In Genesis 26, God says to Abraham's son, Isaac:
"3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
God here is setting up a pattern that we see throughout the Bible. That pattern is of following God's law, or commandments, or statutes, all three words are synonymous.
We find this pattern all over the Bible. Genesis 26:5, Exodus 15:26, 18:20, Leviticus 10:11, 18:5, 18:26, 19:19 (we find it quite a few times in Leviticus), Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 4:40, 6:2 (it is found frequently in Deuteronomy also), 2 Samuel 22:21-23, 1 Kings 2:3, 3:14, 2 King 17:131 Chronicles 22:13, 2 Chronicles 33:8, Ezra 7:10, Nehemiah 1:7, Psalm 18:21-23, Psalm 119 in its entirety, Jeremiah 44:10, Ezekiel 5:7, Hebrews 8:10, 10:16-17... The number of times the Bible lays out this pattern of following God's laws/commandments/statutes is staggering.
Let's go through a few examples:
Leviticus 18:5 is good example.
"Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I [am] the LORD."
It's quite easy to see what God is saying here, to paraphrase (rather badly): "Obey my laws!" Just as we must abide by the laws of our governments, so too must the born-again believer in Christ follow God's laws.
Colossians 3 is all about following God's law. It starts out:
"1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."
This passage is clearly talking about and to the believers, "If ye then be risen with Christ..." the language is quite obvious here. Then comes the command "...seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." This is a command to pay infinitely more attention to what God says than to anything man says.
Then come more commands:
"5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: ... 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."
God here commands the true believers to put off all manner of sin. We're reminded of the ten commandments that God gave the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai:
"1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I [am] the LORD thy God, which have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods
before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not
take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his
name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all
thy work:
10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any
work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor
thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:
11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and
hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his
ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."
Verses 1 and 2 can be seen to be figuratively speaking of God saving his elect, "...the house of bondage..." is often used in the Bible as a figure for being under the dominion of Satan (2 Peter 2:19). Therefore, this passage is obviously speaking to the believers who God has "brought out of the house of bondage" and parallels what we are reading in Colossians 3 very nicely as it is talking of the putting off of sin by obeying the law of God.
Getting back to Colossians 3, God has still more commandments:
"9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all."
God has, throughout this chapter, repeatedly emphasized the putting off of sin and minding the things of God and not of the world. God says to put off the old man and put on the new man. Verse 11 is, I believe, a reference to Heaven, indicating that this new man is a born-again believer in Christ.
The chapter goes on:
"12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye. 14 And above all these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness."
And the chapter continues to list command after command that God gives to his elect.
So we have begun to see a pattern in this chapter (and indeed in all the Scriptures that deal with this matter), God declares his laws and gives the command to follow them, then we see that those who follow God's laws are the elect of God who have become saved
I guess I have made a pretty good point that Colossians 3 is filled with laws. But can I really say that the whole Bible is a law book? Stick around, you'll see why my answer is a resounding yes.
Consider the following passage:
"27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed [is] the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it." Luke 11:27-28
Verse 28 is a key verse which will do the answering for me. "...blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it."
Now tell me, what is the word of God?
The Bible is. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, every chapter, every verse, every word in the Bible is the Word of God.
And here in Luke 11 it says "...blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it." Right there, we have irrefutable proof that the Bible is both the Word and the Law of God.
But what does this mean? Does this mean that anyone who reads the Bible regularly is automatically saved? Does it mean that a person is saved because he/she listens to Bible studies frequently? No, this means none of those things. But what does it mean? We must turn to the Scriptures for the answer.
Romans 2:12-13 gives us the answer:
"12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13 (For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."
Only those who do the law of God are justified (saved). This can only mean those whose sins have been paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ and have been given a regenerate soul, because the Bible tells us that there is a big problem with mankind (Romans 3:10-12) and he cannot keep the law of God. For those whose sins have not been paid for by Christ, the law of God will convict them and damn them to an eternity in Hell in payment for their sins, for the law of God is a two-edged sword (2 Corinthians 2:16, Revelation 1:16).
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15
It is distressing to speak of the fate that awaits every last unsaved person at the Final Judgement, but it must be said. To neglect to speak of Hell would make me guilty of one of the most grievous doctrinal errors imaginable (and one that is so prevalent in the churches). The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said "...woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!"
Ezekiel 33:1-9 likens the failure of preaching about Hell and damnation to a watcher failing to warn the land of the coming sword:
"1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take [any] person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. 7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked [man], thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul."
Therefore, we do not go around telling unsaved man that God loves him and has a wonderful plan for his life. We must warn the unsaved of God's coming wrath at the final judgment, and that means that speaking of Hell and damnation is absolutely necessary!!!
Speaking of Hell is distressing, but the Bible has made it very clear that it is fundamentally necessary. We have read right from the Law of God to "...warn the wicked from his way..." to warn this wicked world that God's judgement is coming upon all who remain unsaved. God's Judgement which has begun at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). Again it is terrible that I must say these things, but to do so has been written in the law of God.
"12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 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. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Romans 8:12-14
God here in verse 13 once again commands the believers to "mortify the deeds of the body" just as we read in Colossians 3, and we are once again reminded that those who truly follow the law are those whose sins have been paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. They are those who have been given a regenerate soul, who have "put on the new man," those "who are led by the Spirit Of God."