The root of this question comes from biblical passages such as these:

Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

What does it actually mean that 'We are not under the law' if we are Christians?

It can be a difficult question to answer on the surface, but the answer is found through the proper understanding of grace and love as demonstrated through the scriptures.

The 10 commandments: are they still relevant to a Christian?

Certainly they are; For whether we realize it or not, we follow the 10 commandments by following Christ's own words:

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

You see, we as Christians still follow all of the 10 commandments through:

1. Loving God above everything.
2. Loving others as ourselves.

All the commandments hang on those two principles. If we read the 10 commandments, everything falls under one of those two categories.

The first four:

    1.    No other God before me
    2.    Shall not worship a graven image
    3.    Shall not use the Lord thy God's name in vain
    4.    Remember the Sabbath and Keep it Holy (Give God his day in your life)

Fall under the category of 'Love the Lord they God with all thy Heart, soul and Mind'

The last six:

    5.    Honor your mother and father
    6.    Thou shalt not murder
    7.    Thou shalt not commit adultery
    8.    Thou shalt not steal
    9.    Thou shalt not lie (false witness)
    10.    Thou shalt not covet

Fall under the category of 'Loving others as ourselves'.

The evidence of this is found elsewhere in the scriptures:

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Love God... Love each other. Sounds simple doesn't it?

Who is Judged by the Law?

We know that all mankind will one day be judged for their sins.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Rom 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

So this of course begs the question: What is sin?

1Jo 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Sin is transgression of the Law. (Even for Christians.)

Jam 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jam 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Jam 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Jam 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
Jam 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
Jam 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

One day each person will stand and be held accountable for every sin.

Christians will be judged by Christ at the Bema seat and be held accountable to:

1. Loving God above everything.
2. Loving others as ourselves.

And Non-Christians will be judged by God at the White throne judgment according to their sin. (transgression of the law - 10 commandments).

The difference is that the Christians will be judged for reward and not salvation on their day of judgment, whereas the non-Christians at the white throne judgment of revelation 20:11-15, will be judged for eternity. That is, they will be judged and convicted by the law of God, and their only possible destination is the lake of fire.

Are Christians still under the law?

Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Certainly we are under the law, but it has been transformed through the Grace of God and our Faith in Christ. Through our new relationship, we understand Law more completely, and realize what it truly means. Love God.... and Love others... through all we do in loving others, we worship and love God.

So are we then free to ignore the Law?

Of course not, for it has great purpose.

Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

It keeps us to our righteousness and acts as guidelines of being Christ's ambassadors. For obedience comes not out of ourselves, but out of love to Him we are adore.

When we study the things of God, we realize how completely that God actually hates the thing called sin. As the 10 commandment reveal to us what sin is (Rom 7:7), it is good for a Christian to be mindful of those things to ensure that we stay on the narrow path.

I want to take a moment here and discuss this concept of just how much God hates sin. Many Christians are far to cavalier about this point. Where a Christian might make an excuse for recurring sin based on their carnal nature, the words and ways of God speak differently into that situation.

Repentance is turning from sin. This means that we revile sin as much as God does. If we have recurring (not accidental) sin in our lives, especially those of the premeditated kind, then we are in effect breaking the 1st commandment, allowing our own pleasure or wants over-ride our love for God. If we truly repent, we should hate the sin, that separates us from God. If you want to see just how much God hates sin, scriptures give us some examples of this.

Ask Ananias and Sapphira how much God hates lying (see Acts 5).

Here’s an interesting passage from 2 Samuel

2Sa 6:2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name, the LORD of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim.
2Sa 6:3 So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.
2Sa 6:4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark.
2Sa 6:5 Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the LORD on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals.
2Sa 6:6 And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.
2Sa 6:7 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.

Why did got Strike Uzzah dead?

