Questioner: Please elaborate on “God now has three concurrent laws”. I assume that you mean LOM, LOG, and LOC. It seems to me that Christ dissolved the distinction between Jew and Gentile such that there is now no Jewish kingdom and no Gentile kingdom but rather now just one kingdom consisting of both Jew and Gentile, thus two of those three laws are no longer in effect.
James: God has had law for men to obey from the beginning of the world. Adam sinned because he disobeyed God’s law, for sin in the transgression of law (I Jn 3:4). From Adam to Sinai every man lived under law from God, for sin was possible (Gen 4:7, 18:20, 39:9, 42:22). When God gave the LOM at Sinai, He gave it only to Israel (Dt 4:8, 5:2-3). However, it continued to be possible for the Gentiles to sin, even after the LOM was given to Israel (Rom 1 & 2, 3:23). It is obvious that the LOG was NOT ended at Sinai, but ran in parallel with the LOM for many centuries. That establishes the clear possibility of two different laws of God existing simultaneously without any interference with each other because they have different jurisdictions over different people. When Jesus came, He flatly stated that not the smallest part of the LOM would pass from the LOM until the end of the world. You cannot harmonize the complete destruction of the LOM with Jesus’ statement.
There is nothing in principle that prohibits as many laws as God wants to have, running in parallel as long as they have different jurisdictions. The Federal Government does this repeatedly. The same Federal Government has different laws for soldiers (the UCMJ), territories, and states, and probably others. They operate concurrently, backed by the same authority, because they have jurisdiction over different people and serve different purposes.
As far as the LOM is concerned, it matters not a fig to Gentiles whether it exists or not. We never have been under it, and whether it exists or not is irrelevant as long as we do not have Christians who are ethnic Jews worshipping with us. People react to the idea that the LOM continues to exist as if I advocated that Christians should keep the LOM. God forbid! Christ is the end of the LOM for every one that believes (Rom 10:4). Like you said, God dissolved the distinction between Jew and Gentile in Christ (Gal 3:27-28). “In Christ” is the only place, however, that He said the distinction ceased to exist. To get into Christ where the distinction is dissolved, you must put on Christ (Gal 3:27).
Questioner: Also, you seem to use “law” and “a law” interchangeably. Do you mean by “a law” a “system of law”? Do you think that Christ’s rule is primarily by law? If so then please elaborate.
James: Christ’s rule is by law, for “rule” is meaningless without law, and Christ rules (Mt 28:18, Acts 2:34-35). Law is fundamental to God, for it establishes order, and God is not the author of confusion (I Cor 14:33). “Grace” is what is given to sinners that have violated law. A law of grace is a euphamism for a system where law breakers can receive grace instead of justice. Grace does not exist where there is no law. Grace rules nothing. Law rules. Grace follows law breaking. Grace could not justly be administered until Christ died to make an end of sin (Dan 9:24). There was even a question regarding God’s justice in passing over the sins of the ancients. Paul shows that God was just in waiting to extract the just penalty from sinners until the debt was paid in full by Christ (Rom 3:26).
Questioner: I also note with interest that the first specifics noted in your lesson about the LOC is “five acts in a Sunday assemblyâ€. One must make a lot of assumptions to put that statement together. It’s quite a leap IMO to say that that is first correct in the first place and then, if it is correct, that it is part of either law or a law. Please elaborate.
James: I showed that these acts are authorized. I don’t believe that I made the argument that they were exclusive. Other things such as selection of elders and the audition of missionaries may be done in the assembly, but these are irregular events.
Christians are not to forsake the assembling of themselves together (Heb 10:25). There are things that are to be done when they come together (I Cor 14:23). I listed those things that were commonly done when brethren assemble and the scripture that authorizes them. The permissible things that they may do in the assembly we may see by examining the behavior of the apostles (Php 4:9) and those that taught others what they learned from the apostles (II Tim 2:2).
Questioner: IMO, most of what we do as Christians is “want to” rather than “have to”. Do you agree with that?
James: One must want to follow the Law of Christ in order to become a Christian (Acts 2:38). In that respect, I agree that we must want to follow and serve Christ. I do not agree that anything that we might want to do is acceptable to Him (Lk 6:46). Christ has a standard (Law) that determines “decency and in order” and what is acceptable service to Him in our assemblies (I Cor 14:40). I do not make the argument that every act must be done every time we assemble. The Lord’s supper and the contribution are to be done on the First Day of the Week (Acts 20:7, I Cor 16:1-2). No frequency is specified for the other authorized activities.
Questioner: If so then how would you harmonize that with living “under law”? I’m not saying that we do not live under law. I believe that we do. But I want to understand how you understand this point and the nature of why Christians submit to Christ. It seems to me that if we live “under law” then ultimately that law will kill us, just as that is the purpose of law.
James: It is the nature of law to kill, for the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and the transgression of law is sin (I Jn 3:4). That is all that it can do. It cannot save. The Law of Christ will kill (Mt 25:30), but His grace makes us alive (Eph 2:8). That is why Jesus had to die, for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). The death of Christ enabled grace, but it did not do away with law. Christ is a king, and He enforces the Father’s will (Eph 1:5, 9, Col 1:9, Heb 13:21), and as supreme king (Mt 28:18) His will is law. Grace only comes into play when we violate Christ’s law. Other than that, we do not need grace. We do need law to regulate our behavior to avoid chaos, but law and grace are not mutually exclusive. They gracefully coexist, and grace cannot exist without law.
