Isn't It Good for Correcting Us?
Can't the law at least point out the flaws and weaknesses we Christians have so that we can ask God for help in correcting them? No! The law has only one function, it's to tell dead people that they are in need of life through Jesus Christ. That's it and nothing more!
There are three great passages that illustrate what relationship the Christian should have with the law. In First Timothy we are told that the law is only for those who are unrighteous --not for the righteous!
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-- and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Timothy 1:7-11)
When you became a Christian you were clothed with Christ and clothed in His righteousness through faith. You were washed and sanctified and made alive in Christ. Why would you continue to put yourself under the law? This passage says that those who teach that you need to keep the law don't know what they are talking about or at least how it relates to the gospel!
The Law Brings Death, Not Life
This next passage is from chapter two of Galatians. It's here that Paul relates what happened to him when he realized that the good and perfect law --that which he was so dedicated to-- was now condemning him. The law is what he lived for, but it essentially killed him.
"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:17-21)
Paul died to the law and he wasn't going to rebuild his relationship with it again. It's only purpose was to open his eyes to the fact that he needed to be saved God's way. His own efforts --as great as they seemed-- were not sufficient to meet the righteous requirements of the law. The law he thought he knew so well was full of examples showing the need for a substitute to take on the death penalty that he --a law breaker-- deserved. Once Christ became his savior --took the death penalty for him-- there was no need more for the law!
Have You Died to the Law Yet?
This third passage is from Chapter 7 of Romans. It's an illustration presented to the legal experts of the time using the law of marriage. The law says that marrying someone else while still married is adultery. However, it is quite legal to marry again after a spouse dies.
Do you not know, brothers-- for I am speaking to men who know the law-- that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. (Romans 7:1-3)
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:4-6)
Based on these Scriptures, what is required in order for us to belong to Jesus? We must die to the law! And what is necessary before we can bear fruit to God? Die to the law!
What Makes Sin Such a Powerful Enemy?
Sin is an enemy, right? Of course it is --and we battle it continuously! Would you knowingly give your enemy any weapons to overpower you? No way! As you read the following passages, think about how you are doing just that --helping to defeat yourself-- by just trying to follow God's law!
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:56)
What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. (Romans 7:7-8)
Could it possibly be that God's holy, righteous, and good law can be fuel for sin? --Yes! Is it because the law is bad? --No! It's because we have a fallen nature which is naturally disobedient. And the law is God's mirror to show us that nature. (You can read the rest in chapters 7 and 8 of Romans.)
For a Christian to truly live a victorious life, he must die to the law --like to a dead spouse. The law has no place in a Christian's life. And when that becomes a reality, then sin has lost its power!
Which Law Are We Talking About?
Let's set the record straight here before we get any deeper. The law that we've been talking about up to this point --and will continue to talk about-- is the law of sin and death. It's that set of rules which point out our sins. For the Jews, it's the laws, statutes and regulations wrapped around the Ten Commandments. For the gentiles, it's basically the same thing but written on our hearts (Romans 2). And in both cases --for Jews and Gentiles-- the penalty for breaking even one is death. There is another law that we've been hinting at --it's referred to as the law of love or the law of the Spirit of life.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)
We have been freed from the law of sin and death. Simply put, whoever sins is to be put to death. We now serve God based on a new law. Whoever has the Spirit has been made alive!
Next: Enter God's Sabbath Rest