The Ark of the Covenant was an embodiment of God's presence with the Israelites. The atonement cover (or "mercy seat") that covered the ark was God's throne (2 Sam 6:2) and God's presence was above it (Lev 16:2); it was also the place where God met Moses and gave him commands (Ex 25:22). If someone approached the ark, they would effectively be in God's presence - a sinner standing before a holy God who does not tolerate evil (Ps 5:4-6) - and would die as a result of their sins. For this reason, God had given the Israelites many rules concerning the Ark of the Covenant. It was to be kept in the Most Holy Place in the temple, hidden from view by a curtain (Ex 26:33). Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, and then only after he had undergone ceremonial cleansing, made sacrifices to atone for his sins and the nation's sins, and burned incense to conceal the atonement cover (Lev 16). When the ark was moved, it was covered with at least 3 layers of cloth by the priests to protect others from seeing it (Num 4:5-6, 15, 18-20); the priests/Levites carried it and everyone else had to stay about a thousand yards away (Josh 3:4). These laws enforced the concept of God's holiness: sinful people couldn't be in his presence, not even the high priest.

Hence, when Uzzah touched the ark, he was profaning it and disobeying God; he should have grabbed the poles used for carrying the ark instead, for that was their purpose (Ex 25:14-15). There is also the issue that David had the ark carried in a manner that was innapropriate as well, as the ark shouldn't have been on a cart, but should have been carried on people's shoulders (1 Chr 15:15).

God takes sin very, very seriously, and no sin, or no one lost to sin can dwell in His presence. When we recognize our complete vileness and wretchedness before God, we come to a point of realization of His love by paying the fine, or pouring out the punishment deserved of us, upon the Christ. We should therefore HATE the sin that put our Lord on that cross, and if we don’t, we really need to examine the validity and the sincerity of our repentance. Remember the charge:

2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

This 2 Corinthians passage is there for a reason.

The Purpose of the Law?

I have already hinted at the answer to this in the previoius paragraphs. The law has great purpose in the unsaved world and it is our greatest ally to reach them.

1Ti 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

So how can we use the law lawfully? What is it's Holy purpose?

The law is not as important for Christians as it is for Non-Christians. Let me explain.

1Ti 1:9-10 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.

Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Through the law, our sin is revealed. Before we knew Christ, the law brings us to an understanding of what is WRONG, and what is RIGHT. It convicts us.. and shows us our failure before the perfect eyes of God. It stops our arrogant mouths before God from saying, "who is God to judge.. surely I am righteous"

Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

That is the purpose of the Law - To convict. Once we realize that we have transgressed the law (sinned), only then do we come to a place of realization that we are GUILTY before GOD as I mentioned before.

As a good Judge, GOD therefore has every right to sentence judgment and then punishment upon us, the transgressors of the Law. The fine is issued and our price is the second death in the lake of Fire. No good judge allows a crime to be unpunished. You cannot say God won't punish me because God is good, for if God is good, then he MUST punish sin, which is not good. SO the judgment is cast, and the sentence laid. My sin, my crime, cannot be overlooked.... so the lake of Fire is my destination.

However. Christ came to fulfill the law. To take our place on death row, so that we who believed on Him... We who fall before him on our knees repent and cry," Lord, Lord, Forgive me, for I have sinned against you and deserve not your mercy" can be saved; For he paid the ransom for us that dark day on Calvary. On Christ's shoulder were the sins of the repentant cast, and God's full wrath for sin was poured out upon His son. Through th sacrifice of an unblemished lamb (Christ), I might one day be a free man. Through the realization and grief brough on by my own wretchedness before a Holy and Righteous God, can I see the dire need for the cure of my calamity.

2Co 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Once we have come to a place of brokenness, a place of realization of our need for forgiveness, can we understand now the concept of God’s love. For God loved us so much that He came to the world to die a terrible death in our place. With all the sin of the world on His shoulders, Christ took the full wrath of God upon himself, so that all who repented and believed could be free. And at what cost to us?  No matter what we have done, our transgressions are forgiven of us when we repent of our transgression of the law, believe that Christ was raised again, and place our lives completely in Christ's hands - When we die to self, and give it all to the Lord.

Nothing fills me with more awe and humility then the thought that my God, paid my fine.

If that doesn’t bring a repentant tear to your eye… nothing will.

- J.R. Hall

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