The Law and Righteousness

Bible Study

Articles & Publications
Audios and Videos
Children's Ministry

Information Booth

Holy Days
Prayer Requests
Sabbath Services
The Bulletin Board
UCM Newsletter

Misc.

Guest book
Links
Mission Statement
Search

The Law and Righteousness

By David Harmon

The scriptures speak of two different types of righteousness. One type that is derived from faith and produces fruits, which, in turn, is revealed by the physical manifestations of those fruits. These are the works that verify our faith and makes it alive and acceptable to God (Eph. 2:10, James 2:26). But the Bible also speaks of a different righteousness that is derived from the physical. It functions through the five senses and gives us a false feeling of righteousness when we obey physical laws. By these physical works comes the inner feeling that we have contributed to the method by which God saves us and a feeling that we have earned our salvation (Eph. 2:9). This is self-righteousness. These two different types of righteousness are on two totally different planes. One, an earthy plane. The other, a Heavenly plane. The two are like gas and water, they will not mix. Therefore, I am confronted with these questions. What are the physical laws that we depend on for our self-righteousness and does obedience to these laws have any significance in the eyes of God?

When God created this physical universe, he set into motion physical laws that govern it. When these physical laws are transgressed, a physical penalty is suffered. The penalty may be so minute you may not realize it or so great is could possibly bring instant physical death. A penalty from broken physical laws can be passed on to the next generation even though it may be innocent of the transgression. Unlike this physical universe which has a beginning, God's spiritual universe has no beginning. God has always existed; therefore, the spiritual universe in which God dwells has always existed. His universe is a spiritual Kingdom which flesh and blood, plus all it physical attributes, cannot inherit. This spiritual Kingdom is governed, not by physical laws, but by spiritual principles. These principles are God's own Holy and Righteous character radiating throughout all the universe.

Why was the "law" given? Gal. 3:19 says it was "...added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." We know that God's invisible spiritual principles have always existed and that the breaking of those principles earns us the penalty of death whether we are aware of those principles or not. The scriptures say that death reigned from Adam to Moses, though most men had no understanding of God's spiritual principles during that period of time; but God says he will not impute sin unless a person knows to do good and does it not (John 9:41, Rom. 5:13, Ja. 4:17). During that period of time, God's spiritual laws were being transgressed and the penalty of death reigned, but sin was not imputed to the transgressor because the transgressor did not have knowledge of the spiritual laws he was transgressing (Rom. 5:13-14).

There was a time when we had no fast-moving automobiles; therefore, we had no need for traffic laws. Then, after automobiles were invented and began to increase in numbers, man began to transgress certain principles which resulted in the penalties of physical injury or even death. But until laws were added (legislated), the guilty could not be prosecuted (sin imparted). Physical laws were being transgressed, the penalties were being suffered, but the sin could not be imputed until laws were added (Rom. 5:13-14). The transgression of invisible principles brings laws into existence and by these laws come the knowledge that invisible principles are being transgressed (Rom. 3:20, 5:20, 7:7). God tells us in Romans 4:15 that a society that does not transgress does not need laws.

Man is composed of physical matter. He can only comprehend the physical through the five senses with his carnal mind. Even though physical laws are invisible, just as God's spiritual laws are, man can gain physical knowledge by the physical penalties he suffers. He can be totally ignorant of the law of gravity, but if he steps off a roof fifteen feet high, he will gain much physical knowledge when he arrives at the ground. The reward he receives for obeying the law of gravity is the relief of not having to suffer the penalty of that sudden stop, possibly extending his temporary existence a short while longer. Spiritual laws, unlike physical laws, cannot be detected by any of the five senses. If a spiritual law is transgressed, no physical penalty is suffered because the obeying or transgressing of spiritual laws occurs in the heart (mind) Matt. 5:28. The penalty for transgressing spiritual laws remains in the spiritual dimension making us accountable to God instead of physical circumstances.

Is it possible to delineate between physical and spiritual transgressions? I Cor. 6: 10 says the drunkard (not the drinker) will not inherit the Kingdom of God, nevertheless, there is a great gulf between the physical transgression of drinking over three ounces of hard liquor per day (according to the "experts") which can have adverse effects on the liver, kidneys and stomach, and the spiritual transgression that can keep us from inheriting the Kingdom of God. Drinking just one jigger of hard liquor a year is a physical transgression because there is a physical penalty involved. Just one small jigger of whiskey inflames the lining of the stomach (the same can be said of one beer). This is a physical penalty just as active as the penalty of consuming six ounces of whiskey a day. When does the physical transgression of drinking and alcoholic beverage evolve into a spiritual transgression and why? It becomes a spiritual transgression when the mind becomes intoxicated. Why? Because a drunken mind becomes perverted and contrary toward guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is why God says a drunkard will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Not because of liver or kidney disease.

The scriptures tell us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice before God (Rom. 12: 1) and so we take on the self-righteousness of Cain and decorate our bodies with our works and we say to God, "I don't dip, I don't chew, I don't smoke, I only drink one beer a day, I don't eat pork or shell fish, I don't wear makeup and, oh yes Lord, I exercise three times a weak.", and the Eternal says, "You have polluted the alter by lifting your tool to it." We can return a returnable drink bottle and retrieve six or seven cents for it but God won't give us a plug nickel for this physical body and all its physical works thrown in. Then what is God talking about when he says to present our bodies before Him as a living sacrifice? Before answering this question, we need to review some things. As Mr. Armstrong teaches, when God created man, He placed a spirit, which is called the spirit of man, into man's mind. This spirit cannot be detected by science but it is what separates man from all other physical creatures. It gives man what no other physical creature has, the ability to reason and choose by thought process. However, with this spirit only, man, by nature, is hostile towards God's spiritual principles (Rom. 8:7). By the law of Moses he has a carnal understanding of God's principles but he consistently finds himself in the dilemma the seventh chapter of Romans speaks of. The only way man can be rescued from this physical situation is to be drawn out of it by God the Father (John 6:44). The supreme sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, makes this calling possible (Rom. 5: 10). When the Father calls someone out of this world, and that person accepts that calling, God allows this person to lightly scratch the spiritual surface. God slowly begins to open the person's mind and understanding to certain spiritual truths and for the first time in this person's carnal life, God gives him a spiritual choice to make. From that point on, correct choices are the only things this person can take credit for during the remainder of God's process of saving him. The Godly repentance needed for true repentance comes only from the Father, then after a person repents and accepts the supreme sacrifice of Christ, the Father supplies the faith required to be saved. The Father also, after a person is baptized, places a measure of his Holy Spirit into that chamber of the mind where the spirit of man dwells and he becomes a begotten child of God. His mind becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bears witness with his spirit giving him the mind of Christ which leads him to fulfill the righteousness of God's spiritual principles without the law of Moses (Rom. 8:16, 3:21-22). This person, now for the first time, begins to comprehend the spiritual laws of God with a converted mind making the law of Moses obsolete.

Herein lies the answer to what God means when He tells us to present our bodies before Him as a living sacrifice. Read it yourself in Romans 12:2. It's a transformation, also spoken of in Eph. 2:10 and Eph. 4:23,24, by the renewing of the mind, not the camouflaging of this sinful flesh with self-righteous works.

From this point on, the physical is buried with Christ (Col.2:11 - 12). Romans 8:1 tells us, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." The mind of Christ, given to us by the Holy Spirit, leads us in all righteousness, however, we still have to continue to choose between the attitudes of fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-23) for it is by these attitudes spiritual laws are either obeyed or transgressed. God is concerned only with the attitudes in the mind because motivating attitudes are the source of sin. The physical act is only the manifestation of a motivating attitude (Matt. 5:28). However, a physical manifestation is not absolutely necessary to keep or break spiritual laws. A person who has been totally paralyzed since birth is just as capable of transgressing God's spiritual laws as someone who has no physical handicaps.

Some of us in the church today still want to glory in our physical works. We, who don't use tobacco, feel more righteous than those who do. We, who don't drink alcoholic beverages, feel more righteous than those who do. We, who don't eat unclean foods, feel more righteous than those who do. We have a great righteous sensation swell up in our breast as we third degree the waitress about what kind of seasoning is in the blackeye peas or when we finger through our food with perseverance searching for a morsel of white meat. All these things are physical, and to God, a physical work, is a physical work, is a physical work. They will return to the earth with the body and we could be found standing before God naked with nothing to boast about. Now let me clarify something. If anyone who reads this thinks I am promoting the breaking of physical laws, let it be known loud and clear, I am not! The scripture says, "Now all things are lawful but all things are not expedient (I Cor. 6: 12). The point I have been trying to make is this. If we obey physical laws, we are performing no true righteousness. If we transgress physical laws, we suffer physical penalties - no more, no less. Breaking physical laws is not sin.

The law of Moses was a carnal law with physical penalties, however, the scriptures say that Christ is the end of that law (Rom. 10: 4). We no longer have those tables of stone containing carnal commandments that controlled the actions of the flesh while the mind ran unrestrained. Now we have the Holy Spirit so that the righteousness of God's Holy Character might be fulfilled in us without the law (Rom. 8: 4). The law of Moses was the core of the old covenant. Jesus Christ is the core of the new covenant. The old covenant was based on the physical. The new covenant is based on the spiritual. The old covenant was written on tables of stone. The new covenant is written in our minds and hearts (Heb. 8:10, 10:16). The outward appearance of living under the old and new covenants may be identical but attitudes will be the tell, tell sign of which covenant we are truly living under. Paul said, "...not having my own righteousness which is of the law [through the physical] but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith [through the spiritual] (Phil. 3: 9).

Do I believe in salvation without works? Absolutely not. The scriptures tell us we are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). The works I believe in are the works that are the by-product of the mind of Christ, not the product that is of my self. For just as the apostle Paul said, I also say, there is nothing good within my flesh. So how can something that has no good produce something good? What about sin? Are we immune to committing sin now that we have Christ dwelling in us or will we continue to transgress God's spiritual law? As long as there is breathe in us (I John 1:8). For as long as we live, we will always have that carnal side that wars against our spiritual side as we struggle toward perfection. And unfortunately, many times we yield to that carnality. But God provides a system of forgiveness for us. He says if we confess our sins (not deny them or try to justify them) he will forgive us and cleanse us (I John 1:9).

Contrary to what some believe, the Kingdom of God will not be governed by law. It will be governed by those spiritual principles on which law is based, God's own Holy and Righteous Character. The scriptures tell us that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the unrighteous (I Tim. 1:8-10). There will be no unrighteous in the Kingdom of God, therefore, there will be no need for law. Those who will reach perfection by being resurrected from the dead to eternal life will manifest the fruit of the Spirit in perfect attitude. Against such there is no law.