Part 7: Turning the Law Inside Out
In the first blog post, I mentioned that some might be surprised to learn what law has been abolished. I proposed that through His example and death, Jesus did not do away with the Old Testament law but rather its distortions and misuse. I include in such misuse ceremonies for Jewish status that exclude people and the sentence that was against us because of our violation of law. Now I present the final nail in the coffin: Romans 10:4, which says that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Paul’s message is clear. Jesus ended the requirements of law over my righteousness. While Paul never renounced the commandments or his Jewish way of life, he spoke of Jesus putting an end to rule keeping for righteousness for everyone who believes. Belief describes a relationship of trust. It’s important to see ourselves in a living relationship with God; otherwise, we will struggle to be better people. We can’t belong to both sides. We either believe Christ ended the requirements of the law over our righteousness or believe that God requires us to be obedient to earn His acceptance. It’s easy to slide into a legalistic, rule-based orientation and obligation to law—regarding not only the ceremonial law but also the Ten Commandments.
“Why, then, was the law given at all?” Paul asks in the book of Galatians. “It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come” (Galatians 3:19).
Does the law therefore oppose the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised to be given through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith was revealed. The law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. In Christ Jesus, we are all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3:20–26).
So there you have it. No law is opposed to the promises of God. Paul emphatically denies such a suggestion. The law’s many rules serve as a tutor until we encounter Jesus. Once one has a relationship of faith, law-based rules are no longer needed; they are out of place for those who believe (1 Timothy 1:9). The law was not done away with but rather incorporated into a living experience that elevates it to a whole new level.
The book of Hebrews quotes Old Testament prophet Jeremiah on the new covenant, which specifically states that the law inscribed on the heart was not done away with. The divine side of the law was not abolished but moved to better writing material—from stone tablets to the heart. Instead, the law in the service of sin, condemnation and death has been abolished (Hebrews 8:8–12; Jeremiah 31:31–34). The problem is not the law but our distortion and violation of it.
Adventists have a hard time understanding that the requirements of law over our righteousness ended in Jesus. We tend to believe that God expects us to be better by keeping the commandments. Some readers may protest, declaring that only the ceremonial law came to an end, because they cannot see how the Ten Commandments give way to greater glory. However, Paul clearly affirmed that it was the law written on stone (2 Corinthians 3:5–8). What ended was not the law itself but something that dims its glory; sin reduces the glory of God’s commandments.
Ezekiel describes the exchange of law on stone (something external) for law in the heart (something internal), which changes our relationship to the law (Ezekiel 36:25–27; 37:23–24). There is a hidden glory from the kingdom of God that exceeds the external glory shining from the law on stone (2 Corinthians 3:5). Once you glimpse this spectacular glory, you won’t want to return to the lesser glory of external requirements. The law on stone will seem a mere dim reflection.
Think of Jesus like a magnifying glass that intensifies the law’s light, making it brighter and more glorious—the light of self-renouncing love shining from the face of Jesus. No longer in service of sin and death or conformity to rules and regulation, it becomes “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). To live in the Spirit is to live in the life-giving glory of the kingdom to come. When we come to faith, the agency of the Spirit changes something inside us, liberating us to love deeply. We develop a whole new orientation inside. We feel our new relationship with God growing and calling us to future glory. The outward expression of the law does not cease to exist; it simply assumes a different form and effect via an inner motivation centered on the light of Christ’s glory and love.
The book of Hebrews speaks about the old system’s sanctuary imagery, including the festivals, as “becoming obsolete and growing old” (8:13). The ceremonies once valid for the temple’s purpose on earth are portrayed as “wearing out like a garment,” while the climax is yet to arrive (Isaiah 51:6). The system is presented as temporary, changing like a garment as it grows old (Psalm 102:25–26). With the old and new covenant imagery, however, we see that there is both a visible outside (i.e., the law on stone) and an unseen inside (i.e., the law in the heart). There’s more coming than meets the eye.
Here’s where it gets interesting. As with the sanctuary imagery, we find external and visible parts (e.g., the court and holy place) and an invisible part (i.e., the most holy place). Like pulling a sock inside out, the new covenant changes the effect of the law, revealing all the glory and brightness that had been hidden from view on the inside. Where does this place the law on stone and the ritual ceremonies? They’re now hidden, unseen and invisible on the inside. There is no temple in the New Jerusalem because everything has been turned inside out, so to speak—everything that was unseen is now like the holy of holies, illuminating the entire universe with the internal radiance of Christ’s self-renouncing love.
If I have explained myself clearly, you should see the inner surface of the law at Sinai, which contains all the promises of the new covenant and God’s life-giving love, becoming the outer surface, all its glorious splendor visible (Deuteronomy 30:11-14; Romans 10:6-9). Paul tells us that the law came with this glory. Jesus did not abolish that glory inside the law at Sinai but made it even more glorious. In fact, the sanctuary system carried a message about the end of sin and death. It spoke of eternal glory and life in God’s presence, of being forgiven and completely cleansed by the law imprinted on the heart. You see, this glorious law reflected God’s act of redemption and love. The law pointed to Christ, who gathered up all its rays of glory to manifest God’s greater glory that had remained hidden and unseen by the people. In other words, while the promises in the new covenant had been pictured beautifully in the ceremonies and festivals, they were only shadows of the good things to come, not a full manifestation (Hebrews 10:1).
The new covenant does not abolish the law at Sinai. The new covenant was contained within the Sinai covenant’s ceremonies and laws, which aged to give way to the goal of what was hidden—the greater glory brought by Jesus (Romans 10:4). Interpretations that claim the law was abolished miss this new covenant concept. It does not make sense to argue that Jesus abolished the laws He provided from the pillar of cloud at Sinai. Why demolish a system designed to point with laser precision to redemption in the revelation of Jesus? Why abolish something intended to be fulfilled, something converging in Jesus to make a dramatic transition through His revelation, something growing old and preparing to pass away?
Dispensational arguments concerning what law was abolished at the cross may provide a quick answer as to whether one should keep the festivals, but I believe they miss the point of Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. I think it is much better to view both the temporal and eternal aspects of God’s law in a way that maintains the integrity of God’s revelation centering on Jesus—who is the visible representation of what God has spoken. The new is contained in the old, and the glory of God once hidden inside the most holy place will someday fill the entire universe through the love of the lamb that was slain (Revelation 21:23–24). There will be no external temple in the world to come; everything will become the inner holy of holies, making what was once external invisible and what was once hidden fully revealed. The old will become subsumed in much greater glory, turning everything inside out to hide the external—including the sanctuary, sacrifices, purity rituals, festivals, and law on stone. Then we will see God unveiled in all His glory!
It is helpful to understand what has happened to the law:
1) The letter of the law became an agent of sin, condemnation and death. Sin made the law dim by turning God’s revelation into obligation, compliance to rigid rules and regulations, and conformity to external law. The goal was hidden from view.
2) The spirit of the law is an agent of life. Jesus reclaimed the law, making it exceedingly glorious. The law has thus been internalized and generates faith. God’s covenant love centers on the visible revelation of Jesus, motivating us via an internal operation of divine love established by the cross of Christ.
Craig Ashton Jr.
Theological InTents 
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