The Schoolmaster, The Bondwoman & The Dead Husband
About this sermon
Dean Odle argues that New Covenant believers are justified by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the works of the Mosaic law. Through Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, Acts 15, and three governing images—the schoolmaster, bondwoman, and dead husband—he opposes Torah-observant teaching that makes Sabbaths, feasts, circumcision, or dietary rules measures of righteousness.
Chronological teaching outline
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Odle frames the sermon as a defense of the New Covenant against claims that Spirit-filled Christians must keep the Mosaic law. He welcomes doctrinal challenge as a reason to study again, while stressing that grace never licenses sin or the works of the flesh.
Romans 3:20–28 anchors his claim that Sabbath, feast, circumcision, and temple ordinances neither justify nor prove salvation. He explains justification as being made right with God freely through Christ’s redemption and faith in His blood.
Odle quotes a critic who labels the Protestant message of justification apart from Torah a false Christ and another gospel. He replies that Galatians directs the charge of “another gospel” at those compelling Christians to live as Jews, and he identifies several opposing claims as straw-man arguments.
Reading Galatians 5, he argues that circumcision pursued for justification makes a person debtor to the whole law and alienates that person from grace. He distinguishes freedom from Moses’ covenant from moral lawlessness, pointing to love, Spirit-led conduct, and rejection of the works of the flesh.
Romans 8 is used to say that the Spirit of life in Christ frees believers from a law that could not overcome sinful flesh. Odle argues that Christ is the goal and completion of the Mosaic law, so its righteousness is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit.
Hebrews 7–8 supports his claim that the former commandment was weak, made nothing perfect, and gave way to Christ’s superior priesthood and covenant. Acts 15 then shows the apostles refusing to require Gentile believers to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses.
Galatians 3 presents the law as added because of transgressions until the promised Seed came and as unable to give life. Odle uses the schoolmaster illustration to insist that once faith in Christ has come, believers are no longer under that temporary guardian.
From Galatians 4, Hagar and Sinai represent bondage that cannot inherit with the free woman, so Odle says the old covenant must not govern Christian identity. Romans 7 supplies the dead-husband image: believers died to the law through Christ so they could be joined to the risen Jesus and bear fruit to God.
Galatians 2 reinforces the phrase “dead to the law,” while Ephesians 2 is read as Christ abolishing the enmity of commandments in ordinances through His flesh. Odle says returning to Moses for righteousness frustrates grace and treats Christ’s death as vain.
The conclusion pictures hyper-grace and Torah legalism as opposite ditches that can both sever genuine relationship with Jesus. Odle calls believers to remain in the road by obeying New Covenant commands, receiving the Holy Spirit’s rest and power, and trusting Christ rather than ritual for righteousness.
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- 0:00:00
God, we thank You for the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank You, Lord, for justification by faith. We thank You, Lord, for grace and mercy. We thank You, Lord, for righteousness without the law. We thank You, Lord, that Your Word is true, that the New Testament, the New Covenant, is a better covenant with better promises. That's what Your Word declares. I pray today, God, that You will illustrate this, that You will speak through me, that You will speak to those here, those watching, those listening, those who will see this after the fact. God, we ask You, Lord, to reestablish the New Covenant, the New Testament faith, the foundation of that. Lord, that You establish that in this world, Lord, in this time of great deception. Father, we ask You to bless, anoint, help us, to understand our liberty in Christ, but that our liberty is not a license to sin or to do the works of the flesh. So, Lord, we thank You for that. We pray it all today in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. You may be seated this morning. We welcome everyone here to Fire and Grace Church. Those watching and listening are still having another, for those of you with the radio, we won't be able to broadcast video live this morning, but we're gonna make a good recording and get that on Facebook and YouTube as soon as possible. So, this is gonna be part two of, I guess, a series dealing with the question, are Christians born again, Spirit-filled, New Testament Christians required to keep the law of Moses? And I dealt with that last week, a good bit of called it the New Testament church and the Sabbath question. I think we dealt with that pretty thoroughly. It's been interesting to see the responses that I have received from that. But of course, I like disagreement and debate. I know some people think I don't like it, but I actually like it. I actually enjoy it because what happens when somebody debates me or disagrees with me, it just makes me study, go back and study the Bible more, go back and look at it and test. And that's what you should do anyway. If you ever have a critic or someone disagree with you or someone challenges what you believe, you should always go back, especially when it comes to Scripture, when it comes back to doctrine and theology, we should always go back and study the Word and say, is there something I've missed? Is there something I'm overlooking? Is there something I'm emphasizing that I'm not supposed to be emphasizing and God wants me focused in another area?
