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New Testament Law

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What about the concept of law found in the New Testament? Have you ever considered how Jesus’ teaching might impact us in this regard? Time and again Jesus startled people because He seemed to be adding to what the Law of Moses said.

The truth is that much of His teaching holds far more stringent demands than anything contained in Old Testament law (take the Sermon on the Mount, for example).(Matthew 6,7 &8) Why? Because Jesus addresses the intentions and motives of the heart rather than emphasizing what we more commonly associate with law—that is, outward behavior.

So, at first blush it seems like Jesus heaps on more responsibility for conforming to God’s law rather than freeing us from it. How then can we say that we are free from the Law? The answer, of course, is that we have been set free in Christ, but this certainly can be a bit confusing when the issue of law continues to stare us in the face.(Romans 8:2)

History of the “Law”

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Now we need to realize that law did not originate with the Law of Moses. Law was first introduced to Adam when God said, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”(Gen. 2:17)

So law was there in the Garden—just not “the Law” as it was later given. And sin was also around from the very beginning. But the thing we must understand is that law had to be in place for punishment to be meted out, since sin cannot be charged unless law exists to identify it.(Romans 5:13-14)

We Christians claim—and rightly so—that in Christ we are now free from the Law. But by this do we mean the Law of Moses only, or all law. Well, most of us would be quick to say that we’ve merely been freed from the Law of Moses. But doesn’t this raise another question? Doesn’t Old Testament law contain many commandments which are still pertinent today?

How about the Ten Commandments, for example? Which one of these laws would we be comfortable with breaking? Which one of them might we violate without any thought of consequences?

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

Confusion or Temptation

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My child, when the world and it’s philosophies tempt you to go in the wrong direction, get your eyes back on Me. Get into My Word and soak in My Presence. I will fill you with wisdom and peace. I will give you truth that will set you free. I will reveal Myself in a way that you’ll know the difference between right and wrong thinking. you only need to come to Me when confusion or temptations arise.

John 8:32