by Arnold Kennedy

To many people, Paul seems to be speaking out of both sides of his mouth, especially in relation to “law and “grace”. The two verses immediately below appear to be totally contradictory, at first glance, and from each view flows two different streams of doctrine.

Galatians 5:4: "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."

But then Paul also says:

Romans 2:13: "For not the hearers of the law are justified before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."

In both verses “justified” is the same Greek word dikaioo which means, “to show, “to exhibit”. In the first verse we have the active present tense “are justified” whereas in the second verse we have the passive future tense, “shall be justified”. In all the “grace” and “faith” verses, tense cannot be overlooked if we want understanding. Also, we need to understand what “Law” means.

In both Galatians 5:4 and Romans 2:13 above, the word “law” is nomos. This word can mean differing kinds of laws, for instance, it is not the same word as “commandments” which is how the Greek word entole is usually translated. Many of such apparently opposing statements are easily cleared up with the understanding that Paul speaks of different kinds of law, usually either:

(a) The sacrificial law versus the moral law.

(b) The commandments of men versus the commandments of YEHOVAH God.

(c) National laws versus personal laws.

(d) Law as a principle.

Overall context usually allows us to determine what is being spoken about, so we will be looking at this.

Obviously, no one is justified by trying to come to YEHOVAH God through the Old Testament sacrificial law now that the Messiah has come. Without separating these things that are different, and searching out and applying context, we cannot iron out the common confusion about what “law“ means. This paper will not divide up the moral law into its main components, namely the "commandments”, the “statutes” and the “judgments”, or the moral, economic and the political.

Putting Tense and “Law” Together

This is well expressed in the verse below, where the “have believed” tense is "active" and the mood is "perfect", that is, it relates to an action in the past that affects our actions in the present, “maintain“ being present tense.

Titus 3:8: "This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."

In the multitude of books on faith and law, what is seldom considered is the change of status from having been "unjustified" to the aorist tense “being justified by faith” -- (Romans 5:1). This is a major area of doctrinal problem today. It is not the purpose here to discuss works and faith in detail, except to say,

1). Grace is not the remedy for law, but for sin.

2). Being free from the law is being free from the old sacrificial law from the wages due from breaking YEHOVAH’s moral law -- not with the moral law itself.

3). The law is NOT a curse as many teach. The Messiah came to redeem us from the curse of the death penalty, that is the wages of disobedience. Since “the law of God is perfect converting the soul“, it could not be a curse. The curse applies to those who place themselves under the old sacrificial law who insist that the sacrifice of the Messiah is insufficient.

One purpose of this paper is to consider what all the references to “keep the commandments of God” mean, as we find them throughout the New Testament. We find that references to YEHOVAH’s moral commandments continue through the New Testament which determines that these are still to be kept, despite the popular but wrong misuse of Galatians 5:4 above.

1 John 5:2-3: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, AND keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

We will look at some more verses about keeping YEHOVAH’s commandments in the New Testament:

Revelation 22:14: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

In this verse we see confirmation as to what is necessary to have the right to the tree of life and to live forever in the presence of YEHOVAH God.

In this verse above, again we find an “and” in the middle of the verse, showing these two things as both being necessary. “Keep” means “to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard.”

The Scribes and Pharisees had instituted their own interpretations of the Law of YEHOVAH God, requiring the keeping of “days, and months, and times and years” -- (Galatians 4:10), these being the “commandments of men”. These “works” of this law are in vain, and any man-made laws can only bring bondage. Paul called this “Agar in Mount Sinai” and he calls these Judaisers, “Jerusalem which now is” -- (Galatians 4:25). The keeping of man-made days, months, times or years, as well as any of the sacrificial law was and still is in vain.

This is most important as understanding context is vital. Because the churches, through tradition, choose not to believe verses like the one below, they have to insert a manufactured universal context and ignore the real context of Paul’s writings, that is, that they are not all-inclusive.

Acts 13:32-33: "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again."

Deuteronomy 24:1-4: "When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled, for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance."

Paul explains how this applies to the divorced Northern Kingdom of Israel, speaking to them -- his brethren, or fellow Israelites:

Romans 7:1-4: "Know ye not brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she is called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from the law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, -- that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from he dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto death."

