Do Christians Have to Obey the Old Testament Law？ - Dale Partridge
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Summary
In this episode of Real Christianity, I discuss how Christians should view the law. That is, does the law still have jurisdiction over Christians? Should we fear the law? What role does the Law play in our evangelism? I answer all this and more coming up right now on Real Christianity.
Transcript
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That is, does the law still have jurisdiction over Christians?
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I answer all this and more coming up right now.
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Welcome to Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge. Now, as you know, this show is an
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audio and video ministry of relearn.org, where our mission is simple. It's to bring the church
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back to the Bible. Before we get started, do you have a friend or a family member who
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needs to hear the gospel? Maybe a neighbor. Have you just been maybe intimidated to share the
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gospel with them? Maybe you don't have the right theological clarity to deliver the message with
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confidence, or maybe you're concerned about their tough follow-up questions. If that's you,
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we have a perfect tool for you. It's called mailthegospel.org. You can mail a beautifully
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designed, a theologically accurate presentation of the gospel. It only takes about 12 minutes to
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read, and you can send it to anybody in the U.S. or Canada. Go ahead and go to mailthegospel.org
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to mail a copy today. All right, let's go ahead and get started. We are in Romans. What an
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incredible book this is. And as I said in previous sermons, this section in Scripture,
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Romans 3.20-31 really acts as this center of the biblical solar system. And it's such an
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important passage in this book. Everything revolves around this. The Bible anticipates
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this section of Scripture. So we're going to read that entire passage again so we can focus
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on our text today, which is verses 28-31. So I'm going to start in verse 20. It says,
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because by works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes
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the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested,
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being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith
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in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen
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short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which
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is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.
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This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, he passed
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over the sins previously committed for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness
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at the present time, so that he would be the just and the justifier of the one who has
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For we maintain that a man is justified by faith
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Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith
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and the uncircumcised through faith is one.
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All right, I know that was a long passage of scripture,
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maybe think about 4th of July, you can probably relate with what I think Paul is doing here.
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Everybody anticipates the grand finale. I mean, you get there, you know that maybe 20, maybe 30
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minutes in to the fireworks show, you're going to have this grand finale. And if you've been to a
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well-designed fireworks show, you know that the coordinator will often scale the intensity
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as you get closer and closer to the end of the show. And he'll have you on the edge of your
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on the edge of your seat thinking, man, is this it? Is that the grand finale? And then it kind
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of scales back a little bit. Then it intensifies even more. And he does this over and over until
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he draws the crowd to this climactic moment, which we call the grand finale. And Paul uses
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a strategy that's similar to this in his structure for Romans. Obviously, it's kind of going up and
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down, up and down, but this is really a climactic part of the first portion of this book. He makes
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these back-to-back intensifying claims, like Romans 3.10, which is, there is none righteous,
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not even one. And I know that's difficult because we've read it so many times that you might not
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understand the magnitude of a statement like that, but this is an incredible statement.
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And then he says in Romans 3.20, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. I mean,
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this is huge statements of theological truth that is going to stun the audience that he's speaking
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to. And then we have Romans 3.21, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
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It's the exact opposite. It's very counterintuitive to what they were expecting.
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And now in our text today, we finally get to the grand finale of, I think,
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Paul's multi-chapter coordinated argument when he says in Romans 3.28,
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quote, a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. So we are justified by faith.
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And so again, the whole Bible anticipates this claim.
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and equally under the universal jurisdiction of the law.
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So we all are in a state of unrighteousness because we have not been able to keep the law
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in our original sin, but also our acts of sin. And so our central need as humans is to identify
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how we can become righteous. How can we be found righteous? How can we get righteous given to us?
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How can we become guiltless before God on judgment day? And so for thousands of years, this truth
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in great part remained a mystery to God's people. But here in Romans, the clarity of redemption
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really reaches its high point in this statement.
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I think the Old Testament really anticipates this statement.
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Yes, we hear a little bit about this in Genesis 15,
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but this is absolute clarity, theological clarity.
