God’s Law Must Be Fulfilled

Romans 3:31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

All sin is transgression of the law and breaks God’s law.  True spirit filled  Christians fulfill the law or as the NKJV version says here “establish” God’s law.  This means they do not practice sin or break the law on a regular basis.  Some as they mature, never break the law of God again but most of us will stumble or slip at times especially as we are matured in our walk with God.   When we walk in true faith we CANNOT break the law, as the Holy Spirit who leads us will never entice us into sin.  True Christians are under grace yet this truth does not mean we nullify the law, break the law or that the law of God does not stand anymore.  There is a lot of confusion on the topics of law and grace for which I will share my understanding.

Let us set as the anchor scripture for this post to be these very words of Jesus.

 Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Every single prophet in the Scriptures spoke out against sin and rebellion to God calling the people to love God with all their heart.  This Law  that Jesus came to fulfill and never to abolish still stands today.

Sin breaks the law and lawlessness is the same as sinning.   Jesus tells people who call Him Lord, professing Christians but not real Christians what happens to them on judgment day. 

Matthew 7:22-23 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

What is God’s Law?

Let us lay a foundation on what is God’s law.  God’s Law is the NOT the Law of Moses or the Jewish or Hebrew Torah as it is also called.  As we will see below, the Law of Moses was a temporal law and was not what Jesus was speaking about in the above Matthew 5 passage.  Jesus was asked or spoke often as recorded in the gospels about what we must do as His followers.  He tied that into the “law” many times. 

Matthew 7:12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.  Here Jesus is giving us what James later called the Royal Law — “Love your neighbor as yourself”. This encapsulates the whole of God’s law. 

The Law of God is the same thing as God’s Commandments.  There were 10 original commandments that were written in stone to reinforce that they would stand forever.   The Law of Moses was written down by Moses, not carved into stone and contained over 600 ordinances of law.  This law came about to show man their innate sinfulness and provide temporary instructions for the next 430 years until the coming of Jesus our Messiah.   Once Christ came, God’s law would be written on our hearts and placed into our minds via the Holy Spirit.  Jeremiah first prophesied about this as the writer of Hebrews reminded the early Jewish converts.  

Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

There are many who still tell us that we must obey all the things in the Hebrew Torah (the Mosaic Law).  We need to be very careful and not lay on top of faith in Christ the legalism and regulations of Moses’ day that were brought about only for a season until Christ came.  This was one of the main thrusts in some of Paul’s letters especially to the Galatians.  Paul was countering the false teachings that claimed the Law of Moses and its regulations, rituals and ordinances still needed to be followed in addition to faith in Christ.  In fact the Apostles ultimately held the Council in Jerusalem as recorded in the Book of Acts to decide what from the Torah or Law of Moses still had to be followed.  Here is what they came up with as led by the Holy Spirit that had been poured out upon them at Pentecost.

Acts 15:5-11 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.“   ⁶The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? ¹¹No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

This ultimately led to the Apostles telling the early church that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality and all the other ordinances of Moses law were no longer of any effect.  This council did nothing however to nullify the 10 commandments, the ones God Himself has written in stone by His own hand.  Those commandments have not been nullified nor abolished, however Jesus did greatly simplify what we needed to remember and to obey as it relates to fulfilling God’s Law.

Other false teachers have gone the opposite way and teach the deception that there are no laws or no commandments that are required for salvation and communion with God.  This is just further enemy deception, the same given to Eve that we can still keep on sinning without consequence.  Our flesh loves to hear that lie and the spiritually proud love to hear the former lie with its legalistic burden.  Both camps are in error and are respectively leading their flocks down the broad road that leads to destruction. 

It took me a very long while to begin to understand this.  But searching diligently through the Scripture and seeking the peace that comes from truth,  God has enabled me to begin understand it but I am far from perfect and do not profess to have all this “law” stuff figured out.   Following are some scriptures some  brothers have pointed me to that connected a few dots and eliminated some confusion.  

Many have heard and believe Jesus nailed “the law” to the cross.  What law are we talking about and what does this really mean?  As we saw above in our anchor scripture, Jesus clearly did not come to abolish or do away with the law, so if this meant God’s law was nailed to the cross, then clearly nailing the law to the cross did not abolish the law.  I believe that God’s law was NOT NAILED TO THE CROSS as reading the next several verses in Colossians (shown later) makes clear.  It was the written law of Moses that was nailed to the cross. 

