The Narrow Path Ministries

We know that Law exists. There is a difference between right and wrong. There are things we are supposed to do and things we are not supposed to do. These are positive and negative commands.

According to the Law there are punishments. That is, it is possible to be disciplined for something you have done wrong, whether it was doing something or not doing something.

In Christianity we recognize that we have been forgiven our sins (wrongdoing). We are to forgive each other too. Then what is the role of Law in correction related to wrongdoing? If we have been forgiven by God and others have forgiven us (for who besides Jesus has never done anything wrong? No one (nobody).) then can we say there should be no punishment? Or, does the Law still call for punishment even after forgiveness?

I have communicated about God's Law, the Law of Moses, and the law of Christ, for years now. Very recently the subject of civil law came up. I have heard of civil law but I don't know what it is. Is civil law different from God's Law? My understanding is that some of God's Law has been incorporated into civil law. I live in the United States. I observe Judaism and Christianity. I have never been to Israel. But my understanding is that the Law of the nation of Israel is the Law of Moses with the old covenant... or what is it in the new covenant? So now how do we obey God and His commands, even in Christ... and what is the place of law in the life of the believer? I see no need to avoid the law. But what happens to the law when there is forgiveness? That is, are the punishments found in the law not carried out when there is forgiveness?

I have explained here the context for my question as I see it.

Romans 6:23 NASB - 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Once I was witnessing, sharing the gospel by handing out tracts, and one person wanted to talk to me. He had done some things wrong but never been punished for it (as far as I could tell). I wanted to preach the gospel. If he wanted to make right what he had done wrong how could he do so? It caused me to think about if while preaching the gospel I should tell a person to turn themselves in or help them know how to go back to those they have wronged. It may seem like an impossible task and it very well may be, to try to find everyone you have ever wronged. Is the word here restitution? And, is there a punishment for sin even after a person has apologized or paid someone back monetarily for what they have done, stolen, taken? What does repentance to God look like when we are repenting and wanting to do right and make amends for more than feeling bad about what we have done? Should a person seek forgiveness and turn themselves in either way? Should they not turn themselves in if they want to first make things right with others?

Is this the responsibility of the preacher? What can we do?

...a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:2-4 ESV)

Paul makes it clear that when Jewish people belong to Christ, they are dead to the law to the law of Moses, and alive to Christ. Now they are under the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21, Gal 6:2). We find the law of Christ spelled out in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Those who are under the law of Christ (including Gentiles who are Christ's) are not left to strive on their own efforts alone, but are provided with the enabling grace of God made available through Christ's death and resurrection (Titus 2:11-15). We appropriate this enabling grace through faith, so that by coöperating with God's enabling grace, we, working together with Him (2 Cor 6:1) can overcome wrongdoing and live righteously. This is the very reason Christ died for us, to deliver us from sin. Years ago, I searched the New Testament for the purpose of Christ's death, and this is what I found:

I Peter 2:24 He himself endured our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

II Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Romans 14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Heb 9:26 ...he has appeared once for all at the end of the age for the abolition of sin by the sacrifice of himself.