Galatians 4:4-5
says,
“But when the fullness of time had come, God
sent forth his Son, born of woman, born
under the law, 5 to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as sons.”
Jesus was
without sin and kept the Law perfectly (the
way God intended).
John 8:46
says, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?
If I tell the truth, why do you not believe
me?”
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew
no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.”
1 Peter 2:22
says, “He committed no sin, neither was
deceit found in his mouth.”
1 Peter 3:18
says, “For Christ also suffered
once for sins, the righteous for the
unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh but made
alive in the spirit.”
1 John 3:5
says, “You know that he appeared in
order to take away sins, and in him there is
no sin.”
Romans 5:18-21 says,
“Therefore, as one trespass led to
condemnation for all men, so one act of
righteousness leads to justification and
life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s
disobedience the many were made sinners, so
by the one man’s obedience the many will be
made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to
increase the trespass, but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more, 21
so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also
might reign through righteousness leading to
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses, but one who in every respect
has been tempted as we are, yet without
sin.”
And Hebrews 7:26 says, “For it was indeed
fitting that we should have such a high
priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated
from sinners, and exalted above the
heavens.”
While Jesus experienced every kind of
human temptation, he never succumbed to sin
(John 8:29, 46; 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26;
1 Pet. 2:22; 3:18; 1 John 3:5).
“Christ was born under Law
as a Jew. He kept the Law perfectly,
fulfilled it (cf. Matt. 5:17), and finally
paid its curse (cf. Gal. 3:13).”
[1]
Jesus told His
disciples to keep the Law faithfully.
Matthew 5:48 says, “You therefore must
be perfect, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.”
Matthew 7:21 says, “Not
everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who
does the will of my Father who is in
heaven.”
Jesus said He came to fulfill
the law.
Matthew 5:17-18 says,
“Do not think that I have come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to
abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For
truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth
pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass
from the Law until all is accomplished.”
The Old Covenant came to an end when Jesus
offered a perfect sacrifice for our sins and
then died for us.
Ephesians 2:13-16
says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once
were far away have been brought near through
the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has
made the two one and has destroyed the
barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15
by abolishing in his flesh the law with its
commandments and regulations. His purpose
was to create in himself one new man out of
the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this
one body to reconcile both of them to God
through the cross, by which he put to death
their hostility.” (NIV)
Colossians 1:22 says, “he has now
reconciled in his body of flesh by his
death, in order to present you holy and
blameless and above reproach before him,”
Colossians 2:13-14 says, “When you were
dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision
of your sinful nature, God made you alive
with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14
having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that
stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross.” (NIV)
When
Jesus died He established a new, eternal
priesthood and ushered in the New Covenant.
Hebrews 7:12
says, “For when there is a change in
the priesthood, there is necessarily a
change in the law as well.”
Hebrews 8:13 says, “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.”
Hebrews 9:11-15
says, “But when Christ appeared as a
high priest of the good things that have
come, then through the greater and more
perfect tent (not made with hands, that is,
not of this creation) 12 he entered once for
all into the holy places, not by means of
the blood of goats and calves but by means
of his own blood, thus securing an eternal
redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and
bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons
with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the
purification of the flesh, 14 how much more
will the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself without
blemish to God, purify our conscience from
dead works to serve the living God. 15
Therefore he is the mediator of a new
covenant, so that those who are called may
receive the promised eternal inheritance,
since a death has occurred that redeems them
from the transgressions committed under the
first covenant.”
Hebrews 9:16-17 says, “For
where a will is involved, the death of the
one who made it must be established.
17 For a will
takes effect only at death, since it is not in
force as long as the one who made it is
alive.”
Hebrews 9:23-28 says, “Thus
it was necessary for the copies of the
heavenly things to be purified with these
rites, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these. 24 For
Christ has entered, not into holy places
made with hands, which are copies of the
true things, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly,
as the high priest enters the holy places
every year with blood not his own, 26 for
then he would have had to suffer repeatedly
since the foundation of the world.
But as it
is, he has appeared once for all at the end
of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed
for man to die once, and after that comes
judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered
once to bear the sins of many, will appear a
second time, not to deal with sin but to
save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
Hebrews 10:7-14 says, “Then I said,
‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the
book. 8 When
he said above, “You have neither desired nor
taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings
and burnt offerings and sin offerings”
(these are offered according to the law), 9
then he added, “Behold, I have come to do
your will.” He does away with the first in
order to establish the second. 10
And by
that will we have been sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all. 11 And every priest stands
daily at his service, offering repeatedly
the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered
for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he
sat down at the right hand of God, 13
waiting from that time until his enemies
should be made a footstool for his feet. 14
For by a single offering he has perfected
for all time those who are being
sanctified.”
