Scriptures/Statements on Law
STATEMENTS
REFERENCES
Scripture only
(Deu 6:25 NIV) And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."
(Deu 30:11-14 NIV) Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. {12} It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" {13} Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" {14} No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
(Psa 18:30-32 NIV) As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. {31} For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? {32} It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
(Psa 19:7-11 NIV) The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. {8} The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. {9} The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. {10} They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. {11} By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
(Jer 31:31-34 NIV) "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. {32} It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. {33} "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. {34} No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
(Mat 5:17-18 NIV) "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. {18} I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
(Luke 22:15-20 NIV) And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. {16} For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." {17} After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. {18} For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." {19} And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." {20} In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
(Acts 15:5-29 NIV) Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses." {6} The apostles and elders met to consider this question. {7} After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. {8} God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. {9} He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. {10} Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? {11} No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." {12} The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. {13} When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. {14} Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. {15} The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: {16} "'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, {17} that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' {18} that have been known for ages. {19} "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. {20} Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. {21} For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath." {22} Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. {23} With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. {24} We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. {25} So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- {26} men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. {27} Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. {28} It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: {29} You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
(Rom 2:17-23 NIV) Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; {18} if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; {19} if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, {20} an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth-- {21} you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? {22} You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? {23} You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
(Rom 3:1-4 NIV) What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? {2} Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. {3} What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? {4} Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."
(Rom 3:21-24 NIV) But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. {22} This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, {23} for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, {24} and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
(Rom 3:28 NIV) For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
(Rom 3:31 NIV) Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
(Rom 7:7-16 NIV) What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." {8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. {9} Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. {10} I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. {11} For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. {12} So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. {13} Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. {14} We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. {15} I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. {16} And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
(Rom 7:25 NIV) Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
(Rom 10:1-10 NIV) Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. {2} For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. {3} Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. {4} Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. {5} Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." {6} But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' " (that is, to bring Christ down) {7} "or 'Who will descend into the deep?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). {8} But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: {9} That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. {10} For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
(2 Cor 3:6-18 NIV) He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. {7} Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, {8} will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? {9} If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! {10} For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. {11} And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! {12} Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. {13} We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. {14} But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. {15} Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. {16} But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. {17} Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. {18} And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
(Gal 3:19-25 NIV) What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. {20} A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. {21} Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. {22} But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. {23} Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. {24} So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. {25} Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
(Gal 4:21-31 NIV) Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? {22} For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. {23} His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. {24} These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. {25} Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. {26} But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. {27} For it is written: "Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband." {28} Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. {29} At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. {30} But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." {31} Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
(Gal 5:1-6 NIV) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. {2} Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. {3} Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. {4} You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. {5} But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. {6} For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
(Gal 5:18 NIV) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
(Eph 2:10-16 NIV) For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. {11} Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- {12} remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. {13} But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. {14} For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, {15} by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, {16} and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
(Col 2:8-23 NIV) See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. {9} For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, {10} and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. {11} In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, {12} having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. {13} When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, {14} having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. {15} And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. {16} Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. {17} These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. {18} Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. {19} He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. {20} Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: {21} "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? {22} These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. {23} Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
(Heb 7:11-28 NIV) If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come--one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? {12} For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. {13} He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. {14} For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. {15} And what we have said is even more clear 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 the power of an indestructible life. {17} For it is declared: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." {18} The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless {19} (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. {20} And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, {21} but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever.'" {22} Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. {23} Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; {24} but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. {25} Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. {26} Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. {27} Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. {28} For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
(Heb 8:6-13 NIV) But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. {7} For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. {8} But God found fault with the people and said : "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. {9} It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. {10} This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. {11} No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. {12} For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." {13} By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
(Heb 9 NIV) Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. {2} A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. {3} Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, {4} which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. {5} Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. {6} When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. {7} But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. {8} The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. {9} This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. {10} They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order. {11} When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. {12} He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. {13} The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. {14} How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! {15} For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. {16} In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, {17} because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. {18} This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. {19} When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. {20} He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." {21} In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. {22} In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. {23} It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. {24} For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. {25} Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. {26} Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. {27} Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, {28} so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
(Heb 10:1-18 NIV) The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. {2} If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. {3} But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, {4} because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. {5} Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; {6} with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. {7} Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'" {8} First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). {9} Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. {10} And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. {11} Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. {12} But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. {13} Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, {14} because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. {15} The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: {16} "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." {17} Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." {18} And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.