DOCTRINE OF THE MOSAIC LAW

The Mosaic Law is divided into three parts. In the English translation they are called the Decalogue, the Ordinances, and the Judgments.

1. Codex one is the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue.

a. This is the freedom code. These commandments form the basis for the heritage of Israel’s freedom. The Ten Commandments define freedom in terms of human activity. They are addressed to believers and unbelievers with the exception of worship of God.

b. Human freedom is described in terms of the laws of divine establishment. There can be no freedom without morality which can be fulfilled by both believers and unbelievers.

c. The Ten Commandments define human freedom in terms of morality, privacy, property, life, and authority in general. The Ten Commandments also define human freedom under two categories: relationship with God and relationship and interaction with people.

d. While some sins are mentioned in the Ten Commandments, its purpose is not to define sin. The sins mentioned are intrusions upon privacy, property, and freedom.

e. Therefore, human freedom has something which is the guardian of freedom — authority. Human freedom must have authority, and this authority is defined in two areas: volition as the basic authority in life, and establishment authority summarized by the Ten Commandments, Ex 20:1-17.

f. All of the rights of a group of people must be defined in terms of personal authority. Everyone is responsible in the framework of freedom to follow establishment rules. When these rules are violated, we call it crime. Punishment is described in the Law. Criminals have the right to use their own free will to recognize these rights and principles. Other factors include good manners, thoughtfulness of others, and regard for women.

g. On the other side of volition, establishment authorities are set up to guarantee freedom. For example, the authority of the husband over the wife, parents over children, and government.

h. “Thou shall not” defines in a negative way what morality is. Morality is the system whereby freedom permeates the human race. Morality is a requirement for the entire human race, not just believers. Something much higher than morality is required for believers: virtue. The highest form of virtue is spiritual maturity.

i. Codex one also points out to the unbeliever that he is married to the old sin nature and has a bad marriage.

j. Mt 22:36-40 sums up the entire Law.

2. Codex two is the Ordinances, Ex 25:1 - 31:18, or the spiritual code.

a. If you have freedom from the ten commandments, you are free to hear the gospel and to accept it or reject it. This emphasizes the fact that believers are designed to function under both the laws of divine establishment as well as Bible doctrine in the soul. As the marriage counselor, codex two points out the solution to the first marriage to the old sin nature as salvation.

b. The ordinances are the spiritual heritage of Israel. They are the theological code designed to present Jesus Christ as the only Savior. The spiritual heritage of Israel includes a complete but shadow soteriology and christology, the essence of God, and the explanation of justification in terms of divine integrity, and all the adjustments to the justice of God. These doctrines were communicated both through ritual and through oral teachings. Oral communication came through Moses, and Aaron followed with the ritual teachings. Ritual without reality is meaningless.

c. The ritual communication included the structure of the Tabernacle and its furniture (Ex 25-27), the delineation of the Holy Days (Lev 23:10ff), the modus operandi of the Levitical priesthood (Ex 28-29), and the significance of the Levitical offerings (Lev 1-3). All of these things spoke of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

d. The Ordinances are a means of communicating the gospel. They are also a means of appreciating the so(c)great salvation the Lord has given to all of us.

3. Codex three is the Judgments, the establishment code or the national heritage of Israel.

a. This includes all of the political and functional heritage of the nation Israel.

b. Every principle and function related to the life of a client nation was reduced to writing, oral communication, and government modus operandi. This includes an elaboration of freedom and authority, privacy, rights, property, sprivileges, marriage and divorce, military policy, taxation, diet, health, sanitation, quarantine, criminal law, trial, punishment, laws of evidence, and capital punishment, Ex 21:1-23:9.

(1) The responsibility of government is to ensure freedom. The Mosaic Law has everything necessary for ensuring the freedom of its citizens. The amplification of the freedom principles related to government and private citizens.

(2) The principle of privacy in freedom.

(3) The concept of juris prudence which distinguishes between criminal and civil law, and developed the laws of evidence which exclude hearsay and assign just punishment for criminal acts and tort for civil law. No one could be convicted unless there were two or three witnesses who independently before the court presented the same facts. Criminals were punished immediately. There is no such thing as rehabilitation of a criminal. Punishment must be so severe, it restrains the criminal. Part of the establishment code is capital punishment, which was first enucleated in the Scripture in Gen 9:5-6 and incorporated into the Mosaic Law in Ex 21:12; Num 35:30; and transferred to the Church Age in Rom 13:3-4.