We are made holy and
cleansed from sin and consecrated to God’s
service because Christ was able to keep
God’s Law holy and then offer up His life as
a sacrifice for our sins. He alone was
worthy!
Some people use John 5:16-18 to support
their belief that Jesus didn’t keep the
Sabbath according to the Law.
John 5:16-18 says,
“And this was why the Jews were persecuting
Jesus, because he was doing these things on
the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My
Father is working until now, and I am
working. 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the
more to kill him, because not only was he
breaking the Sabbath, but he was even
calling God his own Father, making himself
equal with God.”
John was
simply summarizing what the Jews were saying
in his gospel, not making those claims about
Jesus himself.
Later in
John’s gospel, Jesus asked, “Which one of
you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth,
why do you not believe me” (John 8:46)? And
near the end of His time on earth, Jesus
said to His disciples, “If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and abide in his love.” (John 15:10)
If Jesus truly broke the Sabbath
command then why didn’t His detractors
arrest Him for breaking the Sabbath?
John 5:16-18
contains two claims. First, that Jesus was
breaking the Sabbath; and Second, that He
was making Himself equal with God.
In
healing on the Sabbath, Jesus was not acting
against the Father’s commands, He was doing
what the Father wanted. The Jews were
outraged, not because Jesus was wrong to
heal on the Sabbath, because they didn’t even
answer His reply to them regarding His Sabbath
healing. Jesus silenced the Jews
repeatedly by showing it was acceptable to
God for someone to do good and heal a person in
need on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-37;
Mark 2:27-28; Luke 6:5; 14:5; John 7:21-24).
The MacArthur Study Bible says this
about John 5:16, “Jesus did not break God’s
law since in it there was no prohibition of
doing good on that day (Mark 2:27). However,
Jesus disregarded the oral law of the Jews
that had developed, i.e., “the tradition of
the elders” (cf. Matt. 15:1-9). Most
likely, Jesus deliberately practiced such
healing on the Sabbath to provoke a
confrontation with their religious hypocrisy
that blinded them to the true worship of
God.”
[2]
What the Jews were really furious about was that
Jesus
was “calling God his own Father, making
himself equal with God.”
First, did Jesus actually break the Sabbath?
According to Exodus 31, Jesus would be
worthy of the death penalty since He was
born under the Law, and breaking the Sabbath
would have been a sin (Gal. 4:4-5).
Exodus 31:14-15 says, “You shall keep
the Sabbath, because it is holy for you.
Everyone who profanes it shall be put to
death. Whoever does any work on it, that
soul shall be cut off from among His people.
15 Six days shall work be done, but the
seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest,
holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on
the Sabbath day shall be put to death.”
Jesus said He came to uphold the Law.
He said in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not
think that I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I
say to you, until heaven and earth pass
away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from
the Law until all is accomplished.”
This important statement of our Lord
gives us insight into His mission and the
importance of God’s Word.
Jesus did not contradict the Old Covenant
Law in any point. The truth is,
Jesus went out of His way to promote the
authority of God’s Law. Regardless of what
the Pharisees accused Him of, He said He did
not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill
it. In fact, Jesus commended those
who taught the Law faithfully.
Matthew 5:19-20
says, “Therefore whoever relaxes one
of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called
least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever
does them and teaches them will be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell
you, unless your righteousness exceeds that
of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus’
point in the Sermon on the Mount was that
God sees the heart, and that we are actually
held to a higher standard than external
conformity to the Old Covenant Law.
On the cross, Jesus fulfilled the righteous
requirements of the law on our behalf (Col.
2:13-14; Rom. 8:1-4).
The scriptures say that Jesus was
without sin.
Jesus kept the
Sabbath in the way God intended it to be kept
under the Old Covenant. He pointed out that
David and his men could eat the temple bread
without being guilty of sin (Mark 2:26). The
temple bread was holy; it could only be
eaten by priests, but that law could be set
aside when people were hungry and had no other food
to eat (Lev. 24:5-9).
