Page 101 - Laying Down the Law

Romans 7:14
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Over the course of fifteen centuries the Law had acted as tutor to the people of
God. As mentioned previously, Torah means “instruction.” The Law was continually
presenting its lessons. Some of the lessons, such as those contained in the feast days,
were repeated every year. Other lessons, such as that contained in the shadow of the
Sabbath, were repeated every week. Some lessons were given on a daily basis.
Despite the continual, repetitive presence of all this instruction, the people of
God were not perceiving the lessons contained in the Law. They did not understood
that the Passover celebrated annually was pointing them toward the Lamb of God
who would be slain for the sins of the world. They did not perceive that Pentecost,
which was celebrated fifty days later, was forecasting that day when the Spirit would
be given to indwell man, setting the Instruction of God on man’s hearts. They did not
comprehend the profound lesson contained in the weekly Sabbath; that Yahweh
longed for men to cease from their own works in the same way that He rested from
His. This rest was not to be one day a week, but an every day cessation from works of
personal initiative that man might live instead to always do the will of the Father.
Tragically, many Christians continue to look at the Law as a body of ordinances
that are to be understood in a strictly literal sense. They do not perceive the “spirit”
present in these instructions. Like the Jews before them under the tutelage of the
Law, they are “ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth” (II
Timothy 3:7). Until the spiritual substance of the Law is understood and applied in
a person’s life, the saint will not make any progress toward maturity in Christ.

Hebrews 10:1
For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the
very form of things, can never... make perfect those who draw near.

Nicodemus had been focused upon the Law to a greater degree than most, for
he was a teacher of the Law. Yet, he did not perceive its lessons. Nicodemus thought
it would profit a man to be circumcised. He did not see that what was truly needed
was for man to become a new creation. The natural man must become a spiritual
man. Those who are of the earth, earthy, must become heavenly creatures. Man
needed a new heart, a new spirit. He had been born once, but he needed to be born
a second time.
Many Christians have the mistaken concept that their identity as a member of
the body of Christ is determined in a similar way as those who became Jews under the
Old Covenant. They believe that if they accept a certain body of teaching, and if they
bring their conduct in alignment with the rules of this belief system, then they are a
Christian. Depending upon what denomination, or body of teaching a person
embraces, some will find themselves keeping the Law (circumcision), while others do
not (uncircumcision). Neither position makes one a child of God. Something else is