My Friend:  If Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not to cancel it, does it not mean we are still under the Law?

Cody:  The fact of the matter is that as a couple of gentiles, we have never been under the Law.  When you read Paul, there isn’t any question that we fall into the category of those “without the Law” rather than “those under the law” (Rom. 2:12).  Or “those outside the law” rather than those “under the law” (1 Cor. 9:20-21).  So, strictly speaking, gentiles who didn’t convert to Judaism were never “under the law.”  The question then becomes whether or not a pagan who accepts Christ (like me) should then submit to the Law of Moses.  Should we become “under the law?” 

     I think this question is dealt with very, very thoroughly in the New Testament as it was one of the first major controversies in the Church.  The book of Acts tells some of the story.  The clear conclusion that the leaders of the Church came to at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) was that gentiles who follow Christ should not submit to the Law of Moses.  The claim of some was that “it is necessary to circumcise them [gentiles] and to order them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5).  Peter’s position was strongly to the contrary, “Why are you putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?  But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will” (15:10-11).  The final decision was inspired by the Holy Spirit (15:28) and took Peter’s side.

     Prior to the Council, it seems that some “Christian Pharisees” had visited some of Paul’s church plants in Galatia and convinced many of the disciples there that they needed keep the law of Moses and be circumcised.  Paul’s letter to these churches offers a clear and stinging rebuke towards the young disciples for believing this heresy.  For the Galatians (gentiles) to put themselves “under the law” was tantamount, in Paul’s view, to “deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ” and “turning to a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6).  The whole letter is probably worth a re-read on this issue.  And lest we think that Paul was only preaching justification by faith, please note that the major problem that Paul confronted in this letter was that the Galatians accepted Christ and received the Spirit by faith but were seeking to grow by works.  His rhetorical question is, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3).  Moreover, Paul was condemning an attitude that sort of cherry-picked the law.  This was a way of keeping certain parts of the law (like circumcision and the Sabbath) and breaking others all the while presuming oneself to be pleasing to God.  Paul taught that the Law was a package deal (Gal. 3:10, 5:3), if you are under it, you are under all of it.  If you are free from it, you are free from all of it.  It is exegetically and theologically problematic whenever someone divides the Law into categories like “moral law” and “ceremonial law” to suggest that we are, for example, free from the “ceremonial” but not from the “moral law”.  In actuality, the Bible doesn’t make these distinctions.  There is no perceivable difference between laws concerning the cleansing of mildew and laws concerning sexual immorality in the Old Testament.

     So, in short, if you are in Christ, then you are not under the Law.  It is impossible to be both.  The question is, where does my salvation (including election, regeneration, faith, justification, sanctification, and glorification) come from?  Does it come to me by the grace of God through no works of my own?  Or does it come to me as a reward for my performance of the works of the law?  Every individual many choose either the “grace way” or the “works way.”  The problem with the “works way” is that it can save no one because no one (except Jesus) can keep the law perfectly.  And if we can’t, then the law doesn’t bring salvation but instead reveals to us our just condemnation.  As Paul writes in Romans, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20).