God does not set people free for them to live lawlessly. Grace is not lawlessness. The new covenant does not mean no laws.
Certainly Not!
Christians are not under the old Mosaic Law (the laws of the Old Covenant), but they are under the law of Christ. The lawless or lawbreakers have no part in the kingdom of God (Mathew 7.23, 2 Peter 3.17, 1 John 3.4).
To those not having the law, I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law (1 Corinthians 9.21NIV).
Do we, then, deny the value of the Law because of what we say of faith? Of course not, rather we place the Law in its proper place (Romans 3.31)
God hated sin in the past and He still hates sin today. God often chastised Israel for disobeying His laws.
The LORD warned all lawbreakers and all people who teach others to sin (Mathew 5.17-19). The LORD Jesus did not come to destroy but to fulfill the law. Jesus Christ did not fulfill the law by obeying its letter. He fulfilled the law by obeying the spirit of the law – the law of love. By His death on the cross, the love of God was poured on mankind.
The LORD Jesus taught the people the spirit of the law and not just the letter. He renewed the law on murder, marriage, the law of eye for an eye, love etc.
In the old law, killing someone was a sin of murder. The LORD renewed the law on murder: anyone who is angry with his brother for no just cause or anyone who humiliates his brother and insult him is a murderer and such a one is in danger of being brought before trial and sent to hell (Mathew 5.21-24).
In the old law, divorce was granted for any reason by simply giving the divorcee a writ of divorce. The LORD renewed the law on divorce: anyone who divorces his wife for any other reason than sexual immorality or illicit marriage, is guilty of adultery and any man who marries a divorced woman is guilty of adultery. If a married man looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he has committed adultery (Mathew 5.27-28, 31-32).
In the old law, it was okay to hate your enemy and love those who love you. The LORD renewed the law on love: love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who mistreat you, give to all who ask, lend without expecting any returns, strive not with the wicked, etc. Let the light of your love shine so that you can become children of God (Mathew 5.38-48).
The letter cannot cover every aspect of the spirit. The letter cannot deal with the things of the heart such as lust, anger, and hatred. Only the law of the spirit can cover things such as these because the spirit searches the deep things of a man’s heart.
God’s law was never taken away from man rather it was brought to its proper footing – the spirit of the law. The LORD Jesus summarized all the requirements of the law into one law (John 15.12, 17, Romans 13, 1 John 3.23, John 2.1-11).
"Now I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13.34).
The law of love is very deep and profound, and it cannot be completely broken down detailly into acts and written down. Love fulfills the law of Christ. It demands integrity in keeping your words rather than from swearing an oath. It refuses tooth for tooth or eye for eye rather it repays evil with good. It demands mercy and not judgement. The law of love covers the entire law of God and it can only be fulfilled in spirit and not in letter. Each circumstance we encounter in life demands us to operate in love. We cannot write down every situation. It is by following the Spirit of Christ that we can walk in love in every circumstance and thus fulfill the law of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5.22). The believer who bears this fruit satisfies the law of God.
Believers in Christ Jesus have been freed from the Old Covenant law system (written laws obeyed in human strength). Believers have been transferred to a new covenant law system, a living way, the way of the spirit.
The time is coming - it is Yahweh who speaks - when I will forge a new covenant with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. It will not be like the one I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. For they broke my covenant although I was their LORD. This is the covenant I shall make with Israel after that time: I will put my Law within them and write it on their hearts, I will be their God and they will be my people. And they will not have to teach each other, neighbor or brother, saying: 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the greatest to the lowliest, for I will forgive their wrongdoing and no longer remember their sin." This is the word of Yahweh (Jeremiah 31.31-35).
The new covenant operates in spirit and not tablets of stone or paper. It checks out the lust in a man’s heart and not just the outward act of adultery. The righteous demands of the law are fulfilled in believers who walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. If a believer does not walk after the Spirit of Christ, they cannot fulfill the requirements of the law because the flesh is too weak to obey God. If we do not operate in the power of the Holy Spirit, we cannot perfectly obey God even if we are willing.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. …… For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live (Romans 8.13)
Man cannot obey God perfectly in human strength. In the human nature, the law of sin operates and thus, it will stop man from obeying God (Romans 7.18-25).
The only way man can perfectly obey God is the divine power of Christ Jesus. We must be led by Him (His Spirit) and not by our human nature and tendencies. We must abide in Him and draw life from Him. It is His life that strengthens us to obey God. We must give up trying to obey God in our natural strength and look to His life deposited inside of us.
If a man continues to walk after the flesh and do its works and satisfy its desires, he shall surely die. We are set free (made righteous) to fight for our salvation by putting on holiness attained through the way of love (1 Peter 1.22, 1 Peter 4.8). We are set free to obey God and obtain the crown of life (James 1.11-12).