.
HEB.5: (NKJV) = Spiritual Immaturity

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
.

1PETER.2: = Our Inheritance Through Christ’s Blood

2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
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1COR.3: = Sectarianism Is Carnal

3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
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HEB.6: = The Peril of Not Progressing

6 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

The Word of God or Bible states that at the point of conversion by faith in Jesus Christ, some newly born-again believers are carnal babes-in-Christ (= still walking more in the flesh than in the Spirit) who need to grow spiritually by feeding on the Law/Word of God of righteousness and there is the peril of them not progressing or growing spiritually into an adult-in-Christ who feeds on solid food of the Word of God = the bread of life.

So, salvation from hell at the point of conversion by faith in Jesus Christ is not the 'be all and end all' for some folks, especially new Gentile Christians who were mostly lawless or carnal Gentiles previously.
.

Like I said, I perfectly understand what you're saying here, it is nothing new to me. But the foundation of what we tell new converts MUST be right. What I mean is this:
For a babe to grow in Christ, the person MUST see that at the point of conversion He or She is saved and has been cleansed by the Lord. That means there is nothing more to do in order to be saved. <---VERY IMPORTANT KEY.

Do you understand this?

If at the point of conversion, the believer still need to struggle to keep the LAW IN ORDER to be saved, then the core of Gospel is lost. What I mean is, Christ died for NOTHING and in Vain.

Galatians 2:21 (KJV) - I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

If you're asking if at the point of conversion is really be all and end all, then how will new convert grow? Because they're still carnal as you say. THAT is where the problem lies. You convinced them by "metanoia" they still carnal, still worldly WHEN you should tell them scripture Truth.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Isaiah 43:18 (NIV) - "Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to things of old.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) - I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Hebrews 8:13 (NIV) - By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Hebrews 10:10 (NIV) - And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
You don't tell a new convert, you are still dirty and you need to purify yourself by works of the Law, while growing up..... that is like saying Jesus have never cleansed the person's sin. you need to enforce all the scripture verses (example) I gave above.  They need to repent in their mind for example...They have been made HOLY according to Hebrews 10:10 by Jesus sacrifice and they are no more dirty or carnal (2 Corinthians 5:17).

If you tell them they are still worldly or carnal and need to grow up by "struggling" I can guarentee you...such will struggle but it will end up dead works because the power of what Christ did was NEVER given to them.
FYI all those scripture verses you provide above ARE IRRELEVANT
I can point couple of examples where you're just throwing scripture for the sake of throwing without understanding the meaning.

Hebrew 5:12 is specifically point to people who thinks righteousness is gain from obeying God's Law. Keyword here is = Unskilled in the word of righteousness. Under the New Covenant, we are made righteous by our Faith.

Acts 13:39 (NIV) - Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses

Romans 3:20 (NIV) - Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law. For the Law merely brings awareness of sin.

Romans 3:28 (NLT) - So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
1PETER 2 <-- Growing up in Salvation has very much to do with knowing what you have been given in Christ. Ie

1 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV) - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,

Once you accept this, you will grow. We live right because we know God has saved us. It has to do with right foundation. Once you know you are cleaned then changed your mind thinking (repentance) you're dirty and start acting clean. This is the principle.
As for 1COR 3 has to do with following people rather than following Christ. If one can see it in todays application, it has to do with following denominations. NOT Relevant.

I would agree with you Hebrews 6 talks about maturing, but again as I've said, the foundation must be right, you must be secure in Christ in order to move forward. That is what it means not laying againt the foundation of repentance from dead works. To understand what is the context of dead works, you need to refer to (always let Bible inteprete Bible)

Hebrews 9:14 (KJV) - How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

What this means is that if you keep repeating you need to repent from dead works instead of receiving that blood of Christ that purge our conscious once and for all, you will never grow.

As I've told you. It depends on what you teach new converts that will either cause them to fall in love with the Lord or end up trying to keep the law in order to be saved. ie convince them they're carnal/unrepentant.

As to what needs to be told, Ive given examples.

What I mean is this:
For a babe to grow in Christ, the person MUST see that at the point of conversion He or She is saved and has been cleansed by the Lord. That means there is nothing more to do in order to be saved. <---VERY IMPORTANT KEY.

