One said to me today, "The ten commandments have nothing to do with us now. We are not in the dispensation of the law, but of grace, so that the law is not binding on us; it is all done away with."
I do not quite understand this doctrine. I read that Christ said He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it-to prove its righteousness. The Bible tells us Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, not the works of God.
Do not try to understand such doctrine, for it is of the devil. You read correctly, and will do well to hold fast the sound words of Christ.
The idea of dividing time,--especially as connected with God's dealing with man,--into "dispensations" is a modern one, having no foundation in the Bible, and unknown to the men who were used by the Spirit to write it. It is a libel upon God, intimating that He is fickle and uncertain in His ways, dealing differently with men, according to varying moods.
But God does not change, and He has but one way of saving men. There can be no other way, because Christ is the way, and in Him all fullness dwells. "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believes in Him shall receive remission of sins." (Acts 10:49) "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
Jesus Christ's "goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity," (Micah 5:2,margin) and: "[He is] the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)
These texts make it as certain as the Bible is true, that there is but one way of salvation from the beginning to the end of time, and that is Christ, who is "the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (Revelation 22:13)
But this is positively denied by those who say, "We have nothing to do with the law now, nor it with us; for we are now under grace."
That implies that when people did have something to do with the law, or it with them, there was no grace for them. For the idea in the minds of those who talk thus about the law is that it is opposed to Christ, and that those who are in Him must ignore the law-that they are really in duty bound to break it.
Now read what the Scriptures say: "The law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20-21)
The grace of God in Christ never was manifested in more abundant measure than when the law was proclaimed from Mount Sinai. Again, Jesus says, "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:7-8)
He also said, "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love." (John 15:10)
And the beloved disciple says, "He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." (1 John 2:6)
Jesus fulfilled the law. What for? Was it that we might violate it? We were doing that already, for "all have sinned," (Romans 3:23) and, "sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4)
Surely no one in his senses can really think that Christ came and died, in order that men might be able to do that which they had all been doing all the time!
If someone says that the object of His coming was not that men might break the law, but that they might not be punished, the case is not altered; for if He did not come to save them from punishment by saving them from the transgression of the law, then it would be the case that He came to enable men to sin with impunity--that is to "strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." (Ezekiel 13:22)
This is horrible doctrine even to think of.
Christ fulfilled the law. Why? "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:1) "To be carnally minded is death," (Romans 8:6) and the reason is: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7)
But does not the Bible say, "You are not under the law, but under grace?It certainly does, and it immediately adds: What then? shall we sin (transgress the law), because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." (Romans 6:14-15)
Those who are not under the law are the only ones who can and do keep it. The moment one breaks the law, he is under it; the law has its hand upon him, and holds him for punishment. But grace saves us from the punishment which the law indicts upon transgressors, by saving us from transgression. It takes away the carnal mind, which is not subject to the law of God, and gives us in its place the mind of the Spirit, which is of the same nature as the law; "For we know that the law is spiritual." (Romans 7:14)
It is legitimate to say, however, that the law is not "binding" on true Christians, but not in the sense that the objector said it to you. It is in full force today, as much as it ever was, and will be throughout eternity; but it does not bind, or coerce, the followers of Jesus. No; because, just as Jesus said, "I delight to do your will, O my God; yea, your law is within my heart," (Psalm 40:8) so His follower will say, "O how I love your law! it is my meditation all the day." (Psalm 119:97)
The man is blessed whose "delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law does he meditate day and night." (Psalm 1:2)
To such a man the law is not a "yoke of bondage." (Galatians 5:1) He does not feel it, because he has been transformed, and is one with it. He and the law coincide in every particular, so that there is no chafing against it. He is not under the law, but in it, yea, really above it, in that he sits with Christ in the heavenly places, where the law is administered. He unites with Christ in administering the law to himself, his part being to acquiesce; and he takes pleasure in seeing how powerful the law in Christ is to bring the body under, and to keep it in subjection.
The follower of Christ is not bound, that is, in bondage, in any way, because: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made him free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)
The only man who feels that the law is binding on him is the man who is transgressing it, and he who is transgressing it, and he frequently denies that it is binding, that is, in force.
The Christian, on the contrary, who does not feel that the law binds him, because he gladly obeys it, feels the force of the law, as it is life in Christ, working in Him for righteousness, and delights to know that it is for ever established, (Psalm 119:89) and thus ensures to him everlasting salvation. (Isaiah 45:17)--Present Truth, August 22, 1901.