Our conscience was dead when we lived according to the lusts of this world; it had been corrupted because of sin, seared as with a hot iron, calloused and devoid of any conviction. By the message of the truth, He purified our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. He set us free from the law for righteousness and has made us right with God by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The law stood to condemn us: the longer we lived, the more we sinned, and the greater our debt. However, through Christ Jesus, God freely forgave our ticket of debt, which is our transgression, which is hostile to us, but He nailed it to the cross, having cleansed our defiled conscience by the sprinkling of His blood. Through His body, all rules and regulations of the law were put to death, the hostility, the enmity, the pride, for Christ justifies us freely by His grace; thus "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4) The law could never justify, “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) Albeit the law was given by God, and the law is just and holy and good, it could never accomplish righteousness in us who are in the flesh; so if the law could never justify, since it was weakened by the human flesh, then how could man-made regulations or rules ever justify anyone? As the apostle affirms, " If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. " (Colossians 2:20-23)
No-one can obey the law perfectly, no-one always does right and never sins, for we all have errored. Jesus Christ is our righteousness through faith, for the righteous will live by faith; He obeyed the law perfectly and became the new law Giver, that of the law of Christ, which is a law of faith in His name. He was the first to preach the Gospel, the Good News; as it says, "This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him." (Hebrews 2:3) For He healed many people, not because they obeyed any law or rule, but because of their profession of faith, namely, they confessed He is the Seed of David, the Prophet to come; and with a change of law, there is also a change of temple, a change of priesthood, of sacrifice, of worship. For such things are spoken concerning the new covenant: concerning the temple, it says, "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God." (1 Corinthians 6:19) Or even, "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." (Hebrews 12:22) And concerning the new high priest, it says, "Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come." (Hebrews 9:11) And concerning the sacrifice, it says, "He offered one sacrifice for sins for all time." (Hebrews 10:12) And concerning worship, it says, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24) (See more about the law of Christ)
The law of Christ is weightier than the law of God, and if we fulfill the law of Christ, we fulfill the law of God; for the Spirit always confirms the letter, and the letter confirms the Spirit, for the Word comes from the Spirit. We have died to the law and all its demands, and we who believe are grafted into the law of Christ, which is a law of faith. The rationale to every commandment of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ: He is Why, He is the Rationale, He is the Answer. Love fulfills the entirety of the law, and the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Faith is the new covenant, the new testament; inaugurated by a new High Priest, Christ Jesus, with a better sacrifice, His own Self, confirmed by the apostles and prophets and founded on better promises - eternal, not temporal - which are assured unto us by the promised Holy Spirit, by Whom we are newly born, by Whom we come to worship in the heavenly Jerusalem where Christ entered to make atonement for us. Jesus will return again, and the blessed will partake in a better resurrection; He will make us to stand before Him in judgment; and all who partake in the first resurrection, the second death holds no power over them - so judgment in the resurrection is for reward. So hold fast! " The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. " (2 Corinthians 5:17)
And it is the new which remains forever; it is the new which inherits the new heaven and the new earth. “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15) Christ Jesus takes away the old and sets up the new, superseding the law of God and inaugurating a law of faith; for He was saying, "You have heard that it was said..." (the law of God) Then He was saying, "But I say to you..." (the law of Christ) (As written in Matthew 5:17-48); and so the former is the law of God, the latter is the law of faith; the former is the physical requirement, and the latter is the spiritual; for the physical comes first, then the spiritual. The former cleansed the flesh, but the latter the conscience (Hebrews 9:13-14). The law was given so that the disobedient would be revealed as disobedient, but Christ has revealed God: He was sent to forgive transgressors of their transgressions; “For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.” (Romans 11:32) He has shut up all in disobedience to the law, so that He may show mercy to us. Nevertheless, although faith is exemplified, we do not reject the law of God, for faith is weightier than the law of God - if we fulfill the law of faith, we fulfill the law of God - for God the Father puts a new heart and a new spirit in us, so that, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, we may be presented to Him as holy and blameless before His coming. (See again more about the law of Christ)
