LAW IN THE GOSPEL
The law was a unifying factor in Israel and not easily rescinded or modified whereas Jesus appeared to have an authority to do so. Moses introduced the law in Exodus 20 where Israel lived by in an effort to uphold God’s will. The law served as an embodiment of behavioral expectations and central to the lives of God’s chosen people. Accordingly, when Jesus openly “changed the requirements” of the law, Israel demanded an explanation for His authority to do so. This authority is found in Matthew 5:17: “Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it.” In other words, it was not God’s will to revoke or remove the law from His people but rather to satisfy that which was required of them.
Significance of the Law in Israel
The Exodus is the primary event where God sets forth a set of regulations. In Exodus, God enters into a covenant with his people. Generally a covenant is an agreement between two parties. In the covenant rendered at Mt. Sinai, Israel took an oath to obey God and Israel’s obligation is obedience to the covenant stipulations. The entering into a covenant with God is significant, because Israel has agreed to “serve no other God” (Ex. 20:1). The covenant itself is redemptive in nature after God delivers Israel from Egyptian bondage and assigns the law which is designed to keep Israel under God’s protection.
Mosaic Law was supposed to give the people a sense of conscience between right and wrong so that they would not sin against their God (Deut. 6:2). In having a “fear for God” through knowledge of the laws, the Israelites would uphold their covenant obligation of obedience. As a result of obedience, God’s people would also be sanctified for his use and purpose (Lev. 15:31). In other words, the laws given to the Jews were a list of required acts, which resulted in a sacred walk with God. Absent the guideline of the laws unto righteousness, Israel waked in a state of lawlessness and required that sacrificial offerings be made to make up for those transgressions against God as defined by the law (Ex. 29:36). The laws conveyed by God held a point of sacredness given the manner which they were delivered to God’s people:
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meed with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LOrd descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently (Ex. 19:16-18).
This event must have inspired a new respect for God’s greatness and certainly gave momentous experience to the significance of the laws which were conveyed in that moment. Until the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Israelites were to uphold their promise to obey God’s laws subject the “ultimate price for disobedience which was a curse of exile. The exile was not just one of removal from the promised land, but also a type of exile which presumably removed the disobedient from the will of God. “Once removed from the will of God, the community suffered collaboratively and engaged in discipline or consequence in a collective manner” (Lev. 24:23). Adherence to the law was not necessarily a matter of establishing a personal relationship with God, but rather a means of unity as a group that God ordained as sanctified.
Embodiment of the Law in Christ
Jesus boldly declared that He was greater than the laws that governed Israel (Acts 7:37). Jesus was a fulfillment of what head been prophesied about Him in the Old Testament as the promised Messiah (Luke 24:44). Israel was expecting a deliverer that would save Israel from all her sins and Jesus Christ satisfied that profile:
“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written. The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins” (Rom. 11:26-27, Isa. 59:20, 21; 27:9; Jer. 31:33, 34).
As the Messiah, Jesus had to fulfill several expectations which included an explicit description of His crucifixion (and final sin offering) in Psalm 22:16-18:
“Dogs have surrounded me, a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hand and my feet. I can count all my bones, people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
Additionally, Jesus Himself conceded to being the Messiah when questioned by the priests during the course of his “trial” prior to the crucifixion, (Mark 14:61-63):
“But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes, “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked.”
According to Old Testament practice, a sacrifice had to be offered every time an Israelite sinned thereby creating ritualistic sacrificial offerings to God for different reasons. Jesus Christ, as the sinless Lamb of God (John 1:36), was the ultimate sacrificial offering in fulfillment of God’s law. In other words, instead of continually making sacrificial offerings to God for sin that was committed, Christ was offered once and for all to redeem mankind from sin. Consequently, those who believed in the “final offering” fulfilled the laws of righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ, (Rom. 10:9).
