If we are not under the Law, then why are nine of the Ten Commandments repeated in the New Testament?
Firstly, we can see clearly that scripture tells us that we are not under the Law.
'For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.' Rom 6:14
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'So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.' Rom 7:4
'Now we have been released from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.' Rom 7:6
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'For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;' Rom 8:3
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'For Christ has already ended the purpose for which God’s law was given. As a result, all who believe in Him are made righteous.' Rom 10:4
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'You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the Law. You have fallen away from grace.' Gal 5:4
Secondly, scripture tells us that the Law is for the unholy. Whereas, those in Christ are made holy:
'Desiring to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they say, nor about what they strongly affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a person uses it lawfully. As knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine' 1 Tim 1:7-10.
The law is for the lawless, not the righteous. We have been made righteous by Jesus. Jesus said the Law will not pass away, but that doesn't mean we are under the Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law, and in Him, we receive that benefit.
But for those who are not in Him, the Law stands to convict them of their sins and of their need for a saviour.
Of course, we still struggle and stumble. But we struggle and stumble in Christ, not under the Law. We are in His hand and He gently guides us.
The answer
So,
there's the answer! Why are nine of the Ten Commandments repeated in the New
Testament? The Law is for the lawless, the ungodly and the unholy.
If I asked you whether you need the commandment to tell you that murder is wrong, you'd hopefully say "no." However, the Gospel has gone out to places where murder and even cannibalism were normalised. It has gone to those who practice polygamy. It has gone to those who worship idols and believe in superstition. It is in these instances where the "commandment" is needed.
The Law is also required within the church to settle disputes. For example,
let's say someone thinks it is OK to steal paper clips from work. Such a
one is untrained in the will of God. The Law can be used to show them
that it is not God's will for them. That doesn't mean that we are
justified by the Law, under the Law or live by the Law. The Law is a witness to God's character and ideal. An ideal that we cannot live up to. But, we can agree with it that it is right. So, our paper clip thief, for example, can agree that it is wrong to steal.
The Law helps to reveal to us the nature of the God we worship. Once we agree with the Law that it is good, then it is God's Grace that is at work in us to produce the fruits of righteousness. The fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the Law. There is no law against the fruit of the Spirit, (Gal 5:22-23).
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Gal 22-23Another way of saying it is - the Law helps us to see the difference between what we think is OK and what the Holy Spirit in us thinks is OK. Once we see the difference we can walk by the Spirit rather than by our misguided belief. It is a matter of a course correction. Or "repentance" if you prefer.
In Romans 12:2, Paul expresses it as "Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God."
"Renew your mind", "Change one's mind" and "Accept God's will" are all definitions of the word "repent."
Does God help us to keep the Law?
For years, I had been taught that although it is impossible for us to keep God's Law through our efforts, God's grace helps us to keep His Law. As I went on, I never found this to be true in my own life. Then I realised that scripture says the opposite. Far from telling us that God helps us to keep His Law, it tells us that we are not even to try to live by His Law. In fact, it goes as far as to say that if we try to be right with God by the Law we fall from Grace! Galatians tells us that trying to live by the Law rather than by the Gospel is a false Gospel, which is no Gospel at all. It even says that anyone who tells us to do that is to be cursed.
The choice
It seems odd. We have two lots of verses that seem to contradict. One says we are not under the Law but under Grace. The others list nine of the Ten Commandments. Given the choice, so many teachers in the church insist that the Commandments are for us to keep/to be under, thus nullifying the verses that say we are not under the Law! They make up all kinds of justifications. For example, they split the Law into three: the Moral Law, the Ceremonial Law and the Civil Law. They say that we are still under the Moral Law.
Are we told that we are not under "parts of the Law?" No, we are categorically told that we are not under Law but under Grace!
Then we have the verses that tell us quite clearly who the Law is for, "the ungodly, the unrighteous, the unholy!" So, we can see and understand why Paul, say, felt it necessary to state the "moral" Laws of God to the people who were coming from a culture where things contrary to God's Law were commonplace.
I have met the foolish Christian who thought it was OK to break copyright when it came to Christian media. It was as if the rules did not apply to him. So convinced was he that "The things of God should be free to all." He had no regard at all that these things were people's livelihoods. I said, "Are you asking the God of all righteousness to bless you through your willful theft?"
Even then his answer was, "OK, for the sake of the blessing!" No, it is for the sake of righteousness. We have been made holy and righteous, let our conduct show it.
There is a difference between trying to be righteous by our efforts and not putting effort into hindering our righteousness!
The Ministry of Death!
Scripture calls the Ten Commandments, which were written on tablets of stone, "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation!" Not only that but look how it compares the Ten Commandments with the new covenant:
"Such confidence we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away, won’t the ministry of the Spirit be with much more glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses. For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory." 2 Cor 3:4-11
"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. The commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death; for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me." Rom 7:7-11
"The law, on the other hand, came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;" Rom 5:20
"Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring (Jesus) should come to whom the promise has been made." Gal 3:19a (My addition in brackets to show meaning.)
"So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." Gal 3:24-25
Not for the spiritually lazy or bored.
This might all seem complicated. Like so many things, God divides one from another. The spiritually lazy will not put in the effort to understand and pursue the Grace that God has given to us. Likewise, those who find God's Grace boring want to feel they are doing something towards their redemption. They are adding to the work of Christ rather than resting in His finished work.
They would rather run back to the Law, which seems like hard work but is much easier to understand. It requires religious devotion rather than spiritual understanding.
'These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.' Col 2:23By contrast
'For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,' Titus 2:11-13
The Law is like a mirror, it shows us that we are unclean. Living by the Law is like rubbing the mirror on ourselves to remove the dirt.
Grace is a cleansing, it washes us clean. The Gospel is the Gospel of Grace. We live by that Gospel, the Law is a false Gospel and no Gospel at all. Anyone who teaches a false Gospel is to be cursed.
Let me clarify what I mean by complicated and easier to understand. There are those who assume the things of God would not be hard to understand. However, scripture tells us that Paul's writings contain things that are hard to understand:
"Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Pet 3:15-16
But what is hard to understand? Where does the complication come in in this instance? If we look around us at the other religions of the world, we would have to say these are man made. Some would say they are demonic, that's fine, but scripture shows us that the will of the devil and of the unsaved are one. These false religions are in tune with human will and thinking. Things like: if you want something from God you must offer a suitable sacrifice. If you want God to be happy with you then you must obey His rules.
The "complication" comes from needing to see past what seems natural to our natures and see what the scripture is actually saying. Christianity is not a man made religion. It doesn't fit the same pattern as man made religions. Although, if we look at some parts of the church that is what people have made it.
"Walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel" From Gal 2:14
"I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “gospel”, but there isn’t another “gospel.” Only there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any “gospel” other than that which we preached to you, let them be cursed. As we have said before, so I now say again: if anyone preaches to you any “gospel” other than that which you received, let them be cursed." Gal 1:6-9
"Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified? I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?" Gal 3:1-4
We can paraphrase that to show what Paul is saying:
"Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed by the works of the law?"
We begin in the Spirit through the Gospel of Grace, not by the Law. We now continue in the Spirit by the Gospel of Grace, not by the Law.
(In case you're wondering, the commandment that isn't repeated in the New Testament is "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.")
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