“Ye Are Not Under The Law”

Romans 6:14

Legalists have a very hard time when asked, “Can you show me some place in the New Testament, any place, just a line, or even a word that might indicate that believers are still under the law?” They have a difficult time with that question because every statement about the law and the believer in the entire New Testament asserts exactly what Paul says in Romans 6:14. “ye are Not Under The Law!” If you are a believer, if you trust Christ, you are not under the law to any degree, for any reason. Yet, whenever I preach or write about Christ being the end of the law, there is always someone who either misunderstands or misrepresents what I am saying. So let me be perfectly clear.

The Word of God does not teach, nor does any child of God believe, that the LAW of God is evil (1 Tim. 1:8-9). Paul states clearly that those who desire to be teachers of the law as having something to do with sinners made right in Christ use it for evil purposes (1 Tim. 7-11); but the law of God is holy, just and good. It would be well if all men lived in conformity to the law’s commands, both in outward practice and in inward principle. Indeed, it is ordained of God and used by all civil governments to protect society from those who would otherwise disregard all respect for the rights, property, and lives of others.

The Word of God does not teach, nor do I believe, that believer’s are free to break the law. Not only is the believer not free to break the law, he has no desire to do so. To those who believe, God’s commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:1-3). If we could, we would love God with all out hearts. If we could, we would love our neighbor as ourselves. But we do not have the ability to do so.

I am saying, and the Word of God does most emphatically teach, that in Christ the believer is entirely free from the law, because Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” We have been crucified with Christ, and we are “become dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Rom. 7:4). There is no sense whatsoever in which it may be said that the believer is under the law.

Men may accuse us of being antinomians, promoters of licentiousness, censor us, and warn others to avoid contact with us, as though our liberty in Christ were some kind of spiritual leprosy. But we will not again be entangled with the yoke of bondage. We will not attempt to reach the throne of God by climbing Mt. Sinai. We will simply trust the grace of God streaming to us from the wounds of our crucified Savior, finding all our righteousness and all our redemption in that One who died for our sins at Mt. Calvary. As for those who seek God’s favor by their obedience to the law, let them be warned - “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Show me a man who trusts his own righteousness, obedience, devotion, feelings, or anything else of his own, and I will show you a man who is lost, to whom the blood and righteousness of Christ is worthless.

Don Fortner