The Church and The Law and The Gospel

  In the Fall of 2008, I took 3 classes at Westminster Seminary in Dallas, TX. It was a busy semester taking this many classes while working a full-time job and leading a men’s home group through the church I went to. An overloaded schedule didn’t allow me to give as much time to each class that I would have liked to, but I still passed all of them.

   I mentioned earlier that one of the research papers that I had written was “The Church and The Law and The Gospel”, for a Doctrine of Church class taught by Sinclair Ferguson. It was a class that I did not really want to take but it was available to take. I wanted to at least take 3 classes. Never again while working full-time. Too much!

   I decided to write this paper because questions of the law and how it played in a modern-day believers life still nagged at me. I wanted to continue to know who Jesus was and strive to imitate Him and I still do. I didn’t write the paper to be eloquent, make a great grade, or impress the teacher. No, I wrote it because I wanted to know more about “The Anointed One”, whom I call Lord and Savior. I wanted to know the truth. I wanted to have GOD increase in my life and the fear of man decrease. I wanted to follow my Lord’s example, and be like Him.

   It was just part of the beginning stages of a paradigm shift in thinking of GOD’s Word, Who Jesus is, Who the Father is, and the identity of the Church. It was a subject to big for a short semester at college and a 15 page research paper. There are too many theologians, too many views, and just too much to cover it in a short paper.

   I did not know of a lot of Messianic/Messianic Jewish/Torah Observant resources at the time. For some reason, I had a hard time finding scholarly books and papers from these perspectives. I look back on this paper and cringe, now.  In hindsight, I see now that this paper really has several  themes/doctrines wrapped up in it with the Law, the Gospel, the identity of Israel, the identity of the Church, who Jesus is, who the Father is, how the Holy Spirit works in it, and the practical application of this in one’s life. They seem to all intertwine.

   I hope that this is not viewed as just coming from another crazy or just treated like some evil being against whatever stance you may have. Rather, I hope it is seen from a fellow child of GOD, created with flesh/bone, with a spirit, and a soul that is longing to know his Heavenly Father, Savior, and striving to be led by the Holy Spirit in a journey to ever grow more like Yeshua The Messiah. A young believer looking for answers.

    I didn’t take a stance in the paper on purpose. My college professor I think made the comment that he wished I would have revealed what I believed. I didn’t know though. I finished the semester not knowing and only with more questions. I did feel like the Holy Spirit had humbled me in several areas. I could see now that there was not a short, flippant answer for this topic. I don’t agree now with a lot of the views in the paper. It really just got the wheels in my head spinning more. So, I continued to finish reading “The Five Views of Law and Gospel” by Greg L. Bahnsen, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Douglass J. Moo, Wayne G. Strickland, Willem A. VanGemeren and “What Jesus Demands from the World” by John Piper while on a road trip to visit John Piper’s church in Minneapolis, MN. The wheels still churning.

   I could not understand how people who study the Bible and the Biblical Languages for 30 years and come to different conclusions. I have a good theory on this. I believe it comes down to just revelation from the Holy Spirit, pride, and ignorance.

   John Piper is one of my biggest heroes, but it made me sick that he could come to a conclusion that all of the so-called ceremonial laws was done away with from a passage like Mark 7:19. It’s only speaking of one topic. It kept running through my head, “If a student handled scripture this way, they would be reprimanded right away!” Regardless, I still see Piper as one of my heroes but just don’t agree with him on this one topic/passage.

   The sad thing is most people do not read or listen to any of their heroes with any criticism. I think you can be over critical a lot of times, but there is a pendulum swing where you are never critical. I’ve come to believe that life is a balance that you have to always strive to follow GOD with not swaying to the left or to the right, but going on a narrow path. (But this is another paper:))

   After this road trip to Minnesota, Missouri, and Chicago last February in 2009, a friend recommended ”Restoration” by Daniel Thomas Lancaster. I read it and wished I had known about it when I wrote my paper. I found Tim Hegg’s website at www.torahresource.com , First Fruits of Zion at www.ffoz.org, and started attending Baruch HaShem Messianic Congregation sporadically. I read “Holy Cow! Does GOD Care About What We Eat?” by Hope Eagan and “The Letter Writer: Paul’s Background and Torah Perspective” by Tim Hegg. I listened to Daniel Thomas Lancaster’s series on the book of Hebrews at Beth Immanuel’s website http://www.bethimmanuel.org/audio?page=4 and Rabbi Marty Waldman’s series on the book of Ephesians at the website http://baruchhashemsynagogue.org/video/stream.html. I read a couple of books by Dr. Michael Brown on Jewish objections and “Our Hands our Stained with Blood”, along with Don Finto’s book “Your People Shall Be My People”. As of right now, I have been learning a lot from Derek Leman’s website at http://derek4messiah.wordpress.com/ and the circle of people who comment on his blogs, also.

