Those bound by the Sabbath law (or any other law) have a slave relationship to Christ. But He doesn’t want slaves; He wants sons of the Heavenly Father. He wants a many-membered Bride, eager to live by love and sensitivity to His desires rather than out of an obligation to keep a list of laws.

 So, does this “do away” with the Old Testament law? Actually, no. As long as there is any sin in the world, the Old Testament law will remain in force. Even for the Christian, if (when?) he turns away from following the Holy Spirit and falls into sin, the law is right there to condemn him and point him back to the Savior who “takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus Himself swore that “…until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matt 5:18) In fact, when He talked about Old Testament laws (in Matt 5 & 6) He made them even stricter!

But then at the end of His great “Sermon on the Mount” He concluded by comparing the two ways of living. One is to live by the law, comparing, judging, and condemning. (7:1-5) I call it living by fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The other way is to live by following the King by His Holy Spirit, seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness. (6:25-34) This is eating fruit from the tree of life. This is dying to the old nature, and allowing the risen Christ to live His life through us. (Gal 2:20) This is the “Romans 8” way of living. “…if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” (Rom 8:13-14)

And that is really where the controversy comes. On the one hand, I just said that God’s law will never pass away until the universe is totally cleansed of sin, and His law is even tougher in the New Testament than in the Old. But on the other hand, I said that you can’t live by the law; you can only live by God’s Spirit.

Some people resolve this conflict by claiming that God’s Spirit will never lead you to break His law, at least the moral law as embodied in the Ten Commandments. In this claim, they are being inconsistent, for they freely break the fourth Commandment, which is really quite clear that you can’t do any work, not even gather sticks or light a fire, on the seventh day Sabbath. And the Ten Commandments are only a small part of God’s law. What about all the other Old Testament laws He gave, dietary laws, ceremonial laws, and so on? The New Testament makes it quite clear that those laws are “only a shadow of the good things to come” (Rom 10:1) and are obsolete, growing old, fading away. (Rom 8:6-13)

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