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But a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
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And so this is a statement that really hit the Pharisees hard
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that they're going to justify themselves through obedience. This is something that's going to really
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struggle with the Mormons. This is someone that with the Jehovah's Witness or the Catholics,
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the Roman Catholic Church, this is a doctrine that really acts as a knife to all of those
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theological conclusions because we cannot earn or contribute to our right standing by our works
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of obedience to the law. We are only justified by faith. And so let's go verse by verse through
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the text and extract the meaning and apply it to our hearts and minds so that we might understand
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the gospel even more. We could become more gospel fluent. And we want to understand the position
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and posture that we should have towards the law, which we'll get towards at the end of this
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episode today. So verse 28, for we maintain that man is justified by faith apart from works of the
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law. So Paul is making a contrast between works of the law and the workless means of faith. We know
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that faith is best characterized as rest. And so it's really dependence, it's trust. And so there's
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a contrast happening here between faith and works of the law. And as I said last week, saving faith
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is not some sort of intrinsic substance that we have within the human condition whereby all men
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must, upon their own free will, exercise their free decision to have faith in Jesus. We really
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removed that idea in the last episode. No, saving faith is not an act or it's not a work. It's a
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gift of God. And we see that very clearly in Ephesians 2 verses 8 through 9. But it's when
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we have saving faith, this trust, this giving our life over to Christ, this relinquishing the
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authority of ourselves in submitting to the Lordship of Jesus. When that happens, this is
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really a response to an already regenerated heart. And so this is not something that we do
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as a first act. It's actually a response from God acting first. And so the 18th century
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Presbyterian theologian, Robert Haldane, who's been probably the most helpful commentator as
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I've been going through Romans. He did the Banner of Truth. It's the Geneva commentary series that
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has really supported some of the study that we've been through here. He clarifies that faith is when
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he says, quote, faith does not justify as an act of righteousness, but as an instrument by which
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we receive Christ and his righteousness. So essentially saving faith is not a work of man.
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It's a gift of God. We know this. And faith is not an action. It's really a vehicle or the means
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or a channel by which God transmits the righteousness of Christ to us. So God doesn't
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just give us Christ. That's important that we have Christ coming to cover our sins or pay for the
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penalty of our sin. He also gives us the means to attain what we need from Christ, which is
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that righteousness. So that righteousness is imputed to us and it's imputed to us through
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the means of faith. Hal Dane makes another important biblical observation. He says,
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quote, believers are said to be justified by faith and of faith and through faith, but never on an
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account of faith. And he's touching on this idea that we don't have this intrinsic ability to have
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faith on our own. Faith is a gift and faith is the means. It's not an action. It's not a work
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that gives us this righteousness. And so the Bible always speaks to faith as this channel.
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In other words, faith is the means of justifications, not a human choice that procures salvation
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as a result. So I want you guys to really grasp it. If you don't understand that, you can go back
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to the previous episode and listen to the episode on the fallacy of free will, which we're talking
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about that we don't have free will to actually choose Jesus. We're slaves to sin. I always tell
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people that we have a will, but it's never free. We are either enslaved to sin or we're enslaved
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to Christ. So this justification is apart from works of the law. Without a doubt, this helps us
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understand that obedience is not the root of our salvation, but it's the fruit of our salvation.
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And the root of our salvation is what? Well, it's the perfect obedience of Christ. And so that's
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why we can rest that we're not going to ever lose our salvation because we're resting upon the
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perfect righteousness of Christ. So as long as Christ is righteous, you will always be righteous.
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and that is given to us through the means of faith.
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And that faith is even given to us as the means of a gift.
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And so this is really all resting upon the work
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It allows us to really look at the gospel as good news.
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we need to rest upon the sinful or the sinless law keeper.
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We think that, you know, people will say phrases like, Jesus died for you. And I go, that's true.
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In the sense, if you're talking to somebody that is a Christian, Jesus died for their sins. He died
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for the sins of their people, of his people. But what we don't often say is that Jesus lived for
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you. And Jesus doesn't just die for the penalty and the sin that covers the sins of his people,
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and imputes his righteousness to us through faith.
