There seems to be a controversy in the followers of Christ that this article will attempt to help come to conclusion. It is the argument of not being under the law because of grace and mercy through the shed blood of Christ from the cross. People forget to make a distinction between the laws as written in the books of Moses. Let’s start there.

There are two sets of laws. One are the laws wrote by God himself at Sinai. These Ten Commandments are the moral law. Split at commandment five, they are written on two stone tablets. You find these in Exodus 20:1-17. These laws tell us how to deal with our relationship to God (Tablet 1, Commandments 1-4) and our relationship with our fellow man (Tablet 2, Commandments 5-10). These laws can not and will not ever change. These laws were in place before God ever wrote them on stone. Scripture tells us this in various passages (Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6; Isaiah 40:8; Et al).

The there are the Levitical laws. These laws were given to Moses in word, not stone, to write to the Israelites. These laws covered social issues, legal issues, and sacrificial issues meant for the Israelites. These are seen throughout the books of Moses, starting after the Ten Commandments. Here is where the problem occurs.

Lets look at the placement of the two groups of law (Commandment and Levitical). The two stone tablets (broken after Moses found the golden calf being worshiped and rewritten by God) were placed into the Ark of the Covenant (Deut. 10:1-20…At that time Adonai said to me, ‘Carve for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones and come up to Me on the mountain. Make yourself an ark of wood. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you smashed, and you are to put them in the ark.’ ). They were placed there with the staff of Aaron and Manna, according to the letter to the Hebrews by Paul (Hebrews 9:4b… In the ark was a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant). All three of these represent Jesus Christ. The Commandments being the laws of God from the law giver Jesus, the staff of Aaron (representing Christ as our High Priest, and Manna (the bread of life Jesus).

The Levitical Laws or Laws of Moses were placed differently (Deuteronomy 31:25-26…Moses commanded the Levites, carriers of the Ark of the Covenant of Adonai saying, “Take this scroll of the Torah, and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of Adonai your God. It will remain there as a witness against you,). This set of laws were binding as a covenant between God and the Israelites. Whereas the Law of God (Ten Commandments are binding upon all of humanity from the beginning to the end.

The debate comes from Romans 6:14….”For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace”. And while this verse standing alone may show that the grace not law argument would be right, It has to be taken in context and with the other verses surrounding it. The whole of the idea is as such, “Therefore do not let sin rule in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. And do not keep yielding your body parts to sin as tools of wickedness; but yield yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your body parts as tools of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you yielded your body parts as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your body parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So then, what outcome did you have that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin and having become enslaved to God, you have your fruit resulting in holiness. And the outcome is eternal life.For sin’s payment is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.” (Romans 6:12-23, TLV)

The whole of the reading shows that just because one is under grace, it does not confirm the ending of the Law of God (the Commandments). Paul reiterated that point in a few different verse. Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those within the Torah, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become accountable to God. For no human, on the basis of Torah observance, will be set right in His sight—for through the Torah comes awareness of sin.” And he says it differently, but with better clarity in Romans 7:7-12 “What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Torah. For I would not have known about coveting if the Torah had not said, “You shall not covet. ”But sin, taking an opportunity, worked in me through the commandment all kinds of coveting. For apart from the Torah, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the Torah; but when the commandment came, sin came to life and I died. The commandment meant for life was found to cause death. Sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Torah is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

What Paul is saying is that the commandments are in effect even after grace. The devil will still tempt and man’s nature is to still sin. And once the forgiveness of grace is received, the devil fights more to get back one he lost to God.

But don’t just listen to Paul. Jesus himself said that the Laws of God are still valid. “Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass.” (Matthew 5:18, TLV)

John’s vision at Patmos says it as well. “Here is the perseverance of the kedoshim—those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua.” (Revelation 14:12). In Hebrew Rabbinical text, Kedoshim means ‘Holy Ones’. The KJV interprets this word as saints. Perseverance means going the distance, seeing something to the end. As you see in this verse, to go through to the end of time, and have your name read in the Lamb’s Book of Life takes both the faith Christ (grace) and the commandments (Laws) of God.

When Christ said it is done before he died on the cross, meant that the price of redemption had been paid for those who accepted it. The Apostle James tells us in James 2:14-26 ‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can such faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in shalom, keep warm and well fed,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is that? So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder! But do you want to know, you empty person, that faith without works is dead? Wasn’t Abraham our father proved righteous by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked together with his works, and by the works his faith was made complete. The Scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”—and he was called God’s friend. You see that a man is proved righteous by works and not by faith alone. And likewise, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also proved righteous by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.’

The works being spoke about are how we deal with our fellowman. While it encompasses the works of mercy (feed the hungry, visit the sick, et al) it also includes the commandments. Remember, that the last six commandments tell us the moral way to deal with our fellow man.

The Levitical law (sacrifice, ceremony, etc.) were ended at the cross. This was the meaning of the statement of Christ about it being done. The blood now covered in grace what the sacrifices, ceremonial laws, and legal laws were meant for….future redemption in Christ’s sacrifice. This is revealed in the tearing of the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the temple. ‘And Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. And behold, the curtain of the Temple was split in two, from top to bottom.’ (Matthew 27:50-51, TLV)

This tearing opened up the presence of God to everyone without going through the sacrifice in the courtyard, the priest in the Holy place, and the covering of the ark in the animal blood of sacrifice. The Commandments (Law of God) not the Laws of Moses have been around since before the Commandments were given on Sinai.

Here is a question to ponder. If Christ himself, the Apostles, and the writers of the Old Testament say that the Law of God, like God, does not change, then why the debate? And why do those who claim to follow Christ debate on which commandments to follow? If it takes both Faith in Christ (grace of redemption through the blood) and the Commandments (Law of God) to make it through to the resurrection of the righteous, should we not follow both to glory?