(4) A just system of taxation. Tithing was the system of taxation and was levied on both believers and unbelievers. There was a separate system of offerings for believers only, Deut 18:1(c)5; Neh 13:10. The offerings of believers were not assigned any percentage. There were three income tax systems in Israel.

(a) There was a ten percent income tax for the maintenance of the Levites, Num 18:21, 24; Lev 27:30-33.

(b) There was a ten percent income tax for feasts and sacrifices, Deut 12:18; 14:22-24.

(d) Mal 3:8-11 describes income tax evasion. “Will a man defraud God? Yet you are defrauding Me. But you say, `How have we defrauded You?’ In tithes [taxation] and offerings [spiritual giving by believers only]. [Unbelievers did not want to pay income tax or the tax related to support of the Levitical offerings.] You are cursed with a curse; for you, the entire nation, are defrauding Me. `Bring your entire tithe [income tax] to the treasury, so that there may be food in My house [client nation], and test Me now in this,’ declares the Lord of the armies, `if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour you out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. Then I will rebuke the devourer [anything that would destroy the economy, like insects/pests or invading armies] for you, so that it may not destroy the production of the ground.’”

Great blessing occurs to a client nation when its citizens faithfully pay legitimate income taxes.

(e) Spiritual giving does not have a percentage sign. Never give so that it deprives your family. While spiritual giving is mentioned, it is not an issue in the establishment code of the Mosaic Law. In the spiritual code, the offerings of a believer is a private matter between a believer and God. No percentage is involved.

c. Codex three included the function of free enterprise and profit motivation but rejected all forms of socialism and the welfare state, but mandates charity. When you destroy wealth in a nation, you destroy jobs in a nation. Charity is always a valid part of the spiritual life, both in the Old Testament and the New. Three things were rejected as evil: civil disobedience, violence, and revolution.

d. The laws of divine establishment are for believer and unbeliever alike. Morality mandated by the Mosaic Law was for both believers and unbelievers; it was not the means of spirituality.

e. Morality is not spirituality. Spirituality is infinitely greater than morality. Morality is produced by human self(c)determination and is good but spirituality is produced by God the Holy Spirit and is infinitely greater than human good.

B. The Recipients of the Mosaic Law.

1. The Mosaic Law was given to the nation of Israel as the first client nation to God in B.C. 1440, Ex 19:3; Lev 26:46; Rom 3:19, 9:4.

2. The Mosaic Law was never given to Gentiles, Deut 4:8; Rom 2:12-14, because Israel was the client nation. Codex three is the exception, since it belongs to the entire world, and principles of Codex three are reiterated in such passages as Rom 13:1-10.

3. The Mosaic Law was never given to the Church, Acts 15:5, 24; Rom 6:14; Gal 2:19. This is the fallacy of covenant theology. We have a higher code in the royal family honor code. The Church has no animal sacrifices, Saturday worship, specialized priesthood, etc.

4. All of these passages make the point that morality must be distinguished from spirituality. Morality is for the entire human race. The more morality you have in a country the better off you are, because the purpose of true morality is to provide true freedom. Morality is not to be rejected by the believer. We have something greater than morality — the unique spiritual life of the Church Age.

C. Limitations of the Mosaic Law (called “weakness and uselessness of the Law” in Heb 7:18). 1. The Mosaic Law cannot justify anyone before God as a system of works, Acts 13:39; Phil 3:9. The Law was given as a system for understanding sin, not as a system of salvation. The Law points to the fact that we need salvation but it cannot save. The Mosaic Law reveals Jesus Christ as the only savior. It presents a complete christology and soteriology. The Jews executed the ritual without ever relating it to the reality of Christ as savior.

a. Rom 3:20-22, “Because by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God is manifested...even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.

b. Rom 3:28, “Therefore, we contend that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law.”

c. Gal 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ that we might be justified by faith and not by the works of the Law. For by the works of the Law no man will be justified.”

d. Everyone in both the Old Testament and the New Testament are saved by faith in Christ. Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account as righteousness.

2. The Mosaic Law cannot provide eternal salvation, Gal 3:21-26.

3. The Mosaic Law cannot provide the filling of the Holy Spirit, necessary for the execution of the spiritual life, Gal 3:2ff.

4. The Mosaic Law cannot solve the problems of the old sin nature and spiritual death at birth, Rom 8:2-3. It cannot provide a righteousness acceptable to God. It must remain in its proper setting as the basis for the function of a nation. In other words, the Mosaic Law defines the problem and points to the solution, but doesn’t provide the solution.

5. The equality factor of the Church Age did not exist under the Mosaic Law. To be a priest you had to be born into the tribe of Levi under the Law. Under the protocol plan we are not only priests but royal priests.

