Have you ever dealt with the relationship between the Gospel and the Law as a disciple of Christ? When we see or hear God’s law, we know that it is holy, just and good. God’s Word tells us that God has written the law on man’s hearts:
“They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” – Romans 2:15 ESV
In this testimony of the law, God has given an unchanging expression of His holy character. It is a mirror revealing our sin, “the guardian” that guides us to righteous livings, and the perfect standard to which all men will be judged. While the world around us changes constantly, God’s law declares, like a lighthouse on a hill, what is right and wrong. What is true and morally absolute. The late John MacArthur once said, “there is a desperate need to proclaim the law clearly today. Without it, there is no truth, no authority, no rules and no judge.”
By the law, we are held accountable to God’s perfect standard. We have all fallen short of that standard. It shows us our sin and drives us to the conviction of need for salvation (by faith in Christ). The law is not just an option, nor has it become outdated, it is God’s moral principles that are a reflection of Him.
As a disciple of Jesus, have you ever asked the question – “since through Christ, I am free from fulfilling the law for salvation, what is the role of the law in my life?” Jesus himself said that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Paul would go on to pen this same thought in Romans 3. You see – Jesus fulfilled, as the mediator between God and man, the requirements of the law on your behalf. This is a key part of justification. We needed a substitute to live the life of perfection that we cannot – to keep God’s holy and perfect law. He did. And in the great exchange of justification, Christ’s perfection and holiness is credited to you through repentance and faith in Him.
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” – Romans 3:21-31
4 Key takeaways from this passage:
- God’s righteousness has been revealed in the person of His Son. The perfect righteousness we need isn’t earned by keeping law, but has been openly “manifested” through Jesus. Christ work fulfills what the Law and Prophets have always pointed to.
- ALL are held accountable to the law. We are all guilty, sinful and completely unable to make ourselves righteous and holy. The Good news is that God justifies sinners by the gift of Grace in the redemption accomplished by Jesus.
- Jesus’ blood is the propitiation that upholds the justice of God. You see, God displayed both His love and justice at the cross. He punished sin by pouring His wrath out on His Son for the forgiveness of your sin (He did not overlook your sin). This is how He is both the just and the justifier.
- Faith does not come with bragging in our self-righteousness, and it drives us to uphold the law. Justification comes by faith alone in christ alone. This is done apart from the works of the law, making salvation possible for all who call on the name of Jesus to be saved. This gospel of grace has established – not abolished – the purpose of the law in our lives.
Traditionally there have been three uses of the law identified in the ongoing life of the disciple. Let’s briefly take a look.
- Evangelism (Gal 3:19-24, Romans 3:19-20, Romans 7:7) The law acts as a mirror, reflecting God’s perfect holiness. Through this, we are made aware of our sinful status. This shatters our pride and thoughts of self-justification. It also drives us to become convinced and convicted that we need the Gospel.
- Civil (1 Tim 1:8-10, Romans 13:1-4) The law is a barrier against gross outward sin in the world. It provides and promotes “civil order and offers a protection to society instead of chaos and lawlessness.”
- Guiding Principles – Christians are delivered from the law and to the law. According to Romans 8, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. He has fulfilled the law and delivered us from the demands of the law. This is what it means to be delivered from the law. Now, we are delivered to the law from obedience not fulfillment. (Romans 8:3-4) The spirit writes the law on the heart (Her 31:33, Ezk 36:26-27), and creates a desire in us to obey what God has commanded. This is a grateful obedience, a delight (Romans 8:7).
It is important to note the difference in obedience and legalism. Legalism says, “you must keep God’s law to earn salvation.” Obedience says, “because you have been saved, you will want to obey.”
RC Sproul also adds an important thought here, “the gospel saves us from the curse of the law but directs us back to it to search its goodness and beauty. We obey not to be loved, but because we are loved.”
We must remember that sanctification is a process, and we will all struggle with this because of our sinful nature and fleshly desires. But the fight is good. It is a worthy cause to fight sin daily because of the finished work of Jesus, and what He has delivered us from.
In JC Ryle’s book Holiness, he refused to let the reader casually believe the justification by faith created an indifference to the law. He would write:
“There is no greater mistake than to suppose that a Christian has nothing to do with the law and the Ten Commandments, because he cannot be justified by keeping them. The Same Holy Ghost who convinced the believer of sin by the law, and leads him to Christ for justification, will always lead him to a spiritual use of the law, as a friendly Guide, in the pursuit of sanctification.”
In summary of other thoughts, genuine justification will lead to sanctification that will align with the heart of Paul’s writing in Romans 7:22, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being.” This is the posture and heart of an adopted child to His loving Father. As Ryle would go on to say it is a “habitual respect to God’s law and a habitual effort to live in obedience to it as the rule of life.”
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his sermon on “The Christian and God’s Law” gives us a powerful statement about the relationship we now have with the Law of God:
“The Christian has been delivered from the curse of the law. But that does not release him from the law as a rule of life. We have died to the law as a covenant so that we might belong to Christ and bear fruit for God.”
Romans 8:14 brings all of this together: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
In our sin, we resented God’s Law. In salvation, our motivation changes. We aren’t legalistic and self-centered after conversion. The Spirit and convicting Word of Truth leads us to a God-centered obedience. One of the great assurances of the Gospel is that we are accepted by God through Christ, and delivered to live an obedient life out of love. True believers will stumble, but we repent and return as the Apostle John writes in 1 John 2. There is incredible assurance in this passage. Because Christ has become our substitute – covered us through His righteous shed blood – by His willing, atoning, sacrificial death, we know that we belong to Him because of our desire to live for Him.
1 John 2: 1-6:
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him out to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
Closing Thoughts
Believer, press on and fight for holiness. Fight sin not from a position of despair, because the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead, lives in you. Look at the direction of your life since trusting in Christ. Is there fruit there? Is the Christian life one that brings you joy and delight? It is our prayer that you are led to daily depend on Christ and the Spirit’s work in you life leads you to trust the Lord who “works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13)
May we walk in His statutes with delight, confirming to our hearts and those around us that we are God’s Children. All for the Glory of God.