How could the
scriptures say Jesus was without sin if He
broke the very Law that He authored, and as
a human being was born under? And why would
Jesus tell His disciples to keep
the Law faithfully and then break it Himself?
Jesus considered the law prohibiting work on
the Sabbath to be a ceremonial law that
could be set aside when there was a human
need such as healing.
It is
also important to notice that the Jews were
upset because Jesus told the paralyzed man
he healed to pick up his mat after he healed
him. Rabbinic tradition had formulated
nearly 40 different forbidden activities in
the Mishnah, one of which was carrying your
mat, but there is no command in the Old
Covenant not to carry your mat on the
Sabbath. Neither Jesus, nor the man He
healed broke the Old Covenant laws regarding
the Sabbath, they only broke the Rabbinic
traditions.
Jeremiah 17:21
said not to “carry a burden” on the Sabbath
but he never explained what he meant
by that. To carry a burden meant to “carry a
heavy load.” Telling a poor man who was just
healed to pick his mat up and go home was not
a sin. To leave his mat would most likely
mean he would lose his property if he left
it unattended. Again, Jesus was trying to
teach Israel the true intent of the law.
What was lawful to do on the Sabbath
contrary to the legalistic approach the
scribes and Pharisees took to the Sabbath
commands.
Second, the
claim that Jesus was making Himself equal
with God.
Jesus was God; and
He was claiming the same right as His Father
to do good and heal on the Sabbath, but He
defended His right to do so based on the
scriptures alone, not on His divine
prerogatives.
Jesus tried repeatedly
to show Israel that healing people and
caring for their needs was not breaking the
law. He showed them what was lawful to do on
the Sabbath.
Jesus taught that Israel needed to
be practical about the way they approached
the Sabbath law.
Jesus asked in
Mark 3:4, “Is it
lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do
harm, to save life or to kill?” But they
were silent.” And Matthew 12:10-12 says,
“And a man was there with a withered hand.
And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on
the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
11 He said to them, “Which one of you who
has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the
Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift
it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man
than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on
the Sabbath.”
Jesus did not break the Sabbath! Not the way
God intended it to be kept. The
accusation of Sabbath-breaking came from the scribes and
Pharisees who had nullified God’s Word by their
traditions (Mark 7:13). According to Jesus,
healing and doing acts of mercy was not
violating the Sabbath command because
He said it was, “lawful to do good on the
Sabbath.” (Matt. 12:12). Jesus was never
convicted on the charge of breaking the
Sabbath. How else could He say, “Which one
of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the
truth, why do you not believe me?”
(John 8:46).
When Jesus was convicted by
the Sanhedrin, and then sentenced to death by Pontius
Pilate, the charge was blasphemy for
claiming to be the Messiah and making
Himself equal with God (Matt. 27:17, 22;
Mark 14:61-64; Luke 22:66-71).
What
the Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate didn’t
understand was that Jesus really was the Christ. He gave many proofs throughout His
ministry that demonstrated He was
God in human flesh. The New Testament refers
to Jesus as being God in many places (Matt. 3:16-17;
John 1:1-18; 8:58-59; 10:30; 20:28;
Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:5-8; 2:9-11; Col. 1:16-19; 2:9-10;
1 Tim. 6:15; Titus 2:11-13; Heb. 1:3, 8; 13:8; 2 Pet. 1:1;
1 Jn. 5:20; Rev. 1:8, 17; 2:8; 17:14; 19:16; 21:6; 22:13).
If
Jesus actually broke the Sabbath command then He was guilty
of sin by breaking the Old Covenant Law that
He was born under and worthy of
death.
Galatians 4:4-5 says,
“But when the fullness of time had come, God
sent forth his Son, born of woman, born
under the law, 5 to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as sons.”
What did
Paul mean by saying Jesus was born under the law?
“First of all, the Law consists of the
do’s and don’ts of moral and civil behavior
(613 total) that is revealed in the first
five books of the Old Testament: Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
To be under the Law means that the Law has
jurisdiction and authority over a person to
judge and condemn. If such a person breaks
the Law (sins, 1 Jn. 3:4), then there is a
necessary judgment and condemnation based on
the Law. All law-breaking brings separation
between God and the sinner (Isa. 59:2) and
results in death (Rom. 6:23). So, to be
under the Law means that the person is
obligated to keep that Law in all its
aspects (Deut. 27:26), and if he does not
the Law condemns him.”
[3]
“Like all men,
Jesus was obligated to obey God’s law.
