Note: As you read the following from the book by Ron Mosely, The Spirit of the Law, I want to be very open about where I have changed some of the original text. I have substituted Yehshua for Jesus and Saul for Paul in several places. Beyond this it is as I received it accept where I have noted something. These notes are my thoughts on the subject and do not come from the original author. (gj)
The Letter of the Law vs. The Spirit of the Law
In Paul's day the TANAKH, which was made up of the Law, the Prophets, and the Old Testament writings, were all the Scriptural text that was available. Both Yehshua and Saul or Paul taught that believers should be guided by the Spirit of God to fulfill the Law through faith and love. Although Yehshua fulfilled the ceremonial or sacrificial part of the Law by dying on the cross, we still see the principles of the Law, such as the priesthood and the atonement, evidenced today in the ministry of the church. In short, the manifestation has changed, but the spirit of the Law that exposes sin and produces light and life is the center of New Testament theology.
The question is asked, what about Paul's assault on the Law in his epistles? All the letters of Paul were addressed to predominantly Gentile congregations, which in regard to salvation, had nothing to do with the 613 Laws of Moses that were given as the lifestyle of the Jewish people.
Personal Note: I agree with the majority of the statement above but upon careful examination, Saul seems to have begun his ministry in each city or town by first going to the local synagogue and spending some time debating with the Jewish believers the message of the Messiah being Yehshua. (Acts 13:14; 14:1; 17:1; 18:1-5; 19:1-8) In each case he found ones placed there by God himself to be a nucleus of the church. So each church had it appears a mixture of Jewish believers, as well as Greek believers, a mixed multitude that came out of what we have come to understand as the gentiles.
Acts 13:46-48 NASB Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. (47) "For so the Lord has commanded us, 'I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.'" (48) When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Very Important Personal Note: the word in the Greek, translated either gentile, pagan or sometimes nation or nations, comes from the word 'ekklesia'. We must come to understand and remember; when seeing this word in any of its three translations, that 'ekklesia' includes all gentiles [non-Jews], pagans as well as people or peoples. But: God never intended 'ekklesia' to mean that the people of the northern ten tribes; of once united Israel; the tribes that succeeded from King Rehoboam of Judah; the people who God granted a writ of divorcement back in 721 BCE for refusing to follow His Torah or as it is really mistranslated His Law to be excluded from the gospel of Jesus Christ. [Read Hosea 1:1-11; especially verse eleven. Because it speaks of what has been going on since about 1996 or 7.]
It is understandable that Saul, the apostle to the gentiles (nations), would get upset with the Judaizers who consistently as well as constantly tried to hinder his work by trying to require the gentiles of his congregations to keep Jewish "customs" up to and including their version of a circumcision for becoming Rabbinic proselytes.
Personal Note: More and more it is coming to light that the "Judaizers" did not follow nor practice the actual written law of Moses, the Torah, but were followers of the Oral Law generated over the years by various Rabbi's, that had become even more important than the Law that had previously come through Moses around 1500 BC.
In the book The Spirit of the Law by Ron Mosely a tremendous book in understanding this concern, Many have taught that to have any involvement with the Law of Moses, results in legalism. One can see the error we in the church have made. Not once did Yehshua or Saul stop or ever suggest that any Jew not keep the lifestyle prescribed to them in the Law as a covenant people. It should be noted that verses like Mark 7:15, where it appears Jesus is differing with the Jewish food laws (when he points out the difference between physical and spiritual pollution) do not suggest that He abandoned the food laws given to all Jews.
Personal Note: Some translations put in parentheses that that is what he was doing but anyone that has knowledge of the way the Bible is laid out; has to agree that where we find parentheses, it is shows the translators opinion and it was not in the text that the translator was using to make his translation.