   I saw a messy movement, but was continued drawn to search and study. A whole new perspective on GOD, His Word, and the identities of His people were revealed to me. New debates that I had never thought of. A couple of my friends are interested in studying folks ministries like Rico Cortes, Brad Scott, and Bill Cloud. I started to see debates on not whether the law is still valid for the modern believer, but now it was Jew/Israel/Gentile, One Law/Two Law, this date/that date, and a whole slew of new things.  It reminded me a lot of the Calvinist/Arminian, Tongues/Cessation, and other debates amongst Christians.

   I have to say there were some beautiful things that I saw too, though. Like all of a sudden I was seeing more of who Jesus is, more unity from OT to NT, more of a heart for the people of Israel, different perspectives, and some people conversing passionately over this or that. The most amazing think is that I’m seeing people come together from Baptist, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, Church of GOD, Judaism, Lutheran, and denominations that normally would not hang out together. I’m seeing congregations and gatherings of people of all likes, ages, and demographics. Yeshua said in John 17:22-23, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

   I know it is still messy and a small movement around the world, but I see something that I didn’t see in my area while I was growing up. Messianic Congregations starting to spring up more and more despite the messiness. I pray and hope that the L-RD will only bring more unity to the body of Messiah through the Holy Spirit working mightily through us all.

   I’m still on a journey. I don’t know exactly where I stand on the binding of the law, but I know Yeshua kept it perfectly and bore the curse of sin for me. I don’t know if it is binding on me, but I have a heart that sees more of the beauty in all of GOD’s instructions and desires to follow Him and see more of Him. Whether binding or not, I do believe it takes a personal conviction from the Holy Spirit and a heart for doing anything, whether coming out of drunkenness, sexually immorality, keeping the Sabbath, Biblical diet, or anything. I don’t believe you can be dogmatic on some things, but a person must have a heart to do it. True some things seem black and white. Or do they? I just read in a book that I’m reading for JBOM, “Visions of the Fathers” by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D., that some things that were black and white for some generations may not be black and white for the current generation (Of course I’m loosely paraphrasing).

    For example Twerski says on page 8, “But let us look at several recent social changes. Just several decades ago, terminating a nonlife-threatening pregnancy was a heinous crime considered tantamount to murder. Today, it is not only acceptable, but has become an inalienable right which should be financed by public funds. How does something undergo so radical a change from a sin to a virtue in so brief a period of time?”

   So, the journey goes on. One day I know Yeshua will be back and we will know more fully. Until then, I keep striving to grow, learn, and walk in the ways of The Father, be more like my Lord Yeshua, and being led by the Holy Spirit.

   So, after a very long introduction of the setting and context of this paper, please read and recommend edifying, constructive, resources for me and readers to continue to learn and grow.

The Church and The Law and The Gospel

          “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” reads Philippians 2:5-8.[1]  “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love,” Jesus states in John 15:10.[2]

          What does it look like for a follower of Jesus Christ to obey his commandments? What commandments does the church of Christ follow? Do we follow all the commandments of the Old Testament? Did anything change for the church of God given commandments through Moses, and the church of God given commandments through Christ? What was fulfilled when Christ took on human flesh and was obedient to the point of death on a cross, to bear the curse of our sins, and reconcile us to God?

          Some will make a distinction between the Old Testament and New Testament by contrasting the Law and the Gospel, normally applying “the Law” to stand for the Old Testament and “the Gospel” to stand for the New Testament. But the Old Testament contains laws, promises, hopes, graces, and faith, as well as the New Testament. The Old Testament contains commandments from God given through Moses. The New Testament contains commandments from God given through Christ.[3]

          Herman Bavinck believed that the law of the New Testament far superseded the law of the Old Testament because it reveals mysteries more vividly, such as the Trinity, incarnation, and atonement. He believed the Old Testament law was, “temporary and designed for one people; the gospel is eternal and has to be carried to all peoples.”[4] The Old Testament law was a shadow, but the gospel of the New Testament is perfect. Bavinck goes on to state:

