Law versus grace bible study

 

            I am now doing a bible study of the law and the regulation that God placed for the Jews but I am also going to show how it contrasts with the grace of God which we now find ourselves under thanks to the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross to free us from the burdens of the law.  First I am presenting a total of seven chapters from the Old Testament Pentateuch- four from Exodus, chapters 20-23 then three from Leviticus, chapters 17 through 19, and without much comment about them.

Here is the chapter with the ten commandments from Exodus, chapter 20, the commandments were given by God to Moses and were rules and laws for the children of Israel to live by.

(Exodus 20:1)  And God spoke all these words, saying,

 

(Exodus 20:2)  "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 

(Exodus 20:3)  "You shall have no other gods before me.

 

(Exodus 20:4)  "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

 

(Exodus 20:5)  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

 

(Exodus 20:6)  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 

(Exodus 20:7)  "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

 

(Exodus 20:8)  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

 

(Exodus 20:9)  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

 

(Exodus 20:10)  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

 

(Exodus 20:11)  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

 

(Exodus 20:12)  "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

 

(Exodus 20:13)  "You shall not murder.

 

(Exodus 20:14)  "You shall not commit adultery.

 

(Exodus 20:15)  "You shall not steal.

 

(Exodus 20:16)  "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 

(Exodus 20:17)  "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

 

(Exodus 20:18)  Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off

 

(Exodus 20:19)  and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die."

 

(Exodus 20:20)  Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin."

 

(Exodus 20:21)  The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

 

(Exodus 20:22)  And the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.

 

(Exo 20:23)  You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

 

(Exodus 20:24)  An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

 

(Exo 20:25)  If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.

 

(Exo 20:26)  And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.'

 

Here in chapters 21 through 23 of Exodus are three chapters of rules for people to follow, and consequences for those who break the rules and the laws including restoration of things stolen and other punishments involved for varied offenses, and I present this without comment between the three chapters.

(Exodus 21:1)  "Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.

 

(Exodus 21:2)  When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

 

(Exodus 21:3)  If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

 

(Exodus 21:4)  If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone.

 

(Exodus 21:5)  But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,'

 

(Exodus 21:6)  then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

 

(Exodus 21:7)  "When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

 

(Exodus 21:8)  If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.

 

(Exodus 21:9)  If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

 

(Exodus 21:10)  If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

 

(Exodus 21:11)  And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

 

(Exodus 21:12)  "Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

 

(Exodus 21:13)  But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

 

(Exodus 21:14)  But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

 

(Exodus 21:15)  "Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

 

(Exodus 21:16)  "Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

 

(Exodus 21:17)  "Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

 

(Exodus 21:18)  "When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed,

 

(Exodus 21:19)  then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.

 

(Exodus 21:20)  "When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.

 

(Exodus 21:21)  But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

 

(Exodus 21:22)  "When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.

 

(Exodus 21:23)  But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,

 

(Exodus 21:24)  eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

 

(Exodus 21:25)  burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

 

(Exodus 21:26)  "When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye.

 

(Exodus 21:27)  If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

 

(Exodus 21:28)  "When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

 

(Exodus 21:29)  But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

 

(Exodus 21:30)  If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.

 

(Exodus 21:31)  If it gores a man's son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

 

(Exodus 21:32)  If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

 

(Exodus 21:33)  "When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

 

(Exodus 21:34)  the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.

 

(Exodus 21:35)  "When one man's ox butts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share.

 

(Exodus 21:36)  Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.

 

(Exodus 22:1)  "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

 

(Exodus 22:2)  If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him,

 

(Exodus 22:3)  but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

 

(Exodus 22:4)  If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.

 

(Exodus 22:5)  "If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard.

 

(Exodus 22:6)  "If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.

 

(Exodus 22:7)  "If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man's house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.

 

(Exodus 22:8)  If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property.

 

(Exodus 22:9)  For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, 'This is it,' the case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.

 

(Exodus 22:10)  "If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it,

 

(Exodus 22:11)  an oath by the LORD shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution.

 

(Exodus 22:12)  But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.

 

(Exodus 22:13)  If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn.

 

(Exodus 22:14)  "If a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution.

 

(Exodus 22:15)  If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, it came for its hiring fee.

 

(Exodus 22:16)  "If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife.

 

(Exodus 22:17)  If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.

 

(Exodus 22:18)  "You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

 

(Exodus 22:19)  "Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.

 

(Exodus 22:20)  "Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.

 

(Exodus 22:21)  "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

 

(Exodus 22:22)  You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

 

(Exodus 22:23)  If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry,

 

(Exodus 22:24)  and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

 

(Exodus 22:25)  "If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.

 

(Exodus 22:26)  If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down,

 

(Exodus 22:27)  for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

 

(Exodus 22:28)  "You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

 

(Exodus 22:29)  "You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.