6. The Law never provided for the indwelling of the Trinity in the body of all believers.

7. The Law never provided for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

8. The Law never provided for the one hundred percent availability of divine power.

9. The Law never provided for a dispensation of only historical trends and no prophecy, so that every believer can have great historical impact. The humanity of Jesus Christ is related to the Mosaic Law, since our Lord was born a Jew by race from the royal line of David.

1. The humanity of Jesus in hypostatic union kept the Law perfectly during the First Advent and incarnation as noted in the biblical doctrine of impeccability.

2. Christ condemned the legalistic distortions of the Law and the Pharisees who sponsored such practices, Matt 23.

3. Christ fulfilled the Law, Matt 5:17.

4. Christ is the termination of the Law for the purpose of righteousness to all who believe, Rom 10:4. There finally came into history one human being who obeyed the Law perfectly. The righteousness we have is higher than the righteousness of the Mosaic Law. The Church Age believer has a higher echelon of morality than ever existed in the Mosaic Law.

E. The Present Purpose of the Mosaic Law in the Church Age.

1. The Mosaic Law belongs to the word of God and still has value for the Church Age believer. It defines human freedom in a client nation to God in the Church Age in terms of establishment freedom and spiritual freedom.

2. The Mosaic Law defines the modus operandi for divine establishment in terms of morality and human virtue. The morality of the Mosaic Law does have virtue as long as you do not get into arrogance.

3. It verifies certain principles of Codex three related to:

a. The principle of freedom through military victory.

b. The control of crime through capital punishment and proper juris prudence.

c. The importance of the sacredness of privacy, property, and life.

d. The common sense functions of life such as quarantine, proper diet, maintenance of good hygiene, etc.

4. Codex two of the Law emphasizes the importance of our historical christology and soteriology; for the historical christology of the New Testament fulfills the shadow christology of the Mosaic Law, emphasizing the work of Christ in salvation, emphasizing the spiritual death and sinfulness of mankind, and emphasizing faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation.

5. The perpetual application of the Mosaic Law is found in 1 Tim 1:8¦11, “We know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully. Know this fact that the Law was not made for the righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who murder their fathers and mothers, for murderers in general, for fornicators and homosexuals, for kidnappers and liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which gospel I have been entrusted.” The perpetual application of the Mosaic Law is to bring people to the place where they recognize the need for a savior.

a. Using the Mosaic Law lawfully means no distortions, no distractions, and above all no Christian activism.

b. All of these categories refer to both believers and unbelievers.

6. The Mosaic Law contains truth that applies to every generation of history, that is, the principles of freedom, authority, property, and jurisprudence. All systems of freedom are based on absolute truth, Jn 8:32.

7. The freedom of the royal family completely excludes the Mosaic Law. Gal 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Keep standing fast in it [our freedom] and do not become entangled again in the yoke of slavery [the legalistic believer living under the Mosaic Law].”

8. Temporal freedom is the heritage of physical birth. Spiritual freedom is the heritage of the new birth, 2 Cor 3:17, “Now the Lord [God the Holy Spirit] is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

9. The Mosaic Law is completely excluded from the believer’s spiritual freedom, but still has value in defining human freedom in the human race.

a. The characteristics of temporal freedom include

(1) Recognition of the sacredness of privacy, property, and life.

(2) Emphasis on and recognition of the sacredness of self¦determination.

(3) A personal sense of responsibility for one’s own decisions.

(4) Subordination to the authority of establishment.

b. The characteristics of spiritual freedom include:

(1) It is not based on the Mosaic Law, Gal 5:1.

(2) It is based on the absolutes of Bible doctrine, Jn 8:32.

(3) It is based on the filling of Spirit, 2 Cor 3:17.

c. Temporal freedom is the heritage of physical birth. Spiritual freedom is the heritage of regeneration, the second birth. Spiritual freedom is only located inside the spiritual life and can function with or without the support of temporal freedom. For example, some the greatest believers in the Roman Empire were slaves. And Paul said, “Remain in slavery.” You can grow spiritually in slavery just as easily as you can in temporal freedom.

d. Temporal freedom is based on human merit. Spiritual freedom is based on divine merit. 2 Cor 3:13-18, “And they are not as Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel might not see it [his face] while the glory was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the Old Testament, the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart, `But when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.’ Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with an unveiled face looking into a mirror [Word of God] to produce a reflection [spiritual self¦esteem, autonomy, and maturity], the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into that same image [of Jesus Christ in the spiritual life of the hypostatic union] from glory [the glory of the humanity of Christ] to glory [the glory of the believer who executes the protocol plan], as it were, from the Spirit of the Lord.”

