The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Dead to the Law, alive unto God

I was going to try to answer some of the questions set by Gadsby on the 'antinomian' thread. However, I simply don't have the time (nor, frankly, the inclination), so I thought I might try to interact briefly with some of the texts that Gadsby and his ilk like to use to support their case.

Gal 2:20. 'I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.'

When a man is on trial, accused of some crime or other, and he dies suddenly, the trial is ended. The law has no more to say to a dead man. So it is to the Christian. He has been crucified with Christ. He is out of the law's jurisdiction because he has died. Moreover, he has risen again with Christ, a new creation and he is now clothed in Divine righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). 'Therefore there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus' (Rom 8:1).

'Payment God cannot twice demand,
Once at my bleeding surety's hand
And then again form me.' (Augustus Toplady)

This is what is meant by being 'dead to the law.'

BUT

'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?'(Rom 6:1-2).

The Christian has been born again. He has undergone a two-fold process at the hands of God. He is born of 'water and Spirit.' Look at Ezek 36:25-27. The 'water' cleanses us from filthiness and idolatries, the 'Spirit' causes us, 'To walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgements and do them.' The old Steve Owen is dead. Dead to the law and to its condemnations. But the new Steve Owen is alive to God, and 'his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:2).

Righteousness does not come through the law, it comes through Jesus Christ. But if we continue in sin, we have made Christ the Author of sin. 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.' I have shown elsewhere on this forum that all the Ten Commandments are found in the New Testament. If we will not keep them, then we are not abiding in Christ's word and we are not His disciples indeed. Again I say that we do not keep them in order to be justified ('For if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died in vain'-Gal 2-21); we keep them because we are justified and because we love God: 'For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdonsome' (1John 5:3).

Finally, what does Paul mean when he says, 'I live by faith in the Son of God'? He means that he believes that Christ has loved him from eternity, and redeemed him from the consequences of his sins, at measureless cost. Believing this, he lives a life of loving obedience to the commands of Christ, which are found to be no different to those expressed in the Ten Commandments.

One more text comes to mind: Gal 3:24. 'Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.' Before we were converted, the law sat before us like a school-master, cane in hand, warning us of dire consequences as a result of our failure to keep the law. Now we are converted, has our relationship to the law changed? Absolutely! The law threatens us no more, because we have died to it as something that condemns us.

But do we therefore throw the tutor out and forget everything he ever taught us? Not at all! If we had a good teacher when we were at school, we remember his teaching and apply it to our adult lives. So it is with the law. Our old teacher can no longer give us 100 lines or keep us in after school, but his wise counsel has relevance to the whole of our lives. 'Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes! Than fine gold' (Psalm 119:127).

Blessings to all,
Steve