Must we keep the Law?

>>Must one keep all of the Law of the OT to please God?

It depends on what you mean by "Law". We do not have to keep the ordinances that have to do with the sacrifice of animals. We should be able to explain their meaning though. The laws we are to keep have to do with loving God, our neighbor and self. The Bride will have to be without spot, blemish or wrinkle to go in the rapture. Otherwise if there is sin in our life, then we will have to go to heaven by way of the grave. Thanks, JohnR7

In Ro 3:19 -31 might answer your question. hope it helps .

Must you keep the Law?

Not unless you want to fall from God's grace and be under a curse.

Ga 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Ga 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Ga 2:16* Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

I'd advise you to cast out the Law (10 Commandments and ceremonial laws) from your life and come fully under grace. the two cannot mix. it is either one or the other!

Ga 4:30* Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

I agree with Andrew 100% on this Susan. Don't stumble at the stumbling block!

Cast out the law, including the 10 commandments? James wrote that faith without works is dead. Jesus spoke frequently about the need to help your fellow humans, to give to charity etc. "Whatever you do for the least of my people, you do for me." Just idle words?

-Chris

Kern,
we're talking about being justified (saved) by the law and/or staying saved by the law.

James is talking about working OUT not FOR your salvation. If one is truly saved, the "works"/"fruit" will come forth.

You must understand what the Law was made for in the first place. Romans 5:20 says the Law came to increase sin. We see throughout Romans that no man can keep the Law.

We are told in Galatians 3 that the Law is the schoolmaster bringing us to Christ. It shows us our wrong. It shows us our utter hopelessness. But now that we are in Christ we are no longer under the Law.

Also in Galatians 3 as someone already showd. If you are under the Law you are under a cursed. For cursed is any man who does not continue in all things pertaining to the Law to keep them.

Hebrews 8:13 puts it clearly. Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.


We have many commands in the New Testament. Jesus says, "If you do what I say, you are my friends," in Matt 15, and we see elsewhere that if we love Christ we will keep His commandments. The 10 Commandments are repeated in the New Testament, with the exeption on the commandment on the Sabbath. The Old Testament shows us alot of God's character and what pleases God, but as far as the Law, we are no longer under it. For instance, we no longer have the Ark, sacrifices, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, tithing and double-tithing in the 7th year, et al.

Elijah (1 Tim 1:5, 2 Tim 2:15, Acts 17:11)

Originally posted by Susan
I do not know about this. Some persons have said that a Christian must keep the Law as it is stated in the Old Testament to the letter.
I've been a Christian since 1997, trusting in Jesus alone for salvation, but I need to know the answer here: Must one keep all of the Law of the OT to please God?

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Susan, the reason God gave us the Law was twofold. First, to give us the knowledge of what sin is and to show us our transgression:

Rom 3:19,20
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Rom 4:14
"for where there is no law there is no transgression."

And, second, to show us that we could not keep the Law. The purpose of this was to show us that we needed a Savior.

Romans 6:14 tells us we are not under the Law but under grace:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

This doesn't mean "don't try and keep the Law." What this means is that the Law will not provide us with eternal life but Christ's sacrifice has:

Rom 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Remember, also, that this is an issue of salvation. The Law does not save us, but rather Jesus saved us. We are, however, still to try and keep the Law. We will fail but we should still try. Jesus, Himself, made it clear to us how we should view His relationship to the law:

Matt 5:17-19
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. 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.

So, to sum up, we are not saved by the Law, but you should try to keep it. When you fall short, and you will (as we all do), repent and ask God to help you be obedient.

God bless.

Jesus seemed to be at odds with the law.
However, in the gospels there was the Torah and the oral tradition of the elders which were (basically) rabbinic interpretations of Torah which they had exalted to the position of "law." The gospels offer hints that Jesus was devoted to Torah and that he was not a radical abolisher of Torah.
Read Matt. 5:17-19.
You can't argue with that. But what do you do with killing goats and the dietary stuff and all that? I don't want to go into that here.

I believe if you obey the law (Torah) for the sake of thinking you can earn fellowship with God simply by obeying the law, you are in trouble. You'll fall into legalism. The Pharisees are the best example of what I'm talking about. They were legalistic and self-righteous. They weren't bad guys, they just fell into this trap.
I believe we should pay attention to the "law" or "teaching" is a better way to state it. It's good stuff. There's something we can gain, even from the laws that don't really apply. If we say we are no longer under the law, then I can kill you. I'm under grace. That's a bad argument.
Another thing I can say is this:
There is no law against doing good, only doing bad.
Anyway, it's tricky and I probably didn't accomplish anything with this post. I believe the Old Testament is our heritage and if we don't know where we came from, we're going to have trouble knowing where we're going. We should give the OT more credit than we give it.

Must one keep all of the Law of the OT to please God?

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Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Originally posted by Susan
I do not know about this. Some persons have said that a Christian must keep the Law as it is stated in the Old Testament to the letter.
I've been a Christian since 1997, trusting in Jesus alone for salvation, but I need to know the answer here: Must one keep all of the Law of the OT to please God?

Click to expand...

Do you know if those people have ever stoned a child to death for disobediance? If so, I would be inclined to call the cops.

Romans 13:8 says "For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." There's other echoes of this in other books of the New Testament. The law of the old testament existed to show us that no man could attain righteousness; that doesn't mean that everything it prohibited to a group of nomads wandering in the desert is sinful to people in other times and circumstances. By contrast, Christ's law is eternal and immutable, and failure to love your neighbor as yourself will remain sinful forever. Luckily for us, our sins are forgiven.

Just to let y'all know, I believe that it is only through Jesus Christ that we have any standing with God.
For the life of me I can't remember what I was gonna use to support that.
I'm not legalistic.

If we say we are no longer under the law, then I can kill you. I'm under grace.
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that's foolish human reasoning as Paul calls it ("shall we sin that grace may abound?"). Also, if you r truly under grace and understand His grace, you wont kill.

Exactly.

"If we say we are no longer under the law, then I can kill you. I'm under grace. "

Also in additions to andrews statements paul says you are a law breaker if you rebuild what you have destroyed..ie by your actions of killing him you prove to others you're not under grace

Galatians was written about legalism.... the Judeizers (sp?) were trying to get the Galatian church to think they had to keep the law ("be circumcised") and have faith in Christ. Paul refutes that, rather well too

Just read Galations, it is a great book dealing with legalism. One of my favorite books.

yeah exactly. :-D

The opposite of legalism is faith in Christ ALONE as our righteousness.

My Pastor says that in the last last days, this will be the message preached again (as in Paul's time) just b4 Christ returns -- pure grace/gospel and Jesus as our righteousness.

Jer 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Does anyone believe that too?