(1) When Moses went up on the mountain and got parts of the Mosaic Law, there was a glory related to it, and it was shone in the animation of his face. But when he came down, the glory faded. So that the Jews could not see the fading glory of the Mosaic Law, Moses put a veil over his face as commanded. The Jews were not to see that the glory of the Law would fade.

(2) How does the glory fade in the Mosaic Law? Verse 14 says through scar tissue of the soul. Throughout the Church Age, scar tissue of the soul will keep the veil unlifted unless the Jew has faith in Christ.

(3) If you look into the Word of God with scar tissue of the soul, you get nothing. The mirror is the Word of God. When you see and execute, the glory is there.

10. The Mosaic Law was abrogated as a total code. Therefore, only what is reiterated in the New Testament is pertinent to “the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus.” Rom 8:2-8, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. For what the Mosaic Law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by the sin nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and for a sin offering judged sin in the flesh, in order that the legal requirements of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh [old sin nature], but according to the Spirit. For those [believers] who are according to the flesh keep thinking about the things of the flesh, but those [believers] who live according to the Spirit [filling of the Spirit] keep thinking about the things of the Spirit. Consequently, the thought pattern of the flesh is death, but the thought pattern of the Spirit is life and prosperity, because the thought pattern of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subordinate to the law of God, because it is not able to do so; furthermore those who are controlled by the flesh [sin nature] cannot please God."While the Jews of the Old Testament lived by the Mosaic Law, Church Age believers live by the protocol plan of God. The dispensation of the Hypostatic Union stands as a permanent line of demarcation between Israel and the Church. Therefore, during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law on the one hand, and established the precedence for the Church Age on the other hand.

11. The Mosaic Law does not define the Christian way of life.

a. Mt 5:17, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”

b. Rom 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the Law for the purpose of righteousness to every one who believes.”

12. The Mosaic Law is a particular expression of God’s eternal and holy character, Ex 19. The Mosaic Law is designed for several explicit purposes.

a. While the Law regulated the life of the Jews in the dispensation of Israel, its primary purpose was to anticipate the first advent of Christ.

b. After the Law was fulfilled by Christ, this code no longer governs any people or any nation. However, the abrogation of the Law does not leave either unbelievers or believers in a state of lawlessness, Rom 6:15ff.

13. Dr. Charles E. Feinberg’s seventeen points on why the believer is not under the Law.

a. A believer under the Law makes Christ a minister of sin, Gal 2:17.

b. The believer has died to the Law, Gal 2:19.

c. A believer has received all the benefits of the Spirit through faith, Gal 3:1-5.

d. The Law brings nothing but condemnation, Gal 3:10-14.

e. God’s promised blessings to Abraham, of which Abrahamic route all believers partake (Rom 11), antedate the giving of the Law. Therefore, the Law cannot be a prior claim, Gal 3:15-17.

f. The Law has no power to give life or to sustain life, Gal 3:21.

g. The Law is intended only for the immature, while positionally, believers are full-grown sons, Gal 3:23-4:7.

h. The Law is a bondage to the believer, Gal 4:9.

i. Law and grace are mutually exclusive principles; therefore, choose one or the other, Gal 4:21(c)31.

j. The believer has an abiding freedom in Christ, Gal 5:1.

k. The believer must keep all the Law, if he would attempt to keep even part of it, Gal 5:2-4.

l. The persuasion to put the believer under the Law is not from God, Gal 5:8.

m. Legalism of the believer does away with the offense of the cross, Gal 5:11.

n. All the Law is fulfilled by the Holy Spirit, Gal 5:16-24.

o. The life of the believer must be sustained on the same principle as his new birth or regeneration, Gal 5:25.

p. The believer’s proneness to sin calls for his dealing with grace, not dealing according to the Law, Gal 6:1-5.

q. All who advocate the Law for the believer cannot keep it themselves, and their intention is ultimate glory in the flesh, Gal 6:13.

14. The termination of the Mosaic Law does not leave the believer or unbeliever in a lawless status quo, Rom 6:15ff. God’s perfect character remains immutable through all dispensations in history. God expressed His perfect virtue to mankind long before the Mosaic Law existed, and He continues to provide ethical norms, morality, virtue and spiritual instruction after the Law has ceased to govern.

15. Before, during, and after the time the Mosaic Law was in effect in Israel, divine law functioned among the Gentiles, to whom the Mosaic Law never applied, Gen 26:5; Ex 19:5; Rom 2:14(c)16; 1 Cor 7:19, 9:20f.