Mark 7:1-23 NASB The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, (2) and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (3) (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; (4) and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) (5) The Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?" (6) And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. (7) 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.' (8) "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." (9) He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. (10) "For Moses said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER'; and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH'; (11) but you say, 'If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),' (12) you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; (13) thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that." (14) After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: (15) there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. (16) ["If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."] (17) When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. (18) And He *said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, (19) because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) (20) And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. (21) "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, (22) deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. (23) "All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
Be careful in picking a translation that you are not familiar with, because some have dropped the parenthesis, saying, that this statement in verse 19 was or is in the original document that they used to translate.
Mark 7:19 NKJV because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?"
It's amazing, that the King James people, in the 1611 version as well as the present day do not even make that statement. But in the New King James it's there and it's without the parenthesis, indirectly insinuating that it is.
Mark 7:19 KJV Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
As we know, many use the above to claim that the dietary laws were reversed here. It says nothing about what they were eating only that because a man did not wash his hands before eating was what made the man unclean.
It should also be noted that many Jewish scholars of the New Testament, such as David Flusser in his book called Jesus conclude that, "Jesus as a Jew was faithful to the Law of Moses."
The problem in understanding Saul's letters is similar to the Television game show Jeopardy; where contestants have the answers, but do not have the questions. Saul's epistles were written to straighten out problems (or questions) his gentile converts were having, who were not familiar with the ways or laws of God.
To the casual reader they sometimes give the appearance that
he was against the Law of God. Actually, Paul only directs his seemingly
negative comments concerning the Law toward two groups:
(1) Those non-Jews who thought they needed
to keep the Law plus have Jesus
for salvation to be
initiated, and
(2) Some
fundamentalist Jews who tried to make it a prerequisite that non-Jews
must
keep
the Law
plus confess Yehshua as Lord for their salvation process
to begin.
When Christians today suddenly appear defensive at the mention of God's Law, there is a temptation to ask, "Which law makes you feel uncomfortable?" This is a rather startling reaction for the Law only condemns law-breakers. For the most part, the church since the first century has misunderstood the Law that both Jesus and Saul loved and lived by. There are at least three basic reasons for this information gap concerning the Law in the modern church:
First, when the early church gradually moved from Jerusalem to the west, many of the Roman converts who became church leaders retained certain of their pagan cultural practices. As a result, the Roman leaders read the Hebrew Scriptures against their Greek background. They imposed on the biblical text a foreign interpretive scheme that established incorrect information in church theology concerning God's Law that was irreconcilable with the Word of God that Jesus and Saul knew.
Second, to Saul the Law was the Word of God, and he certainly did not intend to start a new religion that opposed Scripture. Paul's heated arguments that appear to be directed against the Law were actually against the misuse of the Law by those who were putting his Gentile congregations in bondage by teaching that the Law was for salvation.
Third, the teaching that the Law of God was superseded by or in opposition to the grace of God did not originate with Paul, but developed as a result of the heretic Marcion's interpretation of Paul's writings. Marcion, who died about 160 A.D. rejected the Old Testament completely. He believed, through the influence of Gnosticism, a demiurgic notion that the God of the Old Testament was cruel and a totally different God from the god of the New. He was so consumed with the belief that Paul's message of God's grace opposed God's Law that he only kept and edited portions of Paul's writings that agreed with his theology. Marcion's theology was so foreign to God's Word that the great pastor Polycarp, who was a student of John the Apostle, called him the "first-born of Satan." Marcion went to Rome about 139 A.D. and made a generous gift to the church, but after examining his views the church gave back his money and excommunicated him. Marcion founded his own church which merged Gnosticism and orthodox Christianity, creating a theology that was sharply dualistic, violently antagonistic to Judaism, strictly ascetic, celibate, and yielded a wide and destructive influence in Christendom. Unfortunately, some modern Christians have unknowingly endorsed his ideas.
Note: How many Marcion's have come on the scene since this initial one. Listen to Yehshua Himself on the subject before He died
As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what
will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. (Mat 24:3-5 NASB)Let's take the rapture theories for instance. All these teachers claim or admit that Yehshua is the Messiah, but my friends, some are deceiving the sheep.
