The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would come into the church. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in.
Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the early Christian church. Compromise and conformity to paganism was held back for a time by the fierce persecutions by the Roman Emperors. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted and entered the courts and palaces of the Emperors and Kings, the true church laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ for the pomp and pride of priests and pagan rulers; and in place of the truth from God, she substituted human theories and traditions.
It started slowly, a change here a comprimise there, but the flood gates were opened by Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished by the church, became the conqueror. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.
This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God.
In the early church, the bishop of Rome (along with Alexandria and Antioch) was regarded as a Patriarchate, i.e. an autonomous diocese. To this group was added the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" (e.g. the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome) the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; the church was forced to yield allegiance to the the bishop of Rome.
Many pre-christian Europeans worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter solstice and regained life again at the spring equinox......
Note what it says in Judges:
"Judges 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth."
Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth / Ishtar / Astarte is the queen of heaven. It is the apostasy of sun and idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that started to come into the church.
Long before Isis, and long before Mary or Demeter, pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines.Many believe that with the rise of Christianity and papal power, the Goddess would slowly disappear from western culture and fade away. But they didnt, the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, but for many European Christians, the blending of their ancient Goddesses with chritianized idols was a major part of what allowed them to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.
The Bible would have quickly shown they had turned away into false beliefs so its truths had to be concealed and suppressed. But for hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, as false traditions and men interpreted its teachings. Thus the bishop of Rome came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.
To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. To hide what they had done, they presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment in their writings, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.
Then they went after the fourth commandment also, and slowly set aside the Sabbath, and put in the festival day observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." With great subtlety they worked to bring about this change. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.
In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine as part his merging of paganism with the church had issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church.
But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment. But with so many former adherents to worship of the sun, it was gradually substituted with a day which they were already inclined. Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be heretics.
Those now leading the church resolved to gather the Christian world under its banner and to exercise power through bishop of Rome or pontiff who now claimed to be the representative of Christ. The Pope had succeeded in exalting himself above God. By the sixth century the power of the bishop of Rome had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, or the headsman's ax.
Persecution once again was opened upon the true Christians but this time by the bishop of Rome or Pontiff himself instead of the Roman Emperor, and the world became a vast battlefield as true believers were killed for hundreds of years. The accession of the Papacy and the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to man or the papal power.
The people were taught not only to look to the pontiff as their mediator, but to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics, the erection of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of large sums to the church were the price to secure His favor; as if God were like men, to be pacified by gifts or acts of penance!
Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, corruptible men who claimed to lead the church, and the bishop of Rome who came to regard himself as supreme, with the elevation of false laws and corrupt traditions that always results from setting aside the law of God.
We must read the scriptures and cleanse ourselves from any of the paganism and false worship especially the day of the sun as the Sabbath, pagan festivals or "Holy Days" that have been spread into many churches beliefs. The Protestant churches that split from and began the Reformation because they saw the truth and fought so hard against the Papal Roman church are now falling back one by one to unifying with it as the ecumenical movement is bringing force to bear, to beliefs in secularism and false doctrines of "Tradition" and paganism. Slowly but surely they are giving up the true beliefs that were their foundation until they become nothing more but secular social clubs with pagan traditions and festivals. The Churches of the Reformation must awake as the reformation had based its separation from Rome on the Word of God, and had placed the gospel of Jesus Christ at the disposal of the common man. The striving of the reformers was to make the Word of God available to everyone seeking knowledge of the plan of salvation. They must go back to the word and strive to restore truths that have been lost through centuries of false doctrines and "traditions", especially the Sabbath.
There are even more statements on the Sabbath, the Catholic Church is very clear on this:
"The retention of the old pagan name of Dies Solis, for Sunday is, in a great measure, owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects - pagan and Christian alike - as the 'venerable' day of the sun."" Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, p. 184
"When St. Paul repudiated the works of the law, he was not thinking of the Ten Commandments, which are as unchangeable as God Himself is, which God could not change and still remain the infinitely holy God."-Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 7, I951.
"Question: How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?
Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)
"Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days." John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51
"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and... can be defended only on Catholic principles.... From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first." Catholic Press, Aug. 25, 1900
"The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday. The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday. Protestants must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said, 'Keep holy the Sabbath Day.' The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church." Canon Cafferata, The Catechism Explained, p. 89.
''Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.'' John Cardinal Gibbons, The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.
Which day is the Sabbath?
"The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." Exodus 20:10. "And when the sabbath was past, ...very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre." Mark 16:1,2.
The Sabbath is not the first day of the week (Sunday), as many believe, but the seventh day (Saturday). Notice from the above Scripture that the Sabbath is the day that comes just before the first day of the week.
Would God allow the Sabbath day changed by "Mans Traditions"?
"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 4:2. "Every word of God is pure. ... Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Proverbs 30:5, 6.
God has specifically and positively forbidden men to change His law by deletions or additions. To tamper with God's holy law in any way is one of the most fearful and dangerous things a person can do.
God's law is good and a blessing. "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Romans 7:12 "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:25
Jesus said "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:18-19
What did Jesus say and do?
In John 15:10 Jesus said "I have kept my father's commandments" and we can also find from scripture that Jesus attended church on the Sabbath day. "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16
What did the Apostles do?
"And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." Acts 17:2. "Paul and his company ... went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down." Acts 13:13, 14. "And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13. "And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4.
Did the Gentiles also worship on Sabbath?
God commanded it: "Blessed is the man ... that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it." "Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, ... every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer ... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Isaiah 56:2, 6, 7, emphasis added. The apostles taught it:
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath." "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." Acts 13:42, 44, emphasis added. "And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4.
Is the LAW Confined To The Old Testament.
Many Christians have been taught that the GOSPEL was not introduced until the NEW TESTAMENT. This gospel, they believe, replaced the LAW which was taught in the OLD TESTAMENT. They are told the we are now in the "age of grace" , and it is no longer necessary to be concerned with "works of the LAW" or Gods Commandments.
So lets see if those who lived during the time of the Old Testament saved in a different way from those living since the Cross. Can God change that which he sets forth from the time of the Alpha to the Omega for those that love him. Are those in the New Testament the only ones that receive a "new" Gospel:
ECCLESIASTES 3:14 "I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever
GALATIANS 3:8-9 Paul says that Abraham heard the gospel. "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ?In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham." NKJV
HEBREWS 4:2 The Children of Israel heard the gospel preached to them in the wilderness. "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
During the Old Testament period, the gospel (good news) was that someday a Savior would come to pay the penalty for sin. Since the death of Christ, the good news is that a Savior has come, and has died to pay the penalty for sin.
Are those in the New Testament the only ones that receive a "new" Grace:
GENESIS 6:8 "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."
EXODUS 22:27 God said, "I will hear; for I am gracious."
EXODUS 34:6 God is "merciful and gracious, long suffering"
The word "grace" means "unmerited favor." It is also defined as "the divine influence in the life." We know that the unmerited favor of God has been shown to mankind ever since Adam and Eve were spared instant death. Most certainly the unmerited favor of God was shown to Old Testament Israel. God is the same - yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Every believer from Adam through Abraham to this very day, has felt the divine influence. Every believer has known the grace of God.
Every lamb brought by an Israelite represented Christ. His death would someday pay the price of redemption for every man and women. And even before the Israelites, righteous Able, Noah, Job, Abraham and others made sacrifices, seeking forgiveness of sins. These men were forgiven because of their belief in the substitute provided by God. They were forgiven in exactly the same way that we are forgiven today when we claim Christ’s as our substitute (Gen. 4:4; Gen. 8:20; Job 1:5). Christ said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56).
The Israelite who came in true heart sorrow for sin, with his sacrificial lamb, was forgiven because of his faith in God, the forgiver. His sins were covered (Num.15:25-29; Lev.19:23). He stood righteous before God. The word "atonement" means "covering." His sin was covered by the blood of the sacrifice, symbolizing the blood of Christ. The sacrificial ceremony had no power or worth apart from the faith of the one who brought the lamb. Without true heart repentance, the ceremony was repulsive to God (1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16,17; Hos. 6:6; Heb. 9:9).
Did false ideas and 'salvation by works' creep into the understanding of the Gospel:
Yes, that was the corruption of the gospel that was taught by the religious authorities of Christ’s day. The Jews came to believe that there was merit or value in the ceremony itself. They completely lost the symbolic meaning of the sacrificial service.
