is not
humble to simply say that I am not perfect. God wants to make us like Him, and He is in fact
perfect. Thus, humility is to
expect perfection as a new creation, to know your nature is perfection, and to
allow God to perfect anything that might tarnish your shine!
Do NOT Preach The
Law!!!!!
There
are a large number of Christians who are obsessed with bringing “truth” to
people. Unfortunately, the truth
that these individuals often bring looks very much like a list of dos and
don’ts. This truth almost always
involves telling a person they are a sinner. To these people I would say, “your voice is a waste of air,
your message is redundant and in alignment with the one you call enemy.” Much of the reason I write any of this
is to make this point. Not only do
you not have the right to live under a single commandment, but neither do you
have the right to put them onto others.
Many at this point are saying, “WAIT!!! We MUST tell people they are
sinners!” No, you mustn’t. They already know it. The law came with Moses, grace and truth
with Christ Jesus. The law did not
just come to the Jews, it was released upon the world. Everyone has the law, some just choose
to pretend otherwise. Paul wrote
to gentiles in Rome and said, “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful
passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear
fruit to death. But now we have
been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we
should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter.” (Romans 7:5-6) How could
Paul write to gentiles and talk about their being under the law if they didn’t
have the law. Just because a person
doesn’t possess the written law, does not mean that their spirit has not
received the law, and subsequent condemnation for their sins. I know many people who live in bold
opposition to God’s law and they would certainly not say that their actions are
sinful or against God, but the law is present and working in their lives, you
are not to minister it!
The
question here is not fundamentally where other people are at, it is who you
are, and the answer to that question is simple. You are a minister of the Spirit, not of the letter. Check out these words from Paul, which
could replace this entire essay,
“Do
we begin again to commend ourselves?
Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or
letters of commendation from you?
You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink
but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of
flesh, that is, of the heart. And
we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything
as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us
sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of dead, written and engraved on stones,
was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the
face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing
away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For it the ministry of condemnation had
glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no
glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was
glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of
speech – unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of
Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil
remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken
away in Christ. But even to this
day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord the veil is taken
away. Now the Lord is the Spirit;
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the
same image form glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
If
you get what Paul is saying here, you’ve got all that I could say. These are the defining components of
our ministry. It is of the Spirit,
not the letter. Thus, the law is
denied a place in our ministry.
Our message is righteousness, not condemnation. Our job is to tell people that they are
perfect and holy in Christ, not that they are sinners. Our ministry is more glorious than that
of Moses, or anyone before Jesus!
The New Covenant ministry is all about the glory of God, the living,
moving, manifest presence of the God Most High. Our ministry is typified in liberty. Freedom should follow us. Only demons should be placed in bondage
by the words of our mouth.
Finally, and perhaps most amazingly, the Christian life is from glory to
glory by the Spirit of the Lord.
This means that God is not in the business of fixing bad things and
making them good, he is in the business of drawing one glory in us into another
glory. This revelation must
radically transform the way we think about ourselves and others. The heart of the law is that you are
unglorious, beyond helping yourself, and thus in desperate need of a
savior. The heart of the Spirit is
rather that you are glorious, but He is more glorious so let Him give you
greater glory. I hope you catch
that shift!
Law
and commandments are still out there, but they do not belong to us. They were administered by Moses, and
are only fulfilled through Jesus Christ, who lives inside of you. No one needs to hear the law. Rather we have the joyful ministry of
telling the world that they are glorious and holy in Christ Jesus. We get to fulfill the law without
knowing it, and we live holy lives, without recognizing it. These are the glories and mysteries of
God in you!
