NOT UNDER LAW by E. S. E.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 24, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 33.

NOT UNDER LAW.

By E. S. E.

"For ye are not under the law, but under grace." Rom. 6:14.

THIS is the frequent reply to all questions, when, at the present time, the law of ten commandments is discussed. The question arises, Were you and I ever under the law? Certainly. When? When we were sinners. How do we know this? Because to redeem us from its bondage, Christ was made under the law. See Gal. 4:4, 5. "To redeem us? Yes." Some say, "Then we have nothing to do with the law." But do the Scriptures say this? To redeem those who were under the law, how was Christ made under it? God "hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." 2 Cor. 5:21. He was made "sin for us," mind, not a sinner; but he took upon himself its consequences; he knew, and felt, and bore for us its penalty. This is what forced from his lips the bitter cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Then what is it to be under the law? It is to be a sinner; and a sinner is a transgressor of the law. 1 John 3:4. Paul says that by nature he was carnal, sold under sin. Rom. 7:14. Then of course Paul was a slave, or servant, of sin; for sin has dominion or power over one if he is a servant to it, just as a master has power over the servant that serves him. Rom. 6:16, 17. Paul thanks God that, while his brethren were once the servants of sin, they had become obedient to the doctrine he had preached. In the eighteenth verse he continues: "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness." Verse 20. Who, then, is under the law? Evidently those, as we have found, who needed Christ to be made under the law for them, and thus bear their guilt as sinners. Then who are free? Those, as Paul says, who are the servants of righteousness. What makes us sinners? Breaking the law. Then it must be obedience that makes us righteous.

But some say, "What, then, has Christ done? I thought I read that we were free from the law." Yes; but how? "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:2. What is the Spirit of life? Is it not new life? What is the law of new life? Is it not holiness? Rom. 8:7, 8. The carnal, fleshly, or natural mind is not subject, obedient, to God's law, neither can it be. So we see that holiness by the Spirit of Christ is subjection to the law of God. Does that mean having nothing to do with the law? Paul says again, "I had not known sin, but by the law." Rom. 7:7. Yet he delighted in the law of God. Verse 22.

Christ is a priest. If any man sin, or unwittingly transgress God's law, Christ is his intercessor. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father." 1 John 2:1. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Then the law of the Spirit of life has made us free from the law of sin and death.

Therefore, "we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." Rom. 8:12, 13.

To whom are we debtors or under obligation? To Christ; because he has delivered us from sin, we cannot serve that which brings death. If we do, we are not in Christ; we are not freed from sin and death. But if through Christ we mortify or destroy sin by overcoming it, and live in subjection to God's will, we shall live. "There is therefore now [i. e., under these circumstances] no condemnation." Why? Because Christ has been made sin for those who are in him; he has paid their debt; he has taken their place. They walk not after the flesh or natural man, at variance with the law, but after the Spirit or mind of God. There is, indeed, nothing to condemn. Christ is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary. He takes up the case of everyone who walks in him, pleading the merits of his precious blood, which cleanses from all unrighteousness. The Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are children of God. And if we are children, then are we heirs,—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Are we joint heirs with Christ as sons of God? Is Christ our elder Brother? Do we partake of his Spirit? If so, "he that saith he abideth in him [or has his Spirit] ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 John 2:6. Had Christ God's law in his heart, to do it? "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Ps. 40:7, 8. In the tenth verse he continues, "I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart," and shows how he had declared it, and would declare; for he came fully to preach the law, and not to destroy either it or the prophets.

Dear reader, are they in Christ who live in sin? Are they Christ's who are carnal, not subject to God's law?—E. S. E., in Bible Echo, Australia.