Paul and the Law

Paul had the law woven into his life. He grew up submitted to the law, studied it, became an expert in it and on the basis of that law he persecuted Christians. Then he saw Jesus as Lord of heaven and everything he once knew changed. He was still an expert in the law, but he submitted it all to Jesus’ understanding and will.

There has been much disagreement throughout church history about what Paul’s opinion about the law is. Some believed that Paul held that Satan wrote the law and Jesus delivered us from it. Others have said that Paul completely supported the law. A popular opinion is that Paul was opposed to following any laws—whether Moses’ or a church’s— holding only to faith in Jesus. To understand Paul’s perspective, we have to read him carefully, and not place our own opinions about the Law in his mouth. When we read Paul carefully, we find that he at least had these opinions about Moses’ law:

Paul was in agreement with Jesus and the early church about the Law
The Law was from God
Paul firmly acknowledged that the Law of Moses was good, not evil, and that it came from God to Moses (Romans 7:12; Galatians 3:19, 21)

Everyone born under Moses must submit to the Law
Like Jesus, Peter and the other apostles, Paul lived in full submission to Moses Law all of his life, even after he was a Christian (Acts 21:24). He also affirmed that Jews under the Law were given a special gift from God to preserve the Law and keep it.

Jesus gave us a higher law to live by
Paul agrees with Jesus and James that Jesus gave us a law to live by, and it is that higher law—not the law of Moses—by which we will be judged. If we live by that higher law, Paul writes, we will have fulfilled all of the law of Moses and more. (Romans 13:8-10)

Gentiles are not required to live under Moses’ law, but Jesus’ law and faith
Paul was in full agreement with the early church that Gentiles did not need to follow the law of Moses because they were never put in submission to it. It is enough that they have faith in Jesus, even as Abraham did. (Galatians 2:15-16)

Paul said the law has no power to help people obey it
Although the law is good and comes from God, it is weak. All it does is communicate what sin is, but it doesn’t give any power to help a person get sin out of their lives. It is a standard, but it has no ability to assist a person who wants to live it, even the one who fully loves the law. (Romans 7:14-15, 8:3)

Paul said the law condemns everyone who lives under it
Because the law has no power to help those submitted to it obey it, everyone who attempts to live under the law will disobey it. Every human is weak, and we are tempted by Satan to disobey God, and, left to our own devices, that is exactly what we will do. We will disobey the very thing we have submitted ourselves to. But the law also makes it clear, if we disobey it or rebel against it, then we will die. Thus the law ends up condemning and killing everyone who is under it. (Romans 7:13-20, 3:9-20)

Paul said that Satan uses the law to destroy people
God gave the Law to Israel to point the way to life, to be holy and pure before God. But Satan recognized the weakness of humans and used the Law as a tool of disobedience. He deceived them to be unfaithful to the law and to God, and so be condemned to death. Once they were condemned to death, Satan had them under his power, for Satan has authority over all who are judged. And Satan desires lordship over people in order to destroy them. In this way, the Law became the tool of Satan for destruction, instead of what it was originally made for. (Romans 6:16; 7:7-12, 25)

Paul said the law is a part of the powers that Jesus delivers us from
Jesus not only delivers us from Satan and death, but from everything that led us to death—including the Law. Again, Paul says that the Law became the tool of Satan, and so it is no longer worthwhile for salvation. But through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have gained freedom from all of that. We no longer must go to God through the Law, instead we go to God through Jesus. Thus, we must not consider that the law is what will bring us to God, for we need only Jesus. (Romans 8:1-4; Colossians 2:11-17). In this way, Jews who follow Jesus obey the law, but only in the way that a Christian would submit to the laws of the nation he or she is living under—because we submit to worldly authorities while we live under them (Romans 13:1-7)

Paul said that gentiles should not put themselves under the law, if they need the Law to save them
There were many in Paul’s day who thought that every Christian—even those who were not born under the law—needed to submit themselves to Moses’ law before they could be truly pleasing to God. Many gentiles under Paul’s care were influenced by this and felt that they needed to put themselves under Moses’ law through circumcision in order to be truly saved. Paul was firm in his understanding that to submit to Moses’ law was to seek salvation from the world, and to separate oneself from Jesus. In Jesus alone is found salvation, and to share that place with any other power is to deny Jesus. (Galatians 4:1-9; 5:1-4)

Paul said that a gentile can put himself under the law in order to minister to Jews
This did not mean, however, that a gentile could not be circumcised. Paul himself circumcised Timothy (a gentile), thus placing him in submission to the Law, not to save Timothy, but to help him fulfill God’s calling on his life. Timothy was called to be an evangelist, with Paul, and in that he would have to be submitted to the Law in all things. This was to make it so that Jews would listen to Timothy when he preached the gospel. Thus some can willingly put themselves in slavery, if it would allow the gospel to be preached. (Acts 16:1-3; I Corinthians 9:19-23)

The Law is God’s will, circumvented by Satan.
But Jesus set us free from the Law.