The Law – Part II

“The presence of the Spirit and of grace is not meant to set the law aside, but to enable conformity to it from an inwardly transformed personality. We walk in the spirit of the law and the letter naturally follows as is appropriate. You cannot separate spirit from law, though you must separate spirit and law from legalism – righteousness in terms of actions.” Dallas Willard, p. 214 “Renovation of the Heart”

Scholars and theologians such as Dallas Willard have written far more thoroughly and effectively on this subject than I can or intend to. But I want to continue our discussion again because I fear the statements in Scripture that speak to the law’s inability to save have caused some to not see the great value of the Law for disciples of Jesus. Many church goers out there have never read it once, and that neglect has serious repercussions on the vitality of Christ’s church.

If Jesus Christ, who was full of “grace and truth” (see John 1:14), said to the Father as prophesied by the prophet David in Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart”  - then perhaps we should not be so quick to write off the Law, though obviously again we are not to be under it or attempting in any way to obtain favor with God by it.

We are going to pick up where we left off with Paul’s ongoing discussion of the Law re: its contribution to the fulfillment of Abraham’s  supernatural calling:     “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13    God’s call to Abraham had nothing to do with merit – everything to do with God’s sovereign choice and grace. The realization of this mind boggling promise could only come by faith; not by any human merit. God did not say to Abraham that he would be a father to the nations if he perfectly obeyed the law. Rather He said that His promises would be fulfilled as Abraham learned to trust Him and stand on His promises regardless of the circumstances, which were daunting.

Abraham’s example in walking this out was to be an example to the rest of us for how to walk out our callings from God – the first aspect of our calling being saved from our sins and made a child of God:     “For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified.” Romans 4:14  “those who are of the Law” are those who try to obtain right standing with God by obeying the Law, which no man has ever been able to do.        

Very important to understand the Law’s limitations in terms of a sinner lost in his sins being made right with a holy God:  “For the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”  Romans 4:15   The law brings about wrath because it magnifies or demonstrates man’s sinfulness and inability to please God by any human effort. When man realizes that and instead of trying to gain God’s favor by human effort places his faith in God’s provision through the cross, we are no longer under wrath or condemnation.                                                                                                        

Romans chapter five is still in this 3 chapter discussion of Paul’s in the epistle of Romans about our justification or how a person can be saved from their sins and how the guilty verdict hanging over our heads can be removed/expunged. “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” Romans 5:20.  God of course never wanted our sins to increase. But He did want them to be made known to us both in their number and in their seriousness or wickedness. The Law accomplishes that purpose as we are ever more acquainted with it. The wonderful news is – as we become more aware of it and grieved by it, in Christ we find an ever flowing and abundant and sufficient fountain of grace to help us overcome it.                                          

Paul pivots from his discussion about justification through faith (chps. 3-5) now in chapters 6-8 to a discussion about the sanctification of the believer. Very important to understand this as we look at the following handful of verses.

 ”What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” Romans 7:7  One of the Law’s primary purposes is to help us see what holiness and righteousness looks like in every aspect of life and thus where any deviation from that in our lives needs to be repented of. For Paul one example I’m sure of many is the sin of coveting, which the Law speaks of in Exodus 20:17 & Deuteronomy 5:21 among other passages. The Law is meant to be a very helpful and needed mirror to help us see our defects/sins and thus turn to Him for forgiveness and cleansing.

 “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” Romans 7:12    Paul knew that we in our immaturity and corruption have a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and to use half truths to justify our sin that we are not ready to repent of. So he makes very clear how we should all feel about the Law. It is holy, righteous and good all the time.  I wish I had been clearer about this and more mature and anointed to explain these things in the beginning of my ministry when my attempts to get peeps in our congregation meditating daily in the whole counsel of God were sometimes met with accusations of my resorting to legalism and being pharisaical.  Years later I grieve that those who most warned of legalism ended up being the most licentious.                    

 “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” Romans 7:14  The problem in trying to help believers (and help myself) is never the Law. For it is always spiritual. The problem is you and I are of flesh – sold into bondage to sin until Christ frees us by His matchless grace.

 “But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.” Romans 7:16 Here’s the issue folks. In our quest to grow in grace and to “…be transformed by the renewing of our minds…”we struggle greatly at times. And in the pain of our struggle we are very tempted to blame it on anyone but ourselves. Ideally in the pain of our struggle we would be quick to agree with the Law, confessing that is always good, and more quick to own up to our slowness to embrace and believe all that He has said about us and done for us through the cross and the sending of His Spirit.

 “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”  Romans 8:3    The Law is holy, righteous, good and spiritual, but it is also weak. That is while it can make known to us our sin, it can never free us from our sin. Only God’s precious Son – Jesus Christ can do that.     

 “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:4   For the Law to be fulfilled in us, Jesus had to die for us. The power of sin had to be broken. The debt of sin had to be righteously paid/covered. The stain of sin had to be washed away. And the Holy Spirit had to be sent so we could “…walk in the same manner as He walked.” I John 2:7

 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”  “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  Romans 13:8, 10  Paul is very concerned that the Law be fulfilled in us. Have you noticed that? And it will be increasingly as we learn to relate to all people by the power of the Spirit, killing sin (see Romans 8:13) all along the way.

The Law is misused in many ways, but perhaps the major way is people seeking to be justified by following it, not realizing that the only way one can be justified by the Law is by following it fully and completely throughout one's life. Here are a few passages that declare this important truth: "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse: for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." Galatians 3:10 (quoting Deuteronomy 27:26).

Last night when it was time to read Scripture to my wife I turned to Galatians 5 and I noticed in vs. 3, Paul states, "And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law."

Finally along these lines, James states the same, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." James 2:10

 “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” Galatians 3:19  Again when we believers learn of the weakness of the Law or of its limitations in terms of saving us, we tend to overreact and wonder about its use or worth to believers. So Paul explains to the church in Galatia it was given so we could see and understand our sins and see the consequences of our sins and so we could see what holiness and righteousness looks like. It was to prepare us for a much needed Savior, who alone could free us from sin and lead us into righteousness.

 “For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.  8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.” I Timothy 1:6-11 6    Paul again asserts that the Law is good, that it is easily misunderstood, that it must be used rightly or appropriately, and that its primary use is to help unbelievers see the reality of their sin and need and point them to the Savior.

 “(for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” Hebrews 7:19  God actually calls us to be perfect (see Matthew 5:48) as He is perfect, and holy as He is holy (see I Peter 1:15,16). The Law should as we meditate on it drive us more to the great hope we have in Jesus to help us pull this off. The Law itself could never make us perfect no matter how hard we try to follow/obey it.

 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.” Hebrews 10:1  Within the law are a variety of sacrifices and offerings that the Jews were to abide by with the help of the priests. The observance of those was never meant to save them, but to point them to God to save them, and ultimately to the coming Messiah to save them.  

May we disciples of Jesus ever more feel about the Law as He does, meditate on it as He did (as the Holy Spirit leads us), and be ever more thankful that Jesus came to fulfill the Law in us by His blood and by His Spirit. May He help us understand increasingly what it means when He says the Law is holy, righteous, good and spiritual but also weak, and meant to be used “lawfully”. May the mirror of the Law drive us ever more to cling to our Savior to be set free from all sin for His glory in Jesus’s name, Amen!