“Faith does away with the Law,” we are told from pulpit, podium, television, radio, tracks and Sunday School lessons. The Apostle Paul, I was told personally, taught the church that to obey the Law was to fall from grace because faith nullifies the Law in the life of the true believer. Many years ago I was a member in good standing–supposedly saved, sanctified, justified, reborn and rapture-ready–in one of the world’s largest church systems. During a Sunday School class one morning I heard our seminary trained associate pastor say that the Ten Commandments had indeed been eradicated, and that because Christ had “nailed them to the cross,” one could break any or all of them and remain in good standing with the Lord. In that Sunday School class were several ordained ministers who taught at the University of Mississippi where I was finishing my doctoral degree, some of whose classes I was taking or would take. Neither in the Sunday School class, nor in any of my university classes they taught, nor during any of the social occasions we attended did I ever hear a word about the pastor’s statements concerning the death of the Law. Though unconverted, I was a student of the Bible and therefore knew that the preacher had spoken Satan’s lie–a lie that “everyone knows” to be true. Everyone, that is, except God. I would go on to teach in two church-affiliated colleges where I was surrounded by seminary trained, ordained ministers. Not once in all those years did I hear anyone so much as hint that the Law was still in effect. To the contrary, I repeatedly heard the opposite. I praise God that I eventually learned that most of the “thus saith the Lord” pronouncements coming from the world’s churches are in fact Satan’s lies.

Question: Why do the church masses contend that Paul, God’s most prolific dispenser of His Truth, taught that the Ten Commandments do not apply to them? The Apostle Peter reveals one reason for the error in chapter 3 verse 16 of his second letter to the church  where he acknowledged that some of the things Paul wrote were “hard to be understood.” He warned the church that because of this some church leaders were misrepresenting what Paul wrote and were leading many parishioners to embrace “the error of the wicked” (vs 17)–meaning Lawless men. Jesus earlier warned that those who reject the Law, who “work iniquity” (Gr–Lawlessness) would be rejected on the day of judgment (Mat. 7:23). See God’s Royal Law and All That Glitters. Peter went on to say that many “unlearned and unstable” men would continue to “wrest” (twist, change, malign) Paul’s words to make it appear that he taught the church that the Law had no place in the life of the true saint. As honest students of the Bible know, Paul taught no such thing.

Those who contend that the Law was nailed to the cross, and that having faith in Jesus Christ rendered it null and void invariably site Paul’s letter to the church at Rome as “proof” of their theology. Let us examine that noble epistle in order to see exactly what he wrote. In 3:31 he firmly establishes the relationship between faith and the Law: “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? God forbid; by faith we establish the Law.” In the Greek language of the New Testament the word “establish” means to make stand, to fix, to keep intact. Paul was reminding the church that faith, rather than doing away with the Law, firmly establishes it as a foundational principle of the Christian walk. He told the church that GOD FORBIDS THEM TO SUBSTITUTE FAITH FOR OBEDIENCE TO HIS TEN COMMANDMENT LAW (including #4). The Counterfeit Church summarily, publically and continually rejects God’s Words relative to faith and the Law. And who is the originator and orchestrator of her theology? The world’s first false prophet who spiritually destroyed their spiritual ancestors in the Garden of Eden.  To be continued. L.J.