Topical Teachings – Under the Law & Works of the Law

Under the Law & Works of the Law Stewardship & Covenant Responsibility Vs. Ownership & Possession Rom 6:14  for sin over you shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace. 15  What then? shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? let it not be! This isn’t a proof text to assert that believers aren’t ‘under the law’, with ‘under the law’ interpreted to mean the commandments found in the Torah or what’s termed ‘The Law of Moses’.  So what does ‘under the law’ ‘hupo nomon’ really mean?  2 Points: The sin master and the Torah are not one and the same. Rom 7:7 makes that clear, ‘what shall we say then is the law sin? May it never be!’ The Torah isn’t the agent of sin; the sin master is!  3 traditional views of what ‘under the law’  ‘hupo nomon’ means, then I’ll give you a 4th!  Institutionalized Church view: the Torah or Law of Moses to be obeyed by people.  New Perspective of Paul view: the Torah’s condemnation or penalties pronounced upon law breakers.  The Messianic view: legalism, the oral law or an inappropriate abuse of the Torah.  The Melchizedik view: not under ‘the book of the law’ – Gal 3:10, Eph. 2:12, and Ex. 19-24:11.  The ones ‘under the law’ haven’t realized Yahusha’s inauguration of the New Covenant and are still under the school master, the Book of the Law.  Paul doesn’t at all consider the Torah as a whole to be abolished or irrelevant; he recognizes the established ‘change of law’:   Heb. 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. brought about by Yahusah’s priesthood and inauguration of the BoC;  now we’re redeemed from the curse of the BoL. A shift in law has happened.  The BoL condemned us, because of infidelity toward יהוה, we’re no longer subject to its pronouncement of death upon all who transgress it. Like wise;  we’re no longer subject to its conditional priesthood.  R. 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? יהוה forbid: yea, we establish the law. R. 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. R. 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual. R. 7:22 For I delight in the law of Elohim after the inward man. R. 7:25  I thank Elohim through Yahusha Messiah our יהוה. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of Elohim; but with the flesh the law of sin. R. 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. R. 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against Elohim: for it is not subject to the law of Elohim, neither indeed can be.So then they that are in the flesh cannot please Elohim. All in all this law verse, in context, concerns people being freed from the Torah’s-BoL’s condemnation.  ‘Hup0 n0m0s’ ‘under law’ meaning the condemnation of the BoL upon sinners; specifically; in contrast to Rom. 8:1 where we find, ‘therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yahusha’.  Rom 3:20 Therefore by the works of the law alone, without heartfelt faith, there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law comes the knowledge of sin.   ‘Works of the Law’ ‘ergon nomou’, 4 interpretations: 1. Institutionalized Church interpretation – keeping the Law of Moses or any customs and commands therein.  2. Messianic Interpretation – trying to attain justification by keeping the law of Moses. This doesn’t mean we don’t keep the Law of Moses but we just rightly apply it. 3. Karaite Messianic Interpretation (Avi ben Mordechai) Oral Law, traditions of the rabbis and elders.  4. MelchiTzedik – Works of the law is the labor of the Book of the Law (3:10) as opposed to the rest of the newly blood ratified and covenant inclusion -the Book of the Covenant Torah community (4:21) We, as the Melchizedek sect are supposed to follow, divide and interpret his law as appropriate to the dynamics of our faith – BoC! Pauline evidence of ‘ergon nomou’ ‘Ma’asei ha Torah’ ‘