LEGAL OBLIGATIONS

For many years the state of Montana supposedly did not have a daytime speed limit. This was a fallacy in that the stated speed limit was "Whatever is reasonable and prudent". Reasonable and prudent is what allowed my wife's cousin to drive 115 miles per hour and only receive a warning from the highway patrol officers who stopped him. He was a properly equipped vehicle, he knew the road he was driving on, and was able to keep the car under control. The problem found by law enforcement in Montana was that "outsiders" came to visit the state and were unable to judge the limits of what was "reasonable and prudent". Consequently, the state now has a more familiar speed limit. All because a few people did not exercise good discernment in the operation of the vehicles.

God's law is a lot like that. Some un-educated, un-discerning, imprudent, and unreasonable people see what the New testament says about the Old Testament and assume there is no more law. Galatians 3:23 to 25 says, "But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." (NKJV). This leaves us with three positions to choose from. Some un-educated, un-discerning, and unreasonable people we are still bound by the full law of the Old Testament. Others, equally un-educated, etc. see passages such as the Galatians quote as a license for lasciviousness. Finally, those who are reasonable and discerning, applying both thought and prayer, and educated, applying a proper study of God's word. It is this last group that I hope we will be a part of, the reasonable and prudent group.

First let's define what we mean by God's law. Law could refer to only the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. Galatians 3:10 says, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them."(NKJV). Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 27:26. The law could be referring to the entire Old Testament. John 15:23 to 25 reads, "He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, `They hated Me without a cause."(NKJV). Verse 25 quotes both Psalm 35:19 and Psalm 69:4, niether of these is part of the Pentateuch. The law can also refer to the Law of Moses, the specific things dictated to Moses in his 40 days on Mt. Sinai. This led to the controversy that led to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. Acts 15:5 says, " But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.''(NKJV).

The law is said to be enduring. Psalm 119:91 reads, " They continue this day according to Your ordinances, For all are Your servants."(NKJV). Verse 160 adds, "The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever."(NKJV). It falls to us to reconcile this with the Law having an end in Christ.

A confrontation was coming to a head in Jesus' earthly ministry. Some believed that Jesus was here to overthrow the law. Some looked forward to it; they were burdened by the righteousness the law required, and they were feeling convicted in their inability to keep the law. Others feared the law's overthrow; with it gone they would lose their power, prestige, and authority. Jesus stated His relationship to the law this way, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." Matthew 5:17 and 18 NKJV). He came not to overthrow the law or destroy it. To destroy it meant destroying much of the proof of His Deity, of His being the Messiah. Jesus depended on the law so he could fulfill the law.

T fulfill the law meant He fulfilled it as a standard of righteousness. He did so by being completely righteous, completely sinless, and completely perfect. He also had to fulfill the law as the revelation of the exceeding sinfulness of mankind. Romans 7:7 to 13 reads, " What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet.'' But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful."(NKJV).

After Jesus, the law continues to reveal sin as sin, and consequently reveal our need for a savior. Romans 5:20 to 6:4 reads, "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."(NKJV).

Matthew 5:19 and 20 reads, "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."(NKJV). This is how the law relates to the Christian. Breaking the law did not have to be a obvious and open defiant act against the law. it instead could be taking advantage of a "loophole" in the law. we jump through the loophole by pleading ignorance, using "proof-texts", manipulating the interpretation of the law, rationalizing away the need to follow the law, and justifying our breakage of the law.

To properly practice righteousness is to follow the most righteous path. Matthew 22: 34 to 40 says, "But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?'' Jesus said to him, " `You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."(NKJV).

The remainder of this study will be spent looking at these commandments and the moral law of the ten commandments. This not a search for loopholes, but more so we can find how to be the most righteous people we can be.

Dr. O