Ignorant or Looking for Something to Gain?
According to the Bible, a person who teaches that a Christian is to follow the law either lacks understanding or he is desiring some kind of personal gain. Gain can come in various forms such as financial wealth or control over people through power or status.
Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-- and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Timothy 1:5-11)
Did you find yourself, or at least some of the things you've done, in that list somewhere? Don't worry, it's intended to indict everyone of some point in their life. Remember, as you read the list of sinful acts in the passage above, that the lawbreakers, rebels, etc., are those who have not asked Christ to be their savior and their life. What changed when He saved us? Was it the fact that we've never sinned again since that day? Of course not.
Now, Is the Law Really for You?
The same basic list is also shown in the passage below, but notice how it concludes with a description of the new identity we were given when we became "in Christ". As a Christian, we have been washed, sanctified, and justified in His name and by His Spirit!
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Our righteousness is found in Christ. He completed the law which stood between God and us. He made us holy. He took away all our sins after paying the required death penalty. God has chosen to never remember our sins again; they are behind His back, never to be seen again. He did call them all to mind once though --all of them --even those in the future. And He put them all on His Son who was then crucified in our place. Now our sins are as far from us as the east is from the west. We are new creations in Christ.
Was One Death Enough or Do We Demand More?
So if a person tells you that you need to try to keep the law --and the law can only show you that you are a law breaker-- then he's also telling you that Jesus' sacrifice was not sufficient for you. You're not washed, not sanctified, and not justified in His name or by His Spirit. You're once again dead and in need of life. That would mean that God wasn't able to grant you eternal life if you died again!
So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28)
When you hear a teacher of the law, try to examine his motives. Is he just ignorantly following what he has heard from religious people? Or is he identified in the passage below?
If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:3-6)
Or is the person trying to get into your wallet to finance his ministry or build a larger building or ...? No matter what the teacher of the law has for a motive, he is wrong! The gospel is about God's undeserved grace and limitless mercy which has been granted to all men who receive Jesus as their Savior! The law was just to get us onto the path of life.
Next: In Summary ...