KASPARS OZOLINS | Assistant Professor of Old Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Life Assurance Ministries Board Member |
The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is such stunningly good news that it is scarcely believable. The eternal Creator—the God of the universe—became a man and bore the sins of His people, forever freeing them from the curse and condemnation of the law. Therefore, the message of the gospel is nothing less than this: If you have truly repented and believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you will be forgiven for every evil thought, word, and deed you have ever committed against a holy God who hates sin.
The fantastic impossibility of such a claim inevitably meant that the gospel would receive opposition from the very moment it began to be proclaimed. The charge of being against the law, or antinomian (from the Greek elements anti- “against; in place of” + nomos “law”) is almost to be expected whenever the free grace of God in Christ is preached.
The charge of being against the law, or antinomian is almost to be expected whenever the free grace of God in Christ is preached.
It would seem, for example, that some had already accused the Lord Jesus of advocating that the Law of Moses be done away with, otherwise He would not have stated in his famous Sermon on the Mount, “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” (Matt. 5:17).
Later on, Stephen was accused by certain Jews who claimed: “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God” (Acts 6:11). False witnesses then asserted: “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” (Acts 6:13–14). Although the exact details of these charges are not specified, it does not take a detective to surmise that they had heard Stephen saying things that were similar to Paul’s statement in his sermon to the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia: “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man [the Lord Jesus] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38–39).
The apostle himself indicates that he was accused of the same, as he notes in his letter to the Romans (which is, by any definition, the most complete exposition on the gospel in the New Testament). Some people had apparently charged him as teaching, “Why not do evil that good may come?” (Romans 3:8). Note also Romans 3:31: “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”
Leaving Adventism
Former Seventh-day Adventists who find freedom in Christ are sometimes accused of falling into antinomian tendencies, most particularly because of their perspectives on the Sabbath. This is a serious charge, because it brings to mind the sober warning given to us in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9–10).
Therefore, it seems that anyone who preaches or lives by an antimomian perspective (however defined) is possibly a false brother and not even saved. The stakes are potentially very high, indeed.
But let me speak personally and earnestly here. I write this piece as a former Adventist who has found freedom in Christ Jesus. I have left the old covenant Sabbath imposed on my conscience by a 19th-century American religion in order to embrace the Lord Jesus as my permanent Sabbath rest. I believe I have truly entered that rest that God gives, spoken of in Hebrews 4:10. I testify to all that my Savior gave himself for me in order to redeem me from all lawlessness and purify me for Himself as his own possession, one who is “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).
Which law?
A simple Bible search reveals that there are approximately 415 occurrences of the word “law” in the Bible (ESV). Even without doing a Greek or Hebrew word study, however, one can recognize that there is more complexity involved here. For example, among those 415 occurrences, fully 81 are capitalized by the translation committee as “Law.” Although neither the Hebrew Old Testament, nor the Greek New Testament made use of capitalization in order to make such distinctions, the translators apparently felt the need to do so. The point I am making is this: as with all Bible words, so also with the word translated “law”; students of Scripture must make careful distinctions about what exactly is meant by this term in a given context. Therefore, it will not do to accuse someone of being “against the law” (antinomian) without further qualifications. Which law?
Paul’s discussion of law is particularly clarifying in 1 Corinthians 9, where he describes his attitude to both Jews and Gentiles with respect to his desire to save as many as possible:
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.”—1 Cor inthians 9:19–21
In this paragraph we may discern three categories: (1) the Jews under the law; (2) the Gentiles outside the law; (3) those under the law of Christ. Paul’s language thus plainly indicates a distinction between the law (however defined), and the law of Christ. Notice as well the apostle’s strenuous refutation of any claim that he was “outside the law of God.”
The law of Christ
Just what is this mysterious law of Christ? Although it is a phrase that is very seldom encountered in the New Testament, I believe its most clear explanation is given at the last supper, where the Lord Jesus proclaimed to his disciples: “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 13:34). One might ask, what exactly is “new” about this commandment? After all, Christ himself had repeatedly pointed to the Shema as the greatest of all commandments, alongside the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt .22:39). This rather obscure commandment is found in Leviticus 19:18 (not in the Ten Commandments!), yet Christ singles it out as the greatest, alongside the commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (v. 37).
“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 13:34).
The new commandment is, in fact, an old commandment, as John indicates: “Beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard” (1 John 2:7). How is it old? It is old because the entire law of Moses rests on the foundation of love toward God and love toward other fellow image bearers. In fact, it is even older than the law of Moses “which came 430 years afterward” (Gal .3:17), since it was the basis of the relationship between God and Abraham. Yes, it goes back to the beginning of creation itself, since it depends on the very nature of God himself.
Yes this same commandment is very much new. As John continues: “At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:7–8).
The new commandment is as new as the new covenant, since it was inaugurated with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses and the prophets testified to this coming reality, when the very essence of the law would be written on the heart of every believer, from the least to the greatest. The one who would come would exemplify these two great commandments like no one had ever done before. For who is it that has ever, truly, loved the Lord their God with every fiber of one’s being? And who is it who has ever laid down their life for undeserving sinners? As our Lord himself explains: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12–13).
The Christian and the law of Moses
I am an Old Testament professor who delights to teach Christians—future ministers of the gospel—to cherish and study the whole counsel of God, which includes the roughly 70 percent of the Bible that we call the “Old Testament.” We have a fascinating paradox in this term “Old Testament.” The word testament simply means “covenant.” Therefore the term “Old Testament” is a reference to the old covenant Scriptures.
It is clear from the New Testament that the old covenant as a binding covenant on the people of God has passed away completely (this is most evident, for example, in Paul extended discussion in 2 Corinthians 3). Yet as I remind my students, the Old Testament (= old covenant) was the collection of sacred writings which Paul amazingly claimed was able to make Timothy wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:15–16).
So, “the law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1 Tim. 1:8). In fact, Paul even explains to the Corinthian church that the events recorded in Numbers (chronicling Israel’s continual rebellion in the desert) were “written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11). So the Old Testament continues to be relevant, practical, and useful to Christians. Yet it is no longer a binding law covenant for believers (in fact, it was never given to Gentiles, but rather to the people of Israel).
My aim in this piece has not been to persuade Christian sabbatarians to change their perspective on the Sabbath. I have not even discussed the Sabbath. Rather, it is a plea for understanding. The charge of antinomianism should not be applied to fellow Christians, brothers and sisters in the Lord, who do not hold a sabbatarian position. There are those among us who do not believe that the seventh-day Sabbath (or a first-day Sabbath, for that matter) is a universal binding commandment. Yet we desire with all our heart to take seriously all that God has commanded us to do. And the Holy Spirit continues to convict us of sin and transform us into the image of Christ.
We look to Jesus Christ and recognize in him the fulfillment of all Old Testament shadows, including the Sabbath: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”—Colossians 2:16 †
- New Covenant Has a New Commandment - October 16, 2025
- Seventh-day Adventism: Neither Christian, Nor a Church - August 14, 2025
- Battle Creek and Nicea - June 12, 2025