16. In the Church Age, the operational divine law is not the Mosaic Law, but the law of Christ, 1 Cor 9:20-21; Gal 6:2.

a. The humanity of Christ in Hypostatic Union fulfilled the Mosaic Law in the power of the Spirit.

b. The Church Age believer fulfills the law of Christ by following His precedent, which means the execution of the protocol plan of God under the filling of the Holy Spirit and perception of Bible doctrine.

17. Because the first advent of Christ included both the fulfillment and the culmination of the Mosaic Law (Mt 5:17-19; Rom 10:4; Gal 3:22-25, 5:3-4), many practices mandated for the nation Israel are not included in God’s plan for the church.

18. While the Mosaic Law as a total code became obsolete, not only was the spiritual code fulfilled and replaced, but the temporal portions of the Law ceased to be literally in effect.

a. The temporal aspects of the Law, like codex one and three, define freedom within the national entity. Codex three institutes the laws of divine establishment for Israel specifically.

b. During the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, our Lord inaugurated new policies for both the Church and the Millennium. In doing so, our Lord restated many individual commands found in the Mosaic Law. But if a command was not restated for the Church or the Millennium, then it is not pertinent.

c. This continuity existed because the source of all divine law has always been the same immutable essence of God, Heb 13:8. Although continuity with the Law exists in both the Church Age and Millennium, the new policy for both dispensations is not the Mosaic Law itself.

(1) The Church Age derives its doctrine from the New Testament epistles under the classification of mystery doctrine, Rom 16:25f; Eph 3:2-6; Col 1:25-27.

(2) The Mosaic Law was revealed to Old Testament writers; therefore, it cannot be part of the mystery doctrine.

19. Three great discourses in the New Testament Gospels prophesy divine policies mandated for the Church Age, the Second Advent, and the millennial reign of Christ.

a. The Upper Room Discourse anticipates prophetically divine policies for the Church Age, Jn 12-17.

b. The Olivet Discourse, Mt 24(c)25, describes policies for how Jews will survive the last half of the Tribulation in order to remain until the Second Advent.

c. The Sermon on the Mount is for the millennial reign of Christ. The Sermon on the Mount can only be enforced when Jesus Christ rules on the earth personally.

20. The New Testament epistles provide the divine mandates for the protocol plan of God. If Old Testament precepts apply, they do so, not because they belong to the Mosaic Law, but because they are repeated to the church as a part of the royal family of God modus operandi.

a. Some of the precepts of codex three are given to the Church in its relationship to the laws of divine establishment, Rom 13:1-10.

b. Some of the principles of divine establishment found in codex one and three are restated as the law of Christ or law of God.

c. The excluded principles are still divine truth, but they do not bear the force of law for any nation except the five Jewish client nations of the past.

d. In the future, there is the possibility that much of the Law will apply to client nation Israel during the Millennium, but not during the Church Age.

e. Wise political leaders in the Church Age, who desire prosperity for their nation, will extrapolate and use principles found in the Mosaic Law, and integrate them into their culture and heritage.

f. During the Church Age the principle of separation of church and state leaves many establishment issues simply to the judgment of civil government.

g. For example, capital punishment is restated for the Church Age in Rom 13:4, but not some of the specific applications in the Mosaic Law, such as adultery, homosexuality, and juvenile delinquency.

21. However, the Mosaic Law continues to fulfill certain pertinent functions.

a. It defines freedom in any client nation to God, both establishment freedom and spiritual freedom.

b. It defines the modus operandi of the laws of divine establishment in terms of both morality and virtue.

c. It verifies certain principles, such as freedom through military victory.

d. It defines common law in terms of both trial and punishment.

e. It demonstrates that man is a sinner under real spiritual death and points the way of salvation through personal faith in Christ.

f. It illustrates the saving work of Christ on the cross through ritual illustrations.

22. The Mosaic Law was written for our instruction, in order that we might learn establishment principles, Rom 15:4.

a. The Mosaic Law was written for our example. 1 Cor 10:11-12, “Now these things happened to them as an example, furthermore, they were written for our instruction, upon whom the accomplishments of the ages [the execution of the plan of God under the power of the Holy Spirit] have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

b. The Mosaic Law was written to convince the unbeliever that by divine standards he is a sinner and needs a Savior, Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16, and can never be justified by works.

c. The Mosaic Law and its principles form the pattern and policy for good government. It demonstrates the proper place of authority and its proper use. It teaches the importance of fair taxation, universal military training, proper juris prudence, and the importance of freedom, privacy, property, and life.

d. The present purpose of Codex one is to define human freedom, of codex two to teach that we are not under the Law but under grace, and of codex three to provide the perfect standard for the function of a client nation.

