{"id":551,"date":"2013-05-20T08:01:06","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T14:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/?p=551"},"modified":"2013-05-23T23:09:04","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T05:09:04","slug":"cant-do-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/20\/cant-do-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Can’t Do the Law?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another mask for rich biblical truth is the teaching that we \u201ccan\u2019t do the law\u201d as in \u201cwe are unable.\u201d You\u2019ve heard it said that if you follow the Law you have to follow it perfectly (citing Galatians 5:3<\/a> or James 2:10<\/a>). Since that is impossible, goes the theory, then the Law must be replaced by the righteousness of Jesus. Again, the Scriptures tell a different story. God tells His people at Sinai that the Law He is proclaiming is not out of reach.<\/p>\n

11\u201cFor this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12\u201cIt is not in heaven, that you should say, \u2018Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?\u2019 13\u201cNor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, \u2018Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?\u2019 14\u201cBut the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14<\/a> NASB95)<\/p>\n

Paul echoes this principle in Romans 10:1-11<\/a>. In another place Paul agrees with Moses yet again, and tells us that with Christ all things are possible. \u201cI can do all things through Him who strengthens me.\u201d (Philippians 4:13<\/a> NASB95.) Jesus wouldn\u2019t have told us we could be perfect (before the resurrection even) unless it was within our grasp.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48<\/a>, NASB95)<\/p>\n

Our faith (trust and obedience) is counted as righteousness (Romans 4<\/a>) but we must continue in faith, abiding in every Word from His mouth. It\u2019s not the Law that can\u2019t be done. God\u2019s Word can easily be \u201cdone,\u201d or He would not have given it to us. The Law is an easy yoke and a light burden (Matthew 11:25-30<\/a>). What cannot be done is to earn God\u2019s salvation through following some rules (or Laws). We can\u2019t trade our own righteousness (it is \u201cfilthy rags\u201d according to Isaiah 64:6<\/a>) for salvation. No one can earn enough merit before God to claim any sort of righteous standing sufficient for salvation. Let me say it again: you can\u2019t earn salvation by following the Law. Faith saves; Law pursued as works doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Obviously, though, there are Laws we cannot observe. Some of them involve a Temple or a priesthood, which we do not have on earth at the moment. Others involve the administering of penalties. This is mostly impossible now because His body is not a sovereign state recognized by all the other states. At the present time, our kingdom is like leaven working its way through a lump of dough (the earth, Matthew 13:33<\/a>). We don\u2019t yet have a separate state, with borders and a capital city.<\/p>\n

One of the side effects of teaching \u201cwe can\u2019t do the law\u201d is that it makes God out to be a sadist. That\u2019s the conclusion if God actually does give us a code we can\u2019t follow. Or we make God out to be a liar, because we create two different teachings that contradict but are supposed to come from God. What we\u2019ve really done with this teaching is to mix truth and error.<\/p>\n

Just because there are some things in the Law we can’t do today, or some things we can\u2019t do with the Law, that doesn\u2019t mean what we can do should be left by the wayside. We can take His holidays as our own and forsake the pagan ones. We can go on His diet, which doesn\u2019t include pork and shellfish. We can share His Word and exercise mercy, justice and compassion as much as we are able. In short, there are more things we can do than can\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another mask for rich biblical truth is the teaching that we \u201ccan\u2019t do the law\u201d as in \u201cwe are unable.\u201d You\u2019ve heard it said that if you follow the Law you have to follow it perfectly (citing Galatians 5:3 or … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,217,108,288,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-living","category-faith-2","category-law-2","category-righteousness","category-whole-bible-christianity-book"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552,"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions\/552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholebible.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}