Are the Gentiles Under the Law?

Paul Ellis

June 20

Are the Gentiles under the law? Were the Gentiles ever under the law?

Your answers to these questions depend on how you define "the law." My answers to these questions are "no, with a but" and "sort of, yes, it depends."

I am fascinated by "the law" because the phrase means different things to different people. In my article, "What is the law in the Bible?" I identify no less than 12 types of law that are mentioned in scripture. These include the Royal Law, the Law of Christ, and the Law of Liberty.

Most of the time, "the law" refers to the Law of Moses, or the commandments, ordinances, punishments, and ceremonial observances given to the nation of Israel through Moses (Jos. 8:31, John 1:17). The Law of Moses is sometimes referred to as the law of commandments (Eph. 2:15), or the law of the Jews (Acts 25:8).

However, failing to distinguish different types of law can lead to confusion and conflict. Let me give you an example. If I say, "We are no longer under the law," I can just about guarantee that I will get two responses.

First, I will hear from those who tell me that the law is a guide that helps us live holy lives. In other words, they prefer the law to the Holy Spirit and they would rather walk by flesh instead of faith.

I will also hear from those who say that the Gentiles (i.e., most of us) were never under the law to begin with, and this is both true and false. It's true if you are referring to the Law of Moses, but false if you are referring to "the law" in general.

Why do we need to discuss the law?

I have been thinking about this lately because I have just finished writing The Grace Bible: Galatians. (The book comes out in a few weeks, thanks for asking.)

As we all know, Paul discusses "the law" a great deal in his letter to the Galatians. He warns us to stay free from the yoke of the law. Put yourself under law and you will no longer be walking in faith.

While writing my book, I learned that some people dismiss Galatians as an irrelevant Jewish document. (Nevermind that the Galatians were mostly Gentiles.) They hear Paul talking about the law and think, "I was never under the Law of Moses, so Galatians is not for me."

Big mistake.

A line from the movie The Usual Suspects comes to mind:

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.

If that's the Devil's greatest trick, his second greatest trick may be convincing us that we are in no danger of the law, and that all the warnings about it – including Galatians – can be dismissed as irrelevant old covenant stuff.

To see how dangerous this is, we need to define "the law" scripturally, and then see what Paul says about it in his famous letter.

Which law are we talking about?

"The law" refers to rules or regulations that define some standard of right living. When Paul refers to the law in Galatians, he is usually referring to the Law of Moses (e.g., Gal. 3:17), but not always (e.g., Gal. 6:2).

The Law of Moses was uniquely given to the Jews and fulfilled at the cross, but there is a broader law that applies to all of us – the law of right and wrong. This is the law we got when our ancestors ate from the forbidden tree.

After Adam sinned, he knew he had done wrong. How did he know? He had acquired the knowledge of good and evil. He had "the law," as do we all.

In its widest sense, "the law" is a universal constraint that guides and sometimes condemns us through our consciences. Your particular brand of law is your personal moral code which might be based on the Ten Commandments, the teachings of Jesus, denominational traditions, your culture, or whatever your parents taught you.

To clarify, "the law" is universal, while the Law of Moses refers to a specific set of laws given to Israel. If the knowledge of good and evil is a kind of natural law stored in our consciences, then the written Law of Moses is the Law 2.0. It is a souped-up version of the law of right and wrong.

With this distinction in mind, let's take a quick look at what Paul says in Galatians.

Two kinds of law

When Paul says "the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin" (Gal. 3:22), he means everyone. And when he says in the next verse, "Before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law" (Gal. 3:23), he still means everyone.

The verdict of Scripture is that everyone, whether Jew or Gentile, was captive to sin and held in bondage under the elemental things of the world (Gal. 3:22, 4:3). Our captivity was under the law, meaning the law acted like a custodian or jailer.

All of us knew right from wrong because of our innate knowledge of good and evil. This is the law hardwired into the heart of every person (Rom. 2:14–15). This law silences every mouth and holds the whole world accountable to God (Rom. 3:19).

To sum up:

You are not under the Law of Moses and you never were
Fallen humanity lives under the universal law of right and wrong
Many churches impose additional laws governing church attendance, giving, moral conduct, dress codes, hair length, dietary restrictions, spiritual disciplines, marital duties, women in ministry, listening to music, partaking of communion, confession, etc.

I hope you can see that "the law" is much more pervasive than we think. Every one of us was born with a moral code of one sort or another, and some religions (e.g., Judaism) and churches add their own laws on top.

So what does the Bible say about all this law?

"The law," however you define it, is no substitute for the indwelling Spirit. The law has no place in the new creation. We are called to walk by faith which means we are not to rely on our works of law.

Why we need Galatians

In his amazing letter, Paul makes seven great claims about the law:

The law cannot make you righteous (Gal. 3:11)
The law cannot impart life (Gal. 3:21)
The law reveals our captivity to sin and our need for a Savior (Gal. 3:19–24)
Now that Christ has come, we no longer need the law (Gal. 4:4–5)
As believers, we are dead to the law and free from its constraints (Gal. 2:19)
The law has no claim on those who are led by the spirit (Gal. 5:18)
When you rely on the Spirit of grace, you are truly free from the law (Gal. 5:23)

Galatians is a how-to book for the new creation. Not only does it warn us of the dangers of living under any sort of law, it teaches us how to walk in the new way of the spirit.

Believers who dismiss Galatians as "not for me," are making a terrible mistake.

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The Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus is an oft-misunderstood masterpiece. It is one of my favorite parables.

In this exchange with greedy Pharisees, Jesus is almost Shakespearean with his wit, wisdom, and warnings. My grace-based take on this amazing Parable is available now on Patreon.