Pastor's Blog

Some kinds of Christian theology and some churches regard the Old Testament Law as the believer’s “rule of life.”  In their thinking, although they are saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from the Law, they believe that they are obligated to live according to the Law.  The problem here is that to believe in this way leads to a life of striving for self-righteousness in which God the Father demands from us conformity to a set of rules rather than the indwelling Holy Spirit giving to us the grace which leads to spiritual victory.  Consequently, those who are constantly striving to follow the rules find themselves constantly frustrated by their inability to do so.

In fact, the Law was never intended by God to be used for this purpose.  The Law is the revelation of the holiness of God, and therefore reveals the degree to which we fail to live up to that holiness.  Its purpose, therefore, is to show men and women their sin and to demonstrate their sentence of judgment under God’s righteous demands.  Once we realize God’s holiness, our sinfulness, and our condemnation, we find that we have no recourse in pleasing God and obtaining salvation other than to the one way God himself has provided:  faith in His crucified and risen Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ.  That’s why Paul says that “the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith” (Gal 3:24).

Having received the Lord Jesus as Savior and Master we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and we begin to live under a new life principle.  “He [that is, God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21).  Self-righteousness is therefore replaced by Christ’s righteousness.  Just as our baptism is identification with His death, so too it is identification with His life:  we have been “raised to walk in the newness of life” (Rom 6:4).  In this new life, says Paul, “you are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14).

Thus we are released from our obligation to the Law and are to be subject to the work of the Holy Spirit.  We no longer are constrained by external rules, but are controlled by the internal leading of the Spirit.  Law, you see, is a matter of works; but the new creation is a matter of life in the Son through the power of the Spirit.  Thus, we are able to say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ”—not law (Phil 1:21).  “I live,” says Paul, “by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).

The Law is the revelation of sin, and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).  The death penalty was executed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and through our identification with Him, when He died, we died too.  Thus the penalty of the Law has been exacted, and because it was paid by the infinitely holy Son of God, it can never again be executed against Him or anyone who is in Him.  That’s why the Law has no more claim on us . . . not for salvation, and not for sanctification either.  Paul puts it this way:  “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God” (Gal 2:19).

That’s how the Christian life is to be lived.  We are now released from the Law; we are now free:  “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1).  This liberty, however, is not license:  “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh” (Gal 5:13).  In other words, you are not free to live as you please, but only to live as God pleases.  And He gives you the strength to do so.  Consequently, life should not be a constant struggle to avoid sin, but a constant resting in Christ through God’s Word and prayer, through the daily confession of sin, and through increasing separation from a sinful world.  Simply put, in your frustration to live a godly life, focus less on trying and more on trusting!