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For us, it’s a simple choice. It’s six-hundred-plus Jewish commands and regulations, or it’s total freedom to “serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom. 7:6). But there’s no room for selecting from the law and imposing a few things here and there. That makes no sense at all!

In personalizing this message of “God without religion,” here are some truths we need to come to grips with:

I’m dead to the law (Rom. 7:4; Gal. 2:19).

I’m not under the law (Rom. 6:14).

I’m free from the law (Rom. 6:7).

I’m not supervised by the law (Gal. 3:25).

I don’t serve in the old way of the law (Rom. 7:6).

I can live in the newness and freedom of the Spirit (Rom. 7:6; Gal. 5:13).

These truths shout a black-and-white reality. Yes, the law, including the Ten Commandments, is “holy, righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12). The law is so perfect that nobody can live up to it. Because of its perfection, it’s designed to make sin thrive. That’s how it points us to Jesus for salvation. But once we come to Jesus, we need to go ahead and make it personal.

“Christ is the end of the law” for me (Rom. 10:4).

5

Recently the United States completed a lengthy presidential election campaign. Over the course of the yearlong campaign, I heard dozens of hours of persuasive rhetoric. Yet not once did any of the candidates address the most important issue to me personally—freedom from the British.

I kept waiting for some candidate to utter the words I longed to hear: “The oppression that we presently endure can no longer be tolerated. We must seek independence. We must obtain the freedom we so desperately sought upon our landing on these foreign, now familiar shores!”

Of course, I’m kidding. We’re all aware of where we stand with England. Our struggle with them is ancient history. But I could definitely see a speech like this being given in the mid-1700s. It’s a perfect fit for that time and audience.

History matters. Audience is important. And context is key. But often we’ll read the Bible, a collection of ancient documents, without considering history, audience, and context. That’s dangerous, since we can end up applying things wrongly. Even worse, we might miss the whole point. History, audience, and context are everything as we look back on the Old Testament law.

Stopping Hitchcock

Imagine reading a Stephen King novel but putting it down thirty pages shy of the end and walking away. Imagine watching an Alfred Hitchcock film and turning it off with just a few minutes to go. In both cases, it’s possible that you’ll miss out on the most important revelation in the whole story! And the surprise ending might mean you need to go back and reinterpret all previous events in light of what you now know.

This is certainly the case with the Bible too. We shouldn’t read the Old Testament without placing it in the context of the “surprise ending” of the New. Otherwise, it’s very much like laying that novel down thirty pages shy of the end or turning that movie off with just a few minutes to go. We need to read and study the Old Testament in light of the fact that Jesus came on the scene and fulfilled the law. We see the Old in light of the New. Only then are we teaching the Old in the way God intends—as a covenant that is now “obsolete” (Heb. 8:13) in light of the surpassing glory of the New: “For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory” (2 Cor. 3:10).

Gentile Roll Call

Are you Jewish by blood? Is your family of Jewish bloodline? If not, you’re what the Bible calls a Gentile. For thousands of years, God divided humanity into two main categories—Jew and Gentile.

Why is this important? Because the law was never given to the Gentile. It was never our privilege. No, the law was what distinguished Israel from the rest of the planet. Everyone else was “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without