The "Law" in the scriptures has to be seen primarily in the light of ‘use’. We tend to think only in the category of what the Law says, which is fair and well, but we have to uncover how God uses law (in all its forms) so we can understand his intention behind it and, subsequently, understand what he is saying better!
The Law is God’s Word, a living voice. This voice speaks in the here and now to us and judges us, right here, right now. Before we come to faith in Jesus the voice we hear in any kind of moral code, but most especially in the scriptures, is the voice of judgement and condemnation. Even God’s most loving words can be heard in this light. Before we got saved we might have heard the words of Jesus plenty of times and felt judged and condemned by them - indeed, we may have hated them - even when it’s clear that the words indicate that we can find salvation from him! The “whole world is guilty before God” (Romans 3:19) and is subject to this judgement. As sure as the sun rises tomorrow so all will face judgement one day. The voice of judgement goes on and on and on, and will go on for ever, until God accomplishes all his purposes and ushers in the next age. That’s why Jesus said that “until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” It will continue to judge us here and now and tomorrow and the day after that and there is no escape from it. We cannot do anything about it! We try and silence it by being righteous in ourselves and living up to its requirements, but we find that we can never fully satisfy the requirements and we fall into despair. Perhaps we try and change its requirements, or we make up our own, but we can’t even live up to our own requirements! Even those who have never heard of the Law of God stand under judgement to their law unto themselves (Romans 2:14-16). We stand judged no matter what we do and we can’t do anything about the state of our heart.
The only escape from this voice of judgement, from the Law, is to die. But we can’t die because then we go straight to judgement. So we are utterly without hope?
But are we? What if someone could die in our place? On our behalf? What if someone could actually die before we die? And what if that someone was found completely innocent in judgement and therefore entered into the next age for us? And here is the Gospel - Jesus did this! He died on our behalf and opened the way for us to enter in, through him, and pass the judgement to come and move into the next age! When we put our faith in Jesus, letting go of our own righteousness and works and efforts to justify ourselves before the Law, and look to him as our saviour, we are crucified with him and are raised with him. There is an escape and that escape is to die - in Jesus! And then be raised - in Jesus!
Like Jesus did we die to the voice of judgement, we die to the Law, when we die in him. Just like us, Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law.” (Galatians 4:2). As every human being he lived under the voice of judgement. But he was born “to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.” (Galatians 4:3). He was not only fully righteous according to the demands of the Law but was also righteous beyond the Law. For the Law demands justice, yet Jesus went beyond justice and forgave when he was fully in the right to demand justice! “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.’” (Luke 23:34.) It’s in this pinnacle moment that I believe Jesus overcame the charge of condemnation in the Law with love, showing that God's original intent was for us to live in love and not under law.
In Jesus we die to all of this once and for all - the voice of the Law is silenced. That includes dying to our own self-righteousness and our own ways of using the Law! This is why we must go through the cross and not just talk about it. Our theories of the atonement are far less important than the actual dying we have to do. In Jesus we are then raised to new life where neither law nor sin have any more power over us. “For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2.) Because if we die to the law then we also die to sin, because law tells us what sin actually is. “I would not have known sin except through the law,” says Paul in Romans 7:7. As Paul says in Colossians 2:14: “He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.” He means here all law - for if the law of God could not save, how could any law save?
*These blog posts are a series of thoughts from the upcoming book Holy Sin, which will be freely available in the next few months.*
The Law is God’s Word, a living voice. This voice speaks in the here and now to us and judges us, right here, right now. Before we come to faith in Jesus the voice we hear in any kind of moral code, but most especially in the scriptures, is the voice of judgement and condemnation. Even God’s most loving words can be heard in this light. Before we got saved we might have heard the words of Jesus plenty of times and felt judged and condemned by them - indeed, we may have hated them - even when it’s clear that the words indicate that we can find salvation from him! The “whole world is guilty before God” (Romans 3:19) and is subject to this judgement. As sure as the sun rises tomorrow so all will face judgement one day. The voice of judgement goes on and on and on, and will go on for ever, until God accomplishes all his purposes and ushers in the next age. That’s why Jesus said that “until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” It will continue to judge us here and now and tomorrow and the day after that and there is no escape from it. We cannot do anything about it! We try and silence it by being righteous in ourselves and living up to its requirements, but we find that we can never fully satisfy the requirements and we fall into despair. Perhaps we try and change its requirements, or we make up our own, but we can’t even live up to our own requirements! Even those who have never heard of the Law of God stand under judgement to their law unto themselves (Romans 2:14-16). We stand judged no matter what we do and we can’t do anything about the state of our heart.
The only escape from this voice of judgement, from the Law, is to die. But we can’t die because then we go straight to judgement. So we are utterly without hope?
But are we? What if someone could die in our place? On our behalf? What if someone could actually die before we die? And what if that someone was found completely innocent in judgement and therefore entered into the next age for us? And here is the Gospel - Jesus did this! He died on our behalf and opened the way for us to enter in, through him, and pass the judgement to come and move into the next age! When we put our faith in Jesus, letting go of our own righteousness and works and efforts to justify ourselves before the Law, and look to him as our saviour, we are crucified with him and are raised with him. There is an escape and that escape is to die - in Jesus! And then be raised - in Jesus!
Like Jesus did we die to the voice of judