Unfortunately, the topic of the Law is the place where most conservative Christians part ways with the apostles. Many well-meaning Christians have not processed what the apostles said about the Law and as a result have taught something totally contradictory to what the apostles taught concerning the purpose and function of the Law. Many of these Christians get upset whenever they hear what Paul and the other apostles taught concerning the Law. They act as if the apostles and those who follow the teachings of the apostles are attacking the Law. Neither Paul nor the other apostles attacked the Law. They all agreed that the Law was from God and that it is holy and righteous and good (Rom. 7:12). What they WERE attacking though was the misuse of the Law. They attacked the view that by keeping the Law you could become righteous or that the way to live a righteous life is by keeping the Law. Unfortunately many of us use the Law the same way the Jews used it. When properly used, the Law becomes a positive, NOT a negative in the life of the believer.

THE EXODUS ACCOUNT

Preparing to Meet the Lord

If the traditional site for Mt. Sinai is right, then the Israelites turned south whenever they crossed the Sea of Reeds into the Sinai peninsula. Three months have passed since the Israelites have left Egypt (Ex. 19:1). According to Ex. 19:9 God was going to descend upon Sinai in a dark cloud and speak to Moses in the hearing of all the people so that they might know that they should believe in Moses forever.

In order to prepare themselves to meet God, the people were to consecrate themselves for 3 days; they were to wash their garments so that on the third day God might reveal Himself to the people at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:10-11). In addition to this when they approached Mt. Sinai, they were to treat it as holy. They were to set boundaries around it so that the people might not touch the mountain; if they or any animal touched the mountain after God had descended upon it, they would surely die (Ex. 19:12-13).

Normally when we think about the giving of the Law, we think of it as being a marvelous, glorious event. Yet a closer look at the passage shows that this was not the case. A scene of great terror greets the Israelites whenever the Lord descends upon Mt. Sinai. There were "thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound." The scene was so terrifying that all of the people who were in the camp trembled at the sight (19:16).

The Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17)

The Ten Commandments serve as a type of overture to the rest of the Law of Moses. An overture is a piece of music played at the beginning of a movie or opera which introduces the different musical themes of the movie, opera, or musical. For example, in the movie Lawrence of Arabia the composer Maurice Jarre has a musical theme for Lawrence, another for the Arab forces, and a third one for the British army. He plays all 3 themes in the overture. He will develop them more fully in the movie itself. In the same way God introduces the different themes of the Law in the 10 Commandments and develops them in the rest of the Law of Moses.

Following is a brief survey of the Ten Commandments.

NUMBER OF COMMANDMENT	SCRIPTURE	CONTENT OF COMMANDMENT
First Commandment	Ex. 20:3	No other gods
Second Commandment	Ex. 20:4	No graven image/idol
Third Commandment	Ex. 20:7	Do not take God's name in vain
Fourth Commandment	Ex. 20:8	Keep the Sabbath holy
Fifth Commandment	Ex. 20:12	Honor parents
Sixth Commandment	Ex. 20:13	Do not murder
Seventh Commandment	Ex. 20:14	Do not commit adultery
Eighth Commandment	Ex. 20:15	Do not steal
Ninth Commandment	Ex. 20:16	Do not perjure yourself
Tenth Commandment	Ex. 20:17	Do not covet

Let's see how the Ten Commandments function as a type of overture to the rest of the Law. Many Christians still use the King James Version of the Bible which translates the 6th commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." Based on this translation many Christians claim that it is wrong to go to war or to enact capital punishment. Yet other translations translate this verse: "Thou shalt not murder," which does NOT do away with war or capital punishment. Which translation is right?

The second. Why? Because the rest of the Law of Moses says that we are to execute capital punishment against those who commit murder and that we are to engage in righteous war. Now either the 6th commandment refers primarily to murder or else Moses did not understand what the 6th commandment was referring to, something I find hard to digest.

