In the first part of this series, we saw that Christ is not the end of the Law of Moses, but rather He is the end of the law for righteousness. In the second installment, we address the erroneous belief today that Christians should have nothing to do with the 10 Commandments and should follow the Law of Christ instead, even though Mr. Armstrong never defined the Law of Christ. The last article addressed the dual nature of law, which says a consequence has to be associated with a law to make it effective. We further saw that atonement is separate from the dual nature of law. That brings us to the difference between the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ. Are they in opposition, or are they compatible? Let’s find out.
We saw in the last installment that Adam and Eve received grace. The punishment for their sin was death, but they didn’t die immediately. They died eventually, and the time in between was their grace period. How does this pattern align with either the Law of Moses or the Law of Christ? First, we need to define the Law of Christ.
As I mentioned in Part 2, Mr. Armstrong said Christians are to follow the Law of Christ, but he never defined the Law of Christ other than saying it is not the Law of Moses. That’s not really a definition. What differentiates one law from the other? The closest I’ve gotten to finding a definition for the Law of Christ is that Christians only need to follow the commandments that Jesus gave, not the Old Covenant commandments. That’s a problematic definition. As we learned in Part 3, The “Old Covenant commandments” were given by God, not Moses. This definition says that Christians are supposed to obey the commandments of Jesus while ignoring the commandments of God. Most Christians believe that Jesus is God, so how can both be true? Didn’t Jesus give the commandments to Moses if He is God? The One who led the Israelites out of Egypt was the same One who gave the Law at Sinai. Look what Jude says. Jude 5 “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.” If Christians are ONLY to obey the commandments of Jesus, that would include the commandments given to Moses. Saying we should obey one while ignoring the other doesn’t work. Another definition I’ve heard is that the Law of Christ means to just love everyone. That’s more problematic because there is a certain group that believes love is love and acts accordingly, and their actions are certainly not in line with the Bible.
When it comes to defining the Law of Christ, it’s not an easy task because the phrase is only mentioned two times in the New Testament, both times by Paul. We can only discern the meaning of the Law of Christ through these two passages. So, let’s give them a go. They are in 1 Corinthians 9:21 and Galatians 6:2. I’ll include the contextual verses.
1 Corinthians 9:19-22 “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the Law I became as one outside the Law (not being outside the Law of God but under the Law of Christ) that I might win those outside the Law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
Galatians 6:1-2 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6 tells us to bear one another’s burdens and not be tempted while we help someone caught in transgressions (sin), and in doing so we will fulfill the law of Christ. This verse doesn’t help define the Law of Christ. It seems to go along with loving our neighbor as ourselves, the second greatest commandment. Or it could be like the command Jesus gave to love one another as He loved us. But it doesn’t sound like Paul is talking about a whole body of law that Christ gave us. That leaves us only one witness to what defines the Law of Christ.
Paul told the Corinthians that to win those outside the Law, he became like one outside the Law, but he clarified that he is not outside the Law of God but under the Law of Christ. Paul has now brought in a third element, the Law of God. So, what is the difference between the Law of God and the Law of Moses? Generally speaking, nothing. God’s Law was given to Moses to give to the people. They are interchangeable. I believe Paul makes a distinction here because the Law of Moses had become known as including the Oral Law handed down, plus anything the Pharisees had added. To the Philippians, Paul said he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, and to the Law, he was a Pharisee (verse 3:5). This means he not only held to the Law of Moses but to all of the Pharisaical Law as well. In Philippians 3:6-7, Paul said that for the righteousness under the Law, he was blameless, but he counted it all for loss for the sake of Christ. Here in Corinthians, Paul says that he is not outside of the Law of God because he has stripped down the Law of Moses to exclude all the additions. Paul is saying that the Law that counts is just what God gave to Moses. So why did he contrast that with the Law of Christ? We still don’t have a definition for the Law of Christ. And 1 Corinthians 9:21 doesn’t provide one. We have to look further to figure out this contrast.
