The Believer and God’s Law

This article was originally published in The Messianic Outreach in 1990 (Vol. 10:1), just a couple of years after I started keeping the Sabbath and following the instructions of the Torah. The article grew out of my meditation on the Torah during those early years. -DB

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalm 1).

The Book of Psalms opens by offering the reader two roads from which he can choose: the way of the godly or the way of the ungodly. After reading where each of these two paths lead, the only sane choice is to go the way of the godly.

We believers have talked a lot about how much we want to become like the fruitful tree described by the psalmist. We have also talked about not doing the negative things mentioned in the psalm. Somehow we have overlooked the importance of doing the positive things stated in the psalm. One of the conditions of being a fruitful tree is to delight in the law of the Lord and to meditate in His law day and night. Notice, it is not just the Word in general, it is the law specifically, which demands our attention.

If a person studies much Church history, he will soon discover that most of the Reformers and other men used by God had some terrible blind spots in their theology. Historians explain this by pointing out that these men were, to some degree, products of the time and the culture in which they lived. This should cause us to pause for sober reflection. Are we so proud and arrogant to think that we are any different? What areas of our thinking have been molded and shaped more by our Western culture than by the Word of God? What areas of theological blindness does our generation suffer from?

The Reformers began the work of recovery in the Church, but they did not finish it. It is the duty of every generation of believers to continue the work of recovery until the Lord returns. John Robinson, the Pilgrims’ pastor, said, “Luther and Calvin were precious and shining lights in their times, yet God did not reveal His whole will to them. I am very confident that the Lord hath yet more truth and light to break forth out of His Holy Word.”

I am convinced that one important area that demands our attention is the recovery of a proper understanding of how the Christian is to relate to the law and commandments revealed in the Old Testament. Most Christian leaders, if they teach about the law at all, give the impression that New Testament believers need not concern themselves with Old Testament commandments. To embrace this kind of teaching requires three things. First, one must emphasize certain verses from Paul’s epistles which appear to make “negative” statements about the law, and ignore the context of these verses. Second, one must ignore the positive statements Paul made about the law, ignore what the other Apostles say about the law, and ignore much of what the Old Testament says about the law. Third, one must ignore what Yeshua/Jesus taught about the law in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:17-19).

A close study of the Sermon on the Mount will reveal that its organization is based on Psalm 1. Psalm 1 is a “skeleton outline,” a template for the entire Sermon. The Sermon on the Mount is simply an expansion or enlargement of Psalm 1. See the diagram below:

Yeshua was a Fruitful Tree. His fruitfulness grew out of His walking not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standing in the way of sinners, nor sitting in the seat of the scornful, but His delight was in the law of the LORD, and in that law He meditated day and night. The Sermon on the Mount was an outgrowth of Yeshua’s meditation on the Torah, and it behooves us to heed His warnings concerning our attitudes to the law. How a disciple of Yeshua should relate to the law is the theme of the Sermon.

Isaiah said that the LORD would “magnify the law, and make it honourable” (42:21). Yeshua did this in the Sermon on the Mount. The Pharisees had made much of the law of God into a heavy, unbearable yoke by adding thousands of man-made commandments (the “Oral Law”) to the Biblical commandments. Yeshua stripped the Law of the burdensome additions. He did not abolish the law; He “magnified the law, and made it honourable” by clarifying it, restoring it, and teaching us how to obey it in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7).

From Matthew 5:21 to 7:11, Yeshua expounds the law. He gives examples to show that obeying God’s Law involves more than mere external obedience. The law is to be internalized, “written on the heart” (2 Cor. 3). But a word of caution is needed: Having God’s Law written on our hearts does not give us an excuse to ignore the external keeping of God’s laws. On the contrary, it enables us to live by an even higher standard than the law requires. (“You have heard it said... But I say to you...”) Yeshua gives us the power to properly keep God’s laws; He does not give us a license to break them: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.”

After He “sums up” the Law and the Prophets (7:12), He warns us to “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (7:15). Outwardly, we have no reason to suspect that these people are not real Christians. But inwardly, they have an inherent hatred of God’s Law. The fruit these false teachers bear are people who call Jesus “Lord,” but do not do the will of the heavenly Father (7:16-21): “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity [NASB, you who practice lawlessness]” (7:23).

How the Christian is to relate to God’s Law is of vital importance. As we return to the simplicity of obeying the teachings of our Messiah, let us make sure we are not following a “lawless Jesus” who “abolished the law.”

| DB

Image (Top): Psalm 1 by Daniel Botkin from his Psurrealistic Psalms Pseries. Go to DanielBotkin.com to view all of Dan’s art pieces and learn how to his art commission services.