The Secret of Fulfilling the Law

From the very beginning of the New Testament era, the question of the proper relationship of the believer to the law of God outlined in the Hebrew Scriptures has been a subject of heated debate. Within the Christian community, there are two polarized extremities of thought concerning the law of God and its effect upon believers in Jesus Christ.

Jesus said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matt 5:17-18

These two diverse viewpoints are termed by each other as legalism (the strict keeping of the law) and antinomianism (standing against the law).

The legalists, as they are called, maintain that the entire law of God remains in force even today. Some of them believe that without obedience to the laws of the Old Testament, one cannot be justified, and some are probably guilty of the Galatianism of which they are accused by the antinomians. They maintain that God’s laws were not changed or repealed by Jesus and that their observance is necessary for our justification. In some circles, Remonstrants or Arminians, who believe that keeping of the law is necessary after one’s rebirth by faith in Jesus Christ, are referred to as legalists.

On the other hand are the antinomians who maintain that the law, including the Ten Commandments, were nailed to the cross of Christ. According to them, works of obedience are totally unnecessary for our justification. Many of this persuasion feel that the Old Testament scriptures are useless in the “grace dispensation” and that Judaism is a worthless exercise in futility, very little different from heathen religions.

The debate of the legalists and the antinomians has raged for centuries. The real problem that perpetuates the irreconcilable differences between these two warring factions of Christianity is the fact that both sides of the argument have truth, both sides quote scripture from the same Bible, and both sides stand unequivocally for their dogma. As is generally the case with polarized issues such as these, the truth lies somewhere between the two extremities. A proper restoration of first century Christianity represents a viable alternative to the two warring factions, a synthesis between the thesis of legalism and the antithesis of antinomianism.

The “Thou Shalt’s” and The “Thou Shalt Not’s”

Generally speaking, the question concerning observance of the law has not involved the “thou shalt not’s” but has centered in the “thou shalt’s.” Few would advocate that one should steal, commit murder, bear false witness, or commit adultery. On the other hand, some would recommend that one not remember the Sabbath, observe the festivals, pay the tithe, and the like.

The fact is that God’s law is composed of positive and negative commandments. In the Torah there are 613 commandments (mitzvot). Of these, 365 are negative commandments, the “thou shalt not’s” of the Torah, a number which corresponds to the total days in a year. The remaining 248 commandments are positive “thou shalt’s.” John tells us that the transgression of any one of the 613 commandments of the law constitutes sin (I John 3:4). James confirms to us that failure to observe the positive commandments is just as much sin as violating the negative commandments: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

How can we be sure that we fulfill the law in our lives?

The question is, What should we do? How can we be sure that we fulfill the law in our lives? The answer is simply stated by Jesus, himself, in Matthew 22:37-40: “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.” These are the two “thou shalt’s” of the New Testament. All of the requirements of the New Testament are summed up in one simple word– love, love for God and love for man. The law, then, is based in love, not in judgment.

The Decalogue was written by the finger of God upon two tablets of stone. The five commandments on one tablet governed one’s conduct toward God and his parents. The five commandments on the other tablet governed one’s relationship with his fellow man. These ten commandments became major categories under which all the remaining commandments of the law functioned.

Love Fulfills The Law

If one truly loved God with all his heart, soul, and mind, he could never break one of the first five of the ten commandments. The motivating factor of complete love for God would cause the believer to make God’s slightest wish his personal command. If one truly loved his neighbor as himself, he could never break one of the remaining five of the ten commandments. This truth is brilliantly set forth by the apostle Paul in Romans 13:8-10: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” If the law can be summed up and fulfilled in one word, love, then the law was a law of love, not of judgment and cursing, as some have suggested.

Paul repeats this theme in Galatians 5:14: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Perhaps he was taking his cue from his teacher Gamaliel, a disciple of Hillel the Great, who said concerning the law of God, “Whatever his hurtful to you, do not unto others. The rest [of the law] is commentary.”

When Paul discussed this theme of love for one’s neighbor, he also delivered some sound advice concerning the nature of the New Testament calling and the believer’s responsibility toward it: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. . . . walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:13,16).

A Life In The Spirit

The apostle to the Gentiles expanded upon this aspect of fulfilling of the law in Romans 8:2-4: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might he fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Because we have been freed from the law through the body of Christ, we can now fulfill the righteousness of the law by living a life in the Spirit. Our freedom is not a license to violate the commandments but an opportunity to realize the righteousness that they prescribed through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What the law could not do because of the weakness of the flesh, the Holy Spirit accomplishes so that we are now said to establish the law, rather than making it void (Romans 3:31).

This is the meaning of Hebrews 10:16,17: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” When the Holy Spirit becomes resident in the heart of the believer, the righteousness of the law that was completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ also becomes a part of his being. The righteousness of the law then is no more a bondage to works but a liberty of faith in Jesus Christ.

Love Brings Unconditionally Positive Responses

When one walks in the Spirit and is not mindful of the things of the flesh, he has no problem in loving God and loving his fellow man; therefore, he has no problem in fulfilling the law. Since his spirit is fine tuned to the needs and wishes both of God and of his fellow man, his selfish, lazy human spirit is overwhelmed by the Spirit of God and does what is pleasing to God and beneficial to his fellow man. The motivation is love, not selfishness, for he addresses himself to the commandments of God and to the needs of his neighbor with unconditionally positive responses.

In this kind of relationship with God and man, one has no difficulty in performing the worship that pleases God. One who walks in the Spirit will be attentive to the slightest wish of his Maker. If remembering days and seasons pleases God–and we have his Word that it does–he will volunteer to memorialize those times (Leviticus 23; I Corinthians 5:8). If being submissive to religious government pleases God, he will readily obey those who have rule over him in the Lord (Hebrews 13:17). If tithing and giving offerings please God, he will be anxious to do this work (Malachi 3:10; Matthew 23:23). If ministering to the physical, emotional, or economic needs of his neighbor pleases his neighbor and God, he will be careful to give special attention to those needs (Matthew 25:33-40).

The question of what we should do or should not do in respect to the law of God is simple when we live a life in the Spirit of God. The love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit will build in us an overwhelming passion for pleasing God and helping our fellow man. The question then will not be, “How little (or how much) can I do and not incur God’s wrath?”, or “How little (or how much) can I do and still have the respect of my neighbor?”, but “Where can I find an opportunity to do more for God and for my neighbor?” We will be consumed with the Jewish concept of tzedekah (righteous good deeds). And, after all, Jesus himself said that the church would enlighten the world and cause them to glorify God with “good works,” not just faith (Matthew 5:16).

Finding the Middle Ground

Legalism and antinomianism are both extremities. The truth is in the middle, and this is where New Testament Christianity (or Judaism, if you please) comes into play. Jesus did not come to destroy either the law or the religious system of God that it outlined. He rather put life into that ancient religious form by perfecting it forever with the new covenant. This is the faith or religion of Jesus Christ, the first step of which is our belief in him as our Lord and Savior. If we love him, we will certainly want to keep the ordinances of the New Testament and obey his commandments in all things (John 14:15).

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Restoring Our Lost Legacy

By searching out those things of Judaism which Jesus perpetuated in a new and living way, we can learn what pleases him in our praise, worship, and service today, thereby ascertaining God’s way for ourselves. Biblical Judaism was the faith through which Jesus and the apostles expressed their devotion to God. As we search this ancient faith, we will find more and more that will add depth to our praise, worship, and service of God.

How can we now fulfill the law? Love God, love man, and walk in the Spirit!

The above is an excerpt from Restoring Our Lost Legacy by Dr John Garr.

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