Paul did not repeat the part in the law stating that a woman given a bill of divorcement was allowed to marry again. But he clearly showed the principle of one who had gone and married another prior to a bill of divorcement and was not released from the law until her first husband dies: In Israel's case (the adulterous woman) she had done just that: married other gods prior to the divorce. Then when YEHOVAH God finally divorced her, she could not return to the LORD -- even if she divorced them also -- (See Deuteronomy 24:4 above). As Ezekiel 37:1 says about this, "Our hope is lost: we are cut off ". This is why the Messiah died: to release Israel (YEHOVAH's bride) from the law -- so she could marry another -- i.e. the Messiah after he was raised from the dead. For this reason Israel looks forward to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb -- (Revelation 19:9). This is what the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven is about. The Messiah is the Redeemer of Israel.

Another passage showing reversal of the judgment Israel is under is found:

Galatians 4:4: "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

“Adoption” here is huiosthesia which means “placing is a position as sons” or putting the redeemed of the House of Israel back where Israel was before they were divorced, not now as "children", but as "sons". Paul shows the need to redeem YEHOVAH’s people from being "under the law," which the context in this passage shows as being the law of divorce as in Deuteronomy 24.

The reality of the redemption was so powerful that it created this great controversy between the remnant of the House of Judah and the "gentilized" House of Israel who were accepting the Messiah as their Redeemer. Paul calls these two parties, “the Jew” and “the Greek”, or the “Judean” and the “Greek” (speaking). In the next section we will see how Paul faces this, the Judeans tending towards the commandments of men -- (Matthew 15:9).

The “spoiling” is done, “through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world”.

“TRADITION” [paradosis ] is giving up or surrender to these things.

The word "spoil" in verse 8 means "rob." In other words, let no man rob you of something. The whole text is based on someone being robbed of something by and through the above things.

Such “commandments of men” are not to be followed, and are to be rebuked:

Titus 1:14: "Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth."

Back to Colossians again, we see these are of no value at all:

It is true that worship and humility -- as they apply to man’s ordinances (dogmatizo) -- can appear to be denying the flesh, as indicated in the verse above. But when churches engage in what they call today “worship” and “praise” yet exclude the “commandments of God” at the same time, they are deceiving themselves. When they pray for so-called revival for a city, for instance, they think we will be heard for their “much praying” ignoring that revival concerns YEHOVAH’s people ONLY.

These who troubled the early disciples of the Messiah were concerned with the commandments of men and NOT the commandments of YEHOVAH God. Several of Paul's letters deal with circumcision of the flesh, just as the above passage in Colossians. This is because of problems the local ecclesia were having with the "Judaisers":

Paul circumvented this problem by showing that Abraham obeyed YEHOVAH God's commandments before he was circumcised!

Romans 4:9-10: "Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision."

Abraham obeyed God prior to circumcision.

Genesis 26:5: "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

Paul laid the foundation for Romans 4 in Romans chapter 2:

Romans 2:14-15 and 26-27: "For when the Gentiles [i.e. ethnos -- House of Israel], which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;

"Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and the circumcision dost transgress the law?"

Before we go on, two important phrases here should be noted, namely “by nature” and “written in their hearts”. There is NO PROMISE or fulfillment about the Law of YEHOVAH God “written in their hearts” and do “by nature”, the things contained in the moral law, applying to other then Israel. This is made clear in the context of the verse below:

Hebrews 8:9-11: "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:"

Continuing, circumcision of the flesh was a sign of the covenant that was added after Abraham proved his faith by obedience to YEHOVAH God’s Laws. Because of this, when the divorced House of Israel (i.e., "uncircumcised Gentiles") showed the work of the law written in their hearts, they proved their faithfulness just as Abraham did -- without circumcision of the flesh. But those who were circumcised in the flesh and not in the heart were exposed as hypocrites.

It was the dogma of these Judaisers that had long kept uncircumcised and divorced Israel from being "saved" and brought back into fellowship. First, they held these Israelite "gentiles" under the judgment of divorce -- (John 4:9). Then, even after the Messiah, the Judaisers thought that the only way these "gentiles" could come into fellowship was through circumcision. But, by the sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah, in spite of the Judaisers, he "saved" YEHOVAH's people anyway, nailing their dogmatic requirements to his tree (Colossians 2:14) and fulfilling the judgment of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and Romans 7:1-4), thus bringing the uncircumcised House of Israel, ("gentiles” in dispersion), back to YEHOVAH God and into fellowship with the House of Judah. This is vividly demonstrated:

Ephesians 2:11-19: "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12 That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens [Greek: alienated -- i.e. divorced] from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who some times were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

"15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances [dogma]; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."