Colossians 2:14 He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

But even if Paul meant God’s law in this famous verse, nailing the law cannot mean abolishment of the law.  When we go to the sacrifice (Jesus on the cross),  are past sins are forgiven and as long as we walk in covenant (two made one) with Jesus, we will not break the Law. 

Written to never be abolished, God’s law is now written on the minds and in the hearts of all men so ignorance of God’s law is no longer an excuse.  Still do not misunderstand this post.  We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God before we came to the light.  It is by true faith we are saved and that is how we live with out breaking God’s law after we are converted. 

Galatians 2:15-16 We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ ¹⁶know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.  This clearly is not speaking to obeying the commandments of God as Jesus clearly said “if you love me, you will obey my commandments” and only “those that DO the will of my Father in heaven enter into life”.  The context of Galatians is about the Book of Law, the Torah, written by Moses that contained not just moral commands but also the ordinances, rituals and ceremonies that were put in place until Christ came.  While I do wish the Scriptures were clearer on this,  I believe God made it difficult for impure hearts to see this truth thereby ensuring the burden of their sinful nature would lead them to the true gospel and the true God.

Ephesians 2:15 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.  Perverted grace will take these passages and tell you we do not need to obey God’s Law and that this is “works”.  No, this is obedience and loving God, works is doing all the rituals, ordinances and ceremonies contained in the Mosaic or Book of Law.  As Paul said just prior, we are saved by grace thru faith, not of works (of the Mosaic law) so that nobody can boast. 

Colossians 2:16-18 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.  The rituals and ceremonies and yes even the feasts of the Lord were a shadow of things to come.  Many that teach these burdens delight in false humility and the puffed up spiritual pride that Paul speaks to in this passage.

Hebrews 9:9-10 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. ¹⁰They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.  Again, instructions that the types and shadows of the Mosaic Law have been superceded by Christ and His eternal Law of Love.

The Royal Law of God

The Law of God really comes down to ONE commandment.   This all comes back to God’s foremost commandment as Jesus cite s below.  This is the pure simplicity of the gospel, if we really get this truth in our Spirit and obey the truth, we cannot help but be transformed and walk like Jesus walked.

Matthew 22:35 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang ALL THE LAW and the prophets.”

What part of ALL do we not understand?  This simplicity was  further simplified when Jesus gave us a new commandment that in and by itself upholds all of God’s law.  We do this one thing,  we fulfill the law.  We do it through the power of God working in US, it is not of works as the Spirit of God that leads us is God.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

James referred to the ONE THING as the “royal law” of God.  This is the same ONE THING Jesus told us to do as the one and only commandment.    

James 2:8-9 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; ⁹ but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

If we really love our neighbor (and I do not mean our friends and those that can repay us for our  good deeds), we must Love God with all our heart.   If we show any partiality or favoritism, we are not obeying God, we are acting out of selfish pursuit of the approval or  favor of men.  Partiality and favoritism breaks the royal law and we cannot do this if we are truly walking in the Spirit being imitators of Christ.

Here is an example of how Jesus will judge those who do not obey the royal law and love their neighbor as themselves.  These goats were not led by the Spirit of God.  They were illegitimate sons worshipping with their lips.

Matthew 25:41-43 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

If we obey the commandments given to us by Jesus we perfectly obey the ten commandments.  So on one hand the 10 commandments still apply, they are the Law of God but Jesus made it even simpler for us to understand this.  If we love God with ALL our heart, we obey all of His 10 commandments.  When we love our neighbor as ourselves,  we do not steal,  we do not murder/hate,  we do not give false testimony nor do we covet the things of our neighbors.  When are hearts are pure before God,  we have put aside our flesh and we are walking in the Spirit and it is this grace of God that gives us the power to fulfill the Law of God.

I wrote a deeper dive post into the royal commandment,  God’s Foremost Commandment I believe you will find helpful.

