Quick Summary: Romans 6:14 only shows that Christians are not under the PENALTY part of the law, NOT the obedience part of the law. It is easy for the casual, undiscerning, or antinomian leaning, biased reader to jump to the incorrect conclusion that very generalized (perhaps deliberately overgeneralized to be a stumbling block for many) verse 14 proves all or most OT laws have been completely done away with, without reading and believing many, many other related verses such as the next verse especially, Romans 6:15 which “spells out” that the OBEDIENCE part of the law is still in full force (sin is the violation of the law). Acts 2:38 also “spells out” that the law must be obeyed to receive the salvation required Holy Spirit. The overwhelming subject of Romans, which contains Romans 6:14, is the annulment of the death penalty for sins committed before baptism, freeing or delivering Christians from the penalty part of the law. Repeatedly throughout the New Testament is the reminder that Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death paid ONLY for the SINS, SINS, SINS, or TRANSGRESSIONS, TRANSGRESSIONS, TRANSGRESSIONS of Christians, NOT the LAWS, LAWS, LAWS of the Bible. Remember, Jesus not only upheld the law, He magnified and expanded the law in His Sermon on the Mount, which would have been a total waste of time if obedience to the law was no longer necessary.
1 Corinthians 14:33 reveals that God is not the author of confusion, and Hebrews 6:18 says that God is not a liar. So that means that the Bible is not really self contradictory. The New Testament also reveals that the Bible is not always written in the most understandable way, lest even the casual reader be saved according to several verses in Matthew. Therefore, a little reasonable discernment and intensely close examination of the original Greek word hupo, Strong’s number 5259, usually translated “under,” are needed to accurately understand seemingly self contradictory Romans 6:14 and some similar verses. According to LSJ Gloss, by or from under define hupo. Thayer explains that hupo means by or under. Dodson says hupo means by, under, or about. Strong’s definition of hupo includes among, by, from, in, of, under, and with. In KJV usage, hupo is defined as among, by, under, from, in, of, and with. In general hupo refers to an inferior position or condition, “specifically” covertly or moderately, according to studybible.info.
In other words, hupo is not always absolute with no exceptions. So another version of Romans 6:14 could well be “…… you are moderately not under the law but under (or moderately under) grace.” Therefore, literally, certain laws still need to be obeyed while some laws no longer need to be followed.
Only 7 verses (Romans 6:14, 7:4, 7:6, Galatians 2:19, 3:19, 3:24, and Hebrews 7:12) in the entire New Testament, appearing in only 3 books, Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, say literally that Christians are not under, have been delivered from, have been freed from the law, or the law needs to be changed. These 7 vague verses are CONTEXTUALLY LIMITED to only the 1) old sacrifice laws, the 2) circumcision law, the 3) law requiring the automatic penalty of eternal death for capital offense sins (even if one later repented), or to the 4) now unnecessary Levitical priesthood laws because those overwhelmingly are the MAIN, PRIMARY subjects of the chapters where those verses appear that are in Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews. Mainstream preachers, please explain why ALL of those “freed or delivered from the law” and similar verses are CONSPICUOUSLY ABSENT in ALL of the other 24 books of the New Testament, especially since some of those books repeatedly warn Christians against breaking some other Old Testament laws. While it is clearly obvious that the now unnecessary or burdensome sacrifice, circumcision, Levitical priesthood, and eternal death penalty laws have been abolished since the Apostles, who could perform miracles, went out of their way to carefully explain why those four laws are now abolished, it is not obvious that the remaining laws have been abolished. It is impossible to rationally conclude, beyond reasonable doubt, that those remaining Old Testament laws have also been annulled because there are just too many solid reasons why the remaining laws need to still be obeyed. For example, 291 verses appear in the NT supporting or commanding law keeping or the avoidance of sinning. Sin literally includes breaking Old Testament laws as defined by 1 John 3:4. There are zero anti-law verses excluding the ones referring to the former sacrifice, circumcision, Levitical priesthood, and eternal death penalty laws. Four NT verses specifically encourage or support the safe meat laws (Acts 10:14: “But Peter said …… I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 2 Corinthians 6:17: “…… do not even touch what is unclean ……” Romans 6:19: “…… For just as you presented your members as slaves of UNCLEANNESS, and of LAWLESSNESS leading to more lawlessness, SO NOW PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS AS SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HOLINESS.” The ORIGINAL, LITERAL Greek definition of UNCLEANNESS INCLUDES the Levitically “unclean” or forbidden foods! Revelation 18:2: “…… Babylon has fallen and is now the …… den of …… all unclean birds ……”), three support the festival laws (Acts 18:21: “…… I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem.” Acts 20:6: “But we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened Bread ……” 1 Corinthians 5:8: “So then we should be keeping the feast ……”), three support the tithing laws (Matthew 23:23: “…… you ought to tithe ……” Luke 11:42: “…… you should …… still give a tenth to God.” Luke 18:12: “…… I pay the tithe on all my gains.”), and thirteen verses (Matthew 19:17, John 14:15, 14:21, 15:10, 1 Corinthians 7:19, 1 John 2:3,4, 3:22,24, 5:2,3, Revelation 12:17 and 14:12.) specifically support obeying the Ten Commandments, which include Saturday Sabbath rest. Sabbath rest is then obviously commanded, though indirectly, by verses commanding obedience to the Ten Commandments. Just because the Sabbath is not specifically, directly commanded in the NT is not justification to assume it has been abolished. OT laws prohibiting bestiality, arson, bribery, incest, the removal of property landmarks, and the conviction of a son for the sins of his father are not mentioned either. Do you really think that those common sense laws have been annulled, too? So a little reasonable discernment is needed to understand what laws those 7 anti-law verses most likely refer to. A close analysis of those 7 verses follows:
1) Romans 6:14: “…… you are not under the law but under grace .” (NKJV) Acts 2:38 and Romans 6:15, the very next verse, show that verse 14 does not even come close to proving that most OT laws can be abandoned. One cannot ignore the overall, general context of Romans, which is the abolition of the eternal death penalty mega law for righteous (law keeping) Christians according to
Romans 8:2: “…… Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and DEATH.”
Jesus did not free Christians from the law of dietary restrictions, the law of the festivals, the law of Sabbath keeping, or the law of tithing, just the law requiring death for sinning. So a little reasonable, common sense points to that nearby, contextually linked law, the former major, major death penalty law requiring automatic death for some sins even if the sinner repented of the crime, as the law that Christians are no longer under. Numbers 15:35 provides an example of the former death penalty law being AUTOMATICALLY applied to a man caught working on a Saturday. The Lord commanded that he be killed (apparently regardless of even sincere repentance from the sinner). In Romans 6 and 7 the baptism word also appears UNUSUALLY FREQUENTLY making the now abolished eternal death penalty for old, repented of sins the obvious law that Christians have been freed from. Secondly, again, the ultra literal Greek definition of “under” according to Strong and Thayer can mean “moderately” or “covertly,” not under the law, allowing Christians to be moderately or partially under the law, which is consistent with what the rest of the NT teaches. Thirdly, traditional Christians seem to hope that you will not look at the very next verse, verse 15, too long or think about it too much. Romans 6:15, says: “What then, shall we SIN because we are not under law but under grace? CERTAINLY NOT!” (NKJV) because it most emphatically warns that Christians still need to avoid sinning (1 John 3:4: “Sin is the violation of the law [torah]”), which OBVIOUSLY means to STOP breaking the law (the remaining laws excluding the sacrifice, circumcision, and Levitical priesthood laws]). Therefore Romans 6:14 cannot refer to most OT laws. Fourthly, verse 14 contains the grace word, which involves the acquisition of the salvation required Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38: “Peter replied, ‘All of you MUST TURN AWAY FROM YOUR SINS and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then your sins will be forgiven. You will receive the gift of the the HOLY SPIRIT.’ ” (New International Reader’s Version) Acts 2:38 DEMANDS that one must repent to receive the Holy Spirit. Repent means to stop sinning, which in turn means to stop breaking the law. The ONLY WAY to stop breaking the law is TO OBEY THE LAW, conclusively proving beyond any and all reasonable doubt that all OT laws must continue to be obeyed except those that the Apostles explained were annulled, which were only the sacrifice, circumcision, and Levitical priesthood laws. Galatians 5:18: “But if you are led by the SPIRIT (the Holy Spirit), you are not under the law,” (referring only to the contextually linked now abolished eternal death penalty law for breaking the law that died when Jesus sacrificially died to wipe away the past, now repented of sins [law breaking] of Christians).” The safe meat, mostly prophetic festival, and enriching tithing laws, then, for example, like it or not, obviously still need to be obeyed.
