Rom.3:27 Where is boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No: but by the law of faith (In other words, can we boast, by saying we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acceptance by God is not based on obeying a set of rules, like those set forth in Old Testament Law. It is based on the law of faith.

How long has the law of faith been in effect? The answer is, “Forever”. Hebrews 11 confirms this. It says that the worlds were framed by faith. Did Mosaic Law come along and supersede the Law of Faith? No. Mosaic Law was given as a stop gap measure against sin until Christ came to establish a permanent solution through the Law of Faith (Read Gal.3) but it did not replace or supersede the Law of Faith. In fact, a close study of scriptures indicates that the Law of Faith always has and always will supersede every other law in heaven and earth. Hebrews 11 helps confirm this statement by giving examples of people throughout the bible, who related to God through the law of faith. David and Rahab, listed in Hebrews 11, were two Old Testament people who adhered to the Law of Faith but failed miserably to keep Mosaic Law and should have been executed according to Mosaic Law. Yet, instead of being cursed, they were blessed. Why was that? The bible says cursed is he who doesn’t keep all the law. (Deu. 27:26) However, they were not cursed, because they appealed to a law that always has and always will supersede Mosaic Law, which only has the power to condemn. Hebrews 11 also makes it very clear that the foundation for the coming of the messiah was laid by The Law of Faith, by naming a long list of bible heroes who walked by faith to lay that foundation piece by piece over many generations and peoples. Sure, the law had a divine purpose and that purpose was to expose and slow the effects of sin, but only the Law of Faith rooted in Jesus Christ has the power to cure sin.             

I believe what I have just very briefly described is a very necessary percept, that all Christians need to grasp, if they want to achieve a victorious life in this world over sin and Satan. Yet so few of us have any clarity at all regarding this vital Christian principle. Here is just one small example of how ingrained in the human psychic the appeal of the law is over faith in Christ. Our propensity to gravitate toward an attitude of works over faith can be exposed in the way we perceive the Old Testament king, Josiah. He is touted, by many bible teachers as a wonderful example of how Christians should serve God, with all their heart, and all their soul, and all their strength and I must admit that I bought into a false perception of Josiah for years. Okay, maybe you are more spiritual than the rest of us, so you saw through him instantly but I didn’t. The introduction the bible gives him just sounds so righteous. The reason I saw him this way, and I believe many others still do, is because I had so much in common with him in my lack of understanding of the law of works versus the law of faith. Both are Holy, but one kills and the other gives life. In truth, Josiah was a tragic example of what happens to anyone who tries to please God through works only. The bible says he was a person who followed the Law of Mosses like no other before him, which included his father, David. However, look at the results. God never removed his fierce wrath from Juda and finally Josiah was killed prematurely by Pharaoh Necho in a battle that he should have never fought. Why? Well, for one, there is no evidence that Josiah knew about the Law of Faith, much less applied it to anything he did.

The Law of Faith convicts us of wrong doing but then goes a step further, by showing us a better way of moving forward through faith in Christ. Interestingly enough, reinforcing what I just said, Josiah’s name is not mentioned among the faithful in Hebrews 11, yet David, who obviously didn’t follow the law with all his heart, is mentioned. Why? Here again is the reason. When we seek to relate to God by only obeying a list of rules (the law), instead of by faith, we set ourselves up for alienation from God, because there is always another broken law coming between us and a relationship with Him. (Anything that is not of faith is sin. Rom.14:23) When I step out each day, listening to the guidance of The Holy Spirit through faith in Christ I find that I obey more laws by accident than I ever did, on purpose, when I was just trying to religiously follow some law.