Walking With Pure Hearts:  In the Spirit

We are declared righteous solely because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross.  All have sinned and without the ONE sacrifice, our sins could never be forgiven and blotted out.   Our work is far from finished however as we must practice righteousness as a demonstration of a true faith.  God’s Spirit works through us when we walk in faith.  That is true grace and that is how the work gets done but get done it must.  Just as Jesus came to fulfill the law, we fulfill the law IN Him when we walk in the Spirit of God.  When we DO NOT walk in the  Spirit, we fulfill the lusts of the flesh instead of the Spirit.  Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve two masters.  Paul made it clear we had to crucify our sinful nature.  James pulled no punches telling us we could not be double minded and both obey and disobey God’s commandments.  We must decide today and everyday to whom we will serve.  We must deny ourselves every day and live for Christ.  We must overcome and endure to the end to be saved.  Paul explained how we do this. 

Galatians 5:16-18 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders,drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul at the end of this passage, written to believers in Christ warns them again those who walk in the flesh WILL NOT go to heaven.  Not to be redundant but there are scores of these passages in the New Testament.  Most people just don’t see them or if they do they try to explain them away.  Because their hearts are not pure, the powers of darkness are blinding them to see the truth.  The solution starts and ends with Godly repentance and we need to pray that God will bring that about and those in darkness will see and come to the light of Christ.   Make no mistake and do not be deceived, for the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience or said another way those people that break God’s law.  

We Are Not Under Law But Grace

The perverted grace teachers love to cherry pick a few verses, even half verses to counter back and support the twisted understanding of grace.   The book of Romans is a powerful lesson on righteousness, faith and grace but it must be properly divided and put into context.  Just as Satan tried to use Scriptures to tempt and entice Jesus in the desert, the powers of darkness have used Scripture taken out of context and distorted to keep people blinded from the truth and in continued bondage to their sinful nature.   When we crucify our sinful nature (the flesh) and walk in the Spirit with Jesus (put on a divine nature), WE DO NOT SIN and therefore WE DO NOT BREAK THE LAW.  Because we do not break the law, we are not under the law but grace.

To full understand the context we need to know what grace is.  Grace is not unlimited forgiveness of our sin.  The law of God still stands.  Grace is the power of God working IN us that enables us to obey Him.  Grace imparts the desire to please God and the strength to actually do it.  It is given those who have repented and have come to God with a pure heart.  We still do not merit grace it is a gift but without it we cannot walk in holiness and compliance with God’s law.  The flesh is hostile to God and we must be transformed.  Please read my post on Grace at the top of this page on the menu bar or just click here.  Let’s look specifically at the context of the perversion of the truth.  Here is Paul’s famous verse, of which the latter half is usually cited.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  Notice the first half of this verse.  It says sin shall not be our master. Remember Jesus said we could not serve two masters, we would love one and hate the other?  If you are trying to serve your flesh and at the same time the Lord, you are not walking in the Spirit and have not died to self.    Paul and James called themselves bond servants to Christ, but if you are serving two masters you are a fake Christian and are actually a bond servant to Satan as practicing sin is what the children of the devil do.  If we simply look at Romans 6:14 in the context of the whole chapter, the truth becomes readily apparent.  

Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? ²May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?  ³Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  This is speaking to dying to self.  If you have not suffered in the flesh, you have not crucified your sin nature and you have not repented from the heart and you are the double minded Christian that James wrote about.    Don’t you see this truth?  Why do we call Jesus Lord if we do not do what He says?  True Christians are new creations in Christ, they have been Born Again, being washed by the Word of God and being led by the Holy Spirit.  They do not practice sin and that is what is meant by the saying we are not under the law.  Paul goes on in Romans to head off any carnal thoughts that might lead us to believe that once we are truly saved we can go back to sinning.  We are slaves to the Master we obey.  Are you obeying God or sin which is really Satan at the root?

Romans 6:15-17 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. ¹⁸ And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 

If we walk in the Spirit, we fulfill the law perfectly just like Jesus did.  We are to walk as He walked and that was walking in the Spirit.  Curses and judgment come upon those who break the law but it is impossible to break the law when you are walking as Jesus walked in the Spirit.  Jesus never did anything on His own initiative, He only did or said what He saw the Father doing.  

John 5:19   Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  This is one of the hundreds of passages that tell us how to be obedient to our God, fulfill the law and walk as Jesus walked.  Recall all the uses the comparison of fruit and trees to know who is really in Christ.  Paul explained the fruit that would come from the Spirit and the perfect fulfillment of the law that would result.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  The law of God still stands but we are not under the law when we truly walk in the spirit.

