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There is a tendency within man to keep laws and ordinances. In this chapter we will consider some examples in the Bible of man’s tendency to keep laws and ordinances.
The first example is the Jewish believers. The Jews have the law of Moses. The most important ordinances in the law of Moses are related to circumcision, the Sabbath, and dietary regulations, which stipulate what the Jews can and cannot eat. Circumcision takes place once in a person’s lifetime, the Sabbath takes place once every seven days, and dietary regulations are kept daily. The ordinances show that the law of Moses is very strict.
In Acts 10 Peter, a Jew, was led by God in a special way to break away from Jewish tradition and custom in order to contact the Gentiles. When Peter returned to Jerusalem, the Jewish believers disputed with him and condemned him for going into the home of a Gentile and eating with Gentiles (11:2-3). In their consideration Peter had violated the law. It was not easy for Peter to overcome in this matter. Three times God had to give him a vision of a great sheet in which were all kinds of animals. According to Leviticus 11, which is concerning dietary regulations, the Jews could eat animals that have divided hoofs and that chew the cud, such as cattle and sheep. These animals are considered clean. Animals that do not have divided hoofs and do not chew the cud, such as pigs, dogs, and crawling things, are unclean. The Jews could not eat or touch them.
Before Peter went to the Gentiles, God showed him a vision. In this vision heaven opened, and a vessel like a great sheet descended, in which were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of heaven. Then a voice charged Peter to rise up, slay, and eat, but Peter refused and said that he had never eaten anything common and unclean. The voice came to him again a second time, saying that the things God has cleansed must not be made common. This occurred three times (Acts 10:11-16). According to this vision, Peter was to contact the Gentiles. Because the Jews regarded the Gentiles as unclean dogs and pigs, they were not willing to contact the Gentiles or eat with them. However, Peter received a special leading from God to contact the Gentiles. As a result, the Jewish believers disputed with him. Those Jewish believers were saved and knew that salvation does not depend on keeping the law (Gal. 2:15-16), but they were still inclined to keep the law and its ordinances.
The second example is the believers in Galatia. The Galatians were Gentiles who, after hearing of the gospel, believed into Christ. The Old Testament law was not given to them. However, due to the influence of the Jewish believers, the Galatians began to keep the law after their salvation. It is easy to fall into keeping the law because the natural man has a tendency to keep the law. It is difficult for people to believe in the gospel, but it is very easy for them to try to keep the law. Even though we stress turning to the spirit and walking by the spirit, it is still difficult for us to grasp this point. It is easier for us to follow a method or to keep a regulation.
Suppose we had a regulation of being quiet in the meetings. There would be no need to remind the saints; everyone would be quiet. Similarly, if we had a regulation of calling and praying audibly in the meetings, the saints would receive it after being reminded a few times. We could easily turn from a method of being quiet to a method of calling and praying out loud. However, when we say that we should walk by the spirit, turn to the spirit, and exercise our spirit, it is not easy for us to respond. It is rather easy to try to keep the law and the ordinances because we know what is required, but when we speak of the Spirit, we do not know what to do. The Spirit is like the wind that blows where it wills (John 3:8). The wind may blow toward the east today and toward the west tomorrow. It may even blow as if it is coming from all four directions. The wind is difficult to grasp.
The Galatians did not know anything about the law prior to their salvation. After they believed in the Lord, they had contact with certain Jewish believers who may have said, “Brothers, it is right to follow Jesus. However, there is a commandment in the Old Testament that says we should be circumcised, so we should keep this commandment.” The Galatians received this word to keep the law and to be circumcised. They were willing to keep the law. Many ordinances are easy to understand. However, it is not easy to grasp the things of the Spirit.
Peter was one of the apostles. The Lord knew that Peter was entrenched in his concept and habits and that it would not be easy for Peter to break away from the law. For this reason, the Lord showed him a vision three times. The Lord also arranged the environment so that Cornelius sent men to invite Peter. These factors subdued Peter to contact the Gentiles.
