The Law of Moses and the Gospel, Part 1

How should we understand the relationship between the Law of Moses and the Gospel? Our answer to this question will have a deep impact on our theology and how we apply those beliefs in day to day living. While the question is vast and bears dramatic implications which deserve longer treatments, I want to sketch out a succinct framework for how we should understand how the Gospel and the Law relate to one another.

Confirmation

First of all, The Law confirms the gospel; it attests to the gospel directly. The Apostle Paul was "set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures" (Rom 1:1-2). The Gospel can be found "promised" in the Law (see Gal 3:8). After his resurrection, Jesus taught his disciples how the Law, along with the rest of the Old Testament, spoke directly about the necessity of the Gospel proper: Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection (Luke 24:25-27, 44-45). "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47). The Law confirms the Gospel, therefore, they are not opposed to each other.

Destination

How is it that the Law pointed to Christ, something Jesus taught his disciples? The Law points forward to Christ in at least two broad ways: by types which foreshadow Christ as the antitype and by way of direct predictions of Christ's coming.

Typology - Adam is said to be "a type of the one who was to come" (Rom 5:14). Marriage, from the beginning in Eden, has always been meant to depict something much greater: "Christ and the church" (Eph 5:31-32; Gen 2:24). The sacrificial system pointed to "Christ, our Passover lamb" (1 Cor 5:7). The priesthood of Levi would one day transition to Christ's everlasting priesthood (Heb 7:15-28). Christ Jesus declared that he was the bread from heaven, the greater "manna" given to sustain God's people (John 6:22-59). Just as Christ was true spiritual food, he was also living water for those wandering in the desert. "For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (1Co 10:3-4). Many other examples of types of Christ in the Law could be listed.

Prediction - Additionally, the Law makes direct predictions that Jesus Christ would come. Christ is the prophesied "offspring" of Eve (Gen 3:15), the Lion of Judah whose scepter would last forever (Gen 49:10); the "star" who comes out Jacob and "scepter" that rises out of Israel (Num 24:17). God told Moses that there would be a greater "prophet" coming from Israel which is Christ (Deut 18:15; Act 3:22-23). These predictions are future from the Law's perspective. Once again, many other examples could be listed. In short, Christ is the destination that the Law's sign posts consistently point to by way of typology and direct predictions. The Law leads us to Christ.

Culmination & Consummation

When Jesus was born into the world as a man, the long awaited Christ had come; the predictions culminated in Christ (Luke 2:11). The types and shadows of old found their fulfillment in Christ who is their consummation. Jesus not only lived under the obligations of the Law and fulfilled them perfectly by not sinning but living a perfectly righteous life, he also consummated the intent and meaning of the Law's types and shadows as the greater priest, sacrifice, prophet, king, and so forth. In this way, Jesus did not "come to abolish the Law or the Prophets" but rather came "to fulfill them" (Mt 5:17). Yes, Jesus obeyed all of the laws. But even more, every type that foreshadowed Christ has now been eclipsed by the coming of their greater realities. Christ is the foreshadowed and predicted destination, now come. Of course we also understand consummation in the sense of inauguration as we still await future things such as Christ's return, the resurrection of the dead, and glorification in the new creation.

Transition

But one will certainly ask if the Law itself continues after Christ has come. Does Christ's fulfillment of the Law mean that the Law has ceased to be in force? To answer this, we must understand that the Old Testament itself paves the way for the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

Some say that the administration of the Law was in force before Moses; many claim that Adam broke the Law of Moses (or the 10 Commandments), for example. Others insist that the Law endures throughout all future generations. Yet Scripture clearly teaches that the Law had a beginning and the Law had an end. Abraham received gospel promises "430 years" before the Law came into existence (Gal 3:17). The Law was not always in force. And there was a day in the future when the Law (the Old Covenant) would transition to the New Covenant (Heb 8; Jer 31:31-34). "For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second" (Heb 8:17). The Law had a beginning and the Law had an end; it was temporary. The transition to the New Covenant has already taken place in Christ, "making the first one obsolete." "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away" (Heb 8:13). The Law is no longer in force now that Christ and the New Covenant have come.

Intention

So if the Law was temporary (it would come to end when fulfilled by Christ and the New Covenant was inaugurated) and if saints were saved by faith before the Law was given (as Abraham was), why would God give the Law in the first place? Paul anticipates this very question. "Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions" and to be "our guardian until Christ came." Paul reinforces the temporary nature of the Law, repeating the word "until" in this section while giving us God's purpose for the Law: The Law points out our sin and points us to our Savior "in order that we might be justified by faith" (Gal 3:19-24).

Jurisdiction

The Law's intention has been fulfilled. As such, we have transitioned out of the jurisdiction of the Law of Moses unto an entirely different administration. We are "no longer under law but under grace" (Rom 6:14, 15). Paul clearly sees that these administrations are not the same and that the time when we were "under law" has now passed away. "Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed" (Gal 3:23). We were "under law" "until faith came" (probably a reference to Christ, the object of faith, here). We were "under law" until "the fulness of time had come" (Gal 4:4) which is when "God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4-5).

Some may concede that Gentiles, who were not the original recipients of the Law at Sinai, are not under the Law but insist that Jews still are. But Paul understands that he, a Jew himself, is not under the law. "To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law" (1 Cor 9:20).

If the Law does not govern us anymore what does? And what does that mean for how we should live in obedience to God? In my next article, I will seek to spell out how we are to apply the truths about the Law. For now, remember that Christ has brought us out from under the unbearable burdens and penalties of the Law and brought us into the New Covenant where there is eternal forgiveness of sins.