"Ye are not under the law."—Rom. 6:14.
"The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith, but after that faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ."—Gal. 3:24-26.
"When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."—Gal. 4:4-7.
"Having in love predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself."—Eph. 1:5.
"The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again."—2 Cor. 5:14, 15.
"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will love him most?"—Luke 7:41, 42.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."—1 Cor. 13:1-3.
In God's plan with men, His purpose in giving the law has been sadly misunderstood. To the Jews the law was given on tablets of stone and copied in their sacred writings; to the Gentiles the law was written in their hearts. The one class had more light than the other, and therefore will be judged differently.
"As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law."—Rom. 2:12. "For when the Gentiles, who have no law, do by nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto themselves; who show the works of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their reasonings mutually accusing or even excusing them."—Rom. 2:14. Whether Jew or Gentile, God had one purpose in giving the law, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world be under judgement to God." God's plan with the law includes "every mouth," "all the world," whether the law was written in their hearts or in sacred writings; and His purpose is, not that they should be saved by keeping the law, for then no one would be saved, for "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,"—Rom. 3:23; but that they might be brought under judgment to God, every mouth stopped, guilty, and thus be brought to realize their need of a Redeemer. On this point God's word makes His purpose very plain: "The Scripture hath shut up all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith, we were confined under law, shut up unto the faith about to be revealed. Wherefore the law was our tutor [or schoolmaster] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come we are no longer under a tutor [or schoolmaster]."—Gal. 3:23-25.
God's word is plain, that God put men under the law, not that they should be saved by keeping it, but that they might be led to see their need of a Saviour, one to redeem them from the curse of the law: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,"—Gal 3:13; and then, having redeemed them from the curse of the law, and from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), to adopt them as His own children, "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."—Rom. 8:17. So wonderful is the plan that it is hard for a human being to grasp it. God's plan with men is not simply to save them, but to put them above all other created beings. "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son?"—Heb. 1:5. Yet, "having in love predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself,"—Eph. 1:5 (1911 Bible), "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,"—Rom. 8:17, He puts us far above angels; "for ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."—Gal. 3:26. But men can only come into this higher relation to God as sons by being redeemed from under the lower relation, under the law. Hear God's word: "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."—Gal. 4:4, 5. This higher relation as sons of God can be attained only by men coming out from under the law; and men can come out from under the law only by being redeemed from under the law.