Should Obeying the Law Be a Burden?

NOTE 1: The entirety of this study is also contained in the study: Nailed To the Cross

Foreword

I see that some have misunderstood what I have written here about obeying the law. Hence, I offer this foreword in hopes that you may understand that I do not believe that obeying the law will save anyone; only our belief in Christ can save us. Nevertheless, once we are saved, we should strive to please God through obedience of His word, in which the law is contained. Thus obeying the law is what a Christian that is already saved should strive to do. The really great thing is that the law cannot condemn us. If we transgress the law, we do not loose our salvation; it remains intact. That is because we are under grace and not under law. Obeying the law pleases God as a good work (1 John 2:2-5), but breaking a law does not condemn us (Romans 8:1); Christ has already paid our debt (Romans 5:8).

There is no requirement to obey the law in order to be saved. Quite the contrary. It is impossible for any person to obey the law in its entirety or continually without exception. To break one law is to break the entire law. To break the law is a sin and the wage paid for sin is spiritual death, which is complete separation from God in a very unpleasant place. No, we are not saved by obeying the law; we are saved because Jesus paid the price for our sins when He died vicariously, which means He died in our place. Because of our inability to obey the law, a debt had to be paid. A sinful human being could never pay that debt, so the sinless Jesus paid our debt for us.

It is our faith in that payment that allows us to become saved. We are saved by grace and not by works, so that we cannot say we saved ourselves. When we realize that our sins are between us and God and that we can do nothing about that and trust that Jesus paid our debt for us, we are saved. If we believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, and that He was without sin, and that He died, was buried, and was raised on the third day, and that He sits at the right hand of God the Father making intersession for our sins, then we are saved. That is the only way we can be saved; there is no other way. Obeying the law cannot save us.

Salvation is freely bestowed on those that put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, and not on those who obey the law. Obedience to the law does not and cannot save us. However, ONCE WE ARE SAVED, then we should do everyhting we can to please God. Our works before salvation were worhtless in that they could not save us. Nevertheless, our good works that we do AFTER WE ARE SAVED, are acceptable and desirable to God. In Matthew 5:17-18 Christ said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. {18} For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Thus, the law is not done away with. As Christians we should strive to obey the law; not because it affects our salvation, for it does not, but because it pleases God. The idea behind this treatise is that we should strive to please God. Obeying the law does not save us; but once we are saved we should strive to obey the law because it is pleasing to God for us to do good works (Matthew 5:16, Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 1:10, 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Both James and John specifically state that our works prove our salvation. 1 John 2:3-5, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. {4} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. {5} But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." James 2:17-18, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. {18} Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."

Obedience a Burden?

Obeying the law is not a requirement for salvation. Nevertheless, the keeping of God's commandments is a good work. Furthermore, Christians should strive to do good works. Thus obeying the law should not be a burden for Christians. In the old pharisaical system of hundreds of minute laws, obedience to them was a burden. It was such a burden that it was nearly impossible to live life. Keeping all those minutiae of laws was impossible. But a true Christian should have no thought at all about keeping the Ten Commandments. It is not a burden but a joy to keep them. Let us see how they are joyful.

Commandment 1. Exodus 20:2-3 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. {3} Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

God brought us out of bondage to sin. He is God and there e is no other. If that is so, then we should put Him first and keep Him in that position. He is the Lord of our lives. We should rejoice in that and joyfully keep this Commandment.

Commandment 2. Exodus 20:4-6 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: {5} Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; {6} And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Just like we should serve no other gods and we should keep Him first in our lives, we should never worship or bow down to anything but God, including images. This includes statues, relics, memorabilia, paintings, shrouds, writings, holy sites, black rocks, crystals, cards, zodiacs, devices, insignia, rings, jewelry, etc. A born again Christian has no problem avoiding these things. He does so as a matter of course.

Commandment 3. Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Let us expound this commandment. Taking the Lord's Name in vain is not limited to using his Name as a curse word. Anything we do in Jesus' Name that returns to us empty is vanity. Vanity is emptiness. If we "swear to God" that something is true, it had better be. Otherwise we have taken His Name in vain. If we swear or take an oath in God's Name and break that oath, we have taken His Name in vain. If we swear to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth "so help me God", and lie, we have taken the Lord's Name in vain.

Christians cheerfully live by the truth. We gladly try not to do those things mentioned here. We really do not wish to offend our loving Lord. Therefore we happily refuse to take God's Name in vain. We enjoy pleasing God.

Commandment 4. Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. {9} Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: {10} But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: {11} For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Now the Sabbath days have been nailed to His cross and we are not required to observe the weekly (or any) Sabbath, that is, to worship on Saturday. But the desire of God is that we meet regularly in fellowship. In Hebrews chapter 10 (especially vss. 16-25), we are told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Since that days of the early church, Christians have been assembling regularly on the first day of the week for worship. Yes, Paul went to the synagogues on the Sabbath to preach the Gospel, but the habit of the church was to meet on Sunday (John 20:19, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2). True believers willingly, not grudgingly or burdensomely, meet for fellowship weekly, most of them on Sunday.

Commandment 5. Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Even the unchurched do this willingly. There are exceptions, but society, as a rule, instills folks to honor their parents. Christians readily and without compunction, honor their parents. We do so merrily.

Commandment 6. Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. [murder]

Christians certainly do not wish to murder. It is no burden to not murder someone. It is, in fact, the opposite. It is a blessing to not murder someone.

Commandment 7. Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Christians do not wish to be adulterers. Yes some are, but they would very much prefer not to be. No Christian considers this law to be demanding. They find it refreshing not to commit adultery.

Commandment 8. Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

Commandment 9. Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

This includes lying about a neighbor in a court of law, or lying about him in any other venue, to include gossip. The main way we bear false witness against our neighbor is to lie. This commandment is an indictment against deceit. The belt of truth is one of our defensive weapons against the fiery darts of the Evil One. The Gospel is truth. Without truth there is no hope or salvation. A Christian's hope is based upon the truth of the Gospel. It is behooving of a Christian to be truthful. Christians should be joyously truthful. Being truthful is no inconvenience for a true Christian.

Commandment 10. Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Adam Clarke said, "Covet signifies to desire or long after, in order to enjoy as a property the person or thing coveted. He breaks this command who by any means endeavors to deprive a man of his house or farm by taking them over his head, as it is expressed in some countries; who lusts after his neighbor's wife, and endeavors to ingratiate himself into her affections, and to lessen her husband in her esteem; and who endeavors to possess himself of the servants, cattle, etc., of another in any clandestine or unjustifiable manner."

I can hardly do better at explaining covetousness. Christians know that God provides their needs. Mature Christians pleasurably accept that fact. When it is accepted that God is our Provider, then it is not in the nature of a true Christian to practice covetousness. No Christian willingly covets. No Christian considers it any worry whatever to refrain from covetousness.

Jesus said that these Ten Commandments are summed up by two:

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Christians wish to follow their Lord Jesus. He commanded us to love God fully and then to love every other person as we love ourselves. Commandments one through four are about loving God and Commandments five through ten are about loving others. Christians cheerfully obey the commands of our Lord Jesus, therefore, obeying the Ten Commandments is not a burden at all to Christians.