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Not under Law but under Grace
Part Four
by G. A. N. James
This is the fourth part of the series of messages on the subject of Law and Grace, entitled “Not under Law but under Grace.” We have already established the limitation of the Law of Moses in fulfilling God’s aim to deliver humanity after the Fall from the bondage of death and sin into Life and righteousness, as well as the purpose of the Law in God’s unfolding plan of salvation to foreshadow and point to the true Life and righteousness which Christ would bring to humanity. In this message we examine Christ’s fulfilment of the Law in coming to be the true substance or body of Life and righteousness, which the Law foreshadowed. Hence, according to the declaration of the Scriptural truth, Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The Fulfilment of the Law
We read in Col 2:16-17: “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day -- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
This Scripture passage is an important Scripture passage in highlighting the truth of the fulfilment or accomplishment of all what the Law represents in Christ, and we will return to it when we are dealing with the Sabbath Day. What is of relevance to us now in this passage is the statement in Col 2:17 that the elements of the Law "are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” The concept of a shadow used here to refer to the Law means a type or symbolical representation of a reality and is to be distinguished from the reality itself. Therefore, according to Col 2:17, the elements of the Law of Moses were merely a type or a symbolic representation of a reality of which Christ would be the substance.
Hence, when Christ would come, He would bring into reality all that the elements of the Law of Moses foreshadowed or symbolically represented. As a result, the jurisdiction of the regime of the Law of Moses, having a mere shadow or symbolical representation of the substantial reality, which Christ would reveal of Himself and His Kingdom, would obviously fade in Christ. Hence, after Christ has come, no one would be divinely authorized to judge one who is in Christ in regard to the elements of the Law of Moses. The jurisdiction of the Law came by Moses; the jurisdiction of Grace and Truth would come by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The judgments and condemnation of the Law would give way to the Throne of Grace where believers in Christ would come to obtain mercy and find grace to help them in their need and weakness (Heb 4:16). This is the basis for statement in Col 2:16-17, "Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day -- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ."
It is important to see the Scriptural distinction between the Law of Moses as a shadow or symbolical representation of a substance or reality and Christ as the true substance or reality foreshadowed by the Law of Moses. John expresses that distinction in John 1:16-17: For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth was realized through Jesus Christ.
In Christ Jesus we can realize or enter into grace and truth, which no one could have realized by the Law of Moses. What that means basically is that where the Law represented a type or foreshadow of God's righteousness in the commandments, Christ became to mankind the actual righteousness of God (1Co 1:30); where the Law represented a type or foreshadow of God's atoning work and forgiveness of man's sins in the ceremonial rituals of sacrifices and offerings, Christ became the true High-priest and sacrificial Lamb to atone for and take away the sins of the world (John 1:29; Heb 9:11-12).
The truth that the Law of Moses represented a shadow or typology of the truth, power, and reality which came in Christ is well supported in the Scriptures. For instance, we read in Heb 10:1-2: For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? This Scripture passage emphasizes the truth that the entire regime of the Law of Moses was a shadow, a mere sketch, or a symbolical representation of the truth or reality of the salvation which Christ would introduce, and, therefore, lacked effectiveness in accomplishing God's aim to deliver fallen man from death and sin into Life and righteousness.
We pointed out before that God's primary aim and purpose after the Fall of man has been to deliver mankind from the bondage of death and sin. To be effectively delivered from the bondage of death and sin, mankind needed divine Life and righteousness to destroy death and sin. We also pointed out that the limitation of the Law was that while it presented the knowledge of good and evil it could not produce the Life and righteousness which humanity needed to be godly and to be delivered from the evil powers of the bondage of death and sin (Gal 3:21). However, the Law of Moses had the particular purpose of pointing mankind to the good things which would be accomplished in Christ to bring Life and righteousness to mankind, but it could not provide these good things which man needed for salvation. “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near” (Heb 10:1).