So thus, we are not bound by the law of God if we follow the law of the Spirit and life, for the fruit of the Spirit are all good things, and there is no law against doing good. The law acted as a guardian until the time of Christ was revealed: for we are under our parent's supervision until the age of 18. But when we turn 18, we are set free from our guardianship. Likewise, we have been locked up and chained under the power and supervision of these elemental spiritual forces of the world until the fullness of time, that is, when God shined the light of the gospel in our hearts. When we believed, we were made free; we were made new by the Spirit of God and set free from the law at faith; for in the law sin has its power, and sin reigns in death. Do we then neglect the law of God by faith? No! But rather, through faith we uphold the law - for faith fulfills the law of God through carrying each other's burdens. Who then is the law of God for? As it says, " But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. " (1 Timothy 1:8-11)
So if we are born anew of the Spirit, following after the Spirit, we are not subject to the law; if we are of the old nature, sin still has its power, for the old nature is subject to the law of God. The deeds of the flesh are obvious and the fruit of the Spirit is clear, so we may discern which we are operating in; " So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. " (Galatians 5:16-22)
Therefore, since we who follow the Spirit are free from the law of God (and where there is an absence of law, no transgression is counted; for sin is only counted when there is law), we can serve God in the freedom of grace. We have died to the law when we were united in the death of Jesus Christ through faith, into a baptism of faith; and those who have died are free'd from the law (Romans 7:1-6; Galatians 2:19-20; Philippians 3:7-11; Ephesians 2:14-16). Christ died for us so that we wouldn't have to taste death ourselves; He died that we may be reconciled to the Father by faith, apart from the law; for the law chained us and we could never keep it. So we are no longer under law, but grace; and sin is no longer our master, but Christ. If we sin, we offer ourselves as obedient servants to it, and get entangled once again in slavery - and the last state becomes worse than the first. Christ has set us free so we would be free. Therefore, deny the earthly within you! Daily strive to maintain a clear conscience before God and man; for from the conscience we have not been free'd - for the law of God is written on our heart. Look heavenward to Jesus Christ who cleansed us from our defilement, and you will fulfill the righteous requirement of the law through love: set your mind on Him; for if the mind is set, then the members which are governed by the mind are likewise. Faith and a clear conscience go hand-in-hand, for they are friends - do not separate those who are friends. The conscience is the spiritual law written on our heart; do not go against conscience, for it is according to faith; as Paul says, " But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23)
All unrighteousness is sin; and faith never says, "Go and submit to sin." We remember that Abraham was justified by faith, but how about David who was chosen because of his heart? He received the testimony of God, which said, "a man after My own heart"; for he lived his life not for the sight of man, as man pleasing, but he lived for the sight of God, pleasing Him and maintaining a good heart before Him; and he was chosen by God as king over His people. Now this is faith: knowing that God sees the heart, and striving for purity before Him; God does not see flesh as man sees, for everything that is hidden, God sees; and the hidden parts where no man sees, God sees; God sees all things, especially the hidden things; as Christ, preaching faith, said, " But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (...) But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (...) But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. " (Matthew 6:3-18)
For the hidden is seen, so we strive to please God rather than men; similarily, a virgin keeps herself pure, and her beauty is maintained for the sake of her husband; her beauty is hidden from all men, but it is revealed only to her lover. She sees her own beauty, but she belongs to her husband, and her husband belongs to her.
The disbelieving never says, "I will work hard to keep an upright heart before God." For the unbeliever doesn't believe in God, so he does not care about what's secret; however he might care what man thinks and present his outward members as comely before them. The adulteress shows off her beauty to everyone; there is nothing secret about her; she figures, "What point is it that my beauty is hidden?" And so she pleases many men in public, rather than pleasing one husband in private. So this is what I mean: we were once filthy, but God in Christ cleanses us: He washes us through the washing of the water of His Word to present us unto Himself as a pure bride, unblemished and chaste. And so, having been totally washed, we maintain our purity before Him, that is, a clear conscience; for our "praise is not from men, but from God.” (Romans 2:29) As the Proverb says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?” (James 3:11) Of course not! But from a pure heart comes forth goodly words and deeds. And so, keeping ourselves pure before God in watchings and prayer, we bring forth works pleasing to Him, doing the will of God from the heart. Therefore strive to be like king David, a true descendant of him, maintaining a pure heart before God. We all know David is a man of God. But how so? According to stature or appearance? No! But rather according to the heart, revealed by the testimony of God who knows the heart. When the heart is pure, what comes from the heart is pure too. For everything a man does and says comes from his heart. Faith pertains to the heart. And this is how you fulfill the law of Christ: maintaining a pure heart before God and working out your faith. For it is possible to hide light within, and we can hide words within; but we are commanded to work out what God works in us. “Do not quench the Spirit;” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) For the law of God pertains to the flesh and the law of Christ pertains to the heart; the heart is greater than the flesh; if you are made new in the heart, you will obey in the flesh as well. (See more about the Stumbling Block of Lawlessness)