“We are not Under the Law”

Romans 6:15

            I am frequently asked, “What place does the law have in the believer’s life?” When I answer, “None,” I am asked, “Don’t you think the law is the believer’s rule of life?” I answer, “No.” Then, inevitably, I am asked, “What do you do with the law?” I answer, “Nothing.”

Many vainly imagine that men and women can be persuaded to cease from sin and live in holiness by putting them under the bondage of the law. And they quake at the thoughts of evil and licentiousness that would abound if believers are persuaded that they are totally free from the law. Paul knew better. When he wanted to promote holiness of life among God's people, he said, “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace...Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!” It is legalism, not free grace that stirs up sin in men.

I refuse to be brought again into bondage. Our rule of life is not the Ten Commandments. Our rule of life is the whole Word of God. Our motive for godliness is the love of Christ. Is this not the teaching of Holy Scripture?

            The Ten Commandments cannot be separated from the other statutes given to Israel. If we are compelled to keep a sabbath day, we must also keep up the daily sacrifices, the priesthood and the day of atonement. Either we are under the whole of the law, or none of it. Either Christ fulfilled it all, or he fulfilled nothing. The New Testament reveals this as a matter of fact. It is stated as clearly as anything revealed in Holy Scripture. Believers are not under the law to any degree, for any reason, at any time, in any sense, or in any way, because “Christ is the end of the law.” In him, we are “dead to the law.”

            Does this mean that believers are loose living, licentious people, who have no regard for the will and glory of God? Only a proud, prating legalist would even think of such a question as that! Believers are people whose lives are voluntarily given over to the rule and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, consecrated to him, seeking conformity to him, and communion with him, realizing all the while that Christ alone is all our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

            The Scripture distinctly teaches us that we are not justified by the law, nor is the law a rule of life. That which can only curse can never justify; and that which can only kill can never be a rule of life (Romans 3:20). Both the Jews, to whom the law was given, and the Gentiles, to whom it was never given, are “saved through grace” (Acts 15:11), “stand in grace” (Romans 5:2), and “grow in grace” (2 Peter 3:18). All who seek to put believers under the law seek to destroy the very foundations of the Christian faith.

            Listen to the strong words, which came from the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:12. “I would they were even cut off which trouble you.” It is as clear as the noonday sun that the law is neither the ground of life to the sinner nor the rule of life to the believer. The Lord Jesus Christ is both the one and the other. He is our Life and our Rule of Life. The law can only curse and kill. Christ is our Life and our Righteousness. He became a curse for us by hanging on a tree. He went down into the place of death and judgment, and by his death completely discharged all that was or could be against us. “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”

Don Fortner

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