F. Grace application to life is related to Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law. Jn 1:17, “The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Law and grace through Jesus Christ are both considered together because the Law can also be a means of evangelism in codex two.

G. Principles of Freedom.

1. Freedom without authority is anarchy.

2. Authority without freedom is tyranny.

3. Christian activism results in either anarchy or tyranny.

4. Christian activism which produces anarchy destroys establishment freedom.

5. Christian activism which produces tyranny destroys Christian freedom; for example, the Spanish Inquisition. No believer can enter Christian activism and possibly live the spiritual life of the Church Age.

6. Concepts.

a. The Christian activist is a sleepwalker through life.

b. Christian activism is a theory that the essence of reality is the activity of an emotionally dominated soul for a perceived just cause, which is human works substituted for the divine imperative of being filled with the Spirit. Therefore, Christian activism is grieving the Holy Spirit, quenching the Holy Spirit, and lying to the Holy Spirit.

c. Christian activism is a dominating function of the word wrongdoing.

(1) As a system of wrongdoing, Christian activism becomes a system of evil, in which the dark side of morality assumes that the end justifies the means.

(2) The will of God expressed in the word of God must always operate under principles related to our Mentor, God the Holy Spirit. You cannot be filled with the Spirit and at the same time be involved in Christian activism.

(3) The principle of specific modus operandi: a wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong; a wrong thing done is a right way is wrong; a right thing done in a wrong way is wrong.

(4) The unique spiritual life of the Church Age is always a right thing done in a right way. The result is a winner believer and invisible hero.

(5) A wrongdoing includes dead works and evil, ignorance or rejection of doctrine including rejection of 1 Jn 1:9, rebound and keep moving. When we rejection 1 Jn 1:9, we are in wrongdoing. Sooner or later we will die the sin face(c)to(c)face with death.

H. The Principle of Precedence Related to the Mosaic Law.

1. The modus operandi of the protocol plan of God takes its precedence from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union rather than from the Mosaic Law in the dispensation of Israel.

2. This means that precedence for the protocol plan of God is not taken from any of the commandments of the Mosaic Law, whether tithing, Sabbath observance, or keeping the ten commandments for salvation.

a. Faith in Jesus Christ is not only eternal life but it is the end of self-righteousness, works righteousness, and the distortion of the Mosaic Law.

b. Neither self-righteousness nor works righteousness can ever improve the imputation of divine righteousness which was given to us at the moment we believed in Jesus Christ. Imputed divine righteousness is not only the basis of justification, but at the same time, it provides for logistical grace support and blessing. Imputed divine righteousness also provides the basis for God’s personal love for every believer after salvation.

3. The protocol plan of God is classified as mystery doctrine, defined as never being revealed to Old Testament writers. Not one word regarding the uniqueness of the Church Age is found in the Old Testament, Rom s16:25¦26; Eph 3:1-6; Col 1:25-26.

4. The Law has been completely fulfilled by our Lord and has been abrogated. Therefore the modus operandi of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age can never take its precedence from something that has been totally abrogated.

5. No precedence for the Church Age is taken from Israel. This means that the Mosaic Law has nothing to do with the Christian way of life.

a. God provided establishment principles for Gentiles long before He provided the Mosaic Law.

b. God provided establishment principles for the Church after He abrogated the Mosaic Law.

6. The protocol plan of God for the Church Age supercedes the ritual plan of God for Israel. Precedence for the protocol plan is derived from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union only.

7. Most reformed denominations include the Mosaic Law as a major part of the Christian way of life. They construct human good and dead works only. Romans and Galatians repudiate the Law as part of the Christian way of life.

a. Legalism, such as tithing, sabbath observance, the substitution of morality for spirituality, originate from the erroneous premise that the Mosaic Law is a part of the Christian way of life.

b. However, neither salvation or spirituality are related to keeping the Law.

c. The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross fulfilled in detail codex two of the Mosaic Law.

8. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the basis for a new spiritual species, a royal family of God, and the protocol plan of God. The protocol plan of God and the Mosaic Law are mutually exclusive.

9. All precedence for the protocol plan of God is based on the power or the omnipotence that raised Christ from the dead. This excludes entirely the Mosaic Law. The Law cannot provide spirituality, and neither can it provide resurrection.

