Jul 8

Galatians 3:23-4:9
Memorise Galatians 3:24
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free”

As Christians, we have the freedom to eat shellfish and wear t-shirts that are not 100% cotton. We do not have to purify ourselves every time we touch a dead body, circumcise all male children at 8 days old or stone a person to death if he curses his parents. But when we read the Old Testament, we know that these and so many other laws are commanded in Holy Scripture. If we claim to obey the Bible, why is it that these laws no longer seem to apply to us? Are we sinning every time we eat pork? Certain Christians seem to think so, for they assert that certain laws, or in some extreme cases all the laws, continue to apply to us today. On the other hand, there are non-Christians who would read the OT and cite some of the more stringent or peculiar commands and use it to mock Christians, and deride the Bible saying how Christians are inconsistent in their adherence to Scriptures.

What then is the right biblical interpretation and application of these laws? We realize that this very issue caused no small amount of controversy in the early church, even amongst the Apostles. It was a problem faced especially by the Galatian church. Therefore, Paul had to pen an epistle to them to explain theologically why as Christians they no longer had to adhere to the laws of the Old Testament, and were free in Christ. His main argument was that the law in the past was but a tool to point them in the direction of Christ. All the laws, offerings and sacrifices, and particular requirements of the OT law were like a schoolmaster, to bring them unto Christ. Now that Christ has come, we are no longer servants to the law, but free in Christ, no longer required to observe what Paul described as “weak and beggarly elements”, which have no power to save. They were only effectual when they were practiced in faith in the OT period by the believers who were looking forward to Christ.

In this NT period, we are no longer the nation Israel, the national witness of God, but individual believers in the universal Church of Christ. Only the moral law, the 10 commandments, apply to us. The rest of the OT laws, the Civil law and Ceremonial laws, which were for the effective governance and religious functions of the nation Israel, have since been abrogated (done away with). However, reading them is still useful for us as we draw principles and applications from them to apply in our walk with God.

Thought: Does freedom from the law give us license to sin?
Prayer: Lord may You grant me the discernment to understand Your law, both the Old and New Testaments.