NOT UNDER MOSES — ALIVE IN CHRIST
There is a freedom many believers confess with their lips, yet hesitate to embrace with their hearts:
You are not under the Law of Moses—not in any sense at all.
Not partially.
Not symbolically.
Not as a moral safety net.
Not as a hidden standard whispering condemnation when grace feels too generous.
The Law was given at Sinai to a nation still learning who God was; grace was given at Calvary to a world being made new. Scripture does not blur that line—it draws it boldly. “You are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Paul does not qualify the statement, soften it, or hedge it. He declares it.
The Law was never designed to give life. It could command, but not create; expose sin, but not erase it. “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law” (Galatians 3:21). The Law could diagnose the disease, but it could not heal the patient.
Its purpose was temporary—holy, just, and good—yet never final. “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). And once Christ arrived, the tutor’s work was complete. “After faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:25). Graduation day had arrived; to return would not be humility—it would be regression.
The danger is not honoring the Law’s goodness, but attempting to live under its authority. The Law is not divisible. To place yourself beneath one command is to stand beneath them all. “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). That is why Paul speaks with such severity: “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). Mixing covenants does not strengthen holiness—it dissolves assurance.
This does not lead to lawlessness; it leads to life. The New Covenant does not lower God’s standard—it fulfills it in a Person. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). Not the end as in destruction, but the end as in destination. Everything the Law pointed toward finds its completion in Him.
Christian obedience does not flow from stone tablets, but from a living Savior. God no longer writes commands on cold rock; He writes His will on warm hearts. “I will put My laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10). This is not Moses revised—it is Christ alive within.
When the New Testament calls us to holiness, it does not send us back to Sinai; it draws us forward to Jesus. “As I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). Love is not the Law repackaged—it is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), and “against such there is no law.”
The Law could restrain behavior; grace transforms the heart. The Law could point to righteousness; Christ is our righteousness. To live under Moses after coming to Jesus is to choose shadow over substance, distance over nearness, effort over rest.
You are not under the Law of Moses.
Not ceremonially.
Not covenantally.
Not morally.
Not secretly.
You are under grace—alive in Christ, led by the Spirit, and free indeed (John 8:36).
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Heavenly Father, Keep me from returning to shadows when I have been given the substance; teach me to rest fully in the finished work of my Savior, to walk by the Spirit, and to live freely as one truly under grace. Amen.
BDD