10. The Mosaic Law provides neither precedence nor authorization for the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. All doctrine related to the modus operandi of the Church Age is classified as mystery doctrine which was hidden from the Old Testament writers, Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:2-6; Col 1:25-27.

I. Legalism and the Mosaic Law.

1. Heb 7:19, “For the Law accomplished nothing, but on the other hand the bringing in of a better hope did, through which [hope] we draw near to God.”

a. The aorist active indicative of the verb TELEIOO, “to accomplish,” plus the negative adverb OUDEN, “nothing,” indicates that in the past the Law accomplished nothing because of Israel’s negative volition.

b. The Jews took the Law and tried to use it as a system of salvation. Therefore, nothing was accomplished. The exceptions are those like Abraham who were saved by faith and faith alone. This is illustrated by the rich young ruler who could not be saved by his works.

c. “The bringing in (EPEISAGOGE),” began on the first Christmas day with the virgin birth. Faith in Christ was a better hope than keeping the Mosaic Law for salvation.

d. “Drawing near” is a synonym for having faith in Jesus Christ.

2. The legalism of salvation by keeping the Law represents all systems of salvation by works. There are three categories of salvation by works.

a. Salvation by works alone. Trying to be saved by some system of works.

(1) Tit 3:5, “He saved us, not on the basis of works which we have done in righteousness, but on the basis of His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

(2) Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, lest any man should boast.” b. Salvation by faith plus works includes such things as faith plus commitment, or lordship, or repentance, or baptism, or emotion, or psychological activity. A spiritually dead person cannot make a commitment to God, cannot recognize lordship. The feelings, emotions and psychological activity of a spiritually dead person has no meaning to God.

c. Salvation by works without faith.

(1) Inviting Christ into your heart. Jer 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it.” We don’t invite Christ anywhere as spiritually dead creatures. The faith of a spiritually dead person is the only thing the Holy Spirit can take and make effective for salvation. God invites us to believe in Christ; we don’t invite Christ anywhere.

(2) Inviting Christ into your life. You are spiritually dead; that is inviting Christ into a tomb. Jn 16:8, “He will convict the world concerning sin because they do not believe in Me.” The convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with inviting Christ anywhere, or with how you feel about anything.

3. Gal 1:1(c)6, “Paul, an apostle (not sent from men, not through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and prosperity from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a substitute for our sins, in order that He might deliver us from this present evil age, on the basis of the will of God, even the Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I am amazed that you have so quickly deserted Him who called you by means of the grace of Christ to another Gospel [the Mosaic Law].”

a. Galatians is the book that deals with legalism at salvation and legalism in the Christian way of life.

b. The Galatians had become legalistic, self(c)righteous, very pious, and very inflexible in their moral degeneracy.

J. The spiritual freedom of the Church exceeds any freedom defined by the Mosaic Law.

1. The best the Mosaic Law could do was to define human freedom in terms of morality.

2. Never before in history has so much freedom, privilege, opportunity and equality been given to believers as in the dispensation of the royal family of God.

3. Never have such objectives been given to each believer as in the Church Age; objectives that exceed any objective ever stated in the Mosaic Law.

4. Jn 1:17, “The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

5. The Mosaic Law has been abrogated as a total code.

6. Only what has been restated in the New Testament is pertinent to the Christian way of life, as the law of Christ, as the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus.

7. Though abrogated as a code and not part of the protocol plan, the Mosaic Law has a definite purpose for the unbeliever.

8. Though abrogated as a code and not part of the protocol plan, the Mosaic Law is still part of the canon of Scripture.

9. Abrogation of the Mosaic Law does not mean cancellation from Scripture. For the Law is a teacher of sin and a reflector of God’s perfect standards. It is a tutor to lead us to Christ.

K. The Pre(c)salvation Function of the Mosaic Law.

1. Rom 3:19-20, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified in His sight; for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.”

2. 1 Tim 1:9-10, “Realizing this fact that the Law was not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who murder their fathers and mothers, for murderers in general, for fornicators and homosexuals, for kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.”

3. The Mosaic Law defines sin primarily for the unbeliever, but also for the believer as well. Gal 3:24-26, “Therefore what is the purpose of the Law? It has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor. For you are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

4. The purpose of the Law to the unbeliever is:

a. To reveal sin, but not to remove it.

b. To reveal sin, but not to prevent it.

c. To prove all human beings as sinners, but it was not a standard by which one might prove himself holy.

5. The Law was added because of transgressions, Gal 3:19.

6. Though the Law was ordained to life, it is a sentence to death, Rom 7:10. Therefore, the Law is a minister of condemnation, and not of spirituality, 2 Cor 3:9.

