10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.” (Galatians 3)

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2)

What! Cursed! 

If I try to keep God’s law, I’m cursed?

No one is justified by the law?

If I break just one, I’m guilty of breaking them all?

Well, not so fast. It says: “cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in “all” things written in the book of the law”. Oh, thank goodness, I’ll just have to continue!

So, what is the book of the law?

The book of the law could refer to the book of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, or… the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch/Torah. 

According to Jewish tradition, there are over 613 laws found there. 

Do you feel better now that you have a list? Do you have them on your refrigerator? Do you keep them…all?

 Some of the commands are repeated, and many are rabbinic traditions added, found in the Tanakh. (Jewish Bible) The 613 were first numerated by Jewish Rabbi Simlai. (Another study)

You will actually find thousands of laws in the Bible, from Genesis – Revelation…

Some will say, the “big 10” cover all of them. Na-eh, just read them and see if what we call the “10 commandments”, cover eating shellfish, pork barbecue or wearing polyester. Does it cover all of the commands/instructions to Adam, Noah, Abraham and all those before Moses? Not a chance. 

Look at what God said to Moses after He gave the 10 commandments: 31 “But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.” (Deuteronomy 5)

19 “Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” (Leviticus 19)

10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you: (Leviticus 11)

7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. (Leviticus 11)

Have you seen these in the 10? I think not. 

So, what if, the 10 Commandments cover them all? (They don’t) Have you kept them all, all of the time? Do you even know them?

Did you know that some religious institutions totally leave out the second commandment, to not make an image nor bow to it.  Look at Exodus 20 for yourself.
We can’t even agree on what they are!

A man in bible study actually claimed to keep all ten. Someone asked him to name them… he named a few.  This was certainly not to embarrass the gentleman, but to declare the seriousness of his statement.  That, one could honestly think they could keep God’s perfect standards, all of the time. 

These 10 laws were given to Moses, to give to… the Hebrews… at Sinai.  
They were given to the Hebrew nation to set them apart as Gods chosen people at that time.

Don’t miss this: they were given to Moses, for… the… Hebrew nation. Specific laws, at a specific time, to a specific people, for a specific purpose. God has always given specific laws to specific creatures, nature, space, mass and time for a specific purpose.

Unless you were a Jew, you were not given the law of Moses. 

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2)

Before you get too happy that the “law of Moses” was not for you unless you were a Jew, the “law of God” was for everyone. It was in their conscience.
Watch this: ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. (Romans 2)

You can’t escape it, all have transgressed God’s law, whether Jew or Gentile.

Keep in mind, this was thousands of years after Adam.

Was there no law of God before?  

Search the scriptures from Genesis to the gospel of John, and you’ll find hundreds of laws given to mankind. 

That’s right folks, Genesis to John. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are still in the Old Testament… under the law. 4 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” (Galatians 4) That’s right folks, Jesus came…born of a woman… under the “law”. Jesus was born under the old covenant – the Old Testament. (You won’t hear that in church)

Jesus said: I have come only to the lost house of Israel. (Matthew 15:24)

Jesus told the disciples “not” to go to any but the house of Israel (Jews) (Matthew 10:5)

Why is that important?

Jesus’ earthly ministry was still under the law.
He came to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant, all the law and prophets.
To save the Jews first and then to bring all nations in. One still had to keep the law of Moses to be right with God before the cross. Who had the law of Moses? The Jews only. There was no understanding of redemption by faith in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. It’s not there folks, unless you conflate it with grace that Christ did not and could not do, until after His blood sacrifice.
When Jesus was asked, “what must I do for eternal life,” His answer was to keep the commandments. (Matthew 19:17).
Jesus taught that those who “had” and “kept” His commandments would be loved by the Father. Who had the law and commandments?
The Jews.

