Law and Gospel, part IX

In part VII and part VIII, we discussed the doctrine of justification by faith alone.  While most Protestant Christians will endorse this Reformation understanding of justification, some believe this doctrine makes the law obsolete, citing the sixth chapter of Romans: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14 ESV).  While the Bible teaches that the Christian is no longer under the condemnation of the law, it does not imply that the moral precepts of God’s law are worthless.  Some believe that those who acknowledge an ongoing purpose for the law in the Christian life are one step away from embracing legalism.  But is it legalistic to acknowledge the moral qualities embedded in God’s law?  Does a Christian nullify his salvation and return to a works-based mindset if he asks, having been washed in the blood of Jesus, what God requires of him?

If the Christian seeks to maintain his justification by works of the law, as many within Adventism have historically taught, he clearly contradicts Scripture:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:20-21 ESV)

“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20 ESV)

Attempting to maintain a state of justification or salvation by works of the law is a heresy the Galatian church was guilty of, drawing the apostle Paul’s strongest rebuke.  It is curious to note that his treatment of the Galatians was much stronger than the way he addressed even the blatantly immoral Corinthians!

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3 ESV)

Having established that we are in no way justified by keeping the law and that law-keeping does not maintain our justification, the natural question becomes “What is the purpose of the law in the life of a Christian?”

We would be mistaken to discard the law as worthless in the Christian life.  Indeed, without the law as our schoolmaster, we would never have known what sin was and we would not have seen our need for a Savior (Galatians 3:23-26).

But the law does even more than this.  The moral standards contained in God’s law guide the Christian who has already received justification through faith in Jesus.  Obedience does not precede faith, but follows it.

“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:15-16 ESV)

The Christian interacts with the law in a fundamentally different way than the non-Christian.  For the nonbeliever, the law can only arouse sin and rebellion.  As it is written, “The strength of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56 KJV) But the believer sees the law fundamentally differently, having died to its condemnation so he can live for Christ.  He desires to be conformed to God’s will (sanctified) as a result of being secure in Christ and through no power of his own, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:19-21 ESV)

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV)

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 ESV)

We receive the desire to obey God’s will out of gratitude, not out of fear, a feeling of obligation, or even “trying to do the right thing.” The law is holy, just and good, and one who is saved by grace should not attempt to minimize God’s law, but rather uphold and rejoice in it, even though this will always be done imperfectly.

“Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” (Romans 3:31 ESV)

“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” (Romans 7:22-23 ESV)

The relationship of the Christian to the law is magnificently summarized in Romans 8.  Answering the rhetorical question “Is a Christian who falls short of God’s law condemned?” the apostle Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit says:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4 ESV)

As John MacArthur writes in his commentary on this passage, “Nothing is dearer to God’s heart than the moral and spiritual excellence of those He has created in His own image—and nothing is dearer to them.  He does not want them to have only imputed righteousness but practical righteousness as well.  And that is also what they want.  It is practical righteousness about which Paul speaks here, just as he does in the opening words of his letter to the church at Ephesus: ‘[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him’ (Ephesians 1:4).

It is God’s great desire that believers live out the perfect righteousness He reckons to them when they are saved—that they live like His children and no longer like the children of the world and of Satan...the purpose of the gospel is not to make men happy but to make them holy.  As the Beatitudes make clear, genuine happiness comes to those who belong to Christ and are obedient to His will.”

Those who disagree with the ongoing purpose of God’s law in the Christian life will contend that the stance outlined here is just another form of veiled legalism.  It may be argued that because keeping the law cannot merit salvation, acknowledging and living by its moral precepts is pointless.

But as MacArthur rightly concludes, “The Christian’s obligations to God are not another form of legalism.  The person who is genuinely saved has a new and divine nature that is, by definition, attuned to God’s will.  When he lives by his new nature in the power of the Spirit, his desire is God’s desire, and no compulsion is involved.  But because the believer is still clothed in the old self, he sometimes resists God’s will.  It is only when he goes against God’s will and against his own new nature that the divine commands and standards seem burdensome.  On the other hand, the faithful child of God who is obedient from the heart can always say with the psalmist, ‘O how I love Thy law!’ (Psalm 119:97)”

