Posted July 9, 2004

Hi Mike

I just received my first e- mail about the false Gospel posted on your web page. I am a little bit shocked at R_____’s response.

R_____ wrote:

What the hell does that mean? Sounds like words meant to confuse babes.

What do you mean, “before the law”?

I have justification through Christ because he fullfilled the law.

What is this “before” crap?

Quit this TRYING to sound intelligent CRAP! Speak English – so that babes will understand !

R_____

Here is my response.

Hi R_____

If you read the article carefully in the beginning, you will see that I was referring to an article written by Dr. Jones, who used the phrase ‘before the law’. I understood him to mean that Christ makes or puts men in right standing before the Law of Moses, by his dying in our place or stead, thereby satisfying the righteous demands of the law for our death. So Christ dying in our place means we don’t have to die. (A doctrine known as the ‘vicarious atonement’ which I don’t agree with, as is seen in the article)

I realize I did not give any Scripture references, which in retrospect I probably should have.

Take what the Apostle Paul says in Gal 3:11: “Now that no- one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for ‘THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH'”. (NASB)

So man is seeking to be justified before God, not by doing the works of the Law (Gal 2:16), but supposedly by Christ doing them in his place, so that he doesn’t have to. (This seems to be what you believe – “I have justification through Christ because he fulfilled the law.” I apologize if I have misunderstood you.) If this is what you believe, then I can understand why Christ didn’t have any unwholesome word proceed from His mouth; it was in order that you might not have to!Eph 5:4-5

The erroneous belief is that man is not justified by the law, but before the law. This is known in the doctrine of the Vicarious Atonement as the passive and active obedience of Christ. Active, in that he perfectly fulfilled the Law of Moses where we had failed to do so; and Passive, in dying in our place where we should have died. (As I said before I don’t agree with this doctrine)

So this is what Dr Jones means by ‘before the law’. Man is now in right standing, legally, before the law and is justified.

That man must be delivered from under the authority and die to the Law of Moses is evident from the following scriptures:

Act 13:39 “Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses.”

Rom 7:4-6 “Therefore my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Rom 7:8-11 “But sin taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead…. and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it, killed me.”

Gal 2:19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God.”

Gal 4:5 “…in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoptions as sons.”

Gal 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law”

Eph 2:15 “…by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances…”

Php 3:9-11 “…and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;” in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

As can be seen, the doctrine of the vicarious atonement teaches that Christ died in our place, so that we don’t have to die; but scripture teaches that in order to be delivered from sin, the flesh, and the Law of Moses, we too have to die with Christ, and be raised with Him to newness of life (Rom 6:4-11).

That men must be condemned by the Law of Moses, is the teaching of The Apostle Paul. He teaches that the Ministry of The Law of Moses is to condemn and kill.

2Co 3:6-9 “…for the Letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory…. how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, how much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.”

If you have the time, I recommend an article on the Internet written by Mike Vinson called The Law of Moses verses the Law of the Spirit. This will, I hope, clear up any remaining confusion you may have on the subject. Also, on the error of Christ being our substitute, please read “Restitution and Substitution” by Andrew Jukes.

Yours Sincerely

K_____

Hi K____,

The ‘mind of Christ’ is something R_____ could certainly use a little more of. At least he seems to realize that he is a ‘babe.’ He really showed a spiritual immaturity with this response to your exceptional piece of work. Your answer was right on the bull’s eye. I’m sure that you realize that the entire Christian world agrees with R_____, that Christ kept the law of Moses perfectly and that it is only by doing so that he qualified to be our sacrifice. You are a rare exception in being able to see through this lie. Paul tells us “the law is not for a righteous man.” Jesus Christ, of course, was a righteous man. But He would never have gotten to that exalted position by “hating His enemy” or doing any of the other things that “you have heard it said by them of old time [ the law of Moses].” It was His obedience to the “law of the spirit” that made Christ righteous. It was His knowledge of the Father that He came to reveal to us. This is what constitutes true righteousness.

You did an excellent job of answering R_____. It will take God’s spirit to give him the eyes to see the truth of your completely scriptural words.

Yes, I do get such responses. They are, however, in the minority. Your letter will be a blessing to many people.

Mike