Do you understand this?

If at the point of conversion, the believer still need to struggle to keep the LAW IN ORDER to be saved, then the core of Gospel is lost. What I mean is, Christ died for NOTHING and in Vain.

Galatians 2:21 (KJV) - I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

If you're asking if at the point of conversion is really be all and end all, then how will new convert grow? Because they're still carnal as you say. THAT is where the problem lies. You convinced them by "metanoia" they still carnal, still worldly WHEN you should tell them scripture Truth.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Isaiah 43:18 (NIV) - "Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to things of old.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) - I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Hebrews 8:13 (NIV) - By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Hebrews 10:10 (NIV) - And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
You don't tell a new convert, you are still dirty and you need to purify yourself by works of the Law, while growing up..... that is like saying Jesus have never cleansed the person's sin. you need to enforce all the scripture verses (example) I gave above.  They need to repent in their mind for example...They have been made HOLY according to Hebrews 10:10 by Jesus sacrifice and they are no more dirty or carnal (2 Corinthians 5:17).

If you tell them they are still worldly or carnal and need to grow up by "struggling" I can guarentee you...such will struggle but it will end up dead works because the power of what Christ did was NEVER given to them.
FYI all those scripture verses you provide above ARE IRRELEVANT
I can point couple of examples where you're just throwing scripture for the sake of throwing without understanding the meaning.

Hebrew 5:12 is specifically point to people who thinks righteousness is gain from obeying God's Law. Keyword here is = Unskilled in the word of righteousness. Under the New Covenant, we are made righteous by our Faith.

Acts 13:39 (NIV) - Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses

Romans 3:20 (NIV) - Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law. For the Law merely brings awareness of sin.

Romans 3:28 (NLT) - So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
1PETER 2 <-- Growing up in Salvation has very much to do with knowing what you have been given in Christ. Ie

1 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV) - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,

Once you accept this, you will grow. We live right because we know God has saved us. It has to do with right foundation. Once you know you are cleaned then changed your mind thinking (repentance) you're dirty and start acting clean. This is the principle.
As for 1COR 3 has to do with following people rather than following Christ. If one can see it in todays application, it has to do with following denominations. NOT Relevant.

I would agree with you Hebrews 6 talks about maturing, but again as I've said, the foundation must be right, you must be secure in Christ in order to move forward. That is what it means not laying againt the foundation of repentance from dead works. To understand what is the context of dead works, you need to refer to (always let Bible inteprete Bible)

Hebrews 9:14 (KJV) - How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

What this means is that if you keep repeating you need to repent from dead works instead of receiving that blood of Christ that purge our conscious once and for all, you will never grow.

https://www.compellingtruth.org/hyper-grace.html
''''''' What is hyper-grace?
Hyper-grace teaches an outsized theology of God's grace that overshadows our need for confession of sin and repentance. Teachers of hyper-grace fail to note God's other attributes of holiness and His call for followers to be righteous. They teach that there is no need to deal with our sin since God has forgiven all our past, present, and future sin. '''''''

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomianism
''''''' In Christianity, an antinomian is one who takes the principle of salvation by faith and divine grace to the point of asserting that the saved are not bound to follow the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments. The distinction between antinomian and other Christian views on moral law is that antinomians believe that obedience to the law is motivated by an internal principle flowing from belief rather than from any external compulsion.

Examples of antinomians being confronted by the religious establishment include Martin Luther's critique of antinomianism and the Antinomian Controversy of the seventeenth-century Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the Lutheran Churches and Methodist Churches, antinomianism is considered a heresy. '''''''

Good day.

I'll repeat the same example;

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. <---New Converts or even old converts need to be assuared of this..Otherwise will end up trying to keep the law to be justified or to be righteous.

Today, with Jesus Christ not physically present on earth, there is likely no more  such miraculous forgiveness of intentional sins happening, ie no more miraculous healings, exorcisms, raising of the dead, water turn to wine, etc. IOW, God just let His Law run its natural course of 'we reap what we sow' or 'karma is a bitch' or padan muka.