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” – (John 14)

At the beloved sermon on the mount that religion erroneously uses to keep people under “the law”, Jesus states that your salvation is conditional upon your performance – nothing of grace.
“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” – (Matthew 6:14-15)

It’s important, because everything changed at the cross. (see what changed at the cross@ sinners pulpit.com)

It’s where the law is fulfilled, not taken away. (Matthew 5:17)

It’s where God’s perfect timeline is revealed in the “69 weeks of years”, spoken of in Danial 9.
483 years to the day, of the Messiah being cut off. (Danial 9)

It’s where God divides human history and where “we” must rightly divide God’s message. (2 Timothy 2:15)

It’s where the new covenant in Christ’s blood is introduced. A covenant not with man but with God. (Hebrews 8)

It’s important because now, after the cross, God’s redemption is now open to all people by grace. The law has been satisfied.

It’s where law gives way to grace.  It’s a changing of the law, and changing of the Priesthood. The old brought us to a new law, just as the law of gravity gives way to the law of aerodynamics. They’re both true, both good, just for a different purpose. One is to bring down, the other to lift up. Both are from God. 

Watch this: the law kills, but Grace and truth are found in Jesus Christ. 

The law kills! What!

6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, (2 Corinthians:3)

Folks, that’s the 10 Commandments! The law shows us our sin.

The problem wasn’t with the law, but the problem was the people. Remember, to break one is sin, and sin is lawlessness, and lawlessness is death. (1 John 3:4) Hence, killer law!

When there’s a change in the law, the priesthood has to change. (Hebrews 7:12) From levitical, (Aaronic priesthood) under the law, to now, Christ under grace) 

Christ is the new high priest. Christ is the new law. 
Do you see this? To keep Christ is to keep the law!
How do we keep him? When we by faith, accept His finished work, “HE”, now does the keeping.

The new covenant/ testament can only go into effect with the death of Christ. Watch this:  the new covenant did not go into effect at Christ’s birth. 16 For where there is a covenant, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. (Hebrew 9:16) 

The folks who placed divisions in scripture must not have read them. 

The moral laws, ceremonial laws, dietary laws, laws concerning how far one could walk on the sabbath, to annihilating gay people and adulterers have been fulfilled at the cross. 

CHRIST HAS FULFILLED ALL OF GOD’S LAW! Not just the law of Moses.

You can not say you believe in the Holy Scriptures and refute what Jesus has said and done. It’s finished!

The law did it’s job in bringing us to grace. It still shows the unbeliever their need for a savior. 

We could never keep the law after Adam sinned, it wasn’t in our nature. The law was to show us our sin, our need for a savior, to absolutely break us to a point of understanding that we were dead to God and alive to sin. 

This is every living soul’s position before salvation.

With God coming in the flesh in the person of Christ… under the law, the law was made absolutely impossible for a man to keep.  Christ raised the bar, showing us God’s true meaning of the law: if you even think about it, you’ve broken it. 

Murder, went from taking a life, to even if you hate someone, it’s murder. Or, if you even look at a women in lust, you’ve committed adultery.  My God, I can’t do this! 

Now, you get it!

When we by faith, trust the finished work of Christ, we are justified. We are no longer guilty under the law. God sees us as righteous as Christ. (Roman’s 5:19)

Why is it made so difficult?  Perfection is the standard. Wouldn’t you expect the God of the universe to be perfect?

The law is God’s perfect standards!

The law is God’s Word!

The law is God’s instructions!

The law! The law! The law!

You’re trying to keep this?

Some PhD, priest or preacher is telling you to keep this?

Are you kidding me?  What on earth did Christ do for us?

Do we even know what it is or the severity of transgressing it? It’s death! Christ died!

The Holy Scriptures show us the true meaning of God’s perfect law, leading us to run to, and accept His beautiful gift of grace. 

There is a “law” of life, and there is a “law” of death, and one of the two will happen. 

We are either alive to God, or not. 

There are many other laws/instructions, given throughout God’s history with man, apart from what most call the “Ten Commandments” given to Moses.  Just read the rest of the book of Leviticus after the ten were given. 

And… to break one is to break them all. 

[10] For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2)

Notice here, the “whole” law. 

Is that the 10? 

I don’t think so. 