ROMANS 3:20 "For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin."
No one, not in the New Testament or the Old Testament, was ever saved by keeping the law.
No one is saved or has ever been saved, by following a formula, by chanting a certain number of prayers, by going to church every week, by keeping every one of the Ten Commandments, by keeping the Ceremonial Feasts, or by work of their own.
HABAKKUK 2:4 (Old Testament) - GALATIANS 3:11(New Testament) "The just shall live by his faith."
Salvation and oneness with God, the blessing of God - in the Old Testament, as in the New - was understood to be the gift of God, received by faith.
DEUTERONOMY 9:6 "Know therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people.
DANIEL 9:18 "Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy." NIV
The faithful of the Old Testament were saved in exactly the same way as we are saved today - by the grace of God.
Are those in the Old Testament the only ones that have to follow the Commandments:
ROMANS 13:10 "Love is the fulfillment of the LAW."
I JOHN 5:3 "This is love for God; to obey HIS COMMANDMENTS."
JOHN 14:21 "Who ever has my COMMANDMENTS and obeys them, he is the one who loves me."
JOHN 14:15 "If you love me, keep my COMMANDMENTS."
MATTHEW 19:16,17 "If you would enter into life, obey my COMMANDMENTS."
ROMANS 2:12-13 "For not the hearers of the LAW are justified, but the doers of the LAW shall be justified."
I JOHN 2:4 "The man who says ?I know Him,’ but does not keep His COMMANDMENTS is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
LUKE 16:17 "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the LAW to fail."
MATTHEW 19:17 "...If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
MATTHEW 7:23 "Depart from me you who practice lawlessness!"
JOHN 15:10 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love."
ROMANS 7:12 "The LAW is holy and the Commandment is holy, just, and good."
ROMANS 7:14 "The LAW is spiritual." "I agree with the LAW that it is good" (Rom. 7:16).
ROMANS 7:22 "In my inner being I delight in God’s LAW."
Is God of the Old Testament different in the New Testament so he changes his law and does away with the commandments:
EPHESIANS 2:15 Paul says that the "law contained in ordinances" was "abolished."
ROMANS 3:31 Paul also says "Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law."
The Ceremonial Law has passed away. This law pointed forward to Christ, "the Lamb of God." When the symbol was replaced by the reality. The symbol became obsolete. We do not sacrifice lambs anymore. This is what was fullfiled by Jesus so it has become obsolete.
- We come near to God, not through scrifices, not through earthly priests, not through an ancient Temple service, not through keeping ancient symbolic holy days, but "by a new and living way, which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His Flesh" (Hebrews 10:19:20).
We have a High Priest, Jesus Christ the Son of God, who has entered "the Presence behind the veil." This He did when He sat down at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 6:19-20, 7:20-27, 8:1-2).
HEBREWS 9:9-10 "It (the Temple) was symbolic for the present time ... concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation."
COLOSSIANS 2:16-17 "Therefore (because your sins are forgiven) let no man judge you in regard to meat or drink (ceremonial offerings), a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ."
- [Do not let anyone judge you because you no longer offer animal sacrifices, or grain, or drink offerings in the Temple. Do not let them judge you in the way you choose to keep the festival days, without offering animal sacrifices.]
HEBREWS 13:11-13 "For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach."
- Paul tells his Hebrew readers to leave the old ways of the Temple and the ceremonial system, to come "outside the camp," as it were, even though this means sure rejection by those who cling to the old ways.
ROMANS 10:4 "Christ is the end of law for righteousness sake."
- Christ's death marked the end of keeping the ceremonial law in order to be called righteous in the sight of God
So does the New Testament fight against Gods law:
ROMANS 4:15 "Where there is no law, there is no violation."
ROMANS 5:13 "For sin is the transgression of the law" ( 1 John 3:4).
Certainly, Lucifer sinned, when he rebelled against God in heaven. That means there was a LAW in heaven.
HOSEA 6:7, JOB 31:33 Adam sinned.
GENESIS 6:5 The people of Noah’s day sinned.
GENESIS 18:20 Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for their lawlessness (sin).
These people lived long before Mt. Sinai.
GENESIS 26:5 Abraham kept Gods "commandments," and His "laws."