 

(Exodus 22:30)  You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

 

(Exodus 22:31)  "You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

 

(Exodus 23:1)  "You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.

 

(Exodus 23:2)  You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,

 

(Exodus 23:3)  nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

 

(Exodus 23:4)  "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.

 

(Exodus 23:5)  If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

 

(Exodus 23:6)  "You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.

 

(Exodus 23:7)  Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

 

(Exodus 23:8)  And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

 

(Exodus 23:9)  "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

 

(Exodus 23:10)  "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield,

 

(Exodus 23:11)  but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

 

(Exodus 23:12)  "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

 

(Exodus 23:13)  "Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

 

(Exodus 23:14)  "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.

 

(Exodus 23:15)  You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed.

 

(Exodus 23:16)  You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.

 

(Exodus 23:17)  Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD.

 

(Exodus 23:18)  "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

 

(Exodus 23:19)  "The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

 

(Exodus 23:20)  "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

 

(Exodus 23:21)  Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

 

(Exodus 23:22)  "But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

 

(Exodus 23:23)  "When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,

 

(Exodus 23:24)  you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

 

(Exodus 23:25)  You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.

 

(Exodus 23:26)  None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

 

(Exodus 23:27)  I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

 

(Exodus 23:28)  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.

 

(Exodus 23:29)  I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.

 

(Exodus 23:30)  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

 

(Exodus 23:31)  And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

 

(Exodus 23:32)  You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

 

(Exodus 23:33)  They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

 

Here are three chapters in Leviticus which present yet more rules and laws, chapters 17 through 19, again presented without comment in between the three chapters so as to keep the flow

(Leviticus 17:1)  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

 

(Leviticus 17:2)  "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them, This is the thing that the LORD has commanded.

 

(Leviticus 17:3)  If any one of the house of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp,

 

(Leviticus 17:4)  and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the LORD in front of the tabernacle of the LORD, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people.

 

(Leviticus 17:5)  This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 17:6)  And the priest shall throw the blood on the altar of the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat for a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 17:7)  So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.

 

(Leviticus 17:8)  "And you shall say to them, Any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice

 

(Leviticus 17:9)  and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the LORD, that man shall be cut off from his people.

 

(Leviticus 17:10)  "If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

 

(Leviticus 17:11)  For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

 

(Leviticus 17:12)  Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

 

(Leviticus 17:13)  "Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

 

(Leviticus 17:14)  For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.

 

(Leviticus 17:15)  And every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or a sojourner, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean.

 

(Leviticus 17:16)  But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity."

 

(Leviticus 18:1)  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

 

(Leviticus 18:2)  "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 18:3)  You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.

 

(Leviticus 18:4)  You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 18:5)  You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 18:6)  "None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 18:7)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

 

(Leviticus 18:8)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.

 

(Leviticus 18:9)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home.

 

(Leviticus 18:10)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness.

 

(Leviticus 18:11)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your father's family, since she is your sister.

 

(Leviticus 18:12)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's relative.

 

(Leviticus 18:13)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's relative.

 

(Leviticus 18:14)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.

 

(Leviticus 18:15)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

 

(Leviticus 18:16)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.

 

(Leviticus 18:17)  You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity.

 

(Leviticus 18:18)  And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

 

(Leviticus 18:19)  "You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.

 

(Leviticus 18:20)  And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her.

 

(Leviticus 18:21)  You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 18:22)  You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

 

(Leviticus 18:23)  And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.

 

(Leviticus 18:24)  "Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean,

 

(Leviticus 18:25)  and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

 

(Leviticus 18:26)  But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you

 

(Leviticus 18:27)  (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean),

 

(Leviticus 18:28)  lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

 

(Leviticus 18:29)  For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.

 

(Leviticus 18:30)  So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God."

 

(Leviticus 19:1)  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

 

(Leviticus 19:2)  "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

 

(Leviticus 19:3)  Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 19:4)  Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 19:5)  "When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.

 

(Leviticus 19:6)  It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire.

 

(Leviticus 19:7)  If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted,

 

(Leviticus 19:8)  and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

 

(Leviticus 19:9)  "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.

 

(Leviticus 19:10)  And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 19:11)  "You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.

 

(Leviticus 19:12)  You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:13)  "You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

 

(Leviticus 19:14)  You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:15)  "You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

 

(Leviticus 19:16)  You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:17)  "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.

 

(Leviticus 19:18)  You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:19)  "You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

 

(Leviticus 19:20)  "If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;

 

(Leviticus 19:21)  but he shall bring his compensation to the LORD, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.

 

(Leviticus 19:22)  And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

 

(Leviticus 19:23)  "When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.

 

(Leviticus 19:24)  And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:25)  But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 19:26)  "You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.

 

(Leviticus 19:27)  You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

 

(Leviticus 19:28)  You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:29)  "Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.

