Chapter 52
Notes
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IV. THE END OF THE LAW
IV. THE END OF THE LAW
Another important benefit of the death of Christ was the inauguration of the faith-righteousness principle to replace the law-works principle. However, Paul’s statement in that Christ is the end of the Law might be understood as either signifying termination or purpose. In other words, either Christ terminated the Law, or the purpose of Christ’s coming was to fulfill the Law (). However, termination seems clearly to be the meaning in this context because of the contrast (beginning in ) between the Law and God’s righteousness. Paul’s argument that follows is not that the Jew was incomplete and needed the coming of Christ to perfect his position before God, but that his position under the law-works principle was absolutely wrong because it sought to establish righteousness by human effort rather than by accepting God’s gift of righteousness. Though it is true that our Lord fulfilled the Law, this passage is not teaching that, but rather that He terminated the Law and provided a new and living way to God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
A. The Nature of the Law
A. The Nature of the Law
The Law that our Lord terminated was, of course, the Mosaic Law according to the contrast in the passage itself. In order to develop the importance of this benefit of the work of Christ, it is first necessary to observe some features of the Mosaic Law.
1. The Mosaic Law was a unit. Generally the Law is divided into three parts: the moral, the ceremonial, and the judicial. The Ten Commandments comprise the moral part (). The judgments begin at 21:2 and include a list of various responsibilities with attendant judgments on offenders. The ceremonial part begins at 25:1 and regulated the worship life of Israel. Though this threefold division is almost universally accepted in Christian theology, the Jewish people either did not acknowledge it or at least did not insist on it. Rather they divided the 613 commandments of the Law into twelve families of commandments, which were then subdivided into twelve families of positive and twelve families of negative commands. Specific commands that fell into these various categories were drawn from many places within the Law simply because the Law was viewed as a unit.
28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Noticing the penalties attached to certain commands further emphasizes the unitized character of the Law. When the command to keep the Sabbath (one of the “commandments”) was violated by a man who gathered sticks on that day, the penalty was death by stoning (). When the people of Israel violated the command concerning the Sabbatical Year for the land (one of the “judgments”), God sent them into Captivity, where many died (). When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord (one of the “ordinances”), they immediately died (). Clearly these commands from various parts of the Law were equally binding and the punishment equally severe. The Law was a unit.
32 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.
33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation.
34 They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him.
35 And the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”
36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.
11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.
2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace.
4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.”
5 So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said.
6 And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled.
7 And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.
James approached the Law as a unit. He decried partiality because it violated the law to love one’s neighbor as oneself, and this single violation, he said, made the people guilty of the whole Law (). He could scarcely arrive at such a conclusion unless the Law were a unit.
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
2. The Law was given to Israel. Both the Old and New Testaments are unanimous in this (; ). Further, Paul contrasted the Jews who received the Law with the Gentiles who did not (2:14).
46 These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
B. The End of the Law
B. The End of the Law
The Jerusalem Council settled this matter early and clearly (). Debating the question of whether or not circumcision was necessary for salvation, the council said an emphatic no. Peter described the Law as an unbearable yoke. When the leaders wrote to the Gentile believers to curb their liberty in matters that were offensive to Jewish believers, they did not try to place the believers under the Law (which would have settled the problem quickly), for they realized the Law had come to an end.
In Paul even specified that the part of the Law that was written on stones (the Ten Commandments) was done away. He dared to label the moral part of the Law as a ministry of death and condemnation, but, thank God, this has been replaced by the New Covenant, which brings life and justification.
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
In the writer demonstrated the superiority of the priesthood of Melchizedek over that of Aaron. He concluded that if the Aaronic or levitical priesthood could have brought perfection to the people, there would have been no need for another priesthood based on Melchizedek. And that change of priesthood necessitated a change in the Law. In other words, if the Law has not been done away, then neither has the levitical priesthood, and Christ is not our High Priest today. But if Christ is our High Priest, then the Law can no longer be operative and binding on us.
11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
C. The Problem Raised
C. The Problem Raised
If Christ ended the Law, then why does the New Testament include some laws from the Mosaic Law in its ethic? How could the unit end and yet have specifics in it still binding on the Christian? If the New Testament included all the Ten Commandments the answer would be simple: the moral Law continues while the rest has been concluded. But the New Testament only includes nine of the ten, and it further complicates any simple solution by including some laws from parts other than the moral section of the Law (; ).
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
D. Suggested Solutions to the Problem
D. Suggested Solutions to the Problem
1. Calvin’s. Calvin taught that the abrogation of the Law had reference to liberating the conscience from fear and to discontinuing the ancient Jewish ceremonies. He distinguished between the moral Law, which he said was abrogated only in its effect of condemning people, and the ceremonial Law, which he said was abrogated both in its effects and in its use. In discussing he only distinguished in a general way the difference between death and life in the Old and New Covenants. He presented a very fine exposition of the Ten Commandments, but he did not consider Sunday to be a continuation of the Sabbath (as the Westminster Confession did). In other words, Calvin, as many who have followed him, considered part but not all of the Law as ended and the Ten Commandments as binding on believers today, except the Sabbath one, which he took non literally (Institutes II, XI, 4 and II, VIII, 33). Obviously this does not really solve the problem.