EXODUS 16:25 To the children of Israel, before Mt. Sinai, God said "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?"
So what about the statements by Paul:
PAUL SAYS, "WE ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE" ROMANS 6:14.
"But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law." (Gal. 5:18).
What does he mean?To be "under the law" means to be condemned by the law for having violated one or more precepts of its precepts.
When we sin (when we transgress the law) we are condemned to die the "second death" (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 4:15; Rom. 5:13; James 1:15). We are under condemnation of the law. "All have sinned" (Rom. 3:23), therefore all are under condemnation (Rom. 5:12).
Without the power of God dwelling in us, we are "slaves of sin" (Rom. 6:6). We cannot keep the law of God even when we want to. "You do not do the things that you wish", Paul said (Gal 5:16). The law cannot save us; it can only condemn. If we depend upon keeping the law for our salvation, then we will be lost. We must depend upon Christ. It is only by His grace, by His imparted power that we can "keep the law."
When we accept Jesus as our Saviour, and we are "born again," Christ Himself by His Spirit comes to dwell in each one of us (John 17:23,26; Col 1:27; 1Cor. 15:45). Through the power which His presence imparts we begin to live a new life of righteousness (Rom. 6:4). We no longer "fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Rom. 6:12, Gal.5:16). The law of love is "written in our hearts" (Rom. 2:15; 2 Cor. 3:3). The righteous requirement of the law "is fulfilled in us" (Rom. 8:4).
Far from doing away with Gods Law embodied in the Commandments, Gods Grace enables us to keep them more perfectly so the requirements of the Law may be fullfiled in us. The Commandments Of GOD
has never been abolished. It stands unchanged to this day.
The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we may inherit eternal life through Him.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:15
What scriptures was Paul referring to when he said that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures? Of course he was referring to the Old Testament, which predicted that Jesus would die for the sins of mankind. Isaiah spells out the affliction and suffering that the Messiah would have to go through to atone for our sins:
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6
What is sin, and why did it cost the life of the Son of God? The Bible has only one definition of sin, and we find this in 1 John 3:
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Sin is the transgression of the law of God. Moreover, sin carries a penalty, and that penalty is death, but in Christ the penalty is paid and we can have eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
Sin separates us from God and being separated from God means being separated from the source of life because God is the author and maintainer of life.
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2
Since all mankind has transgressed the law of God, all mankind is in need of salvation.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
If salvation is a gift, then it follows that salvation is by grace and that my own works cannot save me.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8
And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. Romans 11:6
Wonderful news - we are saved by the grace of God through faith in the Son of God. Does this free us from obedience to God’s law or belittle God's law?
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Romans 3:31
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Romans 6:14-16
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Romans 7:12
Simply then, sin (the transgression of God’s law) leads to death (and here we are not talking about physical death but eternal death), and grace leads to life (eternal life). But grace does not remove the obligation to keep God’s law, but rather establishes the law. The law cannot save me, but it can warn me by telling me what sin is.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20
It is by grace that we are saved, delivered from sin, justified, restored and sanctified. Grace sets right the relationship with God, but the law tells us what sin is so that we may avoid it by the grace of God. A true conversion will fill the heart with gratitude and the restored person will once again want to live in harmony with the law of God. Jesus said:
If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3
In John 8, we read the account of Mary Magdalene when she was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus. She stood before Him condemned to death by the law.
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? John 8: 3-5
The Law could not save her, but Jesus could. Not one of the accusers was without sin and all fell short of the glory of God. Having convicted them of their own sinfulness, they left one by one and left the trembling, guilty, repentant Mary behind. Jesus turned to her and said:
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. John 8:10-11
The condemned sinner was forgiven and placed under grace:
“Neither do I condemn thee,” but then she was obligated to henceforth keep the law “
go, and sin no more.” To be saved by grace does therefore not relieve anyone from the duty of obedience to God’s law. Grace takes away the condemnation of the law, but it does not do away with the law.
Here is a what Protestants Testify about the Ten Commandments from Steve Wohlberg:
"..I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to
me that I should reject the law of Ten Commandments....Can anyone think that sin exists where there is no law?...Whosoever abrogates the law must of necessity, abrogate sin also. Martin Luther, Luther’s Works (trans., Weimer ed.), Vol. 50, pp. 470-471; originally printed in his Spiritual Antichrist, pp. 71, 72.