All kinds of false teaching and phobias about a works salvation have sprung forth from the devil.  The grace of God has been perverted as I have consistently wrote of in this blog.  The words of Paul have been twisted,  distorted and used to deny the power of Christ IN us at every turn.  Tickling ears of deceived hearts, teaching forms of godliness but no power of transformation the modern-day apostate church believes their sin matters not.  That is deception and despite the lessons of Eve and the warning of eating from the tree of death continues to deceive many.  It is Christ who saves but we must be IN Christ for His mighty work to manifest in us.  One verse that powerfully simplifies the gospel once the scales come off your eyes is this one. 

Romans 8:14 Those who are led by the Spirit of God, those are the sons of God. 

True Works Salvation:  Leading Yourself

Jesus told us He came to set us free from the power of sin.  If Jesus sets us free, we shall be free indeed.  There is true freedom IN Christ.  We must walk with God to be free.  If we are led by any other spirit of follow after any other man we will be led astray and back into bondage.  In the oft twisted Romans 7, Paul tells us how walking in the flesh leads to death and bondage.  These passages do not nullify the rest of God’s Word, they must be understood in context.  The context was that if we do not walk in the Spirit, we will be lawbreakers, and try as we might in all of our carnal strength, we will be defeated in our flesh and led into captivity. 

Romans 7:21-24 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

This was the perfect lead in to Romans Chapter 8, which then tells us how we overcome our sinful nature, putting it to death, walking in the Spirit and be freed from the law and its condemnation. Praise God for His provisions of mercy and grace, which is how we escape the judgment of the law and become free of its burden.  If the Son sets us free, we shall be free indeed.   

Romans 8:1-6 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are IN Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life (Royal Law) in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death (Moses Law). ³ For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Do you truly grasp the message here in Romans 8?  We are freed from the law and its condemnation IF, IF , IF , IF we are truly walking in the Spirit.  We perfectly fulfill the law IF, IF, IF, IF we walk not according to the Flesh! This means we are being led by the Holy Spirit, not some of the time but all of the time.  Our minds need to aways be set on Christ.  You cannot love Jesus with 90% of your heart and walk in the Spirit.  He demands your whole heart.   The words Paul wrote have been perverted into a different gospel teaching us that we can keep on sinning and that it is impossible for us to stop sinning. 

Trying to save yourself is a works salvation.  Anything we do of flesh to please God is WORKS.  Anything we do in the Spirit is SPIRIT.  There are many conditions God gave regarding salvation and His promises.  We meet those conditions fully and completely when we put to death our sinful nature and walk in the Spirit.  Like Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9, we cannot boast about this, as it is the power of God IN us, but the conditions of eternal life must still be accomplished through the Spirit of God.  We must choose to sow to this Spirit and not to our flesh.  We must be doers of the law to be justified in the sight of God.  We obey the law through the power of the Holy Spirit, it is not flesh, it is not of our own works — it is God working IN us.

Paul told us why the law came and why it will continue in force until all is fulfilled at Christ’s return at the end of the age.  The law brings us to Christ to convict us of our own unrighteousness and innate wickedness.  But once we put on the divine nature of Christ and walk in His Spirit,  we no longer need the law as the Spirit of God is what henceforth leads us into all righteousness.  Paul explained this to the church at Galatia who were being mislead by false teachers. 

Galatians 3:21-25 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. ²² But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. ²³ But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. ²⁴ Therefore the law (of Moses) was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

If we do not walk in the Spirit, we are cursed and remain under the law of God.  Unless and until we repent and give God our whole heart and turn away from sin and the works of the flesh, we can be very good people, good deed doers, but we will not be justified in the eyes of God.  The true faith Paul speaks of demands that we repent and surrender fully to the Lord.  Do this and we shall live.  Jesus has redeemed those that are His (have and follow the Holy Spirit) from the curse of God’s law of sin and death.

Galatians 3:10-13  For as many as are of the works of the law (of Moses) are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” ¹¹ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” ¹² Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”¹³ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us

We live by faith, a true faith, that transforms us into the likeness and image of Christ.  That is how we perfectly fulfill God’s eternal law.  The Book of Moses (written on paper) has been done away with.  

If you would like to for me to send you some CDs and DVDs of true men of God that have been immensely helpful in bringing the light of Christ into my heart.  Please email me your mailing address at peter.wilson@cox.net and you will receive without charge some teachings that will edify you.   

May God Bless You Richly!!!