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.
3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2. Murray’s. John Murray plainly stated the Commandments were abolished, but he saw them as applicable in some deeper sense, whatever that means. He wrote:
“Hence the abolition of these regulations is coincident with the deeper understanding of the sanctity of the Commandments. It is this same line of thought that must also be applied to the fourth commandment. Abolition of certain Mosaic regulations? Yes! But this in no way affects the sanctity of the commandment nor the strictness of observance that is the complement of that sanctity.”
3. Mine. The only solution (which I have never seen proposed by anyone else) that seems to do full justice to the plain sense of these various Scriptures distinguishes between a code and the commandments contained therein. The Mosaic Law was one of several codes of ethical conduct that God has given throughout human history. That particular code contained 613 commandments. There have also been other codes. Adam lived under laws, the sum of which may be called the code of Adam or the code of Eden. Noah was expected to obey the laws of God, so there was a Noahic code. We know that God revealed many commands and laws to Abraham (). They may be called the Abrahamic code. The Mosaic code contained all the laws of the Law. And today we live under the law of Christ () or the law of the Spirit of life in Christ (). This code contains the hundreds of specific commandments recorded in the New Testament.
5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
The Mosaic Law was done away in its entirety as a code. It has been replaced by the law of Christ. The law of Christ contains some new commands (), some old ones (), and some revised ones (, with reference to capital punishment). All the laws of the Mosaic code have been abolished because the code has. Specific Mosaic commands that are part of the Christian code appear there not as a continuation of part of the Mosaic Law, or in order to be observed in some deeper sense, but as specifically incorporated into that code, and as such they are binding on believers today. A particular law that was part of the Mosaic code is done away; that same law, if part of the law of Christ, is binding. It is necessary to say both truths in order not to have to resort to a nonliteral interpretation of or and in order not to have to resort to some sort of theological contortions to retain part of the Mosaic Law.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.
3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!
5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.
6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.
8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.
9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,
10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,
16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.
17 For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness
19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath,
21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’ ”
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,
24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
An illustration of this idea: As children mature, different codes are instituted by their parents. Some of the same commandments may appear in those different codes. But when the new code becomes operative, the old one is done away. So it was with the Mosaic Law when our Lord became the end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe.
V. ADOPTION
V. ADOPTION
Our adoption into the family of God is another benefit of the death of Christ.
A. The Meaning of Adoption
A. The Meaning of Adoption
Adoption is the act of God that places the believer in His family as an adult. In contrast, being born again emphasizes the idea of coming into God’s family as a babe with the attendant need for growth and development (; ). But adoption teaches the ideas of adulthood and full privileges in the family of God. Concomitant with adoption is the divesting of all relationships and responsibilities of the previous family relationship. Both being adopted and being born occur at the moment of saving faith, but they indicate different aspects of our relation to the family of God.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
B. The Background of Adoption
B. The Background of Adoption
Most cultures had some practice akin to adoption. Moses, a slave, was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter in Egypt. The Nuzu tablets reveal a custom whereby a childless couple could adopt a son who would serve them in life and be their heir in death. Hebrew laws did not include one that concerned adoption, and the Greek word for adoption does not occur in the Septuagint. This was probably due to the law of levirate marriage, which provided a way for a family to have heirs to inherit the family property. Polygamy may also have been another way to overcome the problems of childlessness.
Adoption was a very common aspect of Greco-Roman life, and this is the background of the New Testament concept. Childless couples would often adopt a son, who then became their heir. Even if the adopted son had living biological parents, they had no more claim over him after the adoption had taken place. Often parents were willing to let their sons be adopted by another family if it meant a better lot in life.
C. The Pauline Doctrine of Adoption
C. The Pauline Doctrine of Adoption
The doctrine is exclusively Pauline, and he used the term five times (, ; ; ; ).
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
1. The adoption of Israel as a nation (). See also .
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
2. The adoption of believers as individuals. This act of God was predestined () so that it may be said that God’s predetermined plan included our destiny as adopted sons. It was made possible by the death of Christ (). It happened when we believed and became part of the family of God (), yet it awaits its full realization until we receive resurrection bodies ().
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
D. The Ramifications of Adoption
D. The Ramifications of Adoption
1. Adoption means placing us in a family to which we did not naturally belong (cf. ). Children of wrath become sons of God.
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
2. Adoption means complete freedom from former relationships, particularly to the Law (). In other words, the other side of adoption is freedom from the Law.
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
3. Adoption is possible only because of a voluntary act of the One doing the adopting. Before the foundation of the world God’s plan included our adoption ().
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
4. Adoption means we have full rights to all the privileges of being in God’s family (). Spiritual growth may be involved in the enjoyment of those privileges, but every believer has the right to them from the moment of salvation on.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
And this is all true because of Christ’s redemption ().
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Ryrie, C. C. (1999). Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth (pp. 348–353). Chicago, IL: Moody Press.