The law fostered fear and servitude; the gospel generates love and freedom. The law could not fully justify, it conferred no riches of grace, it gave no eternal salvation. The gospel embodied in the sacrament, however, confers the power of grace that enables its recipients to keep God’s commandments and to gain eternal life. In a word, the law is the incomplete gospel; the gospel the complete law. The gospel was contained in the law as a tree in a seed, a grain in an ear of corn. (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, 452)

            The gospel can be seen in the Old Testament through the promise to Abraham in Galatians 3:17 and 21, in Galatians 3:8, and that righteousness in the Old Testament was gained by faith per Romans 4:11-12, 11:32, and Galatians 3:6-7. The law can not justify anyone and increases sin as presented in 2 Corinthians 3:9. Bavinck said that the law prepares the way for the fulfillment of the promise and makes it necessary for righteousness of God in Christ by faith. [5]

            The church of the Old Testament community and that of the New Testament have many differences, though. The church of the Old Testament was of one nation, culture, and people. It was of the people of Israel focused on instructions in a certain land. They were a Theocracy given the law through Moses from God.[6] They had laws wrapped around the temple in Jerusalem.[7] They had the promise of the Messiah, but not the fulfillment of it. Their justification was in a forward faith in Christ.[8] They had priests, kings, and judges in their theocratic government.[9]

            On the other hand, the church of the New Testament contains people of many nations, cultures, peoples, and governments.[10] The Holy Spirit has been given to all believers. The body of Christ, the church, is the temple of God, indwelled by the Holy Spirit. They are led by the Spirit. Jesus is High Priest, Prophet, and King.[11]

            Some people speak of the Mosaic Law, when the Old Testament law is spoken about. It has been numbered that there are 613 commandments of the Mosaic commandments.[12] Calvin affirmed that we should consider the common division of the law given by God through Moses into the moral, ceremonial, and judicial laws.[13]  Some will call the law of the New Testament believer the law of Christ.[14] Some will say the eternal law, natural law, or moral law is in both the New Testament and the Old Testament.[15]

Bavinck describes the gospel of Christ this way:

   Which contains nothing less than the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise (Mark 1:15; Acts 13:32; Eph. 3:6), which comes to us from God (Rom. 1:1-2; 2 Cor. 11:7); has Christ as its content (Rom. 1:3; Eph. 3:6); and conveys nothing other than grace (Acts 20:24), reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18), forgiveness (Rom. 4:3-8), righteousness (3:21-22, peace (Eph. 6:15), freedom (Gal. 5:13), life (Rom. 1:17; Phil. 2:16), and so forth. In these texts law and gospel are contrasted as demand and gift, as command and promise, as sin and grace, as sickness and healing, as death and life. Although they agree in that both have God as author, both speak of one and the same perfect righteousness, and both are addressed to human beings to bring them to eternal life, they nevertheless differ in that the law proceeds from God’s holiness, the gospel from God’s grace; the law is known from nature, the gospel only from special revelation; the law demands perfect righteousness, but the gospel grants it; the law leads people to eternal life by works, and the gospel produces good works from the riches of the eternal life granted by faith; the law presently condemns people, and the gospel acquits them; the law addresses itself to all people, and the gospel only to those who live within its hearing; and so forth. (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, 453)

VanGemeren will argue that The Ten Commandments in the Old Testament communicate the moral laws.[16] Christ Jesus will internalize some of the commandments, for example in Matthew 5: 21-48. He states in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” This constitutes a continuance of the law for whatever Christ has not fulfilled.[17]

This view has to do something with the Sabbath, though. It was commanded by God to be followed on the seventh day of the week by God through Moses. Some people who hold this view will state that the Sabbath is part of the ceremonial laws that has been fulfilled by Christ’s coming, death, and resurrection.[18]

The ceremonial laws were a shadow of the coming of Christ, but now the substance of that shadow has came. The passage normally used for this conclusion is Colossians 2:16, 17. Calvin actually mentions this scripture in his “Institutes of the Christian Religion”.[19]

Calvin believes that Jesus Christ’s coming has fulfilled the Sabbath. He states:

            But there is no doubt that by the Lord Christ’s coming the ceremonial part of this commandment was abolished. For he himself is the truth, with whose presence all figures vanish; he is the body, at whose appearance the shadows are left behind. He is, I say, the true fulfillment of the Sabbath. “We were buried with him by baptism, we were engrafted into participation in his death, that sharing in his resurrection we may walk in newness of life.” [Rom. 6:4-5 p.] For this reason the apostle elsewhere writes that the Sabbath [Col. 2:16] was “a shadow of what is to come; but the body belongs to Christ” [Col. 2:17], that is, the very substance of truth, which Paul well explained in that passage. (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion volume one, 397)