Law and Gospel, part VIII

In part VII, we introduced the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the doctrine that launched the Protestant Reformation.  This teaching was considered so significant to the reformers that they described it as the doctrine upon which the Christian Church stands or falls.  Many churches have claimed to be the inheritors of the Reformation, including Seventh-day Adventists.  Remarkably, for a church whose end-time teaching considers the pope to be the antichrist of Revelation 13, historic Adventists are in agreement with Roman Catholics by mixing justification and sanctification.  While there are many areas of doctrinal overlap between Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity, the doctrine of justification is a point of major disagreement and was the very basis for the Reformation.  It is ironic that many Adventists would find themselves in basic agreement with Catholics on justification, but perhaps many are simply unclear on justification due to their focus on end-time events, dietary practices and other Adventist distinctives.  Reproduced below is a passage from J.I. Packer’s Concise Theology that provides, in just a few short paragraphs, a clear description of this central Protestant teaching that may be helpful for those who are still struggling with it.

“The doctrine of justification, the storm center of the Reformation, was a major concern of the apostle Paul.  For him it was the heart of the gospel (Romans 1:17, Romans 3:21-5:21, Galatians 2:15-5:1) shaping both his message (Acts 13:38-39) and his devotion and spiritual life (2 Corinthians 5:13-21, Philippians 3:4-14).  Though other New Testament writers affirm the same doctrine in substance, the terms in which Protestants have affirmed and defended it for almost five centuries are drawn primarily from Paul.

Justification is a judicial act of God pardoning sinners (wicked and ungodly persons, Romans 4:5, Romans 3:9-24), accepting them as just, and so putting permanently right their previously estranged relationship with himself.  This justifying sentence is God’s gift of righteousness (Romans 5:15-17), his bestowal of a status of acceptance for Jesus’ sake (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God’s justifying judgment seems strange, for pronouncing sinners righteous may appear to be precisely the unjust action on the judge’s part that God’s own law forbade (Deuteronomy 25:1, Proverbs 17:15). Yet is in fact a just judgment, for its basis is the righteousness of Jesus Christ who as ‘the last Adam’ (1 Corinthians 15:45), our representative head acting on our behalf, obeyed the law that bound us and endured the retribution for lawlessness that was our due and so (to use a medieval technical term) ‘merited’ our justification.  So we are justified justly, on the basis of justice done (Romans 3:25-26) and Christ’s righteousness reckoned to our account (Romans 5:18-19).

God’s justifying decision is the judgement of the Last Day, declaring where we shall spend eternity, brought forward into the present and pronounced here and now.  It is the last judgment that will ever be passed on our destiny; God will never go back on it, however much Satan may appeal against God’s verdict (Zechariah 3:1, Revelation 12:10, Romans 8:33-34).  To be justified is to be eternally secure (Romans 5:1-5, Romans 8:30).

The necessary means, or instrumental cause, of justification is personal faith in Jesus Christ as crucified Savior and risen Lord (Romans 4:23-25, Romans 10:8-13).  This is because the meritorious ground of our justification is entirely in Christ.  As we give ourselves in faith to Jesus, Jesus gives us his gift of righteousness, so that in the very act of ‘closing with Christ,’ as older Reformed teachers put it, we receive divine pardon and acceptance which we could not otherwise have (Galatians 2:15-16, Galatians 3:24).

Official Roman Catholic theology includes sanctification in the definition of justification, which it sees as a process rather than a single decisive event, and affirms that while faith contributes to our acceptance with God, our works of satisfaction and merit contribute too.  Rome sees baptism, viewed as a channel of sanctifying grace, as the primary instrumental cause of justification, and the sacrament of penance, whereby congruous merit is achieved through works of satisfaction, as the supplementary restorative cause whenever the grace of God’s initial acceptance is lost through mortal sin.  Congruous, as distinct from condign, merit means merit that is fitting, though not absolutely necessary, for God to reward by a fresh flow of sanctifying grace.  On the Roman Catholic view, therefore, believers save themselves with the help of the grace that flows from Christ through the church’s sacramental system, and in this life no sense of confidence in God’s grace can ordinarily be had.  Such teaching is a far cry from that of Paul.” -J.I. Packer, Concise Theology, pp. 165-166

Read more in part IX.