The “middle wall” is the enmity between the Houses of Judah and Israel -- (see Isaiah 9), and NOT between “Jews and Gentiles” in the popular concept. The House of Israel was “far off” and the House of Judah was “nigh”. This passage perfectly sets forth fulfillment of the prophecy of the "two sticks" found in Ezekiel 37:15-28 where the "sticks" or "scepters" of Joseph, representing the Houses of Israel and Judah becoming joined as one in the prophet's hand, symbolic of re-uniting the divided kingdom -- (see especially Ezekiel 37 verse 22).

Consideration is not made here as to which day of our present week is the Sabbath. (See our articles, From Sabbath to Saturday: The Story of the Jewish Rest Day and Have We Been Observing the Sabbath At the Wrong Time All These Years?). The important point here is perhaps at the very heart of questions about law and whether the Sabbath was abolished in the Messiah. Paul says:

Colossians 2:16-17: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an Holyday, or of the New Moon, or of the Sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

Many believe that because the sacrificial laws were closely tied to the Sabbaths and feasts -- and that when the Messiah came to be the final sacrifice -- that all Holy Days or shadows, had fulfilled their purpose. Further proof, they say, is that Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 thereby bringing a crashing end to the sacrifices, with the Sabbaths and feasts, ending them also. This argument uses Paul's words above to try to prove it. The passage is convoluted to mean, "don't let anyone judge you if you don't want to keep the Sabbaths, Holy Days, New Moons, or if you do eat pork." This doesn't take into account, however, that YEHOVAH God said as recorded in Exodus 31:

The Sabbath is a sign between Him and His people for ever,

(1) It is a perpetual covenant,

(2) It is tied directly to the pattern of His resting after He made heaven and earth, which was long prior to the ritual sacrifice being codified.

(3) There were sacrifices every day.

The apparent contradiction between that sign/perpetual covenant and verse 16 above is easily resolved with the understanding of the Judaisers' purpose, and the following concepts.

Paul wrote to the Colossians some 30 years after the New Covenant was established by the crucifixion and resurrection. Notice he doesn't say they “were” a shadow of things which came when the Messiah gave us the New Covenant. He says "are" a shadow of things to come. We cannot say that sometime between Paul and the 21st Century we left the "shadows" and now clearly see the object creating the shadow!

I Corinthians 5:11: "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."

We will not go into detail here but look at “law” from another perspective.

John 14:15: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

1 John 5:3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

In order to serve YEHOVAH God faithfully, we must not only distinguish things that differ but also preserve the connection of things YEHOVAH has joined. Law and love are two such things that YEHOVAH God has joined. They are inseparable. What is pleasing to YEHOVAH God? This needs some explanation, lest the issue be oversimplified or confused. One of the greatest difficulties in dealing with this subject is the many ways the words themselves -- law and love -- are used in the Bible. “Law” has differing meanings. Likewise, in Scripture we read of the love of the Messiah, love for your wife, love for our neighbor, love for our enemies, and a special and peculiar love for the brethren. Volumes have been written on these two little words, law and love.

Every heresy and cult waves the word "love" around like a banner of virtue. It is their favorite word, but it is NEVER connected to YEHOVAH’s law! The hippie movement of the sixties also proclaimed this word -- painted on vans and placards -- often in the form of “free love.” Political and religious liberals continue to speak of love divorced from individual responsibility.

Though these words do come from the New Testament, they certainly DO NOT teach what the Harvard speakers implied. Some questions need to be asked about the context of Paul’s words: In what respect are we delivered from the law, and, from WHAT laws are we delivered? At times the deliverance is from the individual law of the context. We are delivered from the old sacrificial law. People who are motivated by genuine love are certainly not lawless. They love the moral and ethical standard that the Messiah loved and kept -- contrary to the words of Princeton president, Paul Ramsey, who said in the same article, “Lists of cans and cannots are meaningless”!

