Renewal of Your Mind

If We Are Not Under the Law, Why Are We Subject to It?

April 4, 2011 at 12:41 PM 1 comment

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By Deryl S. Lampkin

The Purpose of The Law

The primary purpose of law is to maintain order. The opposite of order is disorder, which is chaos. Disorder and chaos is the absence of law, which is lawlessness. The Law is binding or enforceable rules and regulations.

So then, the law is a good thing. It is designed to punish lawbreakers. The law promotes good behavior and is designed to limit and restrict harmful, hurtful, and destructive activity and behavior.

Under the Law vs. Subject to the Law

In the Bible especially in the New Testament, there is a lot of confusion about the law. The confusion lies in understanding the term “under the law”. There is a difference in being under the law and being subject to the law.

All things created are subject to law, which includes humans, angels, animals, the celestial bodies, all of nature, things seen, and things unseen. Having rules and regulations to govern and control all things in the universe is what maintains relative order in the universe. Without these laws, the universe could not function in an orderly fashion. If there were no guidelines, no boundaries, no restrictions, no right, no wrong; everything would be at liberty to do whatever, whenever and however.  This indeed would be total chaos and confusion.  Nothing would be safe from harm and everything would be in danger of eminent destruction.

Being under the law is a biblical term that refers to the legalistic system of atonement. Atonement is a means of reconciling mankind to God. It is a way to put mankind back in right standing with God. It is a way to make mankind righteous with God. Under the legal system (the law), a man had to faithfully obey every law and commandment without exception all the days of his life. This was impossible for any human born of the seed of man to achieve. However, if a man would have achieved this, he would have qualified to be justified by the law and would have obtained righteousness by obeying every law.  But every man that tried to do this, failed miserably.

Jesus Fulfilled the Law

Then in due process of time, God sent His only begotten son who was birth by a human woman however, she was impregnated with the seed of God and not the seed of a man, and he was given the name Jesus.  Because he was born of a righteous seed, he by the nature of that seed did only that which was righteous. He was empowered to obey every law and commandment. He fulfilled all the requirements of the law and was justified by keeping the law. What this means is that Jesus as a representative of the human race, accepted the mandate of the law (the legal atonement system) to be justified by obeying every law and thereby obtaining righteousness for mankind. Therefore, under the law he obtained righteousness so that all who accepts him and obey his gospel shall be justified by exercising faith in him and will obtain righteousness through identification with him.

It only took one man’s disobedience to cause sin and death to be charged to all mankind. Therefore, it only took one man to fully obey the law and nullify the curse of sin and death. This triumphant victory by Jesus over sin and death opened the door to a new and better way of being justified and reconciled to God. This act of obedience ushered in a new and better covenant built upon better promises. Through accepting Christ’s atonement for our sins, we are justified by faith and delivered from the power of sin.

Sin Now Has No Legal Right to Rule Us

Sin no longer has the legal right to reign over us. Through Christ, we have been restored our right to rule the earth, which we forfeited through Adam. When we sin now, it is no longer because sin has dominion over us but because we fail to exercise dominion over sin. The same power that empowered Jesus to defeat sin now lives in us. We have been given the Holy Spirit of God, which is the same power that empowered Jesus. We are no longer under the law. That is to say, that we do not have to struggle with legalistic requirements as a means of justification. We are now justified by faith. And if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. If we confess our sins and forsake them, God is faithful to forgive us and cleans us from all unrighteousness. This is one of those better promises. Under the law, if we sinned, we had to offer up a sacrifice of the blood of animals. But Christ has offered his holy righteous blood once and for all and there is no longer need to make sacrifices for sin.

But though we are no longer under the law, we are still subject to laws. As I stated in the beginning the law is a good thing. It tells us what is good and right and is designed to maintain order, peace, and harmony in the universe. Therefore, whosoever disobeys and despises the law disobeys and despises the one who created and ordained it, which is God and has to ultimately answer to Him.

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Entry filed under: Article. Tags: Christ, Christianity, Deryl S. Lampkin, God, Holy Spirit, Human, Jesus, Law, New Testament, Old Testament, Sin.