Calvin would go on to give the reason for the church using Sunday as a day to gather for worship is to keep order and peace within the church. He would use the passages of Colossians 2:17, Galatians 4:10-11, and Roman 14:5 that no one should judge other Christians for the day that they observe.[20]  

Willem A. VanGemeren argues for a continuity of the law of God by the big picture of the history of redemption below:

(1)   At Creation God revealed the natural law in order of creation and in the moral law. Both the order in creation and the moral law reveal God’s will and nature (his perfections). (2) Humans were especially endowed to respond to God’s will, to reflect his perfections, and to live morally, in harmony with God, other humans, and creation. (3) Sin and rebelliousness keep humans from reflecting the divine perfections and from understanding the moral law as revealed in creation. (4) God sustains creation, including humans, with his grace. (5) Before the law at Mount Sinai, the Lord gave special grace and raised up people who walked with him and kept his commandments. (6) The law at Mount Sinai made much more explicit the moral law and supplemented the moral law with ceremonial and judicial regulations. (7) The old covenant was an administration of grace and promise, as well as of law. (8) The new covenant in Jesus Christ is an administration of grace and promise, but also contains law. (9) The laws point to Jesus Christ as the complement of the law. (10) The law may never be separated from covenant, grace, Jesus Christ, or the Spirit of God. (VanGemeren, Five Views on Law and Gospel, 45, 46)

The ceremonial laws usually include the Jewish festivals, Sabbath, cleansing rituals, food rituals, and temple observances. This would include sacrifices, clean and unclean foods, and holy days.[21]

The Bible is clear that Christ Jesus fulfilled the need for sacrifices of sin and the temple by His death and resurrection.  It is clear that Christ has died for the believers sins once and for all from passages such as Hebrews 9:26, 10:10, 14, 18, 26. Christ signified this per Calvin by quoting in John 19:30, “It is finished.”[22]

Piper uses verses such as John 4:20-23 to point out that the death and resurrection of Jesus has replaced temple observance with worship in spirit and truth. It is not a particular place that the church worships at now, but in what manner they worship, that is in spirit and truth.  

The abrogation of the ceremonial laws is further backed by scripture such as Mark 7:18, 19a where Jesus says, “And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”[23] Mark goes on to say in 7:19b, “Thus he declared all foods clean.” John Piper states that Jesus, “virtually nullified the Old Testament ceremonial laws” with this teaching alone. Piper goes on to quote George Ladd, “On his authority alone, Jesus set aside the principle of ceremonial purity embodied in much of the Mosaic legislation.”[24]           

Calvin put clarity on the abrogation of the ceremonial law by stating, “First, all the pomp of ceremonies which was in the law of Moses, unless it be directed to Christ, is a fleeting and worthless thing; secondly, they looked to Christ in such a way that, when he was a length revealed in the flesh, they had their fulfillment; lastly, it was fitting that they should be abrogated by his coming, just as shadows vanish in the clear light of the sun.”[25]

            The Lord Jesus did implement two ceremonial laws in the New Testament, which are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.[26]  He instituted the Lord’s Supper per Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, and Luke 22:18-20.[27] He commanded Baptism to be performed in Matthew 28:19.[28]

            The judicial or civil law of Moses is treated like the ceremonial law by most.  Calvin believes that you can use some of the laws as an example. He believes that it was given to them to help govern the body that they “might live together blamelessly and peaceably.”[29]

            John Calvin believed that the law given to Moses was given for a certain time, place, and nation. God didn’t give it to be enforced on all nations, but for the Jewish nation.[30] Martin Luther also believed that the laws of Moses were given specifically to the Israel for that time, in a sermon on August 27, 1525.[31]

            John Piper makes note of Matthew 21:43 that states, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [Israel] and given to a people producing its fruits.” He believes “God is turning his primary redemptive focus from Israel to the Gentile nations.” The church would no longer be defined solely has a theocratic system of Israel including kings, priests, and judges in the same way.

