In the letters of the Apostle Paul to the churches, he speaks of the many detractors with whom he was in constant conflict and was directed toward refuting accusations and false doctrines that had crept into the church. Peter acknowledged Paul’s writings, adding that they were hard to understand. However, he affirmed that Paul’s teachings were according to the wisdom the Lord had given him and added that those who twisted his words were doing so to their own destruction.

Even in their early years of Christianity, wolves in sheep’s clothing had entered into the churches to feed on the flock. The same self-serving manipulation tactics that the perpetrators used to gain power over their followers have continued ever since.

Today, the number of those teaching falsehoods—attempting to bring believers back under a law of works—has increased as the awareness of the Jewish roots of Christianity has become emphasized.

While it is certainly a good thing that many Christians today are awakening to the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and shaking off the remaining shackles of Roman doctrines, some desire to go a step further by putting back on the old shackles of the law that were broken by the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ; this is the essence of Paul’s letter of reproof to the Galatians.

Those who desire to be under the law reinforce their theology by pointing out that Jesus kept the law, as did his disciples afterward—and indeed it was so. However, Christ had to keep the law to perfection for the salvation of all. Jesus obeyed the written law of ordinances to free us in order to walk by the Spirit.

Nonetheless, the understanding of freedom from the law was not fully revealed at the time, and there were contentions. A more perfect understanding of the work Jesus had wrought on the cross would develop over time. This is what the Lord called and set Paul apart for. The Lord made Paul the most controversial apostle of his day by bringing clarity to the cross.

Paul was raised as a Pharisee; being more well-versed in the scriptures than the other disciples, he was chosen by God and separated so that the revelation of knowledge concerning Christ might be known.

However, even being free from the law of ordinances, Paul became all things to all men that he might save some. He would not allow his liberty from the law to become a stumbling block to those still clinging to the law. Therefore, Paul says, “Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law.”

Rather than becoming entangled in doctrinal confrontations, Paul conformed with the customs of his brothers in the flesh who were Jews so that he would not be hindered in preaching Christ and him crucified, the Power of God unto salvation. Paul put the salvation of others and the perfecting of the faith after salvation above all things.

Contentions over keeping the law continue. This is in part because the law is often misunderstood. The Word of God states the law is fulfilled in one word—“love.”

The law given to Moses can be broken down into various parts. First, there are moral laws. Moral laws existed before they were first written in the Ten Commandments. After the Ten Commandments were given, statutes and precepts were added for more clarity and to establish principles that expounded on the law. There were also commandments given to project shadows of spiritual things and of things to come. And there were laws of redemption for transgressions against the law.

The moral law is invisible and eternal. The sacrifices, the laws of redemption, and the shadows of portrayal in the law handed down through Moses were for the time then present; later, they were nailed to the cross with Christ.

The shadows of things fulfilled by Christ and the shadows of things yet to be fulfilled with his return were given as typologies; they are temporal. Christ fulfilled all the laws of redemption, and with the fulfillment, the shadows are done away with.

The Lord chose Paul to reveal more perfectly the transition from the works required under the law to grace. Through an abundance of revelations, the Lord gave Paul a greater understanding of grace than the others before him. Nevertheless, the eternal invisible Law that was before the written law given in the wilderness never changes—the soul that sins shall surely die. Cain knew he sinned before murder was written into the law.

There is redemption and forgiveness through the Blood of Jesus. Nonetheless, when we are delivered from sin, we are no longer to continue in the sins of the past. Jesus commanded, “Go and sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee.”

“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things that I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” (Galatians 2:17-19). Walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.