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The Law of Moses Versus the Law of the Spirit – Part 20

[Posted May 3, 2009]

[Updated April 5, 2024]

A Harmony of James and Paul

Let’s continue Paul’s thought in Galatians 2: “For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” “If I build again the things which I destroyed” is a reference to the law. “For I through the law am dead to the law”, is the very next verse. If we “build again the things we destroyed” then we are establishing “[our] own righteousness, which is of the law” (Php 3:9). When we “return again to the weak and beggarly elements” from which Christ has freed us we are healing the deadly wound which the Truth had begun within us. Our old man was being destroyed and turning again to the weak and beggarly elements of the law was the healing of that deadly wound:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

When we ignore what we have learned about Christ, and return to our old ways which are more acceptable to the society we live in then we are placing ourselves back under “the law [which] is not of faith” (Gal 3:12), and which is “[our] own righteousness” (Php 3:9), then we are “building again that which we had destroyed, “[and] making ourselves transgressors”. Christ is not “the minister of sin” even if “I make myself a transgressor” (vs 18).

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal 2:17  But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Gal 2:18  For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Gal 2:19  For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Galatians 2:16-19 is consistent with Romans 3:5-7, where Paul poses the same question: “If our unrighteousness [rebuilding the “old man” whom we had destroyed] commend the righteousness of God [which of course it doesn’t, any more than our sins make Christ ‘the minister of sin’], what shall we say; is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?” (vs 7).

Paul is asking if our calling does not make us “free from sin.” If we are to simply continue in sin, why would we be considered sinners at all? “And not rather as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just” (vs 8). This “our unrighteousness commending the righteousness of God” and “the truth of God abounding through our lie” were both “slanderous reports” of Paul’s teachings.

What Paul did teach was the same thing James taught. While James says “faith without works [the working of Christ in us] is dead” (Jas 2:26), Paul puts the SAME TEACHING in other words: “know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 6:9). Again Paul instructs: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap”

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

It is true that Paul was given to emphasize that our good works which James acknowledges as the fruit of our faith is “[Christ’s] workmanship” and that our faith is also a gift of God and not of ourselves:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

That sounds pretty close to ‘faith without works is dead’; certainly much closer than the slanderous reports being circulated that Paul taught that our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, or the truth of God abounds through our lie. Paul says of those who say he teaches such things “their damnation is just.”

Rom 3:5  But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
Rom 3:6  God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
Rom 3:7  For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
Rom 3:8  And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

It was all a lie. Paul had never once said, “Let us do evil that good may come.” He never once said, “Let us sin that grace may abound.” Like James Paul’s doctrine was [“We were] created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10)

When James said:

Jas 2:15  If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
Jas 2:16  And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Jas 2:18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

James is agreeing with Paul that our works are the result of the faith of Jesus Christ, and to claim “I have works” without faith is the same lie Paul was dealing with.

Phrase #8

We now come to the final phrase used in Hebrews in relation to this matter of the law and the covenants.

“…He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:9). The first part of this verse is “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” It is followed by “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (vs 10).

Heb 10:8  Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Heb 10:9  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

This disclaimer of the law of the physical offerings is quoted from:

Psa 40:6  Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Psa 40:7  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psa 40:8  I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

“By which will” refers to God’s will. The scriptures declare that we are sanctified by the will of God and not our own will, but our focus here is “he taketh away the first that he may establish the second.”

What exactly is taken away? The answer is universally understood to be the old covenant which is “taken away” and replaced by the new covenant.

The depth and scope of the differences in these covenants is not universally understood. On the contrary, it seems that few indeed are willing to believe the plain and straight forward scriptures detailing the meaning of this phrase “he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.” Many of those differences are detailed in Matthew chapters 5-7.

The many other changes which are listed in those three chapters of Mattew demonstrate the truth of Paul’s statement “…we are the circumcision, which worship God in spirit… and have no confidence in the flesh” (Php 3:3).

The flesh has been taken completely out of the equation for salvation. In reality, it has never been anything more than a necessary evil to bring us to Christ in the spirit. “…Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [after the flesh]” (2Co 5:16).

In Romans 3:31 Paul asks the question, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” This whole paper has established that only for those in Christ is the law of Moses “made void”, “done away” and “abolished”; three different translations in the King James Version of the same Greek word katargeo.

The law itself is established by this fact. The understanding of Romans 3:31 is to be found ten verses earlier in verse 21: “But now the righteousness of God without the law [of Moses, “for the lawless” (1Ti 1:9)] is manifested, being witnessed by the law [of Moses] and the prophets.”

This verse witnesses that Christ would come and reform the law of Moses:

Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee [A reformer], and will put my words [Not the law of Moses] in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak [Not Moses] in my name, I will require it of him.

Had the law, the old covenant, “the ministration of death written and engraven in stones”, not been “done away” for those in Christ, the law would have proven itself a false prophet. Now, only for those in Christ, it is “abolished” (Eph 2:15) and replaced by a much higher, much more honorable and spiritual law. “The Lord is well pleased for HIS righteousness’ sake; he [Christ] will magnify the law and make it honorable” (Isa 42:21). If it were already honorable, He wouldn’t need to do that, would he? If, on the other hand, the law of Moses was a carnal commandment (Heb 7:16) used “lawfully” only for “the lawless and disobedient” (1Ti 1:8-9), then a new law along the lines of Matthew 5 would be in order.

1Ti 1:8  But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; [To bring us to Christ (Gal 3:24)]
1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

You do not “magnify” a house during construction and expect the contractor to eat the difference in cost. A new contract must be drawn up to deal with the changes. Neither do you move from the “carnal”, “lawless” and “disobedient” to the spiritual without a completely new covenant with a “change also of the law.”

