The Naked Gospel: Truth You May Never Hear in Church (5 page)

I
N THE
U
NITED
S
TATES, SOME
C
HRISTIANS FIGHT FOR THE
T
EN
Commandments to be posted on our public buildings. We say that we don’t want our society to lose its Christian roots.

But Christianity was never rooted in the law, not even in the Ten Commandments.

The commandments aren’t intended to supervise Christians. They don’t curb sinful desires. In fact, the law causes
more
sinning:

While we were in the flesh,
the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law,
were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

R
OMANS
7:5 NASB, italics added

But sin, seizing
the opportunity afforded by the commandment,
produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

R
OMANS
7:8, italics added

Will living by the Ten Commandments result in a godly life? Paul leads us to the opposite conclusion. Theologians debate about whether Paul is speaking of his saved or his lost condition
in Romans 7, but regardless, the main point is that, saved or lost, human beings
cannot keep the law.
The law continually excites sin.

The law arouses sinful passions. Sin gains opportunity through the law. This is what Romans 7 explains. So does a Christian life that involves trying to perfectly live by the Ten Commandments sound promising? Paul discovered what every human realizes when they truly give law their best shot: the law kills. Just as God intended, Moses introduced a ministry of
condemnation.

Recently, a popular humor book documented the journey of a man who attempted to live by the regulations in the Old Testament for one solid year.
^*
He detailed for us what this kind of life would look like in modern-day America. He altered his diet to exclude certain meats and seafood. He excluded from his wardrobe anything spun of more than one kind of material. And he even engaged in animal sacrifices of sorts! In the end, he candidly and humorously concluded that he could not adhere to even a majority of the regulations in the Old Testament. He also documents the convoluted reasoning of some of his fellow Jewish people, who have decided that things are somehow different today and that they don’t have to adhere to
all
of the law’s restrictions—just to some of them.

Many agree that the ceremonial law, restricting everything from diet to wardrobe, is not for Christians today. Indeed, few Christians attempt to follow those regulations. But should Christians still look to the Ten Commandments as their moral guide?

When Paul talks about the law arousing sinful passions, he
uses coveting as his example. Paul reveals that one of the Ten Commandments excited sin in his life. Sin used “You shall not covet” to compel Paul to exert human effort to stop coveting. And the natural result occurred—coveting. When fleshly effort tries to overcome sin, sin wins every time. So Paul ended up struggling with coveting
of every kind.

I find it amusing that a fervent religious leader couldn’t stop craving other people’s stuff! Sure, Saul of Tarsus could polish his exterior. But inside he was guilty of wanting others’ possessions.

Paul’s mantra might as well have been, “I fought the law, and the law won.”

In 2 Corinthians, we see evidence that the Ten Commandments bring nothing but condemnation and death:

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was
engraved in letters on stone,
came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

2 C
ORINTHIANS
3:7-9, italics added

How do we know that Paul is referring to the Ten Commandments and not to some ceremonial regulations? He specifically mentions that this ministry “was engraved in letters on stone.” This was true only of the commandments. So it was a ministry designed to condemn.

If we live under the law, sin will dominate us. If we live free from law (under grace), sin won’t overpower us: “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

The freedom from sin’s power that we all desire is right under
our noses. The obstacle to experiencing victory over temptation is
the way in which we’ve gone about the battle.
When we arm ourselves with the law, we set ourselves up for failure every time.

We may call it
self-discipline
or
accountability
—or plug in some other inventive term. But when it’s anything but dependency on Christ within us, it’ll inevitably put the wheels of human effort in motion. Perspective is everything in our battle against sin.

But, you may ask, doesn’t God help us keep the law?

If we take this to its ultimate conclusion, then wouldn’t the Holy Spirit motivate us to avoid pork, wear clothing woven with only linen, isolate friends and family members who have skin diseases, and refrain from working Friday night through Saturday night? This would mean canceling barbecues, throwing out nylon stockings, terminating Friday night emails, and skipping Saturday yard work. Is this the intention of the Spirit of God in your life?

Think about it.

“Hold on just a minute!” one of them shouted at me. “You’re taking things to an extreme. I agree that the Holy Spirit doesn’t want to help us live under the whole book of Leviticus, but we should still follow the Ten Commandments. And we should ask for the Spirit’s help to do so!”