            This would change the way people follow Jesus and the church is ran. As Piper states, “No longer do God’s people (the followers of Jesus) govern themselves by putting to death blasphemers (Lev. 24:14) or adulterers (Lev. 20:10) or fornicators (Deut. 22:21) or Sabbath-breakers (Exod. 31:14) or sorceresses (Exod. 22:18) or false witnesses (Deut. 19:16, 19) or those who disobey their parents (Exod. 21:15, 17).” God’s people will be intertwined in governments and ethnic groups all around the world as Matthew 28:19 denotes.

            Jesus would sum up the whole Law and Prophets in love per Matthew 22:37-40, “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”[32]

            To further clarify what this looks like, Jesus also stated in Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.” Piper warns that this is not without God because God maintains this rule that can be seen in the preceding passages of Matthew 7:7-11.[33]

            Some do not hold to this view of the Old Testament Law, though. For example, Rev. Robert A. Lotzer doesn’t believe there is biblical warrant for the threefold division of the Mosaic Law into moral, ceremonial, and civil law. He instead believes that the Apostle Paul’s view of the law is: “(1) the law is a unique, historical covenant given to Israel as a nation, (2) the law is a unified whole, and (3) the law is legal in nature.”[34]

            He notes that some OT scripture speak of a “perpetual covenant” using verses Exodus 40:15, 31:16, Leviticus 16:34, and 24:8 to make his point. He further points to Matthew 5:17-19 to point out that Jesus said he came to fulfill the law. The argument here sometimes is what is meant by “fulfill”. “Is Jesus merely “confirming” or “reestablishing” the law by removing the abuses of the scribes and Pharisees or is Jesus “fulfilling” the law in the sense that something more radical is taking place in him?,” Lotzer goes on to state.[35]

            Douglas J. Moo will point out that, “the English words “eternal” and “everlasting” translate Hebrew words that mean “lasting for an age” (‘olam). Thus, for example, the Levitical priesthood is said to be “eternal” (Ex. 40:15), but Hebrews claims explicitly that it has been done away with under the new covenant.” He goes on to say that, “the strict application of this logic would mean that every detail of the Mosaic legislation would remain authoritative in the new covenant era, including the sacrificial law.”[36]

            Moo will also make that point that the Old Testament church of God does not have a basis for future salvation in a restoration of the Mt. Sinai covenant in Romans 11:16, 28-29, “but on the faithfulness of God to his calling of the people Israel and his promises to the patriarchs.”[37] He goes on to state, “Hope for a new covenant that would arise out of the ashes of the old surfaces repeatedly in the prophets (Isa. 24:5; 42:6; 49:8; 54:10; 55:3; 59:21; 61:8; Jer. 31:31-34; 32:37-41; 50:5; Ezek. 16:60-63; 34:25; 37:15-28 [26]; Hos. 2:18). This covenant is no simple renewal of the Mosaic covenant, but a new arrangement, “not . . . like the covenant I made with their forefathers” (Jer. 31:32); in it God, by his Spirit (Ezek. 36:24-28), insures that his law is obeyed (Jer. 31:33-34[the word tora is used]; Ezek. 37:24; cf. also 11:20; 36:27 [the words huqqot, “statutes,” and mispot, “judgments,” are used]).”[38]

            Lotzer notes that Jesus is not separating law into divisions either, in Matthew 5:17.  He comments that the New Testament does mention certain things ceasing such as circumcision, sacrifices, and food rituals.[39] He states several scripture passages for this conclusion below:

                        The New Testament often speaks of the law (or Mosaic covenant) as coming to an end (Rom. 10:4; cf. Matt. 5:17), that we are “not under the law” (Rom. 6:14-15; Gal. 3:23-25, 4:1-5, 21; 5:18; 1 Cor. 9:20-21), that we have died to the law (7:1-6) and that there is a change in the law (Matt. 19:3-12; Mk. 7:19; Acts 10:15; Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 2:13-14; 2 Cor. 3:7; Heb. 7:11-19; 8:7-13; 10:1-2).  The law is replaced because it could not provide forgiveness of sins and could not produce the fruit of righteousness (Rom. 7:4-5; 8:1-4; Heb. 7:18; Eph. 2:14-15).  It has been replaced by a new, better covenant/law. (Lotzer, “How Does the Christian Relate to the Law of Moses?”)

