For many years I was very confused about the Old Testament Law. I wrestled with it and wrestled with it, but still I couldn't come to a clear understanding. It made complete sense in the context of the Old Testament, but what was its place now that Jesus had come?
The main reason I struggled so much was because of what I was taught at home all of my growing up years. I was taught that anything that wasn't contradicted in the Old Testament still stood. I was taught that there were still parts of the law that we as Christians were required to follow. But which parts? How did we know what we should follow and what we didn't have to? My parents told me that only the sacrificial system and the laws about what you could and couldn't eat had been done away with. All the rest of the law still stood. This didn't make sense to me. There were so many of laws that we didn't follow, like not wearing clothes with more than one kind of thread, or not trimming the corners of your beard. Why didn't we follow those laws? My parents didn't like it when I asked these kind of questions.
I was confused. I didn't really understand my parent's beliefs. They didn't make sense. They weren't consistent. They didn't really seem to line up with the rest of Scripture. But they were my parents! Somehow it seemed wrong not to believe what they taught me. I was only in my early teens when I began struggling with these issues. I thought that maybe when I was older and more spiritually mature, I would understand what they were talking about. But in the meantime I was torn. What did I believe? I didn't feel like I could really support something I wasn't totally convinced was true. But to believe something else in contradiction to my parents instruction? I didn't feel I could do that either.
Over the years, the issue was pushed to the back of my mind. Once in a while it would come up again and I would wrestle with it some more, but nothing really seemed to change. I tried to forget about it as much as possible. It wasn't until I was twenty-two years old that it really surfaced again full force. This time, I knew that it was God bringing it to my attention and I knew I had to deal with it.
It all started when my fiance and I began studying the book of Galatians together. I have the read the book of Galatians many times, but somehow I never understood it before like I understood it this time. The whole book is Paul addressing the church at Galatia who had been told that they still needed to be circumcised. Paul is writing to tell them that they are no longer under the law and if they try to keep it in any point, they have fallen from grace and the death of Jesus means nothing to them. "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love." (Galatians 5:1-6)
As for the belief that everything in the Old Testament that is not contradicted in the New Testament still stands, it is not my goal to discuss whether or not that is true at this time. But for right now, let's just suppose that it is true. I don't understand the purpose of going through the entire law, point by point, to see whether or not each one is contradicted in the New Testament when God spent an ENTIRE BOOK explaining how we aren't under the law! At all. Any of it. Some would say that I'm just making that up or trying to make the Bible say what I want it to. That is not the case. "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." (Galatians 5:18) I had to read that verse about 12 times for it to really sink in. I desperately searched for the "but", the "and" the "except" trying to find which part of the law I still WAS under. It wasn't there. There is no exception. It says that if you are led by the Spirit, you ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW. Period. End of sentence.
Paul does not use soft words when he describes the seriousness of trying to follow the law. I already mentioned what he says in chapter 5 verses 1-6. When he talks about the consequences of still holding to the law, he says that "Christ will be of no benefit to you", he says that you will be "under obligation to keep the whole law" (which is impossible, by the way). He talks about being "severed from Christ" and having "fallen from grace" This is serious business, guys! In fact, Paul is not nice in his wish of what will happen to those who are teaching circumcision under the law. In Galatians 5:12 he says, "I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves." If you read that verse in other translations, you will see that what Paul is saying is, "I wish that those who are telling you that you need to be circumcised would just emasculate themselves while they're at it!" That's not a nice thing to say! I get the feeling that Paul felt rather strongly on this subject.
As I studied the book of Galatians, God has shown me with crystal clarity the answers to my questions. When I set aside the things I had always been taught and simply looked at what the Bible actually said, all my confusion melted away. It is not longer a mystery to me what part of the law I am under. None of it! The law served its purpose and now it is done! Hallelujah! Oh the joy of finally realizing that I am free in Christ!
"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)
*All scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible
