MANY are startled when they read the account of the beginning of the church in Acts. Comers were joining in multitudes. These days, some just go to church services as a duty while others attend out of fear and manipulation by leaders. Love and faith have vanished because the Gospel of Christ is not preached. We unbundle the mysterious in a series we're starting today.
Please never mix up the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses containing about 613 regulations. The two carry different interpretations. Don't run the risk of heresy. Elsewhere this column has exhaustively dealt with the difference between the two. Moses was not entering Canaan or the Promised Land so he gave Israelites the laws to live by.
For us under the New Covenant, who have entered that Promised Land otherwise called the rest of God or the finished or accomplished work of Christ have no business with the Mosaic Law. This Law was meant for Jesus Who was both fully God and fully human. We therefore say He came to fulfil the Law.
We read Matthew 5:17, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." These are the words of Jesus. God Almighty with all omnipotence humbled Himself to become like us to free us from the Law. In biblical language, this is called the doctrine of identification. We support, Galatians 4:4-5, New King James, "[4] But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
We see the Law pointing directly to God in His Son so that if we believe the Gospel of Christ we would be sons and daughters. Apostle Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 1:5, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” This adoption is not the adoption we know from the English language but it means placement. Please remember that the New Testament was written in Greek and the English language has its shortcomings.
We elucidate Mathew 5:17 quoted above. Romans 10:4, Amplified, reads: “For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him.This is self explanatory.
Let's define the word fulfil as quoted in Matthew 5:17. Merriam Webster”s defines it as to put into effect, execute; to meet the requirements of; to measure up to, satisfy; to bring to an end; to develop the full potentialities of; to convert into reality. Jesus ably executed the purposes of the Law. He measured up to its demands which humanity could not measure up to and He converted it to reality. In Christ, the Law is brought to an end.
Now we understand clearly that Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it. We cannot be so stupid to try to fulfil what was fulfilled by a Higher Divine Office. What we’re simply asked to do is believe and partake. Jesus answered His disciples convincingly in John 6:28-29: “[28] Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? [29] Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
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The Law incriminates by pronouncing sin for trespassers. Galatians 4:4-5, quoted above shows us that the Grace of God releases us from the custody of the Law. What does the Mission Statement of Jesus say? We read Matthew 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: [Saviour] for he shall save his people from their sins."
Salvation releases us from the sin's hold which got its power from the Law. We're told in Romans 7:8-11, New International Version, "[8] But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. [9] Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. [10] I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. [11] For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.”
Jesus came to fulfil the Law. Christianity becomes empty and frustrating if we try to do what was meant to be done by Jesus. We will bring part two. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.
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- All Bible quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise stated.