So, let's not take rare examples as the norm, eg foolish folks misbelieve they can go and commit the most dastardly intentional sins/law-breaking so that they can love Him more for forgiving their sins and releasing them from their sufferings through miraculous healings, exorcisms, etc - but instead they die soon of terminal cancer for their dastard sins and may have lost faith = lost salvation.

Best for us to stick to normal everyday applicable Scripture about loving God. .......

JOHN.14: (NKJV) = 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. ...

21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
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1JOHN.2: = The Test of Knowing Him

3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
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1JOHN.4: & 5: = Obedience by Faith

4:20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Good day.

Jesus is the same Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
1 John 2 (NIV) - My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Romans 12:6 (NIV) - We have different gifts according to the grace given us....

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NIV) - Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, a and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
The New Testament commandments have been revealed by the apostles. Bible intepret Bible.
1 John 3:23 (NIV) -  And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

John 13:34 (NIV) - A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another.

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


Believe in Jesus Christ, Love one another.

The New Testament obediance is on the obediance of Faith.

Romans 1:5 (YLT)  - through whom we did receive grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, in behalf of his name;
In Summary: If you feed the right truth of what Christ has done for the believer, he/she will grow in the Lord.
John 1:17 (NIV) - For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:56 (NIV) - The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Romans 7:8 (NIV) - But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the Law, sin is dead.

God call the 10 commandment = The Ministry of DEATH <---why you want to embrace "death"?

2 Corinthians 3:7 (NIV) - 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, transitory though it was,

The Law trigger Sin

Romans 5:20 (NIV) - The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

The Christian life is not a story of a single person. The Christian life is a story of two persons living together. This is marvelous! These two live not only by coexistence but by coinherence.

As a person who has been regenerated and saved, you have the Spirit of God residing in you. This is basic. The is the base for God to give His divine life to your mortal body. Even the matter of giving life to your mortal body is an issue of the giving life into our spirit and the giving life into our mind. The giving life to our mortal body includes the giving life to our spirit and our mind. This means that God is giving life to our entire being, not only to the spirit and not only to our mind but also to our body. God is giving life; He is supplying you with the life essence into your entire being. Every life has its substance, its nature, its tastes, its tendencies, its likes, and its dislikes. This is why to follow the leading of the Spirit is not so easy for us, because we were born of and with the human life. But now another life is within us to be an element of our daily living, and this life is absolutely different from our natural life in its substance, in its nature, in its taste, in its tendency, in its likes, and in its dislikes. So it is not so easy for us to follow this leading.

What then is our responsibility? Our responsibility is just to cooperate by putting to death the practices of our body. To put to death the practices of the body means to put our natural living to death. A person who has been regenerated and who has the residing Spirit within him giving life should not live any longer in a natural way. The way to put the practices of the body to death is simply not to live in a natural way. If naturally you like to talk, put that to death. If naturally you like to eat a lot of dessert, put that to death. If naturally you love sports, put that to death. To put to death all the natural living is to put to death the practices of the body. It does not mean that you don't eat dessert, do sports or talk .... but the source of the person behind all these actions is not longer natural.

When you have the residing of the Spirit, the life giving of God, and your putting to death, you will have the leading of the Spirit. At that time it will be so easy for you to set your mind on the spirit and to walk according to the spirit. Within, you will have a lot of life supply; without, you will have the righteousness of the law. When you walk according to the spirit, the righteousness of God will be fulfilled in you. You do not need to fulfill it; it will be fulfilled in you. Within, you have the life supply, and without, you have the life expression. The life supply within you is the Spirit, and the life expression without is righteousness. According to 2 Corinthians 3:6 and 9, this is the ministry that ministers the Spirit and righteousness to people, so it is the ministry of the Spirit as well as of righteousness. This is the new testament ministry. This is the new covenant ministry, ministering the Spirit within and righteousness without. Within, you will be filled with life supply, and without, you will have a full expression of righteousness.

Er.. more can be said on the divine life with its divine law but also a divine person within us.

This is why there is such a term: the law of the Spirit of life. The leading of the Spirit is composed of these elements. It is composed with the divine life and with the divine life’s law and with the divine person, the Spirit. These three things began to be within us at the time when we believed in the Lord Jesus.