Later Augustine, a Roman Catholic monk, championed Marcion's ideas about grace opposing God's Law and made it a major part of church theology. At the time of the Reformation, men such as John Wycliffe with his first manuscript English Bible , and Miles Coverdale the English translator of the first printed English Bible were heavily influenced by Augustine. In 1514 Coverdale was ordained a priest and later entered the Augustine Monastery at Cambridge. The notion of grace over Law was accelerated when the French Reformer John Calvin endorsed this position in his "Institutes of Christian Religion," which became the guide for the Reformed Churches of Protestantism.
Personal Note: If you will notice, Jerusalem theology got dimmer and dimmer as time progressed and the theology of Rome got got brighter and brighter with each passing year.
In the New Testament what appears to be the substitution of grace for Law is nothing more than a difference in the way God's eternal principles of Law are manifested. In the Old Testament the principle of sacrifice was portrayed through animals, but in the New Testament Christ is ever fulfilling that dimension of the Law as the "Lamb of God." Each time a life is redeemed, the spirit of the Law with the principles of sacrifice and priesthood of the Messiah is even more evident today than before
The Law Was Only Until John?
It is common to hear someone point to the misunderstood phrase from Luke 16:16, "Did not the New Testament say that the Law and the prophets were only until John?" Along with the question, "Aren't we under the Age of Grace today?" This verse is often wrongly interpreted. Luke 16 is simply stating that the Law and the prophets until John was all the Scripture there was at that time.
And the Word (Greek Numos = Hebrew Torah) was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
[but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:14-17 KJV)The New Testament, as we know it today, was not canonized until some 150 years later. Furthermore, the Book of Luke could not possibly mean that the Law of God was outdated, because it was used constantly by the church after John the Baptizer a minimum of 185 times in the New Testament writings. This is not to imply that the writings of Luke were not inspired, but that it was not until approximately 200 A.D. that the New Testament was collected into a recognized corpus of writings that were listed as authoritative. It is clear that Saul, like Christ, never intended to be understood as replacing God's eternal Law [Matthew 5:17-20; Romans 3:31]. It is equally clear that Saul had strong feelings about his Gentile converts not having to live by or attain salvation through the Law that the Lord gave as a covenant to the Jews [I Corinthians 7:17-201.
Jesus Went Beyond the Letter
of the Law
Often Jesus went beyond the letter of the Law and instructed His disciples in the spirit of the Law. A couple of obvious examples of this can be seen as He cautioned that if any lusted in their hearts concerning a woman they saw that they had already committed adultery, and if they called a brother a fool they were in danger of Hell (Gehena) fire [Matthew 5:19-30]. Each of the above examples are far beyond anything the Mosaic Law ever suggested.
What was Paul's intent when he taught that the letter of the Law kills? It is obvious that he did not mean the Law of God is bad and will put one in bondage, as is suggested by these words today. Paul kept the Mosaic Law and encouraged Jews everywhere to do the same [I Corinthians 7:18]. We should remember this statement was written to the Gentiles at Corinth, never to Jewish believers [II Corinthians 3:61. It was also concerned with the Oral Law of the Pharisees, not the Mosaic Law of the Torah. Even the best qualities of the Law of God have always been referred to as "ministration of death" to those in sin. The purpose being that the very intent of the Law is to expose and define sin. For the Gentile converts to try to keep a Jewish lifestyle without the godly disciplined background, it would become a bondage that was neither necessary nor proper. In this context Paul said the letter of the Law kills, but he went on to point out that the Spirit of the Law gives life.
Paul was addressing salvation to the Gentiles and concerning this issue the letter of the Law is death and only through the Spirit can life come. The summary of Paul's view is found in his statement to the Romans "for the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death ... that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in me" [Romans 8:2-4].