I was in the midst of conducting a two-day seminar for pastors, seminary students, and church leaders in Chihuahua, Mexico. It was day two, and our attendance had grown from forty on the first day to about two hundred on the second day. Excitement was
growing, and it seemed that people were being set free from the oppression of religiosity.

We were taking a break, and I was sipping my coffee. The next thing I knew, I was surrounded by four leaders who were angrier than hornets. After several minutes of absorbing heated comments, I realized that what angered them the most was my insistence that Christians are even free from the Ten Commandments.

“But Sabbath observance is
included
in the Ten Commandments, and you don’t adhere to the Friday night till Saturday night Jewish Sabbath, do you?” I asked.

“Well, no.”

“So then, it’s the Big Nine that you’re under, excluding the Sabbath?”

At that point, the break ended, and we ended our discussion. “Just something to consider,” I remarked as we went back to the seminar room.

God never gave us permission to divide the law into our favorite pieces so that we could select how much we’re under. He delivered us from the entirety of the law by fulfilling it through Jesus Christ. Now we don’t have to fulfill
any
of the law.

But how do we live upright lives if we don’t use the Ten Commandments as our guide? After hearing that believers have no need for the law, this is a natural question. The short answer is this: The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us when we believe, and
he is enough!
The fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit within us is enough. And “against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:23).

The New Testament teaches that those who are
led by the Spirit
are not under the law. The law is a poor substitute for the counsel of the Holy Spirit. We may think that placing ourselves under the
Ten Commandments is a good way to clean house. But law-directed living has the opposite effect. The only sensible choice is
to allow Christ to be himself through us.
This is God’s way of impacting our lives and placing his life on display.

Some say, “I don’t live under the law of Moses. I know I’m free from those commandments. Instead, I live by ‘Christian principles.’” This is a fine-sounding variation on what is still a law-based approach. And it’s an obstacle to enjoying the dependency-based life. We know that living a “good life” by moral standards is an obstacle to understanding salvation. But choosing “morality” can even prevent a Christian from depending solely on Christ. For Christians, a hidden hindrance to the grace life is a “great” life.

Principles, rules, and standards—no matter how “Christian” we believe they are—are poor substitutes for a life animated by God himself. In Colossians, we read about rules and their lack of value for Christians:

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have
an appearance of wisdom,
with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they
lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

C
OLOSSIANS
2:20-23, italics added

Paul recognizes the allure of principles, commands, and regulations as the means to self-improvement. But he dismisses these as powerless to bring about any real change in our lives. Notice that he’s not talking about the means to salvation here. He’s referring to our approach to life
after
we’ve died with Christ.

How will true worship take place? What brings about real humility? What brings actual victory over sin in our lives? Paul is addressing the
daily life
of a believer. And he emphatically states that rules and regulations are not the way to go.

Some might say, “I know that living by rules doesn’t save me. But now that I’m saved, I need rules to guide me.” That is exactly what the Galatians were saying, compelling Paul to write the following:

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?

G
ALATIANS
3:2-3

Paul is speaking here to Christians who have already received the Spirit but are returning to the law as a means of self-improvement. They received the Spirit through faith, and he exhorts them not to finish with human effort!

This and similar passages throughout the New Testament address the issue of
daily living.
Paul dispels the myth that God is pleased with rule-based approaches to “perfecting” ourselves. Paul would ask us the same thing today: “Isn’t the presence of the resurrected Christ inside of you enough?”

G
OD DOESN’T WANT BELIEVERS TO BE MOTIVATED BY THE LAW OR BY
rules. But it’s important to clarify what I’m
not
saying here.

The law itself isn’t sinful. Law-haters, known as antinomians, have been misinterpreting the Scriptures since the days of the early church. They say that the law is evil. In combating this false doctrine, the apostle Paul notes that the law isn’t sin. In fact, he declares it to be holy, righteous, and good: “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good” (Romans 7:12).

So there’s nothing imperfect about the law itself. It’s without blemish. The accurate position on the law is
not
that it’s flawed. But its perfect standard when combined with human effort results in failure. In short, the law is perfect, but it makes no one perfect.

The law hasn’t disappeared just because we have the New. It is still at work today as a tool to convict the unbelieving world. As the words of Jesus indicate, the law will continue to be an everpresent force until heaven and earth disappear:

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. Truly I tell you, 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.