You are not graded on a curve! To break one, is to break them all! “Not fair”, one may cry! Compared to what? Compared to perfection. 

To break one, is to create something other than intended.  (See “what difference does it make” @ sinners pulpit. com) 

To break one, is to move from perfection to chaos. (Genesis 1:1)

Many will say, it’s not fair that I was born into sin. Ok, even if you weren’t, have you sinned?  

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Roman’s 5)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Roman’s 3)

Do you see this? Death reigned from Adam to Moses.

Sin was around long before Moses, and so was the law.  

Even if we didn’t do what Adam did, we inherited his nature to sin, and sin we did!

If we were good enough, and could keep God’s standard of perfection, we wouldn’t need a savior. Law and Grace are both beautiful, good and true, but must never be mixed. They both have a purpose, but when they are mixed together, they negate one another. [6] And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work (Romans 11)

Let’s dig in and allow the scriptures to reveal the true meaning of God’s law. 

What is the law?

The Hebrew word “Torah” means instruction, direction and law. (Pentateuch – first 5 books of the Bible, the law)

Strong’s Concordance

Torah: direction, instruction, law

Original Word: תּוֹרָה

Part of Speech: Noun Feminine

Transliteration: torah

Phonetic Spelling: (to-raw’)

Definition: direction, instruction, law

The Hebrew word “Mitzvah” means commandment. (More on this later)

The “Aseret ha-Dibrot”  (the ten sayings) are not understood as individual mitzvot (commandments); rather, they are categories or classifications of mitzvot. Each of the 613 mitzvot can be subsumed under one of these ten categories, 

(Pirkei Avot, (ethics of our fathers) a book of the Mishnah)

In other words, every mitzvah (command) is important. 

NOWHERE IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURE IS “LAW” SEPARATED INTO MORAL, SACRIFICIAL, OR CEREMONIAL!  Religion did that.  

Isn’t it immoral to break a ceremonial  law?

Who invented mortal and venial sins? Religion. 

Are there mortal and venial laws? 

Didn’t we read: “to break one is to break them all”?

Folks, the standard is perfection! 

Uh-oh! Just violated the law of “religiosity”, “churchianity”, “legalism” and tradition. I digress. 

Wouldn’t we consider all of the divine, holy, utterances of God moral and important? 

Consider the following as a definition of God’s Law: 

God’s “every” holy, divine, thought, will, utterance and instruction to His creation; creatures, space , time and mass. His Word. 

“but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4. 

Man lives or dies by “every” word. 

A violation/ transgression of them is death! 

It’s not God being mad at you or putting you in timeout, it’s death. It has to happen – It’s the law! The law of sin and death. 

[23] For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6)

[2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8) 

Do you see this? There is a law of God which is Spirit and life, and is “in” Christ Jesus.  There is a law of death which is sin, and is “in” all that have sinned. 

Sin, is missing God’s perfection; the law of death.  

Simply stated: There’s a law of life and death, and one of the two will happen. 

Like the law of gravity, the air is not mad when you drop something and it descends toward the ground, it has to happen!

Long before Moses and the “Ten”. 

The Ten Commandments were not posted in the garden of Eden, or in the heavens before the foundation of the earth, but God’s law was there. 

How does anyone have the right, whether Jew or gentile, to say the 10 commandments are God’s only law?

The highest, most beautiful, perfect angel, Lucifer, fell like lightning after violating God’s perfect will. (Luke 10:18)

God has always given instruction/law to specific creatures, time, space and mass, for a specific time and purpose. Some were given choice, some were not, as God is sovereign. Time, planets, constellations, asteroids and galaxies are as obedient today, as they were when God spoke them into existence. Gravity, hydrology, mathematics and thermodynamics are God’s law, and are true today, yesterday and tomorrow. (Until/Unless another law supersedes them) Birds fly, fish swim and orangutans will never drive a spacecraft or write a poem; they have no choice.  

Your dog has never sinned a day in his/her life. 

