The Modern Interpretation of the Law
Featuring the Ten Commandments.

To say that the Law has a modern interpretation indicates that it is different now than it was in the past.

For a mere mortal human to say that is nothing. We need divine congruence.

To find that congruence, we've got to back up for a minute. I think we'll all agree that:

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Notice that word, "grace". Now see these:

Ga 2:21 ÒI do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.Ó
Ga 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

If grace saves us, not the law, then why did God give the Hebrews the Law? As a pointer, a tutor to faith, leading us to Christ.

Ga 3:24-25 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

All that to say: We are no longer subjects to the Law found in the first 5 books of the bible, but to a higher kingdom... Grace.

Ro 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

Well, if we're not going to continue in sin, we need a guidebook to tell us what sin is and isn't. Fortunately, we have an "outdated" user's manual that can help us.

Ro 7:7b ...I would not have come to know sin except through the Law...

See? The law, while it's not our justification, is still something of a guidebook. You've seen those little guide books? "The Audobon Catalog of American Birds" and "Insects: A pictoral guide". One could almost say the law is "A Guide to Sins", an easy way to distinguish sin from everything else. To make things even easier, God gave a clear and concise table of contents to His law in Exodus 20, a section of scripture more commonly referred to as "The Ten Commandments".

I think we can all agree that God's character never changes. If God calls something "Sin" then it's sin. It always was sin, always will be sin. No two ways around it.

Unfortunately, the Law can only be so big, so there are thousands of ways of "getting around" it, like the Pharisees were so good at. They looked at the letter of the law, not the spirit. I believe we are to look at the spirit of the law. Such as when it says "The Sabbath is holy, you are not to work on the Sabbath". Look:

Mk 2:23-28

Woah! Work on the Sabbath! And Jesus is not condemning it! That's breaking the letter of the law, though! Well, how does that work?

Heb 4 might make this particular issue clearer.

Ok, then. If the 4th commandment has shown a new face, what new looks would the other items in the table of contents have aquired?

Discuss.






1Jo 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness
Ex 20
Mk 2