Keiki Beach, Oahu, HI
Contrary to popular belief, God does not like our self-sufficiency. The Bible refers to human effort as “living under the Law”, and its fruit is translated into “works of the flesh”, which result in death, as we will see today.
If this shocks you, please open your Bible to Galatians 3
This is all I want you to tell me: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are they that stupid? They started with the Spirit, and now they are going to end by the flesh?
In Christianity they teach us what the works of the flesh are, we believe that they are only our “carnal” portions, drinking alcohol, dancing and partying wild, our selfishness and cruel actions, but they do not teach us that these “fruits” are the harvest of living under the Law. Many people only think of these fruits as murder, theft, or sexual immorality, but among the fruits or works of the flesh are also bursts of anger, gossip, jealousy, yelling and unbelief, to name a few. (Galatians 5:19-21 ) We classify this harvest between small and great sins (venial or mortal) but Paul classifies them all as “works of the flesh,” no matter how much they weight on our scale.
This is why by demanding the Law of Moses, man cursed himself. Although the law brings blessing to those who keep the law it in its entirety, it also brings a course to those who disobey in only one of its stipulations (James 2:10) because breaking just one of them breaks the entire law. For the same reason, no one can be worthy before God under the Law.
And the problem with the Law is that we were designed to live in rest, depending on God, and not to live off our effort and willpower, which is the essence of the Law. This is why it produces the contrary effects in us.
To explain it better, have you ever been on a diet? Have realized how foods that you had no cravings for now become irresistible, as soon as they are forbidden to you. Have you noticed that as soon as willpower runs out, we want to fill ourselves with that prohibitive food in quantities that we were not attracted to eating before?
When you see a speed marker on the road, do you hold on to that speed, or do you accelerate? If you’re like me, maybe you hold on when you see a patrol car nearby.
When they tell you not to hang out with certain person because they are not for you, do you take pleasure in giving them up or do you become infatuated?
And when you are told to forget someone who unforgivably offended you or irreparably armed you, can you forget them just because God commands it?
The Apostle Paul explained it this way
… the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 1 Corinthians 15:56
Do you not know, brothers (for I speak with those who know the law), that the law rules over man while he lives? …. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions that were by the law worked in our members bearing fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
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. But without, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law without was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Romans 7:1, 5-10
On the contrary, when you to live under the law you live under the weight of a course. This is what Scripture says: Cursed is he who does not constantly fulfill everything written in the book of the law. And it is evident that, by fulfilling the law, no one will be restored by God to his friendship, since the Scripture also says: He who God restores to his friendship through faith will attain life. But the law is not nourished by faith, but: whoever follows these precepts will live by them. It was Christ who freed us from the course of the law, making himself cursed for us. For the Scripture says: Cursed is everyone who dies hanging from a tree. Abraham’s blessing will then reach all nations through Christ Jesus and we will receive, through faith, the promise of the Spirit.” Galatians 3:10-14 (Spanish American Version)
God had to demonstrate to an unbelieving people that pleasing God by our will power and performance it is impossible, and that the law would produce death, before making a New Covenant with his people:
If the first covenant had had no defects, it would not have been necessary to replace it with a second covenant…..
So this will be it —says the Lord—
the alliance I will seal with Israel when that day comes:
I will instill my laws in your mind and write them on your heart;
I will be their God and they will be my people.
No one will have to teach his neighbor anymore nor will he have to instruct his brother saying: “knowledge the Lord”, because everyone will know me, from the least to the greatest.And I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more.
When calling this alliance new, God is declaring the first old; and everything that remains old and dated is about to disappear.
Hebrews 8:7, 10-13
The law that the Holy Spirit writes in us is the current Law, the Law of Love and Faith, but it is the Spirit himself who carries it out, unlike the law of Moses that no one could follow, otherwise they would not have needed sacrifices, which were the payment for their disobedience. This debt was completely settled by Jesus, once and for all. This was more than enough to make us heirs of his Kingdom of Grace.
By the way, the New Covenant is not between God and us, it is between God and his Son Jesus; For this reason it is unbreakable, infallible, irrevocable and eternal. Being a son is the only requirement to be his heir.
And your dear reader, what pact do you prefer?
Learn more about it in my book Lens of Grace. Humanity in Fine Linen, coming soon to a store near you.
Aug 5, 2026