Unlike anyone else, however, He perfectly
obeyed that law (John 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21;
Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 Jn. 3:5).
His sinlessness made Him the unblemished
sacrifice for sins, who perfectly obeyed God
in everything. That perfect righteousness is
what is imputed to those who believe in
Him.”
[4]
The Mosaic Law, or
the Old Covenant was given specifically to
the nation of Israel (Exod. 19; Lev. 26:46;
Rom. 9:4), and the command to keep the
Sabbath was meant for Israel alone because
it served as a ceremonial sign of the Mosaic
Covenant (Exod. 31:16-17; Ne. 9:13-14;
Ezek. 20:12, 20). Christians live under the New
Covenant and are not under any of the laws
of the Old Covenant (2 Cor. 3:1-11; 3:12-18;
Heb. 8:1-9:4; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-16;
Gal. 4:10-11; Col. 2:16-17).
Jesus willingly
lived under the Law to redeem us from the curse of the
law. He said that He came
to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, and the
scriptures say He was without sin. Jesus
kept God’s Law perfectly to establish the Word, to embody
it, and to offer Himself as a sacrifice for
our sins. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us—for it is written,
“Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a
tree.’”
The fact that Jesus kept the
Sabbath does not in any way prove that the
seventh day Sabbath is still in effect today. The Law of
Moses was in effect until Jesus’ died on the
cross (Acts 15:1-20; Rom. 3:28; 6:14-15; 7:1-8;
Gal. 3:10-13; 3:18-19; Col. 2:13-14;
Eph. 2:11-16). He kept the Sabbath for
the same reasons that He kept the other laws
of the Old Covenant. But when He died, He
removed the Old Covenant Law and instituted
the New Covenant in its place (Heb. 8:6-13; 9:1-4; 10:9-10).
The New Covenant never made keeping the
weekly, seventh day Sabbath a requirement
for the church.
In fact, the New Testament explicitly
teaches that Sabbath-keeping along with all
of the other ceremonial requirements of the
Old Covenant Law are not required for
Christians who live under the New Covenant
(Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8; Acts 15:1-20;
Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-18;
2 Cor. 3:3-11; Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25).
Jesus Christ brought
an end to the Old Covenant by fulfilling it
and then gave us a whole new way to live.
Romans 10:4 says,
“For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believes.”
The word “end” in Romans 10:4, “probably includes the idea of both
goal and termination. The Mosaic law has
reached its goal in Christ (it looked
forward to and anticipated him), and the law
is no longer binding upon Christians (the
Old Covenant has ended). Since Christ is the
goal and end of the law, righteousness
belongs to all who trust in Christ.”
[5]
Paul’s statement that Christ
is “the end of the law,” is similar to his
statement that believers are
no longer “under the law” in Romans 6:14. Christians are
not under the Old Covenant Law that God made
with Israel alone at Mount Sinai, but under
the New Covenant that Christ made with
all those who put their trust in Him through
His
shed blood on Calvary’s cross (cf.
Jer. 31:31-34; Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:8-12).
We can never live up to God’s
moral standards on our own.
Jesus told His
disciples in Matthew 5:48, “You therefore
must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.”
Sin affects every fiber of
our being! No matter how hard we try to be
good, we will never live up to God’s perfect
standard of righteousness on our own. Isaiah 64:6 says,
“We have all become like one who
is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are
like a polluted garment. We all fade like a
leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind,
take us away.” Our own attempts at goodness
are simply not good enough. We need Christ
righteousness imputed to us to be saved
(1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:22; 5:18-21).
Jesus Christ
was without sin. He kept the Old Covenant
Law faithfully for us. His blood covers any and all
who accept Him because He was the perfect
sacrifice for our sins. When we put our trust in Him we are
redeemed from the Law and have Christ’s
righteousness imputed to us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made
him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in
him we might become the righteousness of
God.”
Jesus Christ was the only
person to ever keep God’s Law perfectly. Without
His righteousness credited to our account we could never be
made right with God. That is why, “there is
salvation in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven given among men by
which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Have you put your trust in Jesus Christ
alone for your salvation?
References: 1. The Bible
Knowledge Commentary: Galatians 4:4 2.
The MacArthur Study Bible: John 5:16 3.
What does it mean to be under the Law? CARM 4. The MacArthur Study
Bible: Galatians 4:4 5. ESV Study Bible:
Romans 10:4
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