The Law versus God's Commandments

[Christsfreeservant]

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:13-15 NASB1995)​

Are we who are in Christ, by faith in him, free from all the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, dietary, Sabbath and circumcision laws? Yes, we are! Are we then free from having to obey our Lord’s commandments under the New Covenant? No! We are not! For the New Testament Scriptures instruct us that our faith in Jesus Christ, if from God, will result in us dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in practice, and if we don’t, we do not have eternal life with God.

Just because we are not under the Old Covenant, it does not mean we can now be lawless. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father. Many will stand before the Lord on the day of judgment, proclaiming him as “Lord,” and what they did in his name. But he will say, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they did not obey the Lord’s commands (see Matthew 7:21-23).

So, the New Covenant that God now has with his people Israel (Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ) is not lawless. We are not free now to live however we want without conscience, without guilt, without remorse, and without genuine repentance and changed lives. So freedom from the Old Covenant law is not to be an opportunity for the flesh. For by faith in Jesus we die to sin so that we might now walk in obedience to his commands, by the Spirit, in the power of God, by the grace of God, and not of the flesh.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:16-21 NASB1995)​

So, what does it mean that we are not under The Law, if we are led by the Spirit, and yet the New Testament teaches us that we must obey the commandments of God or we don’t know God, and we are not in fellowship with him, and we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, but we are of the devil? Well, we learn in the Scriptures that the Old Covenant law was written on tablets but the New Covenant law is written on human hearts (Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16-17; Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Now please read these Scriptures in the context of the whole of the teachings of the New Testament under the New Covenant. For this is not teaching that once all our sins are forgiven that we no longer have to obey God, or that we are now free to keep living in sin. For the context makes it clear that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we must die to sin, sin must no longer be our practice, and obedience to our Lord’s commands must be what we practice, but by the Spirit who now lives within us, because we want to.

We aren’t just following a set of rules via a religious ritual. We are obeying our Lord and his New Covenant commands because we love him, and we do not want to sin against him, and we desire to please him with our lives, because our hearts have been transformed and made new by the Spirit. So, if we refuse to obey the Lord, and if we insist on continuing in deliberately sinning against our Lord, in practice, the Scriptures teach we are not intimately acquainted with God and so we will not have eternal life in him.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

The Law versus God’s Commandments
An Original Work / May 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

[Clare73]

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:13-15 NASB1995)​

Are we who are in Christ, by faith in him, free from all the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, dietary, Sabbath and circumcision laws? Yes, we are! Are we then free from having to obey our Lord’s commandments under the New Covenant? No! We are not! For the New Testament Scriptures instruct us that our faith in Jesus Christ, if from God, will result in us dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in practice, and if we don’t, we do not have eternal life with God.

Just because we are not under the Old Covenant, it does not mean we can now be lawless.

Are those the only two options?

We are under the New Covenant Law. . .love of God and one another as Christ has loved us (Jn 13:34).

For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father. Many will stand before the Lord on the day of judgment, proclaiming him as “Lord,” and what they did in his name. But he will say, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they did not obey the Lord’s commands (see Matthew 7:21-23).
So, the New Covenant that God now has with his people Israel (Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ) is not lawless. We are not free now to live however we want without conscience, without guilt, without remorse, and without genuine repentance and changed lives. So freedom from the Old Covenant law is not to be an opportunity for the flesh. For by faith in Jesus we die to sin so that we might now walk in obedience to his commands, by the Spirit, in the power of God, by the grace of God, and not of the flesh.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:16-21 NASB1995)​

So, what does it mean that we are not under The Law, if we are led by the Spirit, and yet the New Testament teaches us that we must obey the commandments of God or we don’t know God, and we are not in fellowship with him, and we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, but we are of the devil? Well, we learn in the Scriptures that the Old Covenant law was written on tablets but the New Covenant law is written on human hearts (Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16-17; Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Now please read these Scriptures in the context of the whole of the teachings of the New Testament under the New Covenant. For this is not teaching that once all our sins are forgiven that we no longer have to obey God, or that we are now free to keep living in sin. For the context makes it clear that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we must die to sin, sin must no longer be our practice, and obedience to our Lord’s commands must be what we practice, but by the Spirit who now lives within us, because we want to.

