| (Copyright 2023) by Darwin Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota) |
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| Just what did the apostle Paul mean when he said, “for you are not under the law”? Ro 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14 starts with “Sin shall not have dominion over you”. Why, because we are “under grace”. How does sin have dominion over a person? Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Without grace death is certain, therefore sin would have dominion over the sinner. First one must know what the law is. What law? If it’s God’s law we’re talking about, just what is that law? The Bible student looking for and wanting to understand the whole truth and nothing but the truth, that student can know what Paul was talking about, first by seeking God as to what that truth is. It (truth) can only come from the Bible, God’s word, led by his Holy Spirit, only if you will let it guide you without your preconceived religious doctrines that well might be in error that you may once have been taught. On the other hand, a specific doctrine that you now believe is correct, right out of God’s word, may be indeed correct, if someone were to challenge you on a particular doctrine. Just maybe. As we see in our studies, there are many false teachers-doctrines that don’t square with God’s word. 1Jo 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”. False prophets teach false doctrine, albeit they present those doctrines mixed in with some small amount of truth, so it is indeed hard to glean out what part is true and what parts are lies. Nevertheless, the keen are aware to spot lies from truth and can do the gleaning if he or she is really seeking God as to the truth of any given matter. How much plainer can it be that God of all creation has only one law based on two aspects of that one law. Mt 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Mt 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Mt 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. Mt 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Mt 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets A truly understanding student of Jesus will understand that the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” in Gen. was-is symbolic of disobeying God verses obeying God by the “tree of life” Ge 2:16 ¶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: Ge 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. So, what is it to obey God? Is it not by obeying His commandments? You think that God did not specify what those commandments are for Adam? Surely you know better! What was the penalty of disobeying God? “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. For those who understand, its referring to the “second death”. Re 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And to the unrepentant law breakers, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. Re 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Back to Paul’s statement, “not under the law”. Is he saying, “since you are not under the law, you don’t have to keep it? Ro 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid”. So, I ask you why keep the law if I am under grace” Didn’t Paul say, “we are not under the law”? People, the apostle Paul could have been referring to one thing only, and that is we are not under the death penalty that the law required if broken. “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. Ro 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death”. That is the judgment that the law requires, if one were to break it. And what is sin? 1Jo 3:4 “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law”. Look at it this way. Man-governments have laws, if there were no penalty for breaking those laws, why have them in the first place? So too, God has laws and a penalty to go along with them if broken. Very simple. The law if broken required a penalty by death (second). The true follower of Jesus, who demanded that we keep the law to enter into life, has received grace by Jesus shed blood. An unmerited grace of not having to die the second death for breaking God’s law which all mankind has done. By the way grace and mercy are on par with each other. Nu 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. De 5:10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. God’s mercy leads you to repentance, which grace then is pardon for sin repented of. Ro 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Need it be said that Jesus paid that death penalty you and I incurred by hanging on the cross and giving His ever-living life inherit in him to die a literal death in our stead. Payment that the law required, Jesus on our behalf paid in our stead, and God the Father having accepted Christs death as payment. That is the Grace Paul is talking about. Freed from the second death penalty for sin-breaking God’s Holy, righteous law-laws! So, therefore we are not under the curse of the law, which is the penalty for breaking the law, the second death. The law of God is not a curse to live by it. It’s life and blessing. Death is the curse for not living by it. De 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live”. What does it mean to choose life and how does one do that? Let Jesus answer that for you. Mt 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Ga 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Granted, the law is not our master. Jesus Christ is our master, not the law. However, our Master has a law that we are required to live by and if broken and not repented of that law requires a penalty by death, “which is the second death”, a curse indeed! Being freed from the death penalty is a blessing indeed. Therefore, God showed Paul that grace frees us from the curse of the death penalty. God made clear through Paul that the true followers of Jesus live by his-her Master’s law. Ro 6:15 ”What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid”. Paul and Jesus were on the same page. Mt 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. In conclusion, the ultimate “curse of the law” is the second death although there were other temporary curses pronounced as well. Le 20:9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. Le 24:11 And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) Le 24:14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head and let all the congregation stone him. Le 24:23 And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses. De 28:15 ¶ But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee”. Read the rest of this chapter. It’s full of curses for not obeying God’s laws. It couldn’t be any plainer. The curse is what we are no longer under because of grace, ultimately the curse of the second death. But you must love God for His grace to be applied to you! And if you love God and Jesus, you must and will want to keep His commandments to enter into everlasting life. Grace does not free you from keeping God’s law. Grace frees you from having to die the second death. Jesus by his grace pardons you from paying for your own sins’ penalty! Look at it another way, if it were not for grace, you would certainly be under the law? So, just what does “under the law” mean to you, verses “not under the law”? The average biblical illiterate thinks that, “not under the law” means, you don’t have to keep it and if you are under the law, you must keep it. As Peter the apostle wrote about Paul, 2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. You see, Paul was not talking about whether the law is to be kept or not needed any more. He had to be referring to some other thing about the law, which was, “you shall surely die” as is made clear by the judgement (penalty) for breaking the law. There is no other message I get from his words but that because of unmerited grace, I am no longer under the law’s death penalty (which is the curse, not the law) for breaking God’s law! If Paul had said, “We are not under the (curse) of the law”, everyone would conclude Paul was saying the law is a curse. So, we are left with the words, “we are not under the law”. Which leaves the Bible student to search out the rest of the scripture on that subject to find out what Paul was actually saying. To me it is quite clear what he was saying and that I have tried to make clear of what Paul meant, when he said, “not under the law”. God wants us to search out the deep things of Him to observe those who are seeking Him and looking for the truth that He makes known to those He is calling so they can teach truth to others in His kingdom as kings and priests of Jesus, the future king of all. Granted some of what is written here is repetitive, so, if one reads the same thing more than once, it might just stick, maybe. |
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