(2) THE LAW:  What relationship, if any, does salvation have with the Law?  Jesus answered the question as recorded in Luke 10:26 where a lawyer has asked Him what he must do to be saved.  Jesus answered with a question: “What does it say in the LAW?”  He was saying that there is a cause and effect relationship between salvation and God’s Law.  He also tell us that “Man must live by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).  Those God-spoken Words, recorded by the prophets and the apostles, are called the Holy Bible.  A rich man asked Jesus how to be saved. He replied: “If you would enter into eternal life, keep (obey) the COMMANDMENTS” (Mat. 19:16,17).  By Christ’s Words we know that the Law and the commandments are one and the same.  The message is clear: GOD’S WORD (GENESIS TO REVELATION) IS HIS LAW–HIS COMMANDMENTS–BY WHICH ONE MUST LIVE (MUST OBEY) IN ORDER TO BE SAVED.

The salvation-Law/commandments connection now established, we now need to determine if there is a connection between the Law and sin.  Paul introduces us to the answer in Romans 4:15 by stating: “Where there is no Law there is no transgression (sin).”  The Apostle John adds an “amen” to Paul’s statement  by proclaiming God’s definition of sin: “To transgress (break) the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law” (1 Jn. 3:4).

Is obedience to the Law required of the New Testament church?  Paul answers: “All Scripture (Old and New Testaments–the Law) was written under the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness ….” (2 Tim. 3:16).  Righteousness/holiness is required for salvation.  We are told in Romans 5:21 and 6:22 that salvation is the END RESULT of living righteous, holy lives as did Jesus of Nazareth (1 Jn. 2:6).

We have been told that the Law was “nailed to the cross.”  However, Jesus declared: “I did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it” (Mat. 5:17).  To fulfill means to live the Law, to be the Law in human form.  Jesus came as a man to live the Law as a man as the example for all who would spend eternity with Him.  These are they who live by (obey) the Word of God–His Law–just as Jesus did.  Satan tempts man to break God’s Law–to sin.  Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations and therefore did not sin, thereby qualifying to be Man’s Savior.   In Revelation 3:21 He states that only those who overcome Satan’s temptations to sin as He did will be with Him in paradise.  SEVERAL TRUTHS RING OUT LOUD AND CLEAR FROM THESE SCRIPTURES:  THE LAW CONSISTS OF EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD–GENESIS TO REVELATION/  GOD’S LAW DEFINES SIN/  TO DO AWAY WITH THE LAW IS TO DO AWAY WITH SIN/  MAN MUST OBEY GOD’S LAW (WORD) IN ORDER TO BE SAVED/  JESUS SERVES AS MAN’S EXAMPLE OF THE SALVATION-PRODUCING LIFE.  

The Apostle Paul had much to say about the Law.  Bear in mind that he received his gospel directly from Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:12), and that God used him to write 14 (more than half) of the Books of the New Testament.  Let us examine some of his statements relative to the Law.  “The Law is holy, just and good” (Rom. 7:12).  “I would not have known (what) sin (was) if not for the Law” (Rom. 7:7).  “I was once alive without the Law, but then the commandment/Law became real, and I died (realized he was a sinner and spiritually dead)”–Rom. 7:9.  Here Paul identifies “the Law” and “the commandment(s)” as one and the same.  In verse 12 he again makes this clear: “Wherefore the LAW is holy and the COMMANDMENT (is) holy, just and good.”  In several passages the word “commandment” is presented as a singular entity.  God views the Holy Bible as one covenant, one Law, one commandment, not one jot or tittle of which can be changed as long as heaven and earth remain.

So why does the Institutional Church reject God’s Law/commandments?  Because Satan has deceived them into interpreting and editing God’s Word, as did Adam and Eve.  Satan taught them to change what God had said by adding just one word–“NOT” (Gen. 3:4), which changed everything.  Adam and Eve embraced his change.  The rest is history.  They learned the hard way that it is a sin to interpret God’s Word, just as the Apostle Peter tells us in Second Peter 1:20.  Modern man does not believe Peter’s statement of Truth.  He spins God’s Word  and creates his own truth, thereby making himself his own god and giving himself the power to decide right and wrong–JUST LIKE ADAM AND EVE.

Concerning Satan’s “Law nailed to the cross” ruse, let us examine the issue.  There was indeed a law that was indeed nailed to the cross.  There were indeed two laws created by God.  Let us see what prompted Him to do so. In Deuteronomy 5 Moses is reminding God’s people about His giving them the Ten Commandments from atop Mt. Sinai.  In verse 22 we are told that, upon finishing His presentation of the Law, “HE ADDED NO MORE.”  Why?  Because His moral Law was perfect, holy, just, good, etc. exactly as it was spoken and written by Him.  In order to receive the promises of God, the people only needed to OBEY HIS LAW.  THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE THE ENTIRE LAW IN MINIATURE.  

The Israelites did not obey Him.  Rather than kill them, which is what He threatened to do, He created another law.  In Galatians 3:19 we are told that this law “was ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS (SINS)”–Galatians 3:19.  This ADDED LAW, if obeyed, would carry them through until their Messiah would come and do away with it.  This added Law was separate from God’s Ten Commandment Law.  It prescribed the shedding of animal blood as an atonement act which all Israelites were forced to perform each year.  The moral (Ten Commandment) Law of God contained no mention of animal sacrifice.  The moral Law and the sacrificial law were in no way connected.  It was the sacrificial law–Moses’ “handwriting of ordinances”–that Jesus did away with at the Last Supper.  The wine and bread represented His blood and body that would be sacrificed a few hours later.  Our partaking of wine and bread represents our entering into His sufferings and death.  His sacrifice replaced the “law that was added because of transgressions.”  God signified its death by nailing it to Christ’s cross.  His moral Law, including commandment #4, must be obeyed in order to qualify for eternal life at the return of Jesus Christ.  At that time those who have “… endured (in obedience to the Law) until the end (of their lives) will be saved” (Mat. 10:22).  L.J.