God’s mere utterance caused time, space, and mass, to come forth; its expanding as you read this. Violation of His utterance is it’s perpetual demise. Some say 13.8 billion years ago. Oh wait, now, it could be double that. Who can say? 

2000 years ago, there was thought to be 1000 stars. (Ptolemy – 150 AD) Today, the number is 100 billion in our galaxy alone! What will the number be in a decade from now?

22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: (Jeremiah 33)

He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. (Job 26:7)

[16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: [17] And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians)

The only reason the earth is still circling the sun is by His utterance. 

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17)

Inhale, exhale, it’s His nitrogen and oxygen. 

God’s utterance caused every creature to come forth at a specific time, for a specific purpose. 

There was nothing made that wasn’t made by Him. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)

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Sidebar: God’s Word and God’s word. 

God’s “word “(rhema) goes forth as commands, ordinances, instructions, information, and all are truth. Each is for a specific time, for a specific purpose, to a specific person, place or thing. (more on this later)

The words are written, spoken, contemplated, shared and are from, and lead to, “the Word”. 

God’s “Word” (Logos) is all that God is. The Word communicates the will and wisdom of God. 

Ancient Hebrew texts describe the “Word” (Memra) as the Lord; Jehovah, when He reveals Himself. 

[8] And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: (Genesis 3:8a)

 – “These Jewish comments ascribe the creation of the world to the Word. It was “the Word” which communed with the Patriarchs. According to them “the Word” redeemed Israel out of Egypt; “the Word” was dwelling in the tabernacle; “the Word” spake out of the fire of Horeb; “the Word” brought them into the promised land. All the relationship of the Lord with Israel is explained by them as having been through “the Word.”- 

“The Word” because He is the express image of God, as the invisible thought is expressed by the corresponding word. He is the revealer and interpreter of the mind and will of God”. (Arno C. Gaebelein commentary)

 “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us”.  (John 1:14) 

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2)

God became flesh… Contemplate the love, power, intelligence and magnitude of these words. 

God did not become a star, galaxy, fish, bird or chimpanzee, He became  human. 

Reason here: How on earth, could we have entered a realm of power, intelligence and presence of this magnitude and perfection?

Humans are what/how God chose to reveal Himself. 

The visible manifestation, of the invisible. (Colossians 1:15) Not a tree, stone, or chimpanzee. 

God’s law, is the code of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) of all living things and instructions to the trillions of cells in our bodies. An acorn has all of the information needed to become a towering oak tree. At conception, a human has all of its coded DNA to determine the rest of its life. 

Who can change it? The acorn didn’t become a man, nor did the man become an acorn. Why not? God’s law. 

The chimpanzee didn’t become a man. Just go to the zoo! 

God’s word is the “law” of life. 

“as you hold firmly to the word of life”. (Philippians 2:16)

DNA IS GOD TALK, God’s law, His Word. He allowed us to share His intelligence, to put sounds and symbols to His laws. God allows us to learn His language of mathematics, thermodynamics, physics, cosmology, quantum studies and all of science. Science is the beautiful explanation of God as he allows us to peek into His magnificence and share His intelligence!

After all is said and done, His desire is that we learn to speak, act and live His language of love. It’s the foundation of His every law.  

We are told that if we would love as He loves, we would fulfill His Law. Have you loved as He loves? Get over yourself, there’s not a chance. 

But there’s one that did. 

God’s utterance or Word is synonymous with His law. 

As God gave instructions to the universe, humming birds and peaches, He obviously gave instructions to us, His greatest creation and masterpiece. We were the crowning finish to His creation. A “new creature”.  (We’ll see this again)

No matter who you are, you have God’s law in your “knowing” place; your conscience. (Romans 2:14-15) The word “conscience” literally means shared knowledge. That’s amazing! We special creatures share the creators knowledge. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)

No other creature shares God’s knowledge and is aware of it – A creature never before created. A creature that is able to hear, and understand the law of God. (That’s what makes us human) 

I’ve never heard a scientist explain what makes us human, unique from all other creatures, why our blood is different, or how we have intelligence beyond that of every other creature. 