Now, we are not surprised at this dangerous, destructive ignorance when we find it among cults, liberals, and agnostics. But when Bible-believing preachers set up a false antithesis between law and love, we should be shocked, appalled, saddened, and greatly pained.

Setting up a false antithesis between law and love (as if they are conflicting, opposing ideas) is one of the most subtle ways to undermine the Ten Commandments, biblical morality, and true Christianity. Granted there is a difference between law and love; but there is also an immutable connection. The failure to see this unchangeable relationship has led people into countless errors, heresies, and spiritual shipwrecks.

There is no antithesis between law and love unless they are separated. Yet, churches create this antithesis! Let us consider a few passages that show the immutable connection between law and love. Notice how love is joined to the Ten Commandments in the following teaching of Paul:

Romans 13:8-11: "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Moreover, what better definition of love could we give than the biblical one we have from John, the great apostle of love himself?

1 John 5:3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

John 14:21, 23; 21:5: "He that hath my commandments, AND keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

John 15:10,12,14: "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

These statements should settle forever the fact that there is an eternal relationship between YEHOVAH’s law and YEHOVAH’s love, and what is involved in being, “a friend of the Messiah“.

To emphasize that love itself is a command is consistent with many New Testament passages:

(a) “Love your neighbor” (Matthew 5:43);

(b) “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27,35);

(c) “Love one another” (Romans 13:8);

(d) “Love your wives” (Ephesians 5:25);

(e) “Love the brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17).

These passages are sufficiently clear to show that there is a vital connection between law and love. They should cause us to renounce any teaching, whether packaged in clever illustrations or dispensed via subtle implications, that would separate law and love. If ever the biblical teaching about the commandments was needed in the home, the church, and the nation, it is now! With lawlessness rampant, we certainly do not need preachers and teachers who separate what YEHOVAH God has joined together.

The “love only” doctrine is the enemy of true Christianity, of the Bible, and of the souls of men. It is not biblical love at all. Nor is lawless love Messiah-like.

The gospel of the Messiah breathes the spirit of holy love, namely:

(a) Love is the fulfilling of all gospel precepts.

(b) Love is the pledge of all gospel joys.

(c) Love is the evidence of gospel power.

(d) Love is the ripe fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

The spirit of genuine love is never, never, at the expense of law and truth. Nor is love ever separated from the biblical directives for holy living that are objectively and eternally set out in the Ten Commandments. This is underscored in that great love chapter in the Bible, where Paul says that “love rejoices in the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). The connection between law and love is deeply embedded in the Old Testament, as well as the New. This is illustrated in Exodus 20, where YEHOVAH God gave the Decalogue at Sinai. Before giving the Ten Commandments, YEHOVAH reminded the Israelites of His redemptive love. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (v. 2). That was a loving redemptive act. Not only does the prologue to the Ten Commandments speak of YEHOVAH’s redeeming love, but later, in reference to the second commandment, verse 6 speaks of YEHOVAH’s “showing mercy” to His people. Love and mercy are harmoniously tied to the Decalogue.

Love has no eyes except the holy law of YEHOVAH God, no direction apart from YEHOVAH’s commands. Paul spoke of the love of the Messiah constraining us. It moves us to duty. Love is the only true motive for all worship and duty, but by itself it does not define either. Therefore, we may not put love “in place of law.” They belong together. Christian behavior springs from love to YEHOVAH God and our neighbor. If we loved them perfectly, our character and behavior would be perfect because it would conform to YEHOVAH’s will. Love is a motive for and expresses itself in obedient action.

Such action fulfils the law:

Romans 13:10: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

The Messiah said,

John 15:17: "These things I command, that you love one another."

We must be very clear that the command to love will not create love or generate love. This command, like every other, cannot create the disposition or will to obey. But the mere fact that love is a command should silence those who argue for an antithesis between law and love. Moses, the Messiah, and Paul all connected law and love, as does John:

1 John 5:3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

It is “the commandments of men” that are grievous!

Woe to anyone who separates moral “law” and “love” which the Father, the Messiah, Moses, the Prophets and the apostles have all said are married together! What YEHOVAH God has joined together, let no man put asunder!

YEHOVAH’s personal dealings with man in the garden joins “love” and “law“. The Bible starts and finishes with reference to the “tree of life”:

Revelation 22:14: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

If you believe this and your church does not, how can you walk together?

-- Edited by John D. Keyser.