Law and Gospel, part VII

In part VI of this series we learned that being convicted of sin by God’s law brings deep regret, humility and ultimately leads to repentance.  Having admitted to ourselves and to God that we have sinned against others and more importantly, against Him, we conclude that we have no righteousness to draw from that will justify us in His sight.  Just as one who has been convicted of a crime in a court of law is at the mercy of the court, the sinner is at the mercy of God when he is convicted of sin.  It is only at this point–in the depths of despair–that the sinner will see the reality of what God has done for him.  Amazingly, in His infinite mercy, God has provided a means of pardoning our debts and commuting our death sentence by taking the sentence Himself.

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8 ESV)

This stunning passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans breathes life into the person whose breath is almost gone from finally realizing the depth of their own sin.  When we finally realize it is against God that we have sinned, and it is His laws that we have violated, and it is in pursuing our own desires that we have ignored His will, we are brought to the point of despair over this hopeless situation.  But God has an answer for the person who is almost beyond helping, and ironically, it is the person in complete despair who sees God’s remedy and clings to it as if his life depends on it.

At our lowest point, “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” God in the flesh–Jesus Christ–died not for the righteous, but for sinners.  In so doing, He showed his incomparable love for us–a love that is not contingent on love for Him or any good work we can produce.  As the theologian Charles Hodge observed, “If [God] loved us because we loved Him, he would love us only so long as we love Him, and on that condition; and then our salvation would depend on the constancy of our treacherous hearts.  But as God loved us as sinners, as Christ died for us as ungodly, our salvation depends, as the apostle argues, not on our loveliness, but on the constancy of the love of God” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, pg. 136-137).

Building up to this astounding truth in Romans 5, Paul describes a righteousness that is available by faith in the preceding two chapters.  This is the foundational doctrine of the Christian faith and is the keystone of the Protestant Reformation, the doctrine upon which the Christian Church stands or falls.  It is the belief that man can receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ apart from his own effort which led Martin Luther to oppose the Roman Catholic Church by saying, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”

In response to the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church condemned justification by faith in 1547 at the Council of Trent: “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.” (On Justification, Canon IX) “If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema.” (Canon XI) “If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.” (Canon XII) “If any one saith, that it is necessary for every one, for the obtaining the remission of sins, that he believe for certain, and without any wavering arising from his own infirmity and disposition, that his sins are forgiven him; let him be anathema.” (Canon XIII) “If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema.” (Canon XIV)

Perhaps a free pardon for our sins is just too incredible to believe, and our natural inclination is to create a more demanding path to reconciliation with God.  In evaluating many of today’s religions, and even in looking at much of the professed Christian church, the myriad attempts of man to earn God’s acceptance are evident.  More specifically within the Adventist church, many have advocated the approach of law-keeping as a means for finding God’s favor.

For example, in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary entry for Romans 8:1, we find the following: “The good news of the gospel is that Christ came to condemn sin, not sinners (John 3:17; Rom. 8:3).  To those who believe and accept the generous provisions of the gospel and who in faith commit themselves to lives of loving obedience, Christ offers justification and freedom.  There may yet be deficiencies in the believer’s character, but ‘when it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man’s best service, and He makes up for the deficiency with His own divine merit’ (ST June 16, 1890).  For such there is no condemnation (John 3:18).” Elsewhere, Ellen White wrote that God’s grace and man’s effort are both necessary for justification: “Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above, are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator.  Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling.  Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the battle with evil” (GC 425).

This view of justification places the burden back on the sinner, exhorting him to strive to obey God in his “best service,” maintaining a “spotless character” until he can do no more, after which Jesus will step in and apply his own merit to make up the difference.  But the Bible knows nothing of this “partial justification” or “cooperative righteousness”:

“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...” (Romans 3:21-24 ESV)

“[We] know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16 ESV)

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7 ESV).

Now we can see how wonderful God’s gift of righteousness is—apart from works of the law—and how astounding it is that he bestowed this gift on people who are utterly undeserving of it and absolutely incapable of earning it.  Seeing this should also give us concern for our brothers and sisters who are still blind to the gift and who industriously continue to perform works of the law to find God’s favor.  While keeping the law is not wrong in itself, it is meaningless when done to gain the favor of God instead of from gratitude for what he has already done in the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

The law is not opposed to the gospel and the keeping of the law is not opposed to faith.  “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?  By no means!  On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31 ESV) But when one does not believe the gospel and one does not have faith, the law still stands as their accuser, acting as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ (Galatians 3:23-26 KJV).

