Many things which are written in the Scriptures do not apply to just anyone. Only the Jews were ever under the Law. For example, in the letter to the Romans, Paul says, "You are no longer under the Law but under grace." This statement was made to the Jewish Christians of the Roman church who had become Christians, Jews who had been under the Law. See Romans 2:17; 3:8-9; 4:1; 7:1. Most of us were never under the Law in the first place and so the statement Paul makes at Romans 6:14 is not relevant to us.
And when Paul is telling Jewish Christians that they are no longer under the Law, he does have in mind the 10 Commandments. That is made quite clear in Romans 7 and 2 Corinthians 3. In Christ, we do not follow letters on stone but the Spirit of Jesus Christ in our hearts. Jesus Himself is God's Word of Truth to us which we follow. And if we follow Him, we actually surpass what was required by the Law.
The Law and the Temple stood between Jews and Gentiles. The Law and the Temple were elements of the people of Israel and not Gentiles. But in Christ our Passover Lamb, we abide in the embodiment of the Torah, everything the Law and Prophets foretold, and both Jew and Gentile abide in him. In Christ there is no Decalogue and there is no Temple since the righteousness of God is by the Spirit and the Temple is wherever the Spirit of God dwells, the body of Christ his bride.
Jews were under the Law; Gentiles were not under the Law
For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law by nature* do the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves.
Romans 2:12-14. * See v. 27, uncircumcision "by nature."
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.... Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who in the Law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may be under judgment to God.
Romans 3:19.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without Law, as without Law, though not being without the Law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without Law.
1 Corinthians 9:20-21.
Abraham was not under the Law
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified
Romans 4:13-14.
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.... the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
Galatians 3
Paul the Pharisee had been under the Law
For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Romans 11:1
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
2 Corinthians 11:22
I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.
Acts 22:3
Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees.
Acts 23:6.
I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.
Acts 26:5
If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
Philippians 3:4-6
The Purpose of the Law
through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:20
the Law works out wrath for where there is no Law, there is no transgression.
Romans 4:15
for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned when there is no Law.
Romans 5:13
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:20-21
apart from the Law sin is dead.
Romans 7:8
so that sin might be manifested as sin worked out death to me through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.... So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:13,25
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions.... But the writing (the Law) locked up all under sin, so that the promise out of faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were guarded under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our tutor unto Christ.... as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave... but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.... So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law...Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Galatians 3:19-4:9
For God has locked up all in disobedience (Jew and Gentile) so that He may show mercy to all.
Romans 11:32 (compare 3:1-8).
The Condemning Effect of the Law for the Jew
For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
Romans 7:5
I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
Romans 7:9-11
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.
1 Corinthians 15:56
not on tablets of stone... the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.. the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones.... the ministry of condemnation.
2 Corinthians 3
For all who rely on works of the Law are under a curse for it is written, "Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, and do them.
Galatians 3:10
What the Law could not Do for the Jew
by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight... But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.
Romans 3:20-21
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.
Romans 8:3
a man is not justified by the works of the Law... not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.... I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died in vain....no man is justified before God by the Law....
Galatians 2:16-3:11
Christ was the End of Covenant of the Law
The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach every one his fellow or every one his brother, saying, "Know the Lord,' for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 8:8-13
If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.
Philippians 3:4-8.
Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:1-4.
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments in decrees, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
Ephesians 2:13-18
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.... When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the Writing in decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.... Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come.... the religion of angels.
Colossians 2:8-23.
(See also v.23 "voluntary religion"; Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19. The book of Hebrews was written to exhort Jews not to return to the Law and abandon Christianity. In chapter one, the writer illustrates how the risen Jesus is supeior to the angels because he wants to persuade these Jews not to return to the inferiority of the Law because he has the same idea in mind. The Law is a religion of angels.)
For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
Galatians 3:19-20
A Jew who became a Christian was no longer under the Law
You are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but in the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3
For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.
Romans 6:14
For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.... Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.... now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Romans 7:1-6
For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
Galatians 3:19-20
If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Galatians 5:18