What Christian Leaders Said About the Law
Before looking too deeply at this as our only source, isn't it a little strange that we are looking at a group of men we more or less refer to as our church fathers. Almost 1500 years had passed since Yahshua's appearance on earth. Where are those men's writings that came in-between. We take the New Testament and then jump ahead 1500 years to see what men said about the original gospel. What about the Jews and their feelings about the subject. I add one here with nothing collected as to what he believed but just show the grouping:
R. A. Torrey 1856 - 1928
Martin Luther 1483 - 1546
Was Martin Luther, the great faith reformer, against the Law? Not at all, in fact he said, "The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God's Law and show the nature of sin, because it will act as a schoolmaster and bring him to everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ."
John Wesley 1703 - 1791
John Wesley said, "Before I preach love, mercy and grace, I
must preach sin, Law and judgment." Wesley later advised a friend, "Preach
90 percent Law and 10 percent grace."
Charles Spurgeon 1834 - 1892
Charles Spurgeon, who is known as the "Prince of Preachers," said, "They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy Law."
Charles Finney 1892 - 1875
Charles Finney who is labeled as having a 80 percent success rate in his ministry said, "Evermore the Law must prepare the way for the Gospel; to overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts."
John Wycliffe 1328 - 1384
John Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the Reformation" said , "The highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the Law of God."
D. L. Moody 1837 - 1899;
D. L. Moody, who is credited with having over one million disciples for the Lord, put it in perspective when he said, "God being a perfect God, had to give a perfect Law, and the Law was given not to save men, but to measure them."
If we were to ask the Apostle Paul why the Law was given and if it had any effect on the world today, the Scriptural Text gives us his answers. We would expect to receive the same answer he gave to the Romans "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" [Romans 3:19]. The most significant tribute to God's Law comes from the Savior when He said, whosoever does and teaches the Law will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven [Matthew 5:19]. The sad truth is that since the turn of the century, various new ideas have been substituted for the teaching of God's Law and standard in Christendom to the extent that Mr. Finney's above three areas of warning concerning the Law have been self-fulfilling.
"To overlook the Law in instructing souls is almost certain to result in:
1. The development of a false hope.
2. The introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and
3. To fill the church with false converts.
The Nine-fold Purpose of the Law
Even in the New Testament and apart from being the guideline of God's covenant people Israel, the Law has at least a nine-fold purpose to all people. This is not to say that all the Law applies to all people, for much of it was a direct covenant to Israel alone. Note the detail of some of the universal aspects of God's Law:
First - To teach the believer how to serve,
worship and please God [Psalm 19:7-
9; Acts 18:13,14].
Second - To instruct the believer how to treat
his fellow man and have healthy
relationships with
him [Leviticus 19:18;
Galatians 5:14; Galatians 6:2].
Third - To teach believers how to be happy and
prosper here on earth by
manifesting the power
and authority of God's
reign in their lives [Joshua 1:8; Psalm
1:1-3; Luke 12:32].
Fourth - The Law was given, not to save, but too
measure man's deeds both
toward God and his
fellow man,
straightening out all matters contrary to sound
doctrine [I Timothy
1:8-10; II Timothy 2:5; 1
Corinthians 6:1-12; I Corinthians
3:13; Romans 2:12; Revelation 20:12, 13].
Fifth - The Law is a schoolmaster showing that
we are guilty and then leading us
to Christ our Messianic justification [Galatians 3:21-24; Romans 3:19].
Sixth - The Law gives us both the knowledge and
depth of our sin [Romans
3:20; Romans 4:15; Romans 7:7, 8; Luke 20:47
- greater damnation].
Seventh -The Law reveals the good, holy, just,
and Perfect nature of God and
serves as the visible standard for
God's will [Romans 2:17, and please God
[Psalm 19:7-9; Acts
18:13, 18; Romans 7:12; II Peter
1:4].
Eighth - The Law is to be established or
accomplished by our faith, therefore, it
is called the Law
of faith [Romans 3:27;
Romans 3:31].
Ninth - The same Law today should be written on our
hearts, and through
God's Spirit we can delight and serve the Law of God
[Romans 7:6-25].