Dead to the Law

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Dead to the law.  Alive to God.

Ask 10 Christian friends if they keep the 10 commandments.  Seriously.  Do it.  See what answers you get.

Galatians 2:19  For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

Through (dia – by means of) the law, I am dead to the law.  This statement has captured my imagination in the last couple days, and I want to pursue a better understanding of it.  I wonder,   “How can I be dead to the thing that caused my death?”  The answer, now, is obvious.  When I’m dead, I’m dead to everything!  If a car had caused my death, I’d be dead to that car.  If an ax had caused my death, I’d be dead to that ax.

Now the second half of that statement.   That (in order that) I might live unto God.  The purpose of my law-caused death, is so that I’d be in a position of being able to live to God.

Both “to” and “unto” are words that do not appear in the Greek.  Rather, both “law” and “God” are in the dative case, meaning they are the indirect object of the thought.   They are the objects toward which the action is taken by the subject.  The subject is “I“.  The action, as regards the law, is a state of being (“am“…..dead),  and as regards God, is a conditional intransitive verb (“might live“).

The one happened so that the other could happen.  The indication here is that living to God could never happen while we were alive to the law.  So….we died as regards the law, so that we might live (we’re in a position to live) as regards God.

Let your mind and thoughts percolate through this truth, like the water does on it’s way through your coffee grounds.  The result can be that your mind and thoughts will become something new!  And that new thing, that new man, will be able to walk in a relationship with and bear fruit unto God!

There’s another verse, similar, in Romans 7.

Romans 7:4   Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Here, as regards the law, the becoming dead is the action.   As regards God, “should” bring forth fruit is the action, and “should” not be understood as a burden or bondage of required behavior, but rather an anticipated result.  For instance,  if I say, “The weather forecast calls for sunshine, so we “should be ” okay without umbrellas today.”

Living with regard to God will result in bringing forth fruit with regard to God.  But first, you must become dead, so that you are dead as regards the law.

The how of this truth is by being married (as in dutifully joined in intimate relationship) to Christ.  Not the Jesus who walked the earth; for, as Romans tells us, it was that very Jesus whose physical body made our death to the law possible.   However, it is the raised, glorified, spiritual Christ, who causes our life to God.    (See study  The Glorified Christ).

Whenever I hear people say that they want, or that we need, to live like Jesus lived, then I know that they are not dead to the law, and also that they are not living unto God.   (Maybe “toward” God, but they will never reach Him walking under the law….see Romans 8:3).

Jesus, when he walked the earth, lived under the law.

Matthew 5:17, 18  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.

The “jot” was the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  The “tittle” was a small mark added to a Hebrew letter, like our letter “i” gets a dot.  Jesus, when he walked the earth, lived under the law.  But the glorified Christ has fulfilled all the law, and is now dead to the law.  So, anyone joined to him in intimate, spiritual relationship, is also dead to the law, and are now in a position to dwell in the presence of God, bringing forth spiritual fruit.

_________________                                                                                                           You must choose.  Having believed onto Jesus Christ, will you now simply live a life of applying Biblical principles, trying to discipline your fleshly mind and thoughts to an outward, prescribed set of rules which govern behavior?  Or will you reckon yourself to be dead unto the law, and the sin it deals with, and live a spiritual life in Christ of fruitfulness to God?  You cannot do both at the same time!                                               __________________

Romans 6:11-13  Likewise reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through (dia – by means of) Jesus Christ our Lord (he’s the glorified one).  Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace.

See the study   Freedom from Sin’s Domination

You cannot live under the law and by the spirit at the same time.  You cannot live by the spirit, being more mindful of your flesh and the rules which govern behavior.  You must choose.  Do not choose like those in Galatia did.

Galatians 3:1-3   O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucified among you? (He died so that we can be dead to the law) This only would I learn of you; Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect (brought to maturity) by the flesh?

Don’t be tricked!  Your life with God began as a gift from God, and it can only continue in you by continuing to be a gift from God.  This gift of the spirit of God was by God’s generosity, His grace.  It doesn’t begin in grace, only to now proceed under the law!  How foolish!

I know that living by the spirit is a way of living that is totally different than most of the religious world teaches and lives by.  You get to decide who to believe.  Who saved you?  Jesus Christ or the religious world?  Believe Christ…. believe the record of the Word of God as revealed by the apostle Paul.

Stand against the bondage of the law, which deals with your flesh and behavior, and live by the grace-supplied spirit of the glorified Christ within.

For a clear difference between Old Testament law living, vs. New Testament spirit living, read II Corinthians 3….the whole chapter.
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Starve the Evil
Emotions of Sin
How God Deals with our Sin
The Form of our Doctrine
The Law vs. Faith
The Law of God
Grace