Mixing Law and Grace

What did William Branham teach?

William Branham taught that:

God ever says anything, He can never change it. He always magnifies it, not change it. The law was magnified, not changed. Magnified! "'Whosoever commits adultery shall be guilty of death,' but whosoever," now magnified, "looketh upon a woman to lust after her!" He never changed the commandment. He magnified it.

William Branham uses this concept of the magnification of the law, among other things, to bring Old Testament law into the church.

However, there is only one verse in the Bible that refers to the law being magnified:

The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honourable. (Is 42:21 KJV)

What Jesus said was:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (Mt 5:17)

What does magnify mean?

Obviously in William Branham's mind and in that of most message believers is means to make larger.

But what does the word magnify mean in the context of Isaiah 42:21?

Here is the same verse from a other translations:

The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable. (NKJV)

The LORD was pleased for His righteousness’ sake, To make the law great and glorious. (NASB)

It pleased the LORD for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious. (NIV)

What does fulfill mean?

Does it mean to magnify?

πληρόω: to give the true or complete meaning to something—‘to give the true meaning to, to provide the real significance of.’ οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι ‘I did not come to destroy but to give true meaning to’ (Mt 5:17)

Here are couple of other translations in more up to date English:

Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. (The Message)

“Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true. (GNT)

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. (NLT)

Paul stated that Jesus came "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross..." (Col 2:14)

What does this mean? What is the handwriting of requirements that Paul is talking about.

He is talking about the law. Jesus came to fulfill all of the requirements of the law on our behalf so that the way to God is now opened!

Jesus condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Ro 8:3–4)

God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Ro 8:3–5).

Could this be true?

What does Paul say about the Law?

Jesus did not sweep the the law under the carpet. He did not do away with it.

He came and fulfilled every requirement of the law perfectly on our behalf. So by Jesus, the law has been fulfilled.

Jesus did not redeem us from the curse of sin. Read your Bible:

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us... (Ga 3:13)

 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. (Ro 5:13)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (and not from the curse of sin) because where there is no law there is no sin. Even the ten commandments are referred to as producing death.

But if the ministry that produced death — carved in letters on stone tablets — came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), 3:8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? (2 Co 3:7–8 NET)

That is correct. Paul called the ten commandments the ministry that produced death.

Do you know that the ten commandments were received by Israel on the day of Pentecost. It was forty days after the Jewish passover when Moses went up on Mt. Sinai and received the Law. On that day, three thousand people died (Ex 32:28). But what happened on the day that the church was born, the day of Penecost? Three thousand people came to life (Acts 2:41)

So we don't have to pay attention to the law anymore?

Did Jesus go to Calvary and die to bring back the law to its pristine standard, a standard that ensured that no man could keep the law?

Why did Jesus say this:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You must not commit adultery.’  But I say to you, anyone who stares at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  So if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body go into hell.” (Mt 5:27–30 ISV)

If he was wanting you to obey what He said here, message churches would be filled with blind amputees!

The reason for His unbelievably high standard is to drive home the point that man cannot depend on himself and that he desperately needs a savior.

If you try to keep the law you will fail. But the message brings with it a set of rules and regulations that we are required to keep.

Do you know that the apostles specifically talked about the laws that us Gentiles were required to keep?

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.  Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. (Ac 15:19–20)

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. (Ac 15:28–29)

As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.” (Ac 21:25)

That's right. No ten commandments, no dress code, no requirement for ministers to marry virgins.

So how are Christians supposed to behave?

Paul stated:

Whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Ro 13:8–10)

...serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself. (Ga 5:13–14).

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Ga 6:2)

Do you know that Jesus never called sinners - not even the prostitues and corrupt tax collectors - "a brood of vipers". Not once! Those harsh words Jesus reserved for the religious people, Pharisees, whose fixation on the law blinded them from seeing God in the flesh. Learn to rightly divide the Word of God whenever you read the Bible.

How can you expect sinners to fall under your message requirements?

Is this relevant in any other way to William Branham's minsitry?

We did receive one question which asked: So, if the law is indeed magnified, would it not be logical to also assume the part of the prophets being done away with is not the case, that instead, the role of the prophet might be magnified as well?

References

Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. 1996. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: Based on semantic domains, 2nd edition. Vol. 1 (404), United Bible Societies: New York

Prince, Joseph, Unmerited Favor

Prince, Joseph, Destined to Reign