But What About the Law?

One question that we often ask when we are in a book like Galatians is, “What do we with the Law?” Paul clearly tells us that we are not under the Old Testament Law, so what becomes of the first five books of the Bible? Our sermon today will serve to show the following main proposition: 

Now that Christ has died and risen, He has inaugurated a new covenant in which the old covenant (i.e. the Mosaic Law) has passed away. All those who believe in Him are no longer under the Law; rather, they live in response to the Gospel of Grace under the Law of Christ.

This proposition may be restated thus: The Mosaic Law/covenant has passed away and we are free from it. Although free from the Law, we now live under Grace which not only saves us but trains us to live under God’s commands, i.e. we are not under law but under Grace. To live under grace means to live in response to what Christ has done, and obey His commandments.

Six Propositions on Our Relationship to the Old Testament Law

1. The Law was given to the nation Israel for Israel.
2. The Law of Moses reveals God’s holiness, man’s selfishness and man’s need for redemption.
3. The Old Testament Law was a shadow of a better covenant.
4. In Christ, we are not under the Mosaic Law.
5. The church today lives under the Law of Christ.
6. For the Christian today, the Mosaic Law, in all its parts, remains profitable.