M
ATTHEW
5:17-18

Jesus’ statement may appear to contradict Paul in Ephesians. Paul talks about the barrier wall between Jew and Gentile (the law) being abolished:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.

E
PHESIANS
2:14-15

Paul’s words are sometimes misinterpreted to mean that the law has been obliterated. But this would contradict Jesus’ teaching that the law will endure as long as this world. Paul’s meaning, it seems, is that the law is irrelevant to life in Christ. Both Jew and Gentile are now saved by the same grace. The distinguishing element that separated Jew from Gentile is no more. This is very different from saying that the law has been obliterated.

Maybe the clearest statement concerning the law’s usefulness today was written to Timothy: “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous…” (1 Timothy 1:8-9a). Here we see a balanced view of the law. The law still exists and has a purpose today. But it’s not designed for Christians as a tool or guide for daily living. Its sole purpose is to convict the ungodly of their spiritually dead state.

Understanding the law’s place in the world today keeps us from the error of antinomianism (“law hating”). Understanding that
the law has no place in the life of a Christian keeps us from the error of legalism.

So God’s purpose is
not
to fulfill the law within Christians today. Why not? Because he has already fulfilled it.
^*
Hence, the Holy Spirit is not trying to bring Christians into subjection to the law. Nor is he helping Christians comply with it. Jesus already met the requirements of the law. And those who are born of the Spirit have the law’s requirements credited to them:

What the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh,
God did
by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in human flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us,
who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

R
OMANS
8:3-4, italics added

God did something
in the past
and
fully met
the law’s requirements. He sent his Son to be a sin offering, so he could condemn sin. Did God succeed? Of course. When did he succeed? Nearly two thousand years ago. So is God still trying to fulfill the law today? No, he has fulfilled it already. It’s a past event.

Notice that God did this so that the law would be fully met
in
us, not
by
us. When we come to Christ, all that he did to fulfill the law is placed
in
us and credited to us. This makes our righteousness greater than all of the Pharisees’ efforts combined, even from the first day we believe.

In Mafia movies, you’ll sometimes see a disappointed don inform his son that their relationship is over. The don exclaims, “Son, you’re dead to me.” The son fixes his gaze on the floor, and tears stream down his cheeks. He slowly leaves the room and his family forever. The connection between him and his father is over. The son is severed from the family, never to be reconnected.

Romans tells us we’re
dead to the law.
Just as the Mafia don was disappointed with his son’s performance, “Don Law” is disappointed with us. We’re not able to perform well enough to stay on his good side. Living under his roof was killing us.

So what was God’s solution? God made us die to the law so that we could be reborn into a new family and enjoy a newfound freedom. As Paul writes, “Through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God” (Galatians 2:19).

The moment we die to the Law family, we’re picked up by a family of far greater influence. Since we’re part of a new family, we’re no longer under the demands of “Don Law”:

So, my brothers and sisters, you also
died to the law
through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead…But now, by
dying to what once bound us,
we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

ROMANS 7:4, 6, italics added

Remember that the law came in so that sin might
increase,
not decrease (Romans 5:20). God knew the effects of the law. Through the law, we become conscious of sin. Through the law, we die. The law kills. When we realize this, we’re ready for a new approach altogether.

As a child, my wife, Katharine, lived in Colombia, South America, with her parents who served there as missionaries for four years. In Colombia, Katharine visited some of the most legalistic churches imaginable. Elders and deacons who were well respected among their peers were caught with other men’s wives. Admired church leaders turned out to be drunks, compulsive gamblers, or extortionists.

Perhaps the most amazing event was when a man’s car blew up in his own driveway, apparently an assassination. The charred body was recovered from the flames, and a funeral was held for the man. About a year later, the man was found alive and well in another city—married to another woman! It turns out he had dug up a cadaver from the cemetery and staged his own death. Apparently, he carried out this charade because of the extensive gambling debts he owed to the local mafia.

Katharine witnessed both extreme legalism and extreme immorality at the same time. Those outrageous events served to illustrate an important point about life under the law. We can dress up, play church, and gain the respect of those around us through the trumpeting of our strict religious rules. But no amount of window dressing can change reality. Sooner or later, life under law will evidence itself.

In Christ, we die and are reborn—free from the law. So we don’t have to pretend. Playing church leads to
more
sinning every time.