Let God’s Law Be Your Guide

Let God’s Law Be Your Guide

Our working theme for Galatians: “Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as taught in Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone”

CHARTING THE COURSE FOR THIS STUDY

Ø The Law is a means of grace

THE LAW IS A MEANS OF GRACE

A. Misuses of the Law:

1. The law cannot cleanse us from our sins.

a. Acceptance into God’s household is on the basis of faith in Christ alone.

b. The church’s acceptance of others is on the basis of faith in Christ alone.

i. The Judaizers were teaching that in order to be “clean” one had to be circumcised and keep the food laws (Acts 15:1,5; Galatians 2).

ii. Peter treated Gentile Christians as if they were “unclean” and stood condemned (Galatians 2:11; Acts 10:15; 11:9; 15:9).

“It is not enough that we believe the gospel (Peter did this: Gal.2:16), nor even that we strive to preserve it, as Paul and the Jerusalem apostles did, and the Judaizers did not. We must go further still. We must apply it; it is this that Peter failed to do. He knew perfectly well that faith in Jesus was the only condition on which God will have fellowship with sinners; but he added circumcision as an extra condition on which he was prepared to have fellowship with them, thus contradicting the gospel” (John Stott, The Message of Galatians, pp.56f.).

2. The Law is impotent and cannot empower us to live a holy life.

a. Paul was not converted according to his former manner of life in Judaism.

b. The best that Paul could do according to the Law was:

i. persecute the church of God (Galatians 1:13-14; Acts 8:3; 9:1,13,21; 22:4,5,19; 26:10f; 1 Cor.15:9; Phil.3:6; 1 Tim.1:13cf. Acts 26:4,5; Philippians 3:5-6).

ii. murder and blaspheme (1 Timothy 1:13-15; cf. Acts 7:58; 8:1-3; 9:1-4; 26; 22:4; 5; 7; 8; 19; 20; 26:14; 15; Philippians 3:6).

c. The best that the Jewish Sanhedrin could do was condemn the innocent Lord of glory. The best they could do was spit upon him, beat him with their fists, slap Him and mock Him (Matthew 26-28).

3. The law is not a means of righteousness for sinners but only condemnation.

4. The Mosaic Law must be interpreted in light of the Person, work, teaching and example of Jesus. Christ must have the preeminence when it comes to our understanding of the Mosaic Law.[1]

a. Strictly speaking, it is wrong to assert that the Christian must obey the “law of Moses.” It is not Moses’ Law, but Jesus Christ’s (cf. Hebrews 7:11-12; 8:10):

i. “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).

ii. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34; cf. John 15:12).

iii. “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

iv. “though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:20-21).

b. The Old Testament is still applicable but must be interpreted in light of Jesus Christ (e.g. the Fourth Commandment).

i. In the New Covenant the Law is written upon the hearts of believers as opposed to tablets of stone enclosed within the Ark of the Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezek.36:26-27; Hebrews 8:10).

ii. The New Testament appeals to the Ten Commandments regarding our obligation “in Christ” (Ephesians 6:1-3//Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16).

5. The Law is not of faith (3:12) and therefore can never replace our faith in Jesus Christ.

a. We are to live our Christian life the same way we began our Christian life (Gal.3:1-5; Romans 1:17; Col.2:6).

i. Paul came to Christ through faith.

ii. Paul continued in his Christian life through faith.

iii. Christians live a Spirit empowered life by faith

b. “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God.” (Galatians 2:20)

6. Obedience to the Law does not merit God’s grace.

B. Proper uses of the Law

1. The Law is good (Romans 3:31; 7:12,16; 1 Cor.7:19; Galatians 3:21; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; cf. Eph.6:1-3).

“The most significant question in current scholarship pertinent to Pauline ethics is the place of the Law.” (Stephen Charles Mott, “Ethics” in Dictionary of Paul and his Letters, p.271)

2. The Law reveals the holiness of God.

3 The Law reveals the justice of God.

4. Because of God’s common grace Law restrains people from sin. This is why Christians desire to see laws making abortion illegal, laws against various forms of sexual immorality, etc. However, law by itself:

a. cannot change sinner’s hearts.

b. cannot restrain sinful behavior.

5. The Law leaves us no place to turn for righteousness other than faith in Jesus Christ (Gal.3:22-25). The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus has fulfilled the Law!

C. The Law is a means of grace because the Word of God is a means of grace (see Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pp. 612-615).