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God who will justify the circumcised by faith
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and the uncircumcised through faith is one.
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Okay, Paul is talking to people who have the law.
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His audience here is obviously Jews and Gentiles,
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And he clarifies that this truth about justification
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by faith is not limited just to those people who had the law. He's saying that the Jews had the
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law, but also the Gentiles, and they're both going to be justified equally by faith. In other words,
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unlike the biological connection of Abraham that the Jews had, the possession of the law
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from Moses, again, what the Jews had, and the sign of circumcision, again, what the Jews had,
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faith is not a national quality that's limited to only Israel. Faith is a universal attribute
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into a greater opportunity for the Gentiles to come in.
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This is part of this great taking dominion
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This is what is a part of what we're gonna see here.
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Paul is demonstrating that all are equally justified
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to those who had the law, it's a promise to those who didn't have the law. And so to a Jew, this
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would be a difficult concept to accept. I mean, this is a struggling concept for them because
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Paul is claiming that the special relationship that God had with Israel has now been expanded
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to include other nations. This is something that you need to grasp as the contextual side of this
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discussion. So this is nothing more than the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, Genesis
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22, 17 through 18, which says, quote, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your
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offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand is of the seashore. And your offspring shall
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possess the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth
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be blessed, end quote. So the promise is also fulfilled in part through Paul's ministry. We
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see this in Acts 9.15 when God is talking to Ananias, when Paul has gone blind and Ananias
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is to restore his sight. He tells Ananias, quote, go for he, that's Paul, is a chosen instrument
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of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. So this already
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starting to see this expansion of the gospel, expansion of the kingdom that's going to go
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beyond the Jews. This is also a promise that's realized in the Great Commission, which is given
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by Jesus in Matthew 28, 18 through 20, that says, quote, and Jesus came up and spoke to them saying,
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all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple the nations,
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baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
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all that I have commanded to you. And lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.
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And lastly, Paul is confirming and summarizing this promise of the expansion from the Jews to
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the Gentiles in Galatians 3, 26 to 29. He says, for you are all sons of God through faith
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in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
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There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor
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female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
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descendants, heirs according to the promise. So that's kind of the full circle there, seeing that
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this is absolutely in connection with Abraham's promise. And essentially the Gentiles, the
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expansion to include the Gentiles was always the plan. Paul then grounds his statement regarding
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the global focus of the gospel in the following verse. He says, since indeed God who will justify
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the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith is one. The heart of Paul's effort
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here is to establish a view of the kingdom that is exceeding the national borders of Israel.
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This is a big look for the Jews to understand that God actually plans to take over the whole
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world. And Christ isn't simply the king of the Jews, he's also the king of the entire earth.
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And the text, in a sense, was intended to clarify to God's people that they were no longer
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distinguished by their nation state, but they're actually
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distinguished by their spiritual state. And while this
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probably frustrated the pride of the Jews, it really is a
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doctrine that sits at the foundation of Christendom, that
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we are as a church attempting by way of the gospel to the power
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of Jesus Christ, to preach the gospel to take the nations by
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storm through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. And so God plans
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to have dominion in every nation across the globe. That's
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exactly what Paul is talking about in part. So Paul then closes by anticipating a question that
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they're going to arise as a Jew. And he says in verse 31, do we then nullify the law through
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faith? They're essentially asking the question, if we're saved and justified not by works of the
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law, then does our faith actually nullify the purpose of the law? Paul says, may it never be,
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on the contrary, we establish the law. And so this is an important verse to properly interpret
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because the misinterpretation of this passage has led to so many different heretical movements,
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the Hebrew Roots Movement, obviously people that think that keeping the law has some sort of
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contribution to your justification in Christ. It essentially, we have to realize that the
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ceremonial law, the sacrificial law, the feasts, the moons, the Saturday Sabbaths, all these
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different things still have lost their purpose because the substance of that purpose has
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arrived in Christ. And there is no jurisdiction or justifying power in those practices for
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Christians. Those things are not the things that actually make a person right before God.
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The only thing that makes a person right before God is faith in Jesus Christ. So two things
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are really being confirmed in this text. Justification by faith does not remove the
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jurisdiction of the law. It doesn't remove the jurisdiction of the law. The law is still
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absolutely here. And then the second thing is justification by faith doesn't mean obedience to
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the moral law. The 10 commandments, the Decalogue was no longer required. So I'm going to say that
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this truth was really not established by Paul, but absolutely established by Christ. We can see this
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in Matthew 5, 17 through 20. Jesus says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the
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prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until
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heaven and earth passes away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
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Therefore, whoever relaxes on one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the
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same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them
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will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds
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Okay, so the central failure of the American evangelicalism
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is our commitment to preach Jesus without the law.
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because the law is actually the thing that wounds
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but nevertheless, we still must absolutely work
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to maintain our personal sense of holiness to that law.
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we rest on the ability of Christ to keep that law.
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the reason we teach our kids the 10 commandments is why?
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It's the standard of righteousness that God demands that only Christ could keep.
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We can't maintain that righteousness to those 10 commandments.
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And this is what sober preaching of the law does.
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It forces us to realize that we cannot justify ourselves, but we need the righteousness of
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And so Paul is teaching here that the fulfillment of the law by Christ on behalf of his people
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doesn't nullify the jurisdiction of the law in his people. In a very real sense, the law has a
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purpose. And what is that purpose? We know it because Paul just said it. It's to bring about
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the knowledge of sin. That's what it does. It's a mirror to ourselves to show. It's a measuring
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stick and a rod to make us realize that we are not righteous and that we need an alien righteousness,
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a righteousness of Christ that can be given to us again by faith. And so the law is still active
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in the world. It's still absolutely should be used in our preaching. It still has a purpose of
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instructing even to the Christians. So namely the law of God has both a condemning power over the
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lost or over the world, and it has an instructing or guiding power over the saints. And this is how
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we have to view the law. So we still need to be absolutely, you know, thou shall not commit
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adultery. I mean, this is absolutely something that we should be aiming for. And Jesus doesn't
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even just leave it at that. He actually says, you've heard that it says to not commit adultery.
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I'm saying to you, even if you lust after a woman, you commit adultery in your heart. So
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what Jesus is doing is he's actually saying the law isn't just the actions, it's actually the
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thoughts and intents of the heart. So Jesus is a law magnifier. So he's saying it's not just about
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following just what is said here, it's actually the internal state of your heart matters to the
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law as well, which should make people despair even more because they're thinking to myself,
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oh my goodness, if lusting or thinking hateful thoughts or thinking blasphemous ideas,
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if even the thought of those things breaks the law, there's no way I'm going to be found righteous.
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And this is why Jesus says that you have to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees,
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The Pharisees are the most extreme religious zealots
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And I'm nowhere close to that religious holiness.
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he's the only one that has been able to keep that law.
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the gospel establishes the law by fulfilling its purpose,
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this should change our relationship with the law
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from fear and condemnation because there is therefore now no condemnation for those who
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are in Christ Jesus. We know that in Romans chapter eight, but this should actually turn
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into be a guide for more Christ likeness. The law was kept by Christ. If you want to be like
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Christ, then keep the law. The good news is that when you fail, Christ doesn't fail and we can rest
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in that reality. So we obey the law, not because it makes us righteous. We obey the law because of
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our love and gratitude for the righteousness that was given to us by faith in Jesus Christ.
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So hopefully that was helpful for you guys in breaking down this passage of scripture,
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understanding the relationship with the law that the Christian has. If you're a regular listener
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to this podcast, thank you guys so much for listening. We'd love to have you give us a
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review. You don't even have to write anything. You just tap the stars in your podcast app.
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Those reviews really do help the exposure of our show. And thank you guys just for
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continued loyal listenership. On that note, we're going to end this episode. My name is
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Dale Partridge. This is Real Christianity, and we'll see you guys next time.
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