The People's Response (Ex. 20:18-21; 32:1-)

The giving of the Law is one of the greatest moments in Israel's history. From this point on you would think that Israel would serve God like never before. Moses goes up to the mountain; when he is gone for 40 days and 40 nights, the people begin to freak out. They approach Aaron and express their concerns about Moses. What is interesting is that THEY do not suggest Aaron make for them a golden calf. Rather after they express their desire for a new god to Aaron, AARON then comes up with the idea of creating the golden calf for them. He puts up NO resistance at all! He tells them to give him their golden earrings. After fashioning the golden calf, Aaron presents it to them as the god who delivered them out of Egypt. Aaron then institutes a feast for this new god. At the feast Moses says that the people sat down to eat and drink, and then rose up to play. According to Paul "rising up to play" means that they engaged in idolatry (Ex. 32:1-6; 1 Cor. 10:7).

Because the people have responded this way, God wants to destroy the people. What about God's promise though to Abraham that He would make of Abraham a great nation? God's solution to that is to make of Moses, a descendant of Abraham, a great nation (Ex. 32:9-10).

Moses though prays for the people. He first appeals to God's reputation. He says that if God destroys the people, then the Egyptians will say that God brought them out to the wilderness for the very purpose of destroying them. This would hurt God's reputation in the eyes of the Egyptians. Second, He appeals to God's promise to Abraham. He emphasizes that the promise of a great nation was made specifically to Abraham, not to Moses. Although God would technically be fulfilling His promise to Abraham by making of Moses a great nation, the truth is it would not really be the same if God destroyed the people. God relents and decides to spare the people (32:11-14).

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE APOSTLES

Introduction

Abraham was the man of faith in the OT. With the coming of Moses and the Law the life of faith and adventure gets replaced with the life of legalism and rule keeping. Many well-meaning Christians exalt the Law. They claim that it is still the rule book or guide we should follow in order to live the Christian life. This perspective leads to disaster. For example, in the book Pilgrim's Progress Christian is walking towards the Celestial City (Heaven) when he feels a sharp blow on his back. When he looks up he sees a rider on a horse that has passed him by, wielding a club in his hand. The rider turns around and hits Christian again, and again, and again, and again. Come to find out, the man on the horse is no one other than Moses. The reason he keeps hitting Christian is that Christian is trying to live by the Law. Such an approach to life brings disaster.

Where did Pilgrim's Progress get this take on the Law? From the NT itself. For example, the author of Hebrews compares the giving of the Law with the covenant of grace by comparing Mt. Sinai and the new mount of God, Mount Zion. The Jews approach Mt. Sinai, a mountain which can "be touched, to a blazing fire, and to darkness and to gloom and to whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them." On the other hand, Christians have come to a different mountain: "Mt. Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel" (Heb. 12:18-24).

Next, Paul provides for us some characteristics of the Law most of us are unfamiliar with. For example, according to Paul the Law was given to us because of transgressions (Gal 3:19); having been ordained through angels (Gal 3:19); by the agency of a Mediator (Gal 3:19); until the seed [Jesus] should come (Gal 3:19).

Because of Transgressions

The Law was NOT given to us to make us better. According to Romans 5:20 people actually got worse whenever God gave the Law (Rom.5:20): "And the Law came in that the transgressions might INCREASE!" As we saw with the example of the Israelites at Mt. Sinai and as we shall see, whenever we come into contact with the Law, we actually get WORSE! Rather the Law was given because of transgressions. First, to define what a transgression was. According to Paul before he knew the Law, he did not know about coveting (Rom. 7:7). In fact once Paul learned about the commandment not to covet, the first thing he want to do was to covet (Rom. 7:7-8).

Romans 7 discusses Paul's trying to live by the Law. From verse 7-23 we see the life of desparation and defeat that living by the Law can produce. At the end Paul cries out: "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24).

The classic example of this is the Israelite nation itself. If ever the Israelites would have kept the Law, it would have been right after God gave it to them. What did they do though? They made a golden calf and worshiped it. Keeping the Law simply does not work. It leads to rebellion. (Probably the best modern example of this involves the Jew again. Few realize that Hollywood is truly a Jewish town, for example, Spielburg, Dustin Hoffman, etc. The Jews there have encountered the Law and have responded by rebelling.)