The Bible concludes with a powerful gospel message for those who may have missed it in the preceding 65 books: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17 ESV).  Let us be certain to drink from the priceless water of God’s deep well and not from the shallow saucers of our own design.

Read more in part VIII.

Law and Gospel, part VI

In part part V of this series, we saw that the New Testament teaches the “lawful use of the law” in revealing sin.  We saw that the rich young ruler thought he had successfully kept the commandments from his youth, just as many Adventists believe that perfect law-keeping is achievable and even necessary to hasten the second coming of Christ.  In both cases, the person who trivializes the law by believing he is capable of meeting its demands risks relying upon his own effort instead of depending on the mercy and grace of God through his Son.  By defining the law so narrowly that we can rise to its demands, we fail to appreciate the incomparable holiness of God and, by contrast, the depths of our own depravity.  As such, we don’t fall under the weight of our own sin and acknowledge our total inability to meet the law’s requirements.

In Psalm 32, we see the biblical response of a sinner’s confrontation with the law.  Perhaps no biblical figure understood his own guilt and the need for God’s grace better than David, who was guilty of committing both murder and adultery.  There is much to learn by reading and applying the words he uses in acknowledging his own sin, having been crushed under the weight of his transgressions.

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:1-5 ESV)

Charles Spurgeon eloquently unpacks the truths in these verses in his Treasury of David.  “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. He is now blessed and ever shall be. Be he ever so poor, or sick, or sorrowful, he is blessed in very deed. Pardoning mercy is of all things in the world most to be prized, for it is the only and sure way to happiness. To hear from God’s own Spirit the words, ‘absolvo te’ is joy unspeakable. Blessedness is not in this case ascribed to the man who has been a diligent law keeper, for then it would never come to us, but rather to a lawbreaker, who by grace most rich and free has been forgiven. Self righteous Pharisees have no portion in this blessedness. Over the returning prodigal, the word of welcome is here pronounced, and the music and dancing begin. A full, instantaneous, irreversible pardon of transgression turns the poor sinner’s hell into heaven, and makes the heir of wrath a partaker in blessing. The word rendered forgiven is in the original taken off or taken away, as a burden is lifted or a barrier removed. What a lift is here! It cost our Saviour a sweat of blood to bear our load, yea, it cost him his life to bear it quite away. Samson carried the gates of Gaza, but what was that to the weight which Jesus bore on our behalf?

Covered by God, as the ark was covered by the mercyseat, as Noah was covered from the flood, as the Egyptians were covered by the depths of the sea. What a cover must that be which hides away for ever from the sight of the all seeing God all the filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit! He who has once seen sin in its horrible deformity, will appreciate the happiness of seeing it no more for ever. Christ’s atonement is the propitiation, the covering, the making an end of sin; where this is seen and trusted in, the soul knows itself to be now accepted in the Beloved, and therefore enjoys a conscious blessedness which is the antepast of heaven. It is clear from the text that a man may know that he is pardoned: where would be the blessedness of an unknown forgiveness? Clearly it is a matter of knowledge, for it is the ground of comfort.”

The same God who forgives sin also tells us he will remember it no more, casting our sin into the depths of the sea and removing our sin “as far as the East is from the West” (Isaiah 43:25, Micah 7:18-19, Psalm 103:12).  These promises provide infinite reassurance to the sinner whose salvation is secure in Christ while dealing a death blow to the belief that an investigative judgment of professed Christ-followers is now underway.

Truly God’s grace is unsearchable, a grace that is apprehended by the faith of a sinner who knows the depths of his own impotent unrighteousness, confessing it without hesitation.

Read more in part VII.

Law and Gospel, part V

In part IV of this series, we looked specifically at the fourth commandment–a commandment of special importance to Adventists–and concluded that nobody actually “keeps” this command.  Furthermore, those who believe they are successfully keeping it may miss the Person to whom the shadow of the Sabbath points–Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

Some Christians are uncomfortable with using the law to expose our sinful nature and to establish our need for a Savior, believing the law was done away with at the cross.  Adventists, on the other hand, have historically taught that the law is something to be mastered and kept perfectly, using their example of Sabbath-keeping as evidence that, unlike non-Adventists, they “keep” the whole law.

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul addressed the concerns of both groups: “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners...” (1 Timothy 1:8-9 ESV)

This “lawful” use of the law is found not only in Paul’s epistles, but in the teachings of Jesus, which we will explore in more detail below.