- 0:03:02
So, I wanna tell you something. A lot of people get kind of nasty out there, but I can assure you after 30 years of being in the ministry and doing this, I have studied these issues. It's not like I haven't looked into it. I mean, these people make these sarcastic, condescending comments. You should really look into this. Well, I've looked into it a few times. In fact, I wrote a book years ago. My first book was entitled Grace Abuse. One of the greatest hindrances to genuine revival. And on the back, the title on the back of the book, the heading at the top says, Grace is not a license to sin. So, I wrote an entire book saying that New Testament believers who are saved by grace through faith do not have a license to sin because of grace. And the Bible spells that out as we're gonna see in Galatians chapter five and Ephesians five and so forth. But because we are commanded in the New Testament, we are commanded to have a moral life. Are we commanded to keep the law of Moses? And what I mean by the law of Moses, the Saturday Sabbath, the feast, the dietary laws, are we required to keep as many of those laws and ceremonies and rituals as we possibly can? Now, this morning I've entitled this message, the school master, the bond woman, and the dead husband. And this is an illustrated message. So, we're gonna have three different illustrations to illustrate that point. And I've got some folks that are gonna help me do that in just a minute. But let me just say this for some of the critics out there and some of the people who, some of what I call the Torah observers or the Torah terrorists pushing this on Christians and really even to the point of, one of the leaders even said the other day, and I have the screenshot, so I have the evidence. But they were kind of, they're supposed to be a New Testament Christian following Jesus or Yeshua. And yet they said in a derogatory manner, the so-called New Covenant. I thought to myself, what minister of the gospel, what leader would call the New Covenant so-called? I'm just blown away at the depths of this stuff here. But the terms, now listen to me as we get into this, I want you to understand that these are terms, those who desire to be under the law, Paul did say, if you desire to be under the law, then you are under the curse. That is what Paul said. I didn't say that. See, it's funny, some of these guys out there and these people are saying, these pastors that say this, no, I didn't say that. And I'm gonna show you. We're gonna go through a lot of scripture this morning.
- 0:06:03
Trust me, this one's gonna be a doozy, all right? But terms like, listen to this, you're gonna see these terms in scripture, righteousness without the law. Think about that term. Righteousness without the law. No flesh will be justified by the law. Paul said, I am dead to the law. I am delivered from the law. I am not under the law. I mean, these are phrases he uses again and again and again in reference to the law of Moses and the old covenant. Folks, the hints, we call it the old covenant. Now, do we learn from it? Do we understand our foundation, our heritage, our history? Did it foretell the coming of Christ and the Messiah and his atoning death and his resurrection and where he would be born? Yes, it is a foundation that we build upon. But we build upon that foundation and we live in the new covenant house. I don't have to go back and re-dig the foundation. I don't go back and lay on the slab of the foundation. The house, the new house. And it talks about this in Hebrews 3. It talks about what Moses built and it talks about the house Christ Jesus built. Amen? We are in the new covenant, not the old. Now, here's a verse of scripture we're gonna go and I just wanna read this because this is Paul's first missionary journey, not the first place he preached, but this is his first missionary journey. He had several. And this is an excerpt of Paul's sermon in the Jewish synagogue in Antioch. Now, listen to what he says here. He's in the Jewish synagogue, folks. And they just got through, if you read the passage, the scriptures before the synagogue, the rabbi just got through reading the law and the prophets, it says. And then the rabbi says, if anybody has a word of exhortation, let him stand up. So the apostle Paul stands up, Barnabas is with him and he preaches the gospel, the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. Not the Messiah would come. He wouldn't die, but he would be resurrected and through him is the forgiveness of sins. And this is what he says here. I just wanna take this excerpt because I want you to see what he was preaching. This is what Paul was preaching in the Jewish synagogue. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption, talking about Jesus being raised from the dead that he didn't see corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him, that is Jesus, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
- 0:09:08
So Paul's preaching in the Jewish synagogue and he's saying, guess what? Through Jesus, you are justified. Now the word justified means to be made right with God, to be in right standing with God, to have received forgiveness of sins, redemption, meaning God has forgiven you all trespasses, the blood has washed you, and you stand before God righteous because of what you have believed, not because you have been keeping the law of Moses. And I'm gonna say this also, the word justified is we're gonna see in just a second, the word justified also implies that you're saying, because there's some people out there say, well, I don't believe it's for salvation, the law of Moses, they're trying to keep the law, but I believe that it's fruit of that. Well, in fact, the Bible says this is not even justification, that's not even the proof that you are saved, all right? But I'm gonna show you this. Let's look at the word here. But this is Romans 3, 20 through 28. So let's look at this. Paul writes, therefore, by the deeds of the law, he's talking about the law of Moses, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, he's talking about now the time that, because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, paid the price, fulfilled the law, fulfilled all the requirements of the law. He says, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested or revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all of them that believe, for there is no difference. So I wanna say this here first, this phrase right here, but now the righteousness of God without the law. Everybody say that with me. Without the law, without the law. The righteousness of God that we walk in now is without or outside the law of Moses. That's why it is no longer required that we keep Sabbaths, feasts, new moons, sacrifices, blood sacrifices, animal sacrifices. That's why we don't have to go to a temple. That's why we don't need the Levitical priesthood. That's why we don't, you ladies better be glad because when you go through your time of the month, you'd have to be pretty much set apart. And anything you touched or set on would be considered unclean for seven days. So there's a lot of things in there that you better be glad that we're free from. But he says here that through the deeds of the law, that means I'm telling you, if you keep the Sabbath on Saturday, the feast, the new moons,
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