Is the problem with the Law? No. The Law is from God and is perfect, holy, and good. The problem lies with us (Rom. 7:12-14). We have a sin nature within us that rebels against Law. Whenever we try to keep the Law, contact with the Law triggers that sin nature. The result is rebellion.

Although the Law is good and is from God, because of ME keeping the Law, laws, rules, regulations, etc. don't work. When Christ died on the cross, I died with Him. When I died with Christ, according to Paul I specifically died to the Law (Rom. 7:4). As a Christian I should no longer have contact with the Law.

Most of us understand how death and law relate to each other. My dad hated the speeding laws. He got a lot of tickets flying down the deserted W. Texas highways whenever he had to do a lot of traveling for his business or whenever he went deerhunting. Yet, when he died in 1989, he no longer cared one bit about the speeding laws in W. Texas. The same applies to us. When Christ died, because we are united with Him, we died too. The result was that we died to the Law. Law no longer has any room in the Christian life. Christians may live by the Law; however, when they do live by the Law, they are not enjoying the Christian life.

The Law Was Temporary in Nature

According to Paul the Law was in force UNTIL THE SEED SHOULD COME, that is, until Christ came. Look at 3 different images he uses to describe the function of the Law in order to show that the Law was temporary in nature. According to Gal. 3:22, 23 the Law acted as a warden/jailkeeper; according to Gal. 3:24-25 the Law functioned as child-conductor; while according to Gal. 4:2 the Law served as trustee of an estate.

In each of these cases 2 things were true. First, the boy was not to remain permanently in this sad state. He was not to remain in jail forever; one day he would turn 16 and no longer need this child-conductor slave; one day he would turn 21 and never need another trustee. In the same way Paul says that the world would no longer need the Law. According to Paul the day for the end of the law came when Christ came (Gal. 3:25).

Second, the reason the Law served as a warden, a child-conductor, and trustees was that we would want to get away from the Law and live a life of faith! The Jews were kept in prison under the Law for 1400 years; they were beaten down by the child-conductor for 1400 years; they were restrained by the managers and trustees for 1400 years. Now that God has opened the prison door, given them the possibility of being free from this child-conductor, and handed over to them the trust, you would think they would jump at the chance for freedom and adult responsibility. (Unfortunately most Jews did not and many Christians still do not. Just like some criminals who repeatedly commit crimes so that they can live in a secure living environment--the prison, so many of us prefer the security of legalism than the life of adventure Jesus has for us.) God wants us to be so miserable whenever we try to keep the Law so that we will jump at the chance to live by faith!

Many restrict this discussion to the Law of Moses. Actually this discussion applies to ALL rules and regulations and expectations, whether they be the laws and rules of church organizations or the expectations of others. All these lead to rebellion because of the sinful nature within me.

How Then Are We to Live

If we are not supposed to live by the Law, live a life of rules and regulations, how then are we to live? Will not all society degenerate into choas and anarchy without law? (We're close to a state of chaos even though we have a multitude of laws on the books!) Many claim that there are only 2 ways to live--either live by law or live by self. There is a third way. According to Rom. 7:4 although we died to the Law, we became joined to Jesus. We are now His. After we have denied ourselves and taken up our crosses, Jesus commands us to follow Him daily (Luke 9:23).

The essence of the Christian life is following Jesus. It is that simple. Just follow Jesus. Each and every day I need to wake up and commit myself to Him and allow Him to guide me throughout the day. When that happens, His Spirit energizes me so that I can truly experience His life. This does not happen by keeping laws; it happens by following Him.

(Some will claim though that the Law is still in force. This much is true. Jesus will never guide you to do anything which contradicts the Law. A person who claims Jesus led him to divorce his wife so that he could marry somebody else is wrong because Jesus would never guide you to violate the 7th commandment. It's just that the Law basically only tells you what NOT to do. It doesn't ever really tell you what to do. You can sit in a chair all day long and do nothing, and NOT break a single commandment. That's not life though. Jesus came that we might have life and might have it abundantly. That comes about only by following Jesus.)