Heb 7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

It is through the new words ‘by the mouth of a prophet like Moses’, that the law is “established” and proven a true “witness”. Until ‘that Prophet and His words’ come into our lives, the law will be “established” for our “lawless and disobedient” flesh, to show our flesh its naked condition and make it aware of its decaying earthy composition. Generation by generation “the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ” and generation by generation “after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster”. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that EVERY MOUTH may be stopped and ALL THE WORLD may become guilty before God” (Rom 3:19).

The law of Moses is equated by Paul to “the elements of the world” (Gal 4:3). Notice I said ‘equated.’ Not all ‘laws’ are the ‘law of Moses’, but all law is equated with the law of Moses as far as scripture is concerned:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law [of Moses], do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law [of Moses] written in their [stony] hearts [Eze 36:26-27], their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Gal 3:22-23 – “But the scripture hath concluded all [all Jews and Gentiles] under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were [all] kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed”,

Gal 4:1 – “Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child [G3516: nepios, an infant, “under the schoolmaster… tutors and governors, under the law], differeth nothing from a servant [slave to sin], though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.” What Paul is telling us is that “the ministration of death” is katargeo and we, in Christ only, are “free from the law of sin and death” (the ministration of death) (Rom 8:2):

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. [the law of Moses]

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2Co 3:7  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
2Co 3:8  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
2Co 3:9  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
2Co 3:11  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

It is hoped that this article will help someone, somewhere to take his eyes off the things of the flesh. Yes, Christ was born in the flesh, and yes, He died on the cross for our sins, and yes, God “made him sin for us, who (Christ) knew no sin” (2Co 5:21). These were but necessary evils. “Yet now henceforth know we him no more in the flesh.” We have all been born in the flesh, and we will all die in the flesh, but it is far more edifying and encouraging to know that “NOW are we the sons of God and… we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn 3:2). As we see Him we “are changed into the same image from glory to glory… by the spirit of the Lord” (2Co 3:18). So while we have demonstrated the inadequacies of the law in this essay, we conclude with this reminder for any who might attempt to turn God’s disciplinary, chastening grace into lasciviousness: If we truly see him as he is, every man purifieth himself even as he is pure.”

1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Summary

What we have pointed out, in effect, is the sovereignty of God in all things. “That they may know… that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” (Isa 45:6,7). Yes, it was God who created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was God Himself who placed that tree right in the middle of the garden. While He had told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this was done only because “the Lord… sought an occasion against” Adam (Jdg 14:1-4). God had already determined that Adam would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and would come to see his naked, decaying, earthy condition and be brought by the law to see his need for a Savior. We know this is true because we are twice told that we were “called… in Christ, before the world began”:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

“All that dwell upon the earth shall worship… the lamb slain from the foundation of the world”:

Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Rev 5:6  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, [every one] whose name hath not been written in the book of the life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

In God’s all-knowing mind, Christ was slain as the sacrifice for the sins of the world before Adam was ever created. This gives the lie to the teaching that ‘God could have known what choices you will make, but because He has given us free will, He chooses not to know.’ What utter nonsense! No, God chose to know all things because “all things are of God”. “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things…” (1Co 8:6). God knows our very thoughts because He gives us our thoughts:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man [our very thoughts], and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Has God chosen to know the very number of the hairs of your head, but not to know what you are going to do with your life? Hardly! We are plainly informed that God reveals Himself to some and deliberately blinds others. “…the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded… God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear” (Rom 11:7, 8).

So what does understanding the total sovereignty of God have to do with a proper understanding of the function of the law? It has everything to do with it, because it is through the law, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that God has decreed that all the world becomes guilty before Him. “What things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Rom 3:19). “Wherefore then serveth the law?

“It was added [to the law of the spirit] because of transgressions [of the law of the spirit], till the seed should come to whom the promise was made… the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we (all of us) were kept under the law… Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ… But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Gal 3:19-25).

God does not change (Mal 3:6). Christ came to reveal the Father (Mat 11:27 and Luk 10:22).

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

This He accomplished through His sacrificial life which revealed for the first time in the history of mankind the “new covenant.” The new covenant “show[s] the work of the law [of God, not Moses] written in their hearts” (Rom 2:15). Under this new covenant Christ reveals to us the Father: “I delight in the LAW of GOD after the inward man” (Rom 7:22). “…The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the LAW OF GOD neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:7, 8). The LAW OF GOD, the “least commandments”, which Christ revealed in Matthew 5 to 7 are the “LAW OF THE SPIRIT” (Rom 8:2). This is the true unchangeable character of God: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but MY WORDS shall not pass away” (Mat 24:35).

The law of Moses, on the other hand, is only “good, if a man use it lawfully… [meaning that it “brings us to Christ”. Meaning that we know that this law of Moses, written and engraven in stones, this ministration of death] …is not made for a righteous man [the man who is not carnally minded and delights in the LAW OF GOD, the new covenant, after the inward man]. [The law of Moses is] for the lawless and disobedient” (1Ti 1:8, 9).

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh [the “carnal commandments, Heb 7:16, of the law of Moses], but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death [“The ministration of death” (2Co 3:7) the law of Moses].
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law [of the spirit] might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the [law of the] Spirit.

1Ti 1:8  But we know that the law [of Moses] is good, if a man use it lawfully;
1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law [of Moses] is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine [the law of the spirit];

That is the mind of the holy spirit on this subject of the function of the law of Moses versus the law of the spirit.