Later, while Peter was in Antioch, he ate with the Gentile believers. But when some Jewish believers came from Jerusalem, he shrank back and separated himself from the Gentiles. Not only did Peter shrink back, but Barnabas also joined Peter in this hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-13). It is difficult to believe that Peter would do such a thing. He was an experienced apostle and had received special leading from the Lord through a heavenly vision, yet he separated himself from the Gentile believers.
There is a tendency within us to keep the law. This does not refer to the moral laws. In the New Testament age God has no intention for us to keep the ceremonial laws. God does not want us to keep the ordinances of the law.
The fact that Peter was influenced by the Jewish believers indicates that he was not fully delivered from the law and its ordinances. For this reason, Paul opposed Peter to his face (v. 11). We would think that since Paul opposed Peter, wrote the book of Galatians, and knew grace according to the New Testament, he should have been fully delivered from the bondage of the law and its ordinances. However, Paul also became weak. On his last trip to Jerusalem he was subdued by the Jewish believers. Paul went to see James and the elders in Jerusalem. He greeted them and related to them the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. After listening to Paul’s report, they glorified God and said that thousands of Jews had believed and were zealous for the law (Acts 21:18-20). The Jewish believers in Jerusalem not only kept the law but were also zealous for the law. The elders felt that Paul did not have a good reputation among the Jews, because he taught the Jews to abandon the rituals of the law (v. 21). They therefore advised Paul, saying, “We have four men who have a vow on themselves; take these and be purified with them, and pay their expenses that they may shave their heads. And all will know that there is nothing to the things that they have been informed of concerning you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law” (vv. 23-24).
Should Paul have followed their advice? It was true that Paul acted contrary to the law by contacting the Gentiles. He told the Gentiles and the Jews that they did not need to be circumcised or keep the ordinances. Since this was Paul’s teaching, would it not be hypocrisy for him to follow the proposal of the elders? Would he not be lying? Paul should not have agreed.
By this time, Paul had already written Galatians and Romans. In these books his words are very strong. In Galatians 3:1-2 he says, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed crucified? This only I wish to learn from you, Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?” These words are surely strong. Based on these words, we would assume that Paul would not listen to the elders in Jerusalem. However, Paul became weak. This shows the power of the law. We should never think that we are completely delivered from the law. When we enter into a certain environment, we may also become weak and succumb to the law.
Not only did Paul participate in the rite of purification and pay the expenses for the other brothers, but he even had the priests make offerings for them. This is hard to believe. In Hebrews Paul says that the Old Testament offerings were over (10:5-9). In Galatians he says, “You have been brought to nought, separated from Christ, you who are being justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (5:4). By following the proposal of the elders in Jerusalem, Paul was rebuilding what he had torn down. When Paul was about to conclude the rite of purification, God stirred up a turmoil so that Paul was arrested by the Jews and subsequently sent to Rome to be imprisoned. He never returned to Jerusalem. Then in A.D. 70 God sent the Roman prince Titus with the Roman army to destroy Jerusalem. They tore down the holy temple and destroyed the holy city; they did not leave one stone upon another. God destroyed Jerusalem, the center of Judaism, and scattered the Israelites among the nations. That was two thousand years ago. Since that day, Jerusalem has been under the devastation of the Gentiles. The Lord did this in order to destroy the center of Judaism.
The believers in the Bible are not the only ones who were subdued by the law. We also have laws, and we probably have more laws than Moses enacted. For example, our meetings have a set procedure that we have practiced for nearly twenty years. For the past twenty years this procedure has not changed. Our way of meeting has become an established rule that cannot be changed. This is what we call regulations, rules, customs, habits, and practices. This is the law.
We praise the Lord that He came in to disturb us. In the United States He led us to call, “O Lord! Amen! Hallelujah!” When the saints began to call on the Lord in a released way, they were enlivened. This “wind” gradually blew to other places, and it also blew to Taiwan. Many religious and law-keeping saints could not take this practice. They said that this cannot be called Sunday worship and that in order to have proper worship, everyone should be quiet. They could not tolerate the noise. As a result, some saints are for being quiet, and others are for being loud.