Not one can tell you what conscience is. They’ll tell you the effects of it, but not one can explain what it is. You’ll never find it on an operating table. It’s right next to the spirit, seated beside love, connected to the mind and attached to lonely, happy, wonder, yearning and joy, 

Scripture is clear: 

God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed, imparted, gifted “His” life into us, and “mankind” became a living soul. His life, life as “He” knows life, Eternal life. Not physical life that ends but eternal. Different from every other physical creature. 

The Holy Scripture tells us exactly what makes us human. 

Genesis 3:18, tells us there was nothing “comparable” to this new creature. 

Animals know it. Why do animals run from us? I’ve seen deer, turkeys, birds, skunks and opossum eating in the same field. They run away when a human appears. Just recently, I walked to the waters edge where eagles, ospreys, ducks, and heron were going about their daily chore and when they saw me, they scattered. Why? The law of God – 

And God said…have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen 1:26–28).

This new creature is of God’s own expression and instruction. 

A creature formed by Him, with His very essence, mind, will and emotion, contained in a body formed from the elements of His creation, a living soul. May I repeat: a “Living”, as God knows living, eternal, no death. Alive not only physically but alive to God. “Adam” merely means, from the earth. (Hebrew word “form” can mean to sire) A man, “born from above”. We see this thousands of years later when Christ tells Nicodemus, “you must be born from above/ born again, to enter heaven” (John 3) – nothing has changed. 

This first man “of its kind”, was born of God!

You see, God gifted us with His Spirit. 

“Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit”. (1John 4:13)

We were… Spiritual beings living in a physical body. Spiritual laws are not bound by physical laws, even though they mirror one another. God gave us the physical to move throughout space and time. He gave us the Spiritual to move into His realm. 

Oh what a gift! 

A perfect being, not spoken into existence, but divinely formed by the creator and given “His” life. 

God did not personally share His breath/Spirit/life, and intelligence with any other being. (Genesis 2:7) A life beyond the physicality of other creatures; eternal, as He is eternal. 

A creature that would express the nature, intelligence, creativity and relationship of the Word and eternal Son, (last Adam, Christ) in His physical realm; what God would look like in human flesh. 

God’s personal, signed creation, if you will.  Michelangelo, signed only one, the Pieta, and is valued at 300 million. 

God signed only one, the human. Oh how each and every human is valued  of God. (Matthew 6:26-27)

Contemplate this for a moment… you are what God wanted to look like, in the flesh. 

A creature that could commune and communicate with Him, in a place of His choosing, set apart, (garden) for His purpose and pleasure. 

A creature that would share “in” the oneness of the Godhead. (John 17)

A creature that would love Him, as He loved them, not an automaton. 

A special relationship like no other creature. 

This creature was God’s child. (John:1)

A reflection/reflector of God. 

One that would share the very God of the universe, as no other had. The only creature God chose to live “in”. 

A creature now “aware” of his own consciousness. How? Intelligence begets intelligence, seed after its own kind. 

He is the potter, we are the clay. We were nothing until His utterance/ law. We did nothing to cause it. 

– nothing has changed –

Love requires choice…sets boundaries for the good of the one loved. As you would give instructions to your children for their own good, God gave His children instruction/law, to “live” by. 

To live… God’s law is always of life!

He knows not death. 

All mankind (Adam) had to do was choose the correct law, the law of life. He chose the law of death…

It’s always been about choice, from the very beginning, good and evil. God cannot lie, so it wasn’t: if you do this I will kill you, it was truth. If you violate the truth, the “law” of life, the law of death will happen. It had to happen. Obey God and live, disobey and die. 

             -nothing has changed-

The first man of its kind Adam, chose poorly and sin entered the world. All that followed would be subject to this poor decision. A decision that would reveal Gods truth. 

Ready to run to grace?

To be continued…

In our next writing, we’ll discuss Adam. Who he was and how/why his disobedience of “the law” affected the rest of us.

SINNER’S PULPIt.com/podcast 

“Come in a sinner, and leave a saint”.