It has been said that the Law of Christ is not the Law of Moses because the Law of Moses was a ministration of death. This idea comes from 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 “Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.” Because Paul mentioned the ministry of death was carved in stone, a lot of people automatically think that Paul is saying the Ten Commandments as a ministration of death. This is why Mr. Armstrong said that Christians should have nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. Is this the correct interpretation? Far from it.
How many people died when YHWH gave the Ten Commandments? None. The commandments don’t cause death. The wages of disobedience (sin) bring death (Romans 6:23). Did Adam and Eve die when God told them not to eat the forbidden fruit? No. It wasn’t until after they ate that the punishment came. And grace followed. The same pattern was there at Mt. Sinai. Nobody died when YHWH gave the Ten Commandments, and no one died when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the rest of the Law. The Law of commandments given to Moses was not the ministration of death. But the golden calf incident happened. Moses came off the mountain and threw the stone tablets at the Israelites, breaking them. Three thousand men were put to death because of this sin. Moses went back up the mountain to seek atonement for the people. He had to carve out new stones so YHWH could engrave them again. Moses spent 40 days up on the mountain. When he came down, his face was shining. It wasn’t until after the golden calf incident and Moses’ appeal to the people that the ministration of death came. The commandments carved in stone didn’t bring the ministry of death. Their disobedience to the commandments did.
We are one step away from identifying the difference between the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ. At the end of Exodus, the Tabernacle is completed and the presence of the LORD fills the tent. Leviticus then tells about the offerings and sacrifices necessary for atonement for sins. That is the true ministry of death. The King James Version uses the word ministration. I’ve been using the words interchangeably. Ministration means minister or someone who administers something. The priests are the ministers performing the sacrifices under the leadership of the High Priest. But the whole Law is under the administration of Moses. He was the mediator between God and the people. Paul told Timothy that Jesus is only one mediator between God and man now (1 Timothy 2:5). Each has their own administration. John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Many people take John’s words to say that we no longer need the Law of Moses because we have grace from Christ. They couple that with Romans 6:14, which says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” In neither verse are the authors saying we don’t need to keep the commandments of God anymore. They are both referring to the administration of Moses and the sacrificial system. Need more proof?
Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Just thirteen verses earlier, Paul said we should not keep disobeying the commandments so that grace can abound. So why should we think that in verse 14 Paul is telling us that we no longer need to keep the commandments because we are under grace? Is Paul duplicitous that he should change his mind in just 13 verses? Hebrews 10 is a powerful chapter. I won’t post it all here, but you should read it. The first 18 verses talk about why Christ came to offer Himself. Verse 1 starts by saying that the law was but a shadow of good things to come. He’s not talking about the Law of Moses as a whole because, in the same verse, he mentions the sacrifices that are offered every year. Verse 18 concludes the section by saying, “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” Under the administration of Christ, He offers grace and forgiveness so there is no more need to offer sacrifices that were required under the administration of Moses.
The difference between the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ is the mediator of the law. The law of commandments is the same. It’s only the administration of righteousness that has changed. If you will permit me to go a little longer, let’s test that with the previous verses.
1 Corinthians 9:21 “To those outside the Law I became as one outside the Law (not being outside the Law of God’s commandments but under the Administration of Christ)”
John 1:17 “For the law of sacrifices was given through Moses; grace and truth came through the administration of Jesus Christ.”
Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law of sacrifices but under the administration of grace.”
As you can see in using these terms, none of these verses are saying that we can disregard the commandments of God because we have grace. All they are saying is that you don’t have to offer animal sacrifices to atone for your sins. Obedience is still expected. And with obedience, there is no need to sacrifice anyway. As Samuel told Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” Dipping back into Hebrews 10, we see three times that it is written God doesn’t desire burnt offerings, sin offerings, or animal sacrifices. That is why He made them temporary. But that does not mean that He made His instructions temporary so we don’t have to obey them anymore. The Law of God is the same under both the mediation of Moses and the Messiah.
There is one more thing you should know. It is found in the rest of Hebrews 10. Since Christ’s sacrifice was paid once and for all, He cannot offer Himself again. So the writer of Hebrews offers a stark warning to anyone who thinks they can ignore the Law of God. Hebrews 10:26-29 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?”
You can find Part 3 of this series here.