He goes on to state a view shared by Luther that Christ fulfilled all of the Law given to Moses. He believes that the church now follows the law of Christ alone, while Martin Luther will state Moses is not a teacher of Gentiles “unless he agrees with both the New Testament and the natural law.” They believe that the Law of Moses is not binding on the new covenant believer.[40]

Lotzer does however believe “that we should view the eternal, moral Law as contained “in” the Ten Commandments but not equivalent to the Ten Commandments.”[41]

Douglass J. Moo would find agreement with this interpretation of the Mosaic Law in “Five Views on Law and Gospel”. He states, “The entire Mosaic Law comes to fulfillment in Christ, and this fulfillment means that this law is no longer a direct and immediate source of, or judge of, the conduct of God’s people. Christian behavior, rather, is not guided directly by “the law of Christ.”[42]

Lotzer uses the “six antitheses” passages of Matthew 5:21-22, 33-34, 27-28, 31-32, 38-39, and 43-44, that Jesus stated, to support that Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law. He goes on to reflect that “Ned B. Stonehouse, former professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary (1929-1962) to support his view on these passages.[43]

C.H. Spurgeon preached a sermon on November 19, 1876 called “Christ the End of the Law” using Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believes.”  He goes on to define three things that he believes “end of the Law” means, “First, that Christ is the purpose and object of the Law. Secondly, that He is the fulfillment of it, and, thirdly, He is the termination of it.“ Spurgeon argued that, “We are not under the Law, but under Grace.” He pointed out that, “we are called, not of works, but by the Spirit of God.” He believed that once you become a believer in Christ that you will love God and keep God’s commandments. Spurgeon believed you had to look to the New Testament for this grace.[44]

So far, the views that have been pointed out in this paper of how people have taken that the church should follow the Old Testament, more specifically the Mosaic Law, have all agreed that there were change of how these laws in relevance to what Christ fulfilled. They may differ on how the church views the Old Testament laws and church under the laws given to Moses by God, and the continuity of these laws in relationship to the laws given by Christ through God.  They may differ on when the church began. Dispensationalists have a different view of what the church looks like and Israel.  They would say God has a plan for Israel and a plan for the church, but they are separate entities.[45] But they all seem to me that they believe that God gives an eternal, natural, moral law somehow, whether it is continuity from Old Testament to New Testament, has to be filtered through the New Testament and Christ Jesus, a discontinuity between Old Testament and New Testament, or a complete or partial fulfillment of all Mosaic Law by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Some still believe that the church should follow the Sabbath on the seventh day of each week.[46] They make no distinction between the law as moral, civil, or ceremonial.[47] They still believe in eating only the clean foods.[48]  They do say salvation is gained only by faith alone that is given by grace.[49] These are normally believers that call themselves Messianic Jews, Torah Observant, or just Messianic, such as Brad Scott of the Wildbranch Ministry, http://www.wildbranch.org/.[50] Seventh Day Adventist is another denomination that believes in following the “Sabbath” on the seventh day of the week per http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/.[51]

With so many different views of the body of Christ, it is hard to see how the church maintains unity, discipline, mission, and edification of fellow Christians. We are after all, all in Christ. Edmund Clowney makes note that baptism is an ordinance that gives the name of Christ. He puts it well for the modern day believer, “We are not of Paul, Apollos, Peter, Luther, Calvin, or Wesley: we are Christians, bearing the name of the Lord Christ.”[52] He does denote that, “Paul recognizes divisions that separate Christians from heretics, but not those that separate Christians from one another (1 Cor. 11:18-19).”[53]

Clowney notes that, “The Lord’s Supper, no less than baptism, proclaims the unity of Christ’s church. We are one body as we share in the one bread (1 Cor. 10:17).”[54] He goes on to state, “To the one Father and the one Lord, Paul adds the one Spirit (Eph. 4:4). The church is to keep the unity of the Spirit, for it is by the Spirit that the church is united to Christ and to the Father.”[55]

God has made us diverse in many areas, but still expects unity of the Spirit. He has made male and female, parents and children, elders and laymen, husbands and wives, married and single, and Jews and Gentiles. He has created many nations, cultures, languages, races, and times.  The Holy Spirit has given many spiritual gifts as He pleases and in the amounts He pleases ( 1 Cor. 12:4-11). [56]

God has given many different commandments to different people. He gave a commandment to Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Gensis 2:16-17, to Aaron to build an ark in Genesis6:14, Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22:2, and David in different times and different circumstances.[57]

Clowney states, “Seeking the unity of the Spirit means appreciating the diversity of the Spirit’s gifts and learning from one another- growing together to the full maturity of Christ.”[58] He goes on to say the fruits of the Spirit preserve unity: lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and above all, love (Gal. 5:22; Eph. 4:2; 1 Cor.13). [59]

            In the same way, I believe the church will need to respect the diversity he has given for people in different roles. Ephesians 5:22 through 6:9 speaks of some of the different roles God has placed us in as far as husbands and wives, parents and children, and slaves and masters.[60]

            Paul speaks to singles and married, circumcised and uncircumcised, and slaves and free in 1 Corinthians 7. In 1 Corinthians 7:17, Paul states, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”[61] He goes on later to state in 1 Corinthians 7:24, “So, brothers in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.”[62]  God has certain people in different places and assignments.