Christ came, therefore, as the embodiment of the good things to come, which were foreshadowed by the Law and predicted by the Prophets. In that manner, Christ fulfilled the Law and the Prophets or accomplished the truth of what were foreshowed by the Law and the Prophets. Let us read more of what the Scriptures declare on that subject -- Heb 10:3-10:
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.'” After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Here in this Scripture passage, the Holy Spirit is revealing God's complete dissatisfaction with people's use of the prescriptions of the Law of Moses as a means of dealing effectively with the sinfulness of humanity. Then it introduces the effective remedy provided by Christ. What is the effective remedy? “After saying above, ‘Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them’ (which are offered according to the law), then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Thus the Scriptures leave no doubt that Christ fulfilled all what the Law foreshadowed to bring salvation and deliverance to mankind. In fact, after His crucifixion and resurrection, Christ took time to carefully point out to His disciples the elements of the Law and the Prophets that He fulfilled.
First was Jesus' reproof to the two men who while on their way to the village of Emmaus after His crucifixion were discussing their disappointment at His death, as recorded in Luke 24:25-27: And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Afterwards, Jesus appeared to the entire group of His disciples to convince them that He had fulfilled all what were foreshadowed of Him in the Law and the Prophets. Let us read Luk 24: 44-48: Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ in His own words after His death and resurrection confirmed the fact that He fulfilled or accomplished all things which were written about Him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. That further established the basis for the end of the religious system of the Law and the Prophets in Christ. You may recall Jesus declaration concerning His mission to fulfill the Law and the Prophets: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 5:17-20).
Here, Jesus was declaring that His mission was not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill it. There are some who say, however, that since Christ did not abolish the Law of Moses, it means that the regime of the Law of Moses continued to be in effect after Christ came. One cannot infer that from Christ's statement. It is obvious that having fulfilled or accomplished in Himself the requirements of the Law, or having become the substance or reality or truth of what the Law, according to the Scriptures, was a mere shadow of, Christ with the grace and truth He brought, would take centre-stage in God's unfolding plan of salvation. In fact, Christ emphasized as He went on in the discussion that after He had fulfilled the Law, He would introduce the order of the Kingdom of heaven with a righteousness which surpassed the righteousness, to which those who adhered to the Law could have attained.
Let’s read Mat 5:20-22: “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”
Jesus was pointing out that there were those, like the Scribes and the Pharisees in His time, who interpreted the Law of Moses strictly by the letter as a code of external conduct of righteousness, but under the new regime or covenant of the Kingdom of heaven He would introduce a righteousness which would be embedded in man's heart and would supersede the righteousness which the Scribes and Pharisees tried to attain to by the Law.
It is important that one keeps foremost in mind that God's primary and ultimate aim in His dealing with mankind throughout the ages after the Fall is to reconcile man to Himself, that is, to deliver humanity from the bondage of death and sin -- to bring man to a state of true Life and righteousness -- not merely to impose on mankind Laws and penalties for transgressing these Laws. The regime of the Law of Moses did the latter -- it imposed on fallen man Laws which he could not keep and penalties to which he was doomed because of his bondage to death and sin. However, the regime of the Law of Moses was merely a transitory phase in the unfolding history of God's plan of salvation for mankind. We have to accept and appreciate this Scriptural perspective of the Law if we are going to appreciate both the purpose of the Law, the reality it foreshadowed, and the fulfillment of that reality in Christ.
Therefore, it is the fact that Christ fulfilled or accomplished all that the Law foreshadowed that establishes Him as the end of the Law for righteousness. Moreover, the fulfillment of the Law in Christ also established the meaning and purpose of the Law in God's plan of salvation. In that sense, the Law is not made void or meaningless in Christ, but is rather established in Christ. Thus, with God’s just requirement decreed by the Law fulfilled by Christ, the stage was set to move on into a new arrangement or covenant between God and mankind that would bring into realization God’s salvation by grace.
“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: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom 8:3-4). What the Law could not do, but merely foreshadowed, in God’s unfolding plan to bring Life and righteousness to humanity, Christ has accomplished. Therefore, in Christ the shadow fades into reality. Christ brought body, substance, grace, and truth to the Law. The Law, having fulfilled its purpose in God’s great plan of salvation by foreshadowing and pointing mankind to Christ, must give way to Grace and Truth in Christ. Mankind hence must seek and find true Life and righteousness, not under the Law but in Christ.
We conclude this fourth part of the series of messages on Law and Grace. Having established the fact that the Law was fulfilled in Christ, we will examine in the next part of the series of messages, the truth that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness.
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