Jesus

Jesus quoted from and expanded upon the ten commandments and other Mosaic laws in his Sermon on the Mount.  He specifically identified the seventh and eighth commandments as the basis for an even higher level of righteousness than that required by the decalogue (Matthew 5:21-28).  Not unlike Adventists, the Jews of Jesus’ day believed they had mastered the law and boiled down its requirements to a formula they were able to live by.  Jesus destroyed this misconception by showing how the ten commandments require a much higher standard of righteousness than a narrow reading of the words implies.  Those listening to Jesus, believing they had “kept” the law by not committing murder must have been shocked to hear that their anger with a brother was just as bad as killing someone in cold blood.  Further on in his sermon, Jesus also referred to the first commandment: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24 ESV)

In another example, Jesus harshly condemned the Pharisees’ pollution of the law with their traditions by quoting from the fifth commandment: “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.” (Matthew 15:3-6 ESV) Later in this chapter, Jesus contrasted the ceremonial aspects of the law with its moral qualities, driving home the point that foods don’t defile a person, rather, it is what comes out of the heart that defiles him.  In so doing, Jesus appealed to actions prohibited by the third, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth commandments (Matthew 15:18-20).

As yet another example, when the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus quoted from the commandments to show him that he was not “good.” (Mark 10:17-22) The rich young ruler had addressed Jesus as a “good teacher,” and Jesus replied with “only God is good,” proceeding to walk through several of the commandments.  When the rich young ruler assured Jesus that he had kept these since his youth, Jesus showed that in fact he had not, since money was his god, violating the first commandment.

Most importantly, when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he did not appeal to anything found within the decalogue, instead quoting two commandments found in the Mosaic law (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18): “And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, ‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’” (Mark 12:28-31 ESV)

Paul

When reasoning with the Athenians in the Aeropagus, Paul used the principles of the first and second commandments to exhort them to turn from their sin, even though these Gentile hearers were never bound by the Sinai covenant: “Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31 ESV) Paul preached a very similar message to the crowds at Lystra (Acts 14:15).

Paul also reasons from his own testimony in his letter to the Romans, which was written “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Romans 1:7 ESV). Paul’s audience in this letter was the believers in Rome, both Jew and Gentile, again illustrating the function of the law to convict the whole world (not just the Jews), stopping every mouth and holding them acccountable to God (Romans 3:19).

In opening the letter, Paul strikes at the heart of the Jewish self-assured righteousness, asking them directly whether they kept the law which was given to them, in much the same way as Jesus magnified and expanded the law in the Sermon on the Mount: “...you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’” (Romans 2:21-24 ESV)

Later, Paul refers directly to the ten commandments when answering the rhetorical question about whether the law is sin: “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:7-12 ESV)

Later in the letter to the Romans, Paul again appeals to the commandments, summarizing them as Jesus did in the two greatest commandments: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10 ESV)

In his epistle to the Corinthian church, Paul gives specific examples of behaviors that would exclude them from heaven, with direct reference to the decalogue: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV) Paul gave a similar list to the Galatian church (Galatians 5:19-21).

Still another example comes from the epistle to the Ephesians, which like the Roman church, was a mixed population of Christians from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.  Paul appeals in this case to the fifith commandment: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV)

Finally, returning to our opening text, in counseling Timothy to “use the law lawfully,” Paul also provided a list of behaviors that are specifically restrained by this use of the law: “...the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” (1 Timothy 1:8-11 ESV)

Paul also warned Timothy in his second letter of the people who will disregard God’s law, again drawing from the decalogue and elsewhere to identify the marks of those who appear godly, but who deny God’s power by the actions: “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:2-5 ESV)

Conclusion

In reviewing these New Testament references to the decalogue and Mosaic law, we must conclude that it is biblical for Christians to use the law to reveal sin.  But in acknowledging the lawful purpose of the law, we must not conclude that our justification comes from keeping the law.  Nobody is made righteous by their ability to perform righteous works or law-keeping.  “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20 ESV)

No, the purpose of the law is to convict the whole world of sin, causing us to despair of our unrighteousness and driving us to rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ—the only one who is good and the only one who could provide atonement for our sins.  In short, the law was given so that sin would be seen for what it is, “sinful beyond measure” (Romans 7:13).

Read more in part VI.