Calvin’s method for how we should examine what laws to follow is stated in the Institutes of Christian Religion below:

            What I have said will become plain if in all laws we examine, as we should, these two things: the constitution of the law, and the equity on which its constitution is itself founded and rests. Equity, because it is natural, cannot but be the same for all, and therefore, this same purpose ought to apply to all laws, whatever their object. Constitutions have certain circumstances upon which they in part depend. It therefore does not matter that they are different, provided all equally press toward the same goal of equity.

            It is a fact that the law of God which we call the moral law is nothing else than a testimony of natural law and of that conscience which God has engraved upon the minds of men. Consequently, the entire scheme of this equity of which we are now speaking has been prescribed in it. Hence, this equity alone must be the goal and rule and limit of all laws.

            Whatever laws shall be framed to that rule, directed to that goal, bound by that limit, there is no reason why we should disapprove of them, howsoever they may differ from the Jewish law, or among themselves. (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume two, 1504)

Calvin’s biblical support for this natural law is reflected in Romans 1:21-27 and 2:14-15.[63] Romans 2:14-16 states, “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”[64]

In conclusion, there are many views on how the church is to follow the law, what is meant by the law and gospel, what is meant by the church, how the church is to enforce the law, unity of the church, and how the law is interpreted. The church in modern times has several denominations. Yet, the Lord’s church will prevail as He said in Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”[65]

As Paul said in Romans 13-8-10, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”[66]

I end with the words of Paul, in Romans 16:25-27, “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith- to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”[67]

Works Cited

Bahnsen, Greg L., Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Douglas J. Moo, Wayne G. Strickland, Willem

 A. VanGemeren, Stanley N. Gundry series editor, Five Views on Law and

Gospel, (Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530: Zondervan, 1999, 1996).

 

Bavinck, Herman, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New

 Creation, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, a division of Baker

 Publishing Group, by the Dutch Reformed Translation Society, 2008).

Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume one, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford

 Lewis Battles (Louisville, Kentucky: The Westminster Press, 1960).

________. Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume two, ed. John T. McNeill,

trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, Kentucky: The Westminster Press, 1960).

Clowney, Edmund P., The Church, Contours of Christian Theology, (Downers Grove,

            Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1995)

Lotzer, Rev. Robert A., “How Does the Christian Relate to the Law of Moses?” Online:

http://www.covopc.org/Papers/Christian_Moses.html from Online: http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Gospel/Intro-to-the-Christian-Faith/.

Luther, Martin, “How Christians Should Regard Moses,” trans. and ed. By E. Theodore

 Bachmann, Luther’s Works:  Word and Sacrament I, vol. 35

(Philadelphia:  Muhlenberg Press, 1960), 161-174.  This sermon was

delivered on August 27, 1525 in Luther’s long series of seventy-seven

sermons on Exodus preached from October 2, 1524 to February 2, 1527.

Online: http://www.covopc.org/Papers/Luther_on_Moses.html from Online:

http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Gospel/Intro-to-the-Christian-Faith/.

Piper, John, What Jesus Demands from the World, (Wheaton, Illinois 60187: Crossway

            Books a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, by Desiring God

            Foundation, 2006).

Scott, Brad, “The Sabbath Day Part 7”, Wildbranch Ministry. Online:

            http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html,

            from Online: http://www.wildbranch.org/.

___________.                 “The Moral Law and the Ceremonial Law Introduction”,

                        Online: http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html.

___________.“The Dietary Laws Part 5”,

                        Online: http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html.

Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Online: http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/index.html. 

Spurgeon, C.H., “Christ the End of the Law”, Sermon #1325, Metropolitan Tabernacle

Pulpit, Online: http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols22-24/chs1325.pdf from Online: http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Gospel/Intro-to-the-Christian-Faith/.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, Illinois 60187, USA: Good News

            Publishers, 2001).

---

[1]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, Illinois 60187, USA: Good News Publishers, 2001), 841.

 

[2]Ibid., 771, 772.

[3] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, by the Dutch Reformed Translation Society, 2008), 451, 452.

[4] Ibid., 452.

 

[5]Ibid., 452, 453.

 

[6]John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, (Wheaton, Illinois 60187: Crossway Books a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, by Desiring God Foundation, 2006), 162-164.

 

[7]Ibid., 100, 101.

 

[8]Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, 450-455.

 

[9]Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, 164.

 

[10]Ibid., 26, 27.

 

[11]Edmund P. Clowney, The Church, Contours of Christian Theology, (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 44-47.

 

[12]Greg L. Bahnsen, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Douglas J. Moo, Wayne G. Strickland, Willem A. VanGemeren, Stanley N. Gundry series editor, Five Views on Law and Gospel, (Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530: Zondervan, 1999, 1996), 196, 197.

 

[13]Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume two, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, Kentucky: The Westminster Press, 1960), 1502.

 

[14]Moo, Five Views on Law and Gospel, 343.

[15] VanGemeren, Five Views on Law and Gospel, 20-23, 37.

 

[16]Ibid., 53. 

 

[17]Ibid., 38, 39. 

[18] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume one, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, Kentucky: The Westminster Press, 1960), 396, 397.

[19] Ibid., 397.

 

[20]Ibid., 398, 399.

[21]VanGemeren, Five Views on Law and Gospel, 30, 31.

 

[22] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume two, 1431, 1432.

[23]Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, 163.

 

[24]Ibid., 163.

 

[25]Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume two, 1301.

 

[26]Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, 344-349.

 

[27]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 709, 726, 753.

 

[28]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 712.

[29]Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume two, 1503.

 

[30]Ibid., 1505.

 

[31]Martin Luther, “How Christians Should Regard Moses,” trans. and ed. By E. Theodore Bachmann, Luther’s Works:  Word and Sacrament I, vol. 35 (Philadelphia:  Muhlenberg Press, 1960), 161-174.  This sermon was delivered on August 27, 1525 in Luther’s long series of seventy-seven sermons on Exodus preached from October 2, 1524 to February 2, 1527. Online:  http://www.covopc.org/Papers/Luther_on_Moses.html from Online: http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Gospel/Intro-to-the-Christian-Faith/.

[32]Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, 249.

 

[33]Ibid., 251-255.

 

[34]Rev. Robert A. Lotzer, “How Does the Christian Relate to the Law of Moses?, Online: http://www.covopc.org/Papers/Christian_Moses.html from Online: http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Gospel/Intro-to-the-Christian-Faith/.

[35]Ibid.

 

[36]Moo, Five Views on Law and Gospel,  344.

 

[37]Ibid., 345.

 

[38]Ibid., 345.

[39] Lotzer, “How Does the Christian Relate to the Law of Moses?”.

 

[40]Ibid.

 

[41]Ibid.

[42]Moo, Five Views on Law and Gospel, 343.

 

[43]Lotzer, “How Does the Christian Relate to the Law of Moses?”

 

[44]C.H. Spurgeon, “Christ the End of the Law”, Sermon #1325, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Online: http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols22-24/chs1325.pdf from Online: http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Gospel/Intro-to-the-Christian-Faith/.

[45] Strickland, Five Views on Law and Gospel, 279.

 

[46] Brad Scott, “The Sabbath Day Part 7”, Wildbranch Ministry, Online:  http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html, from Online: http://www.wildbranch.org/.

[47] Scott, “The Moral Law and the Ceremonial Law Introduction”, Online: http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html.

[48] Scott, “The Dietary Laws Part 5”, Online: http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html.

 

[49]Scott, “The Sabbath Day Part 7”, Online: http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html .

 

[50]Scott, “The Sabbath Day Part 7”, Online:  http://www.wildbranch.org/Archive/index.html,.

 

[51]Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Online:  http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/index.html. 

 

[52] Clowney, The Church, Contours of Christian Theology, 80.

 

[53]Ibid.

 

[54]Ibid.

 

[55]Ibid.

[56]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 818.

 

[57]Luther, “How Christians Should Regard Moses,”.

 

[58] Clowney, The Church, Contours of Christian Theology, 81.

[59]Ibid.

 

[60]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 838, 839.

[61]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 818.

 

[62]Ibid.

 

[63]Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, volume two, 1504.

[64]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 805.

 

[65]Ibid., 700.

 

[66]Ibid., 812.

[67] Ibid., 814.