2) Romans 7:4: “…… you also have become dead to the law ……” The main, in fact overwhelming topic of the verses surrounding verse 4 again is the contextually linked death of the death penalty law, pinpointed in Romans 8:2. Therefore, yielding to common sense and a little deductive logic, verse 4’s law that Christians are no longer under (have become dead to) is the former death penalty mega OT law.
Ezekiel 18:20: “The soul who sins shall die ……” is now no longer eternally true for righteous (law keeping) Christians who have been given the gift of forgiving grace.
The death penalty law dramatically died when Jesus sacrificially died, dying for all converted, repentant Christians, to atone for their past, pre-conversion sins. Remember what the following verses say:
Romans 3:31:“Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law,” Romans 6:1,2: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” and Romans 6:15: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” as well as Matthew 7:23: “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” DEMAND!! that the remaining OT laws except the 3 laws the Apostles said were abolished MUST!! be obeyed.
3) Romans 7:6: “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” Verse 6 basically repeats what verse 4 above says. “The oldness of the letter” refers to the now abolished death penalty formally recorded in writing, using letters, in the original Mosaic law, described in verse 6 above as “the oldness of the letter.”
4) Galatians 2:19: “For I through the law died to the law ……” Galatians, written about 53-54 A.D., is, basically, a lengthy, elaborate explanation or justification about why the long held law of CIRCUMCISION was suddenly annulled just 5 years ago at the Jerusalem Conference. The concluding chapters of Galatians, chapters 5 and 6, summarize the overall message of Galatians, which is the abolishment of unnecessarily burdensome circumcision. The circumcision word repeatedly appears a gargantuan 10 times in those last 2 chapters and a gargantuan !!FIFTEEN!! times in Galatians. Repeating the circumcision word that many times is not just a small clue as to what the main subject of Galatians is, it is huge, gargantuan clue. In Galatians those “released from the law” verses apply only to circumcision, and to a lesser extent sacrifices, because those are the MAIN subjects of Galatians.
5) Galatians 3:19: “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come ……” The Seed refers to Jesus Christ. Transgressions already existed showing that the law also already existed. Hebrews 9:9,10 pinpoints the exact laws, which were the sacrifice laws (and the Levitical priesthood law), NOT the general law, that ended with the coming of Jesus. Hebrews 9:9,10: “It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and SACRIFICES are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect …… 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed UNTIL THE TIME OF REFORMATION.” 11 But Christ came as High Priest …… 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all ……”
6) Galatians 3:24,25: “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But AFTER FAITH HAS COME, we are no longer under a tutor.” “After faith has come” refers to the appearance of Jesus. Verse 25 again refers to the same laws referred to in verse 19 above: the sacrifice laws, because only the sacrifice laws (and Levitical priesthood law) were abolished with the coming of Jesus, revealed in Hebrews 7:12,9:9,10, not the general law.
7) Hebrews 7:12,15,16,18: “For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also ……15 …… if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 one who has become a priest NOT ON THE BASIS OF A REGULATION AS TO HIS ANCESTRY but on the basis of of the power of an indestructible life …… 18 The FORMER REGULATION IS SET ASIDE.” In verse 16 there is no “s” in the original word “regulation.” So it is singular, not plural. Only one specific regulation or law was set aside, not the general law and not the Ten Commandments. According to the original, literal Greek Hebrews 7:16 reads: “Who has become not according to law of CARNAL COMMANDMENT but according to power of indestructible life.” The Greek definition of “carnal” refers specifically to only one fleshly law such as ancestry or biological lineage, not something abstract, conceptual, or non physical like taking the name of the Lord in vain, coveting, working on Saturdays, or wrongfully convicting a parent for the sins of his son, and so on which are parts of the general law. To be continued …..