We aren’t just following a set of rules via a religious ritual. We are obeying our Lord and his New Covenant commands because we love him, and we do not want to sin against him, and we desire to please him with our lives, because our hearts have been transformed and made new by the Spirit. So, if we refuse to obey the Lord, and if we insist on continuing in deliberately sinning against our Lord, in practice, the Scriptures teach we are not intimately acquainted with God and so we will not have eternal life in him.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

The Law versus God’s Commandments
An Original Work / May 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Are those the only two options?

We are under the New Covenant Law. . .love of God and one another as Christ has loved us (Jn 13:34).

That wasn't two options, either being under the Old Covenant law or being lawless. Neither of those is an option. The point was that just because we are not under the Old Covenant law is not free license to be lawless, which is what this Scripture is teaching. Paul, via God, was letting the believers in Christ know that freedom from the OC law is not freedom to keep on sinning. And the NT Scriptures teach we must obey God's commandments or we don’t love God, we don't know God, and we will not inherit eternal life with God. See noted Scriptures above.

 

[KevinT]

So, what does it mean that we are not under The Law, if we are led by the Spirit, and yet the New Testament teaches us that we must obey the commandments of God or we don’t know God, and we are not in fellowship with him, and we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, but we are of the devil? Well, we learn in the Scriptures that the Old Covenant law was written on tablets but the New Covenant law is written on human hearts (Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16-17; Jeremiah 31:31-34).

I like what you have written here. One of the issues that troubles me, and that I haven't figured out yet, is how the "led by the Spirit" part goes. We are told that if a brother is doing wrong, to go speak with them. And if they are not receptive, to take a 2nd person. But what if that person just replies, "You can't tell me that I'm doing something wrong, because the Spirit in me hasn't told me that its wrong." If the definition of lawlessness is just whatever happens to seem right to various humans, and there is no external objective reference standard, then it all seems a big mess to me.

Best wishes,
KT

 

[Christsfreeservant]

I like what you have written here. One of the issues that troubles me, and that I haven't figured out yet, is how the "led by the Spirit" part goes. We are told that if a brother is doing wrong, to go speak with them. And if they are not receptive, to take a 2nd person. But what if that person just replies, "You can't tell me that I'm doing something wrong, because the Spirit in me hasn't told me that its wrong." If the definition of lawlessness is just whatever happens to seem right to various humans, and there is no external objective reference standard, then it all seems a big mess to me.

Best wishes,
KT

Well, the New Testament writings definitely lay down the law for us over and over again. So the law is still written down for us and we are still instructed that we must obey the law of God under the New Covenant. It can, therefore, be a confusing subject. But the NT makes it very plain what God requires of us, and of the consequences if we choose to ignore his commands. So all are without excuse if they choose disobedience over obeying God.

 

[Clare73]

I like what you have written here. One of the issues that troubles me, and that I haven't figured out yet, is how the "led by the Spirit" part goes. We are told that if a brother is doing wrong, to go speak with them. And if they are not receptive, to take a 2nd person. But what if that person just replies, "You can't tell me that I'm doing something wrong, because the Spirit in me hasn't told me that its wrong."

The church doesn't have to agree, and can put him out of the fellowship (1 Co 5:1-2) until he repents.

If the definition of lawlessness is just whatever happens to seem right to various humans, and there is no external objective reference standard, then it all seems a big mess to me.

Best wishes,
KT

 

[Bob S]

The new covenant that God made for all mankind is a covenant of Love and Grace. Love covers every aspect of morality. If everyone loved each other as Jesus loves us, wouldn't it be a taste of Heaven?