Among the three, the law is the easiest one for us to follow because it is a kind of automatic power. It really regulates. Sometimes it constrains you. Not only does it forbid you, but it also sometimes constrains you and restricts you. Sometimes it just would not let you go. All of us have experienced that when we were intending to do certain things, there was a strong automatic forbidding within us. There was a strong automatic restriction within us. Something within us restricted us from doing the thing we intended to do. So even though we were not willing to follow, we had no way, no alternative, but to follow, because there was a kind of constraining power within us. That is the law. Our desire and our preference may be so strong that temporarily they conquer the law of the Spirit of life. But eventually the law of the Spirit of life will overcome.

The person is even harder to describe.

The best example is as human beings, we all can testify that in married life there is a big problem; that is, there is always another person, sometimes praising you but often interfering with you. Sometimes not only the complaints but also even the praises of the wife are not so pleasant. On the one hand, we like to have a spouse, but on the other hand, we do not like to have someone with us all the time. There is always the bothering, telling us what to do or telling us how much to eat.

We have another person, Christ the Spirit, living in us. It is so bothersome because He, another person, takes the lead. I do not believe many Christians have realized what kind of bothering person the Holy Spirit is. He is really bothering because our intention, our preference, our desire, our aspiration, is always absolutely different from His. This may sometimes cause us to be tired of being a Christian, but we just cannot quit. Whenever we were tired or bored and wanted to quit, Someone said no. He is a real person contradicting us all the day long in the things that we do. Sometimes even in our reading of the Bible, He would not agree with the portion we want to read. He wants us to read another portion.

.... ah ... I think that is good enough.

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. 31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
Nullifying an Important Truth?
Our focus today is on verse 31, "Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law." Where did this question come from: "Do we then nullify the Law?" Why did he ask this? Someone must have been thinking that Paul was doing this - nullifying the Law.

O, how many times this happens in serious theological discussion! You take a stand on some truth and someone says, "Oh, but if you believe that, then you can't believe this. You are nullifying this truth to hold that other truth." Someone has been taught, perhaps, that if you believe in the sovereignty of God in conversion, then you must nullify human accountability to believe. So they say, "You are nullifying human accountability." Or, if you say you believe in the providence of God over all things - from the turning of hairs white or black to the fall of every bird from the sky - someone will say, "Then you are nullifying prayer - why pray if God rules all things so completely?"

But just because someone cannot see how two truths can fit together doesn't mean they may not fit together. So it is here in this text. Someone is saying, "Paul you are nullifying the Law. What you teach is abolishing the Law of God." Paul does not agree with this. But before we see why, we need to ask, What causes the question to come up? Why would anyone accuse Paul of nullifying the Law?

Why Might it Seem that Paul is Nullifying God's Law?
That is not hard to see. Let's just go back, say, to Romans 3:20 and collect a few of his statements that would possibly lead someone to this conclusion. In verse 20 he says, "By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." So he says that no one will be justified by doing the commandments of the Law like, "Be circumcised" and "Do no work on the Sabbath" and "Don't steal or kill or lie or commit adultery." No sinner can get right with God by doing the "works of the Law."

Then in verse 21 Paul says, "Now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested." God's righteousness is given to us "freely by grace" (verse 24) through Christ apart from the law of commandments. Commandment-keeping is not how we gain a right standing with God.

Then look at verse 27, "Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a Law of faith." So again the "law of works" seems to Paul to be negative. It can't get rid of boasting. Only a "Law of faith" can get rid of boasting. So what positive role is left for the Law?

Then notice verse 28, "We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." There it is again. Paul is not satisfied to say the positive - "a man is justified by faith" - he insists on saying the negative also - "apart from works of the Law." This is what is getting his critics upset. He says the Law can't set us right with God. We get right with God by faith "apart from works of the Law."

