James warned Christians that if they attempt to keep the whole law, but stumble on one point, they would be guilty of breaking the entire law. Along these same lines, Paul warned Christians that if they sin under the law [that is by practicing the law], they will be judged by the law.
Paul and the other apostles corrected Jews who had converted to Christianity who thought that they had to not only continue to practice the Jewish law, but to also impose it upon Gentile Christians. This was the purpose of the Jerusalem Council that we see in Acts. Paul made it clear that the Jewish converts could continue to practice the law if they liked, however they were not to impose it upon others. Paul instructed Christians how to live under the new covenant of Christ which made the old covenant obsolete.
(Luke 22:20; Matthew 5:17; Romans 10:4; Hebrews 7:26-8:13; James 2:11; Romans 2:12; Romans 14:5-6; Galatians 4:9-11; Colossians 2:16-23)
It is good for Christians to learn about the law that God gave to the kingdom of Israel in the Old Testament, because it gives us a better understanding of what God intended them for, and how Jesus fulfilled them. However, Christians should not try to live by the law, because doing so negates everything that Christ did when He offered Himself as the once for all sacrifice for the atonement of sins. If Christians do live by the law, they should not try to impose it on others, and understand that they must keep the whole law and that they will be judged by the law. Keeping the whole law will be rather difficult because there are no longer animal sacrifices. Jews do not even hold to that practice.
Luke 22:20 NKJV
[20] Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
Matthew 5:17 NKJV
[17] “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Romans 10:4 NKJV
[4] For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Hebrews 7:26-8:13 NKJV
[26] For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; [27] who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. [28] For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
[1] Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, [2] a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. [3] For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. [4] For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; [5] who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” [6] But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. [7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. [8] Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— [9] not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. [10] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. [11] None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. [12] For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” [13] In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Romans 14:5-6 NKJV
[5] One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. [6] He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
Galatians 4:9-11 NKJV
[9] But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years. [11] I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
Colossians 2:16-17, 20, 22-23 NKJV
[16] So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, [17] which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
[20] Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—
[22] which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? [23] These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 'James 2:11
'For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ' Romans 2:12
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