7. The Law is a minister of spiritual death, 2 Cor 3:7.

8. The Law was not made for a righteous man, 1 Tim 1:9.

9. The believer is not under the Law; it is not a part of the Christian way of life, Jn 1:16-17; Rom 7:4-6; Eph 2:15; Gal 3:19-25; 2 Cor 3:7-13; Col 2:14; Rom 6:14; Gal 5:18.

10. No flesh can be justified by the works which the Law demands, Acts 13:39; Rom 3:20-23; Gal 2:16, 3:10.

L. The Mosaic Law defines the enmity between God and man.

1. The enmity between God and man is based on that part of the Mosaic Law which defines and describes man’s sinfulness.

2. This is illustrated in 1 Tim 1:8-11. “But we know that the Law is good if one uses it lawfully. Knowing this fact, that the Law was not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious [rejecters of authority], for ungodly persons and sinners [unbelievers], for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for murderers [in general] and fornicators, for homosexuals and kidnappers, for liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”

3. The Mosaic Law is still the best description of every form of authority.

M. Salvation is not by keeping the Law, Gal 2:16. The Mosaic Law reveals the way of salvation, Jesus Christ. The Mosaic Law is the way of human freedom and integrity by adjustment to the justice of God, and the way of prosperity under establishment, Rom 3:20, 28. The Law reveals the problem of spiritual death and the solution.

N. Keeping the Law is not spirituality, 1 Cor 13; Rom 8:2-4; Gal 5:18, 22-23. There is a contrast between God the Holy Spirit and the Mosaic Law. The filling of the Spirit supercedes the Mosaic Law. The Royal Family is never under the Law.

O. Nomenclature for the Mosaic Law.

1. It is called “the book of the covenant,” Ex 24:7-8, 34:27-28; Deut 4:13-16, 23, 31, 8:18, 9:9, 11, 15.

2. The addendum to the Mosaic Law is found in Deut 29-32 and uses a number of words.

3. It is called “the book of the Law,” Josh 1:8.

4. Prophecies of breaking “the covenant” are found in Deut 31:16, 20; Jer 22:9.

5. “The book of the Covenant” is the subject of Jer 11, which is not to be confused with the New Covenant, Jer 31:31-33.

P. The Past Purpose of the Mosaic Law in the Jewish Age.

1. It was the authorizing agent for the Levitical priesthood, Heb 7:11-12.

2. It authorized the Tabernacle as a sacred building and a means of communicating the problem of sin and the solution in Christ, Heb 9:1-6.

3. It authorized the Levitical sacrifices as training aids to teach salvation, Heb 9:12-13.

4. It authorized the animal sacrifices as a dedication of the shadows, Heb 9:18-22 cf Heb 10:1.

5. It established a pattern of blessing and prosperity under the laws of divine establishment within the framework of any nation which adopts these laws, Deut 6:5.

Q. The Mosaic Law and the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.

1. The doctrine of the impeccability of Jesus Christ includes the fact that our Lord was born under the Law, and the fact that He kept the Law perfectly and was the end of the Law. He had perfect integrity and perfect righteousness without sin. Therefore, He fulfilled the Law in every point.

2. Jesus Christ condemned the legalistic distortions of the Law and the Pharisees who sponsored them, Mt 23.

3. Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law, Mt 5:17. He fulfilled the spiritual part of the Law by being sinless. He also observed every sceremony. Codex one was fulfilled by His impeccability, codex two by the cross, and codex three by His patriotism, Mt 22:21.

4. Jesus Christ is the end of the Law for all who believe, Rom 10:4, because of His sacrifice on the cross.

5. The problem of the interpretation of the Gospels.

a. In the Gospels, Jesus Christ presents Himself to Israel as their Messiah, the son of David, the legitimate king of Israel. Rom 1:2(c)4, “Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son , who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God in an act of power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

b. The first advent of Christ was designed to fulfill the unconditional covenants to Israel. They were not fulfilled because Christ was rejected as Messiah.

c. The policy of our Lord’s kingdom was stated as an amplification of the Mosaic Law. He said his policies would be better than the Mosaic Law, the Sermon on the Mount.

d. But when the Messiah is rejected, the Sermon on the Mount is postponed until the Millennium. Something far greater than the Mosaic Law will be operational in the Millennium.

e. Certain things stated in the Mosaic Law are restated in the epistles, and are therefore a part of the protocol plan. Unless a principle of the Sermon on the Mount is specifically restated in the epistles, it is not a part of the Christian way of life.

R. B. Thieme, Jr. Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740

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