The New Testament references “works of the law” in Paul’s letter to the Romans. The righteousness through Christ’s fulfillment of the law was offered by God through grace alone and apart from works of the law. This righteousness came through faith alone and without the necessity of human work. This righteousness without works was best demonstrated in that it wasn’t for the Israelites alone who adhered to the laws given on Mt. Sinai, but now included “Jew and Gentile” alike (i.e. all of mankind even those who did not carry the sign of circumcision which was consistent with the request of the law) (John 7:22). God presented Christ as the final atonement through faith in the shed blood of the sinless Lamb, because without the shedding of His blood there is no forgiveness or cleansing (Hebrews 9:22). As a result, there was no one who could “boast about attaining righteousness on their own,” because it had been achieved in complete absence of human contribution in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-27).
Consistent with the sacred status of Mosaic Law in Israel, Christ’s message of redemption in Him did not come without resistance (John 7:19). Those which were responsible to uphold Israel’s “legal status” opposed Christ’s message with the most fervor (Matt. 21:23). On a purely legal basis, the priests assigned to keep Israel under God’s laws had a responsibility of executing discipline and watching over God’s people (Ex. 28:41, Lev. 4:3, 5, 16). However, their own hearts had turned away from God’s intended protection of the laws of Israel and had turned into a self exalting endeavor (Luke 20:46-50):
“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in their flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”
In other words, God’s chosen priests were no longer adhering to the laws in a manner consistent with worshiping God, but instead maintained leadership roles for personal gain. As a result, Israel was not being led according to God’s will to honor Him, because the leaders were not guiding God’s chosen like they were supposed to.
Christ’s crucifixion became a necessary and final sin offering for his people. While the initial address of righteousness was toward Israel alone, Christ’s sacrifice was ultimately offered to Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 1:16). Christ carried the sin of humanity before “being led in silence to die for the sins of others” (1 Cor. 15:3). As Christ carried the sins of the people, all sin was put to death on Calvary thereby fulfilling the requirement of laws which had been broken or yet to be broken in effort to reconcile mankind to God once and for all. Christ fulfilled the law in those who believed in his final work and would be alleviated not only from fulfilling laws on their own but attaining a reconciliation of purity to God which was not possible in human might alone.
While Christ is the fulfillment of the laws of Israel, it was never the intent to remove the laws. The laws still have to be obeyed (Rom. 2:13), but now the obedience is acquired through the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32). The laws remain intact and now those who believe in not only God’s laws, but also Jesus’ sacrifice, are empowered to fulfill God’s requirements of lawful behavior. The state of human righteousness itself is attained in Christ alone, because He is the sinless Son of God. But righteous behavior is still expected from God’s people in conformity with what the laws were intended to convey by requiring obedience.
Adherence to God’s laws still serves as a point of separation from what the pagan world is doing. The laws still provide for behavior that allows for a redemptive walk with Christ that is progressive. No longer are believers expected to shed sinful behaviors on their own, but as a result of fulfilled law, are granted the Holy Spirit as a continual source of renewal (Titus 3:5). Sanctification is acquired through grace consistent with the same laws, which were decreed on Mt. Sinai. Without the law, mankind walks in reckless disregard to God’s presence thereby dishonoring Him. The laws are still and will always be a guideline that teaches and guides righteous character (2 Timothy 4:2).
Conclusion
It was necessary that Christ fulfill the law once and for all as the ultimate sacrificial offering, because the law through the obedience of men could not fully satisfy the requirements to abolish sin in its entirety. Without the “embodiment of the law” as Christ HImself, Israelite (and Gentile alike) could not be set free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 7:5). Of greater significance was the reconciliation that was allowed between mankind and God through the sinless life of Christ. By believing in the sacrificial atonement in Jesus, God has done away with separation from Him by the sins of His people and new believers. The laws stand fulfilled and those who have believed in the redemptive work of Christ can never be separated from God again:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
References
Bible Gateway. Online bible. www.biblegateway.com (Available as of March 31, 2010).
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