Now, with that kind of context, when we get to verse 31 and he asks, "Do we then nullify the Law through faith?", we really are not surprised that someone pressed this question on Paul. "Paul, you keep saying that a person gets right with God - gets justified - by faith apart from 'works of the Law,' and that the 'law of works' can't overcome boasting. So it seems to us that you are virtually nullifying the Law. You are saying that all those commandments in the moral law of God have no authority and may be safely ignored by God's people. You are, it seems, calling for a lawless people."

May it Never Be!
That is what Paul is responding to here. Is it true? Paul answers, "May it never be!" Absolutely not. That is not what I am doing. You may think that, but you must think more. Don't jump to conclusions. Follow me to the end of the argument. Don't press your assumptions on my argument without hearing me out. I am not nullifying the Law when I preach justification by faith alone apart from works of the Law.

In fact, he goes on and says, "On the contrary, we establish the Law." This is remarkable. He turns the table on his critics. He says, "Not only do we not nullify the Law when we teach justification by faith alone apart from works of the Law, but we establish the Law when we teach this. Justification by faith alone, apart from works of the Law, does not knock the Law down, it stands the Law up. Getting right with God by faith, not works, establishes the Law.

Now what does that mean? I think it means that what the moral law of God requires of us, we will do, if we pursue it by faith, as those who are already justified, and not by works, in order to be justified. If we get right with God first by faith alone, and then live in that freedom of love and acceptance and justification, we will be changed from the inside out and will begin to love the very things the moral law requires so that they become established in our lives - not as works of merit, but as the fruit of faith (I Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11) and the fruit of the Spirit.

Ascend the Tracks of the Roller Coaster
Now before I show you why I think this is what it means, let me put it in a picture for you. Children, you listen closely here, because you know about roller coasters better than I do. Suppose that you are standing on the tracks of a roller coaster at the very bottom of one of the deepest dips with a three-hundred-foot tall incline in front of you, almost straight up. At the top you see the roller coaster cars perched and ready to go down the other side of the incline. And suppose someone - call him Mr. Moses - says, "Ascend those tracks. Go up to the top of this roller coaster hill on these tracks." And suppose he says, "If you get in the roller coaster at the top, you will ride all afternoon with all the momentum you need to keep you going."

So you start to climb the tracks, hand over hand, plank by plank, between the rails, when suddenly you hear another man - call him Mr. Paul - saying, "Wait, don't do that. These tracks and planks aren't made for climbing like that. Come over here on the ground and listen to my advice." Now at this point, certain bystanders might interrupt and say, "Hey, Mr. Moses said they must 'ascend these tracks' - that's his law. He said, 'Go up to the top of this roller coaster hill on these tracks.' Now here you are telling them to get off the tracks and come to you on the ground. You are going to ruin their afternoon. You are nullifying Mr. Moses' law."

Be Lifted to the Top
But Mr. Paul says, "No, no. That's not what is happening. Come I will show you. We are not canceling Mr. Moses' law, we are fulfilling it - the only way it can be fulfilled." Then he points you to a crane with a long cable and a harness at the end of the cable. And he points to a man sitting way up in the cab of this crane probably 400 feet in the air. He waves and smiles. And Mr. Paul says, "Let me put this harness on you. And if you will trust the man in the cab and the cable and the harness, he will lift you all the way up and put you in the roller coaster car. I promise you it is much safer this way."

So you consider, and then you trust him and he lifts you in the harness all the way up and puts you in the roller coaster. Then the roller coaster starts to roll. As it builds speed on the descent, you feel not only the force of gravity, but a tremendous surge of power kick in on the ascent. You go all the way around the roller coaster circuit and then you come down into the dip where you had been standing and where you had started to climb. You hit the bottom of that dip doing about eighty miles an hour and surge up the very rails you thought you had to climb. And you keep on going.

You look down and you see Mr. Moses and Mr. Paul with their arms on each other's shoulders like the best of friends, smiling as if there never had been any tension at all.

The Law is a Track, not a Ladder
Now what's the point? The point is that when Mr. Moses said, "Ascend these tracks . . . Go up to the top of this roller coaster hill on these tracks," he meant what he said. That's what the Law requires. But it wasn't his idea that you would try to climb them hand over hand, plank by plank. That's not what the planks are for. This is not a ladder with railings to climb. This is track for power to ride. So it is with the moral law in the Old Testament. It isn't meant to give a ladder for climbing, but a track for riding in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So when Mr. Paul came along and said, "Don't climb those tracks to the top. Come over here to this harness," some thought he was saying, "Leave the law of Mr. Moses; nullify the path of the commandments." But that is not what he was doing. He was not nullifying the commandments; he was establishing them. The commandment was, "Ascend these tracks. Go up to the top of this roller coaster hill on these tracks." And that is exactly what happened when you trusted the man in the cab to lift you to the car and set you to rolling with a power not your own. You came around and you did "ascend those tracks." And you did "go up to the top of this roller coaster hill." Mr. Paul's message about getting to the top by faith alone without climbing (apart from works of the Law) did not nullify the commandments of Mr. Moses. In fact, that message of faith established the commandments.

Same Idea Elsewhere in Romans
Okay, you say, nice picture. But is that what the book of Romans means? Let me try to show you why I think it is. Keep in mind that this whole issue -whether the doctrine of justification by faith alone, apart from works of the law, nullifies the Law and produces disobedient, lawless Christians or whether it produces obedient, loving Christians - is dealt with in chapters 6-8 in great detail. Here Paul just deflects the criticism to hold off the opponent till he gets there. So I only have time to point you to the places where I get the answer.

First look at Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be!" You can see that the issue here is very similar to Romans 3:31. You teach justification by grace through faith alone, apart from works of the Law. So what you're really saying is that sinning doesn't matter and that the more we sin the more grace will be shone and the more glory God will get in forgiving it. Paul emphatically rejects this.

You get a taste of his argument from Romans 6:14-15, "Sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!" No, he says, the gospel of justification by grace through faith alone does not produce sinning. It produces love. When you trust the car controller, and the cable and the harness, and you sit in the roller coaster with the energy of grace driving the linkage, you don't come to the bottom of that 300-foot hill called Law and stop. You are under the power and control of grace, and it does not nullify the Law. It establishes the Law.

Now look at the most important parallel passage, Romans 8:2-4. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh . .." Stop. The law of this 300-foot incline was not bad. It was perfect. Two rails, solid planks well fastened. Strong girders. Well, how then was it weak? It was "weak through the flesh." It wasn't made to be climbed hand over hand, plank by plank. Nor was your flesh (what you are apart from the Holy Spirit) ever designed by God to attempt such a thing. These rails were made for guiding a roller-coaster car, not for your flesh to climb. Now continue .. . "What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

God sent Christ to execute sin so that we might be justified by faith alone, apart from works of the Law, and so that "the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us." In us! This is real life transformation. That is confirmed by the next phrase: ". . . who walk not according the flesh but according to the Spirit." Walking by the Spirit means being empowered in the roller coaster with a power not your own. That is how the moral law is fulfilled and established. We are justified by faith alone, apart from works of the Law, and the Holy Spirit is given to us and by his power we fulfil the Law - that is, we love.

For time's sake, I am passing over Romans 9:30-32*, which makes the same point. And I come finally to Romans 13:8-10, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. For this, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law."

Love Fulfills the Law
In other words, love fulfills or establishes the Law. And where does love come from? It is a fruit of the Spirit in our lives. And is this Spirit supplied to us by works of the law or by hearing with faith (Galatians 3:5)? Does He come with his power to take us up the roller coaster hill of love because we work to show ourselves worthy, or because we are justified by faith alone?

I think Paul answers in Romans 7:6, "But now we have been released from the Law . . ." You walk away from that 300-foot hill. You die to it. You receive the harness of grace by faith. And you ride up (through faith) to the peak of justification and are put in the car of the Spirit's power. Now read the rest of Romans 7:6, "And having died to that by which we were bound [the Law], so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."

We serve. We love. But not the old way. Not hand over hand, plank by plank in the power of the flesh, which is so weak. But, because we are justified by faith alone, apart from works of the Law, we serve by the power of the Spirit, whose fruit is love. And love fulfills the Law. And therefore Paul can say, "Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law."

Do you want to get right with God, and live for his glory? Don't climb the roller coaster hill called "works of the Law." Trust the harness called "justification by faith alone."