According to church history, believers are divided into sects and groups because they have differing laws. For example, when some believers in a group insist on worshipping in a certain way, but others in the same group insist on worshipping in a different way, the result is division. In the past there was a Christian group in which some of the believers would shake when they met to worship. There were also believers in that group who were opposed to shaking, so they told those who wanted to shake to go somewhere else. This is the way that the Society of Friends, or Quakers, was formed.
Here is another example. In a Christian group in the United States there were believers who responded with Amen when others prayed. This disturbed other believers in the group. Instead of asking the believers who said Amen to leave, they set aside a corner and named it the “Amen corner.” Those who wanted to say Amen had to sit in that corner.
When we began to practice calling on the Lord’s name, problems arose among the churches. Some saints said that they did not agree with the noise. They could not agree, because they had a concept concerning our practice; they had a law. However, calling on the Lord loudly has gradually become a kind of law. It seems as though some saints are not satisfied unless they call on the Lord loudly. They are not happy to call quietly. As a result, among us a quiet group and a loud group have emerged. The quiet ones keep the law of being quiet, and the loud ones keep the law of being loud. This is a problem.
Everything we handle can become a law. Even in the matter of serving the Lord, we attempt to use methods. These methods are a kind of law. When I fellowship with the co-workers and elders, I often ask, “How should we do this? What should we do?” It seems as though I am asking for methods. We simply cannot stay away from methods. Even our pray-reading has become a method. Formerly, we read the Bible in one way, and now we read the Bible in another way. In every locality the saints pray-read in the same flavor, following the same procedure. We need to release our spirit. However, I am concerned that the way we release our spirit has become a law.
It seems as though whatever we practice becomes a law. Formerly, our prayers were lengthy. The long prayers could be compared to writing a long essay with beautiful words. This intimidated the new believers, and they dared not pray. The long prayers also put the saints to sleep. Few saints attended the prayer meeting because the saints could not endure long prayers. Now the long prayers are gone, and the saints are released. Everyone is praying short prayers, such as “O Lord!” “I want to be released!” and “Every saint should be released!” However, it would not be wrong to have some longer prayers in addition to the short prayers. This would help us to further touch our spirit. But we are concerned that it would be easy for us to fall into the practice of always having long prayers.
We are surely difficult people who always have the habit of keeping the law. It seems as though we either pray only short prayers or only long prayers. Once a brother said to me, “The brothers and sisters in Taiwan are very receptive to your leading. They will follow whichever way you lead.” This is true; however, we should not follow in a military way. If a commanding officer says to stand straight, everyone stands straight, and if he says to march, everyone marches with complete uniformity in their steps. This is the law. You may ask, “What should we do?” We should not do anything. We should not ask for a method.
Galatians 3:3 says, “Having begun by the Spirit.” This points to the fact that our Christian life is altogether a matter of the Spirit. Therefore, we do not need to read the Bible in a certain way; rather, we should be living and have various ways of reading the Bible, just as the wind blows wherever it wills. When we come to the meeting, we should forget about regulations and methods and let the Spirit occupy our being. If we are reading the Bible in the meeting, and a brother feels to stand up and read, he should do so. Some may say that if every saint does this, there will be chaos. If we would all stand up according to the leading of the Spirit, there would not be chaos.
When we are bound by the law, the spirit of the meeting is also bound. Our spirit should be free. When the brothers lead the Scripture reading, every saint should feel free to stand up to read. In this way the meeting will be living. Instead of forms, methods, or rules in our meetings, we should exercise our spirit, fellowship with the Lord, and be prepared to function. Not only should the brothers be prepared to function, but also the sisters should be prepared. There should not be set procedures in the meetings. The meetings should be entirely according to the leading of the Spirit. The meetings should always be different. We do not want methods, nor do we want chaos.
We do not need to use the same procedure to pray-read. There can be many ways to pray-read. Likewise, we do not always have to sing a hymn from the first stanza to the last stanza. We can sing only two stanzas or three stanzas. It may be that while we are singing, a brother stands up and reads a portion of the Scriptures. After he reads, everyone can continue singing. Sometimes a saint can stand up and share a testimony. Our meetings should not follow set rules; instead, everyone should follow the leading of the Spirit. We must all be according to the Spirit.