He who destroys the doctrine of the law, destroys at the same time political and social order. If you eject the law from the church, there will no longer be any sin recognized as such in the world. Martin Luther, quoted in M. Michelet’s Life of Luther (Hazlitt’s trans.), 2nd ed., Vol. 4, p. 315.
We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law, for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must, therefore, be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is consistent and uniform. John Calvin, Commentary on the Harmony of the Gospels, Vol. 1, p. 277.
‘Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil’" [Matthew 5:17]...The ritual or ceremonial law, delivered by Moses to the children of Israel, containing all the injunctions and ordinances which related to the old sacrifices and service of the temple, our Lord indeed did come to destroy, to dissolve, and utterly abolish. To this bear all the Apostles witness; not only Barnabas and Paul, who vehemently withstood those who taught that Christians ought ‘to keep the law of Moses;’ (Acts 15:5 ) not only St. Peter, who termed the insisting on this, on the observance of the ritual law, a ‘tempting God,’ and ‘putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers,’ saith he, ‘nor we, were able to bear;’ but all the Apostles, elders, and brethren, being assembled with one accord, (Acts 15:22,) declared, that to command them to keep this law, was to ‘subvert their souls;’ and that ‘it seemed good to the Holy Ghost’ and to them, to lay no such burden upon them. (Acts 15:28.) This ‘hand-writing of ordinances’ our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross.
But the moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven. The moral stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law, which was only designed for a temporary restraint upon a disobedient and stiff-necked people; whereas this was from the beginning of the world, being ‘written not on tables of stone,’ but on the hearts of all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And, however the letters once wrote by the finger of God are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force, upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other. John Wesley, On the Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 6, Sermons on Several Occasions (1810), pp. 75-76.
Now men may cavil as much as they like about other parts of the Bible, but I have never met an honest man that found fault with the Ten Commandments. Infidels may mock the Lawgiver and reject Him who has delivered us from the curse of the law, but they can’t help admitting that the commandments are right...they are for all nations, and will remain the commandments of God through the centuries... The people must be made to understand that the Ten Commandments are still binding, and that there is a penalty attached to their violation...Jesus never condemned the law and the prophets, but He did condemn those who did not obey them [see Matthew 5:17-19]. Dwight L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting, pp. 11, 16, 15.
Jesus did not come to change the law, but he came to explain it [see Matthew 5:17-19], and that very fact shows that it remains, for there is no need to explain that which is abrogated...In addition to explaining it the Master went further: he pointed out its spiritual character. This the Jews had not observed. They thought, for instance, that the command ‘Thou shalt not kill’ simply forbade murder and manslaughter: but the Saviour showed that anger without cause violates the law, and that hard words and cursing, and all other displays of enmity and malice, are forbidden by the commandment [see Matthew 5:21, 22]. They knew that they might not commit adultery, but it did not enter into their minds that a lascivious desire would be an offence against the precept till the Saviour said, ‘He that looketh upon a woman to lust after her committeth adultery with her already in his heart.’ [see Matthew 5:27-30]. He showed that the thought of evil is sin, that an unclean imagination pollutes the heart, that a wanton wish is guilt in the eyes of the Most High. Assuredly this was no abrogation of law: it was a wonderful exhibition of its far-reaching sovereignty and of its searching character.
Once more, that the Master did not come to alter the law is clear, because after having embodied it in his life he willingly gave himself up to bear its penalty, though he had never broken it, bearing the penalty for us, even as it is written, ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.’ ‘All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ If the law had demanded more of us than it ought to have done, would the Lord Jesus have rendered to it the penalty which resulted from its too severe demands? I am sure he would not. But because the law asked only what it ought to ask— namely perfect obedience; and exacted of the transgressor only what it ought to exact, namely, death, as the penalty for sin,—death under divine wrath, therefore the Saviour went to the tree, and there bore our sins and purged them once for all. Charles Spurgeon, Perpetuity of the Law of God, pp. 4-7.
and pointing them back to God as Creator. Added to that is the New Covenant meaning of entering into another rest through Christ, the anti-type that fulfilled the type of the rest given to Israel during Joshua’s time (
