Not under Law but under Grace

Part Five

by G. A. N. James

This is the fifth part of the series of messages on the subject of Law and Grace, entitled “Not under Law but under Grace.” So far in this series of messages, we have examined certain fundamental aspects of the Law of Moses. We have 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. We have also dealt with 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. We examined the fulfilment of the Law by Christ Jesus in coming to this world to be the true substance or body of Life and righteousness, which the Law foreshadowed. Hence, we can conclude, according to the declaration of the Scriptural truth, that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.Therefore, having established the fact that the Law was fulfilled in Christ, we will examine in this part of the series of messages the truth that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness.

The End of the Law for Righteousness

It is important that one keeps foremost in mind, as we continue in this series of messages on Law and Grace 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. As we pointed out already, 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. It was not given to mankind in vain, but had its specific purpose in God’s unfolding plan of bringing salvation to mankind through Christ Jesus. 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 fulfilment of that reality in Christ.

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 or, alternatively, as the beginning or author of true righteousness and Life in man. Moreover, the truth of the fulfilment of the Law in Christ also places the meaning and purpose of the Law in God's plan of salvation in the proper perspective. In that sense, the Law is not made void or meaningless in Christ, but is rather established in Christ.

What the Law could not do, but merely foreshadowed, in God’s 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, the true source and reality of Life and righteousness, must give way to Grace and Truth in Christ. “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (Joh 1:16-17).

Mankind hence must seek and find true Life and righteousness, not under the Law but in Christ. For instance, Rom 8:2-4 tell us plainly: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. 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.

The apostle Paul, once a devout follower of the Judaist religion and a staunch upholder of the Law, has left us in his epistles clear teachings on the subject of Christ being the end of the Law for righteousness and that all believers in Christ must find true righteousness in Christ rather than in the pursuit of the Law. For instance, Paul writes in Phi 3:4-9:

Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

Paul, furthermore, laments concerning Israel’s deception in seeking righteousness by pursuing the Law in Rom 10:1-4: Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved. For, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believes.

Then in Col 2:16-17, Paul advises all believers in Christ: 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.

Heb 9 gives a good description of the basic elements of the Law and the fulfilment of these elements in Christ. Let us read from Heb 9:

Heb 9:9-15:

Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Heb 9:21-28:

And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

The instruments, rituals, and practices of atonement for sins under the Old Covenant dealt with mere “copies of the things in the heavens”, but Christ dealt with “the heavenly things themselves”, and thus accomplished for mankind a better and more effective atonement of sin.  Moreover, Christ did not only effectively “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” once for all, but brought an end to this Old Covenant regime and introduced an entirely “new covenant” of which He Himself is “the mediator”. Hence, having offered Himself as God’s required atoning sacrifice “for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant” Christ through the New Covenant of grace presents Himself “for salvation without reference to sin” (seeing that the Law which defines and sanctions sin ends in Him) as the true substance of the true righteousness of God “apart from the Law” to all who believe in and receive Him.

Here is how Paul explains this profound and wonderful truth in Rom 3:19-31:

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

Paul’s assertion in the end that the Law is not nullified but established through faith in Christ simply highlights the truth that in Christ one finds the substance and reality of true righteousness which the Law simply foreshadowed and could not provide. In this way, Christ is now the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believes. God gives all who believe in Christ every thing that is needed for a life of true righteousness.

We read in 1Co 1:30-31: But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; so that, according as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

Peter too gives full support to the truth that God provides for us in Christ all that we need for a true righteous and godly life, as he states in 2Pe 1:1-4:

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

It is clear from the Scriptures that we who come to Christ find in Christ the complete reality of the Life and righteousness which the Law merely foreshadowed and could not produce in mankind. There are those, who, like the Scribes, the Pharisees, the rich young ruler, and even Paul before his conversion, have tried to conform to the Law and felt blameless in their self-righteousness according to their perceived standard of the Law. Yet, the truth is that they remained far short of the true Life and righteousness which Christ is and gives to those who believe in Him.

Without having the righteousness of God, mankind remains alienated from God in sin and trespasses. However, God has provided in Christ all that is needed to reconcile the world to Him in true Life and righteousness. We read in 2Co 5:18-21:

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

A final point which must be clarified is whether Christ has become the end of merely the ceremonial aspect of the Law of Moses and not the moral aspect, which includes the Ten Commandments. This question is derived from the practice of some of dividing the Law of Moses into two sections. One is a ceremonial section, which includes the statutes regarding the Temple, the Levitical priesthood, the offerings and sacrifices, and the general civil behaviour of the people of Israel. The other is the moral section which includes the Ten Commandments. Such a division is unnecessary and has no foundation in the Scriptures. Both the commandments and the ceremonial statutes were presented by Moses to Israel in one entire constitution or covenant defined in the Scriptures as the Law or the Old Covenant. Therefore, all who were under the Law or the Old Covenant were bound to every element of the Law, the commandments and the ceremonial statutes, which could not bring true Life and righteousness (Deu 27:1-26; Jer 11: 3-5). In the same way, all who want to remain under the Law are bound by every aspect of the Law (Rom 3:19; Gal 3:10).

Therefore, Christ introduced to humanity an entirely new arrangement or covenant, which could bring true Life and righteousness to all who believe. We read, therefore, in Heb 8:6-9:

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, ‘Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord.’

In conclusion, therefore, all of us who sincerely want to be delivered from the bondage of death and sin, all of us who sincerely recognize our need for Life and true righteousness, and all of us who realize that in our corrupt, mortal nature we cannot produce God’s standard of Life and righteousness by keeping the Law should appreciate and rejoice in the glorious truth of the Gospel that Christ has come to bring us Life and righteousness. Christ is now the end of the regime of the Law of Moses, which merely brought us the knowledge of our sins and the penalties of death and condemnation which our sins brought upon us. The Law came by Moses, but Christ has come to introduce to us grace and truth by which we can find Life and righteousness. How wonderful is the wisdom, mercy, and grace of God towards mankind!

Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

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