8.98 Why are many Christians still holding on to the tutor’s hand?

We have spent the last 97 lessons contrasting between the covenants of law and grace. We have shown you that the New Covenant is based on the finished work of Christ while the Old Covenant was based on man’s effort. We have also shown that the New Covenant of grace is established on better promises than the Old Covenant. We have talked about how the New Covenant believer is to walk with Jesus on the basis of His love, faith and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Now that Christ has come, we are no longer under the tutor (Mr. Law). God wants us to walk with Jesus on our Christian journey; not walk alone on the basis of performing the law. When we hold on to the tutor (Mr. Law), we cannot follow Christ.

(Gal 3:24)
Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

But many in the Church today practice a mixture between law and grace. Many are still holding on to Mr. Law’s hand. They have not been experiencing the loveliness of Jesus. In fact the Church often seems to practice the opposite to Gal 3:24. It acts as if “Christ was the tutor to bring us to the law, and Mr. Law will take over from there.”

When we share the gospel, it is always Christ-centered. We ask people to believe in Jesus for eternal life. Then when the person received the Lord Jesus, we send them off to a follow up class, where they are introduced to Mr. Law to guide him for the rest of their Christian life. Jesus appears to hand the person over to Mr. Law, who will then tell the believer how to act as a Christian in conforming to the new religion. There is almost no teaching on important truths about the inner working of the Holy Spirit in the New Creation believer. There is little teaching about our new identity in Christ.

Many sincerely believe that the law is the only means to holiness, though as we will show later, the law was designed to reveal sin rather than holiness. It was Christ who came to establish true holiness. Therefore, though the law cannot be divided (James 2:10), some try to rationalize that Christ removed only the ceremonial and civil laws. They say that the moral laws (the Ten Commandments) remain and Christians are to live by them.

The role of the Ten Commandments in the Christian life is the most contentious issue among Christians today. Satan has stirred up this contention because he knows that when we let go of the tutor’s hand, Christians will start to walk in the fullness of Christ. Over the next few lessons, we will share numerous verses from the Bible to show beyond doubt that we are no longer under the system of the Ten Commandments.