Romans 4:15
” … for where no law is,
there is no transgression.”
If ALL the laws of God were nailed to the cross, there wouldn’t be any sin today.
What laws were ended at the cross?
1.) “the wages of sin is death”
2.) The earthly sanctuary laws.
1.) Was the law of sin and death erased for everyone? No. Why not? Because conditions must be met according to God’s covenant that serves as a gatekeeper to keep out the ones who refuse to believe God and those who refuse to obey Him. Let’s think about that, if there were no conditions at all, then everyone would be saved whether or not they believed in God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son.
So who does this reprieve apply to? It only applies to the believer who is walking after the Spirit of God and is not walking after the carnal desires of the flesh; they are not subject to the law of death, “the wages of sin is death”. This is a condition (terms of an agreement). These conditions are listed by God in scripture.
Romans 8:13
“For if ye live after the flesh,
ye shall die:
BUT IF ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live.”
God is being very specific as to who, why and how this reprieve of the “wages of sin is death” law applies:
Romans 8:1
“There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
1John 1:6-9
“If we say that we have fellowship with HIM, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as HE is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ HIS Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
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2.) The earthly sanctuary laws:
The earthly sanctuary was ended by God the Father. After Jesus died the Father tore the veil in the temple ending it’s operation.
Matthew 27:51
“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent”
Paul tells us that the laws governing the earthly sanctuary had an expiration date. The time of reformation was the re-forming, re-making, the changing of the priesthood from being under Levi to Melchisdec (Jesus Christ).
Hebrews 9:10
“Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, IMPOSED ON THEM UNTIL the time of reformation.”
Hebrews 7:12
“For the PRIESTHOOD BEING CHANGED,
there is made OF NECESSITY A CHANGE also of the law.”
2Corinthians 3:13
“And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look TO THE END of that which is ABOLISHED”
Hebrews 8:13
“In that He saith, A new covenant, He hath MADE THE FIRST OLD. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to VANISH AWAY.”
This next scripture is key. Paul has been talking about the operation of the heavenly sanctuary under the ministry of Jesus Christ our high priest. That’s the starting point. He says that the Old Covenant ALSO had ordinances; so by saying also, He means that both sanctuaries operated by laws (ordinances).
Hebrews 9:1
“Then verily the first covenant HAD ALSO ORDINANCES of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.”
What replaced the earthly sanctuary laws?
The laws of the heavenly sanctuary.
Sanctuary law still exist because only a change was made, not a complete end of the use of a sanctuary. God’s house is governed by His laws, “the law of the house”.
Hebrews 9:11-12
“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come,
BY A GREATER
and more perfect tabernacle,
NOT MADE WITH HANDS,
that is to say, not of this building;
Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
BUT BY HIS OWN BLOOD
He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Hebrews 10:20
“BY A NEW AND LIVING WAY,
which He hath consecrated for us,
through the veil,
that is to say, His flesh”
“The Law of the House”
Moses made a copy of the original sanctuary. That copy was the earthly sanctuary and the original is the heavenly sanctuary. We can know that the original “true tabernacle” operates by law because we see that the copy operated by law.
Ezekiel 43:11-12
“And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.”
Here’s a glimpse of the heavenly sanctuary:
Hebrews 8:1-2
“Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”
Hebrews 9:23-24
“It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; BUT THE HEAVENLY THINGS themselves WITH BETTER SACRIFICES than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us”
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In Summary:
If ALL the laws of God were nailed to the cross, there wouldn’t be any sin today.
Romans 4:15
” … for where no law is,
there is no transgression.”
If all of God’s laws had ended being nailed to the Cross, it would be impossible to have ever been a sinner. You could never ever be a sinner. No one could ever have been a sinner after Christ’s death on the cross. But we know that sins are listed throughout the New Testament all the way to Revelation. Sin is evidence that God’s laws still exist.
Because sin still exists, that means God’s moral laws also still exist, those laws are valid and binding under the penalty of death (which is a law of the sanctuary). But we have hope of a complete cancellation of that specific death law (debt) that was or is against us, when we by faith believe God; we believe in God the Father and His sinless Son Jesus Christ who died to save us and by faith we believe if we keep His covenant through confession and repentance that “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9).
1John 1:8-10
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
1John 2:1-6
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”
1Timothy 2:3-6
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God,
AND ONE MEDIATOR between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all,
to be testified in due time.”