 

(Leviticus 19:30)  You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:31)  "Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 19:32)  "You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

 

(Leviticus 19:33)  "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

 

(Leviticus 19:34)  You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

 

(Leviticus 19:35)  "You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.

 

(Leviticus 19:36)  You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

 

(Leviticus 19:37)  And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the LORD."

 

In the New Testament Jesus would speak of the Law. Here are three verses in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount regarding the law and that it will not pass away until all of it is accomplished

(Matthew 5:17)  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

 

(Matthew 5:18)  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

 

(Matthew 5:19)  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

 

This verse in Matthew Jesus simplifies it to only one thing

(Mattthew 7:12)  "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

 

A lawyer asks Jesus a question on eternal life- concerning what he must do to earn eternal life which then may might been earned by following the law and what is says to do

(Luke 10:25)  And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

 

(Luke 10:26)  He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"

 

(Luke 10:27)  And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

 

(Luke 10:28)  And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."

 

Jesus though as the above suggest, and also this passage in Matthew 22 also says the law is merely loving God with all and loving each other

(Matthew 22:35)  And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

 

(Matthew 22:36)  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

 

(Matthew 22:37)  And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

 

(Matthew 22:38)  This is the great and first commandment.

 

(Matthew 22:39)  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 

(Matthew 22:40)  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

 

These scriptures in Matthew above are further strengthened  by what Jesus said in John chapters 13 and 15

(John 13:34)  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

 

(John 13:35)  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

 

(John 15:12)  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

 

In this passage in Romans chapter 3 Paul goes on to state that we are justified by faith and NOT by the law and following it

(Romans 3:20)  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

 

(Romans 3:21)  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--

 

(Romans 3:22)  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

 

(Romans 3:23)  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

(Romans 3:24)  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

 

(Romans 3:25)  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

 

(Romans 3:26)  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

 

(Romans 3:27)  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

 

(Romans 3:28)  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

 

(Romans 3:29)  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

 

(Romans 3:30)  since God is one--who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

 

(Romans 3:31)  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

 

Here is another passage in Romans chapter 5 speaking of grace over the law and grace abounded more than sin

(Romans 5:19)  For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

 

(Romans 5:20)  Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

 

(Romans 5:21)  so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Here is this in Romans six which discourages us from sinning, even though it has no dominion over us

(Rom 6:14)  For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

 

(Romans 6:15)  What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

 

Christ is the end of the law

(Romans 10:4)  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

 

In 1 Corinthians 15 the power of sin is the law according to these verses but Jesus is the victory

(1 Corinthians 15:56)  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

 

(1 Corinthians 15:57)  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

We are justified through our faith in Jesus Christ and not the law or works as stated in Galatians

(Galatians 2:16)  yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

 

(Galatians 2:19)  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

 

(Galatians 2:20)  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 

(Galatians 2:21)  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

 

(Galatians 3:11)  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith."

 

Here are more explanations of things with the law and faith and being justified by faith and not the law in Galatians 3

(Galatians 3:17)  This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.

 

(Galatians 3:18)  For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

 

(Galatians 3:19)  Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

 

(Galatians 3:20)  Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

 

(Galatians 3:21)  Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.

 

(Galatians 3:22)  But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

 

(Galatians 3:23)  Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

 

(Galatians 3:24)  So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

 

(Galatians 3:25)  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

 

(Galatians 3:26)  for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

 

(Galatians 3:27)  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

 

(Gal 3:28)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

 

(Galatians 3:29)  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

 

Jesus actually came to redeem those who were under the law so we can all cry “Abba” Father

(Galatians 4:4)  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

 

(Galatians 4:5)  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

 

(Galatians 4:6)  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

 

(Galatians 4:7)  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

 

In this James 2 passage, we are to be merciful and loving others but also remember one who breaks the law in only one small  point is then guilty of all the law but mercy triumphs over judgment

(James 2:8)  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

 

(James 2:9)  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

 

(James 2:10)  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

 

(James 2:11)  For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

 

(James 2:12)  So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

 

(James 2:13)  For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

 

I am so thankful for Jesus that we no longer have to fulfill the law, much of what is given in this study, but under grace, even though that still does not give license to sin, either. I am thankful to God that He did send His son to die for all of us showing us much grace and mercy in doing this. Jesus went to the cross willingly and lovingly, too, wanting the relationship back that sin had severed, as did God the Father. His death on the cross atoned for mankind’s sins making this wonderful love relationship with God possible again. There is nothing like this love relationship with God, either, nothing comes close. I am now including a prayer which will invite Jesus into your heart to begin this wonderful love relationship with God, to which nothing can possibly compare. Please therefore pray this prayer with me

Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness. I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin. You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess Jesus as our Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved. Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved. Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself. Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.

Amen.

 

God bless you and yours