what does Paul mean exactly by the Christian not being under the law? Well he states in Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (KJV, emphasis mine)
So we see, when Paul says we are not under the law, he means the Christian is not under a law of righteousness before God. So Paul is not saying Christ is the end of the law full stop. No! He says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. The law remains, therefore, but the penalty attached to it for breaking the law (sin) is removed. You see, if you are not under a law of righteousness before God, you cannot be made unrighteous in His sight for your imperfections concerning those laws, can you? It is not possible. You cannot be condemned, therefore, for your imperfections where those laws are concerned. You are off the hook. This is what so many find so hard to reconcile, however. They find it so hard to accept the Christian is not under a righteousness of obedience to the law before God. They know that must mean you cannot be condemned for your sin, the penalty, for it must have been removed, and to them, that gives a person a licence to sin. You see, however, it is much easier to understand Paul’s comments about us not being under the law if we accept the core terms of being under the New Covenant. I would place them before you again, if I may, in Hebrews 10:16-17:
This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. ‘I will put my laws in their hearts,and I will write them on their minds.’ Then he adds: ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’” (NIV, emphasis mine)
As I have previously mentioned, the New Covenant hinges on not one, but two core points. At the point of conversion, the Holy Spirit writes the law on our minds and places it on our hearts. We have then been born again. We have been changed into people who want to obey in our hearts the law God desires us to keep. At the very moment this happens, we are not under law but under grace, for we have a Saviour from our sin. Our sins and lawless acts will be remembered no more. You see, friend, Jesus cannot be your Saviour from sin unless you are born again. For He will not be anyone’s Saviour from sin unless they desire in their heart to live as His Father wants them to. You see, God is not stupid. He didn’t make a covenant that would give anyone a license to sin if the penalty for sin were removed. Born again people cannot view this covenant that way, for they want to obey from their hearts. That is the whole point of being born again. If you want to obey God from your heart, as I have previously mentioned, it is impossible for you then to wilfully − without conscience − seek to break God’s laws. It cannot happen, friend. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” (emphasis mine) It is not an option; it is pivotal. Without that happening, you cannot be saved.
You see, no matter which country you live in, you are expected to obey the laws of your land, aren’t you? That doesn’t mean, however, you want to obey them all in your heart, does it. They are legal laws written down (or typed) on pieces of paper; they are not placed in your heart. Because that is the case, there is a penalty attached to them for non-compliance to dissuade you from breaking them, isn’t there? And that penalty deters most from breaking whichever laws of their land they do not want to obey in their hearts. If the penalty wasn’t there, you could happily go and rob a bank and suddenly become a millionaire, couldn’t you? After all, what is there to stop you? You see, however, the law God requires you to keep has been transferred from an external law written on tablets of stone, to an internal law written on tablets of human hearts. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 3:3, [SUP]“[/SUP]You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (NIV, emphasis mine)
Now, friend, why would the law be transferred onto your heart if the penalty for sin (breaking the law) must remain for you? If the penalty must remain, the law would remain where it was, wouldn’t it? So, because Christians have been born again, they are not under law but under grace. Paul preached the New Covenant, and he preached it mightily. You have been changed into someone who wants to obey God in your heart, and because that has happened, your sins and lawless acts will be remembered no more. You are in a covenant of grace. You are not under the law for righteousness before God.
