IF YOU ARE NOT A LAW KEEPER, YOU ARE A LAW BREAKER
Torah, grace, and the falling away before Yeshua returns
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
— 1 John 3:4, KJV
Who would have thought it would be so difficult to tell people who believe the Bible that they need to obey it? Tell someone that Yeshua expects us to keep His commandments, and you may hear, “You’ve fallen from grace. You’re a law keeper.”
But if keeping Yahweh’s law makes a person a law keeper, what does breaking His law make him? Scripture gives a plain answer. Transgressing Torah is sin. And when people are taught to see obedience as a spiritual danger, they become easier prey for someone who presents lawlessness as freedom.
Breaking His law makes you a LAW BREAKER
1. Torah teaches us what sin is
Paul explains how the commandment exposed sin in his own life.
“I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.”
— Romans 7:7, KJV
Paul could have compared himself with others and concluded he was righteous. The commandment reached into his own heart and showed him what he needed to repent of. He went on to call the law holy and the commandment holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12).
James brings this down to everyday conduct. When believers favored the rich and dishonored the poor, James called it sin and pointed them back to the command to love their neighbor. He then told them to speak and act as people who would be judged by “the law of liberty” (James 2:1–13, especially verses 8–12).
Read also Exodus 20:17, Leviticus 19:15–18, Psalm 119:9–11, and Romans 3:20.
2. Yeshua taught obedience and called for repentance
In the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua said He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. He then warned against breaking even the least of the commandments and teaching others to do the same. He commended those who do and teach them (Matthew 5:17–19).
Later in that same sermon, Yeshua described people who would call Him “Lord, Lord” and point to remarkable works done in His name. He said that the one who enters the Kingdom is the one who does His Father’s will. He told those practicing lawlessness to depart (Matthew 7:21–23). A public profession of faith can coexist with a life that refuses Yahweh’s authority.
Yeshua also gave His disciples a simple way to express their love for Him.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
— John 14:15, KJV
John takes obedience seriously enough to call it evidence that we know Yeshua (1 John 2:3–6). In the same letter, he tells believers what to do when they sin. Confess it, seek cleansing, and remember that we have an advocate with the Father (1 John 1:8–2:2). The person who stumbles and repents is responding to the very commandment that exposed the sin.
Read also Luke 6:46–49, John 15:9–10, and Revelation 14:12.
3. What did Paul mean by “fallen from grace”?
Read the whole sentence in Galatians.
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
— Galatians 5:4, KJV
Paul was addressing people who were looking to the law for justification. In context, circumcision was being pressed on the Galatians as an obligation bound up with their standing before Yahweh (Galatians 2:16; 5:2–6). The words “justified by the law” tell us exactly what Paul was warning against.
Consider the difference in the life of a person who has stolen. Returning what he stole is an act of repentance. He still needs mercy for what he did. The mercy he receives gives him every reason to stop stealing and begin living honestly (Ephesians 4:28).
Paul makes that same point in Romans 6. He asks whether being under grace gives us permission to sin and answers emphatically, “God forbid.” He thanks Yahweh that believers who had been servants of sin had become obedient from the heart (Romans 6:14–18). Titus says grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and live righteously (Titus 2:11–14).
When someone says you have “fallen from grace” because you want to obey Yahweh, read Galatians 5:4 alongside Romans 6:15–18. One passage addresses how we are justified. The other addresses how we live after receiving mercy.
4. The falling away prepares people to receive the lawless one
Paul puts the falling away in the context of Yeshua’s coming and our gathering to Him. He says the falling away comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. This figure exalts himself above what is worshiped and presents himself as divine (2 Thessalonians 2:1–4).
Then Paul explains why people fall for the deception.
“Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
— 2 Thessalonians 2:10, KJV
Paul says the lawless one comes with signs and lying wonders. He also says that the people who perish under the deception take pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:8–12). The deception appeals to something they already want.
If everyone were living by Torah and loved the truth it teaches, the anti-messiah’s claim to worship would be rejected. Torah commands exclusive worship of Yahweh (Exodus 20:2–5). It even tells us what to do when a sign comes true but the person who gave it urges us to follow other gods. Reject the invitation and hold fast to Yahweh (Deuteronomy 13:1–4).
That is how obedience prepares us to recognize deception. The person who already knows whom he will worship has a standard by which to judge even an astonishing sign.
Read also Matthew 24:10–13, 24 and 1 John 2:18, 22.
5. Religion will be at the heart of the falling away
Scripture portrays the final rebellion in explicitly religious terms. The man of lawlessness claims divine standing (2 Thessalonians 2:4). The second beast in Revelation performs signs and directs people to worship the first beast and its image (Revelation 13:11–15). Yeshua warns of the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, drawing on Daniel’s prophecy (Matthew 24:15–16; Daniel 11:31).
These passages show why religious allegiance is central to the danger. The deception asks people to give worship that belongs to Yahweh to another. Revelation depicts people embracing that worship. Its warning reaches any religious community willing to accept a forbidden allegiance because it comes with impressive signs or the approval of its leaders.
Yeshua showed how that kind of compromise can begin long before the final crisis. In Mark 7:6–13, He rebuked religious teachers who used the tradition of Corban to let people evade their duty to care for their parents. A practice presented as devotion had become a way around a commandment. Paul likewise warns of people who retain a form of godliness while denying its power (2 Timothy 3:1–5).
When religious teachers call obedience a departure from grace, the question for their hearers is simple. Whose authority decides what is righteous?
6. Keep the commandments and hold fast to Yeshua
Revelation describes the faithful enduring the very pressure to worship the beast that it warns about.
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
— Revelation 14:12, KJV
The saints keep Yahweh’s commandments and hold fast to the faith of Yeshua. Both describe the same faithful people.
For a home Sabbath discussion, consider these questions.
- In Galatians 5:4, what does Paul say the Galatians were seeking through the law? How does Romans 6:15–18describe the conduct of people who have received grace?
- In Deuteronomy 13:1–4, why must the people reject the prophet’s message even when the sign comes true?
- In Mark 7:9–13, how did a religious practice become an excuse to disobey a commandment? What excuses do we make when a commandment costs us something?
Transgressing Torah is sin. When Yahweh’s Word shows us where we have sinned, let us confess it and turn back. When someone calls us away from Yahweh’s commandments, let us remember Yeshua’s words and follow them.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
— John 14:15, KJV