“The Bible is both the rule of faith and the rule of practice. The Law, in particular is the rule of practice, which defines for us what righteousness is, and thus is properly a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, and also a guide for our daily living, once we have come to him. As such, it is especially a means of grace, both of bringing the sinner to Christ and also in assisting the believer to grow in grace” (Morton Smith, Systematic Theology, Volume One: Prolegomena, Theology, Anthropology, Christology. p.617).

1. “The law comprises everything in Scripture which is a revelation of God’s will in the form of command or prohibition, while the gospel embraces everything, whether it be in the Old Testament or in the New, that pertains to the work of reconciliation and that proclaims the seeking and redeeming love of God in Christ Jesus” (Berkhof).

a. The Old Testament is not all Law. In fact, much of Paul’s argument about justification, faith and the Gospel comes from the Old Testament.

b. There is also Law in the New Testament.

2. “The law seeks to awaken in the heart of man contrition on account of sin, while the gospel aims at the awakening of saving faith in Jesus Christ.” (Berkhof)

a. The Law points us to the holiness and justice of God and therefore reveals our guilt and helplessness as sinners against God.

b. The Law is a tutor pointing us to our need to believe in Jesus who died for our sins and rose again for our justification (Gal.3:22-24).

c. Jeremiah says of the New Covenant,

“I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33).

i. Historically, the “condemning aspect of the law has sometimes been stressed at the expense of its character as a part of the means of grace.” (Berkhof)

ii. “Ever since the days of Marcion there have always been some who saw only contrast between the law and the gospel and proceeded on the assumption that the one excluded the other.” (Berkhof)

“The Word of God is the most important means of grace.... The Word as a means of grace consists of two parts, namely, the law and the gospel. The law as a means of grace first of all serves the purpose of bringing men under conviction of sin, Romans 3:20, making him conscious of his inability to meet the demands of the law, and becoming his tutor to lead him to Christ, Gal. 3:24. In the second place it is also the rule of life for believers, reminding them of their duties and leading them in the way of life and salvation. The gospel is a clear representation of the way of salvation revealed in Jesus Christ. It exhorts the sinner to come to Christ in faith and repentance, and promises those who truly repent and believe all the blessings of salvation in the present and in the future. It is the power of God unto salvation for every one that believeth. Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18.” (Louis Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine, pp. 164-165).

3. Paul’s condemnation of the Judaizers’ heretical views of the Law is often misinterpreted to mean Paul condemnation of the Law (see Acts 15:1,5).

a. “not under the law” (Rom.6:14–15 with 8:1-4; Gal 4:4-5,21; 5:18) – has been taken to mean that we are now “outside” or “beyond” or “above” the Law. What this statement means is that we are not under the bondage and condemnation of the Law because Jesus was born under the Law (Gal.4:5; 5:18; cf. Rom.6:14–15).

i. We are no longer under the curse of the Law (Gal.3:10)

ii. We are no longer under the law which obligates us to keep it for our righteousness (Gal.3:12; 4:4-7; Romans 7:1-6; 8:1-4)

iii. We are no longer under sin (Gal.3:22; 5:18-21)

iv. We are no longer under the law (Gal.3:23)

v. We are no longer under guardians (Gal.4:2)

vi. We are no longer held in bondage under the elemental things of the world (Gal.4:3)

b. Law versus Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:6-11; Gal.3:2; cf. John 1:17) – Paul’s emphasis is upon faith and the impotence of the Law.

c. Law versus faith (Gal.3:10-14) – “the Law is not of faith.”

d. Paul’s emphasis upon love is his way of summarizing the essence of the Law.

4. Jesus kept the Law for our justification meaning that we are forgiven of our sins and God’s righteousness is credited to our account.

a. Jesus did not keep the Law for us as a “rule of life.”

b. We still need to love, we still need to obey – not for our justification but because the Law is a rule/standard of life.

c. The law as a rule of life is part of our being made in the image of God and our conscience (Romans 2:14-15; 13:15; cf. 2 Cor.1:12).

conscience (occurs about 30x in the NT) – is a sense of right and wrong by which we evaluate our thoughts, words and deeds. Conscience is that part of a man which agrees with God’s holy law written on the heart (Romans 2:14-15; cf. Chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith). When we do something contrary to the Law of God written on our heart our conscience lets us know. Our conscience does not enforce obedience, but it testifies either for or against our behavior.

How does this work itself out in practice?

If your conscience doesn’t bother you does that mean that a particular action is OK?

“But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5)

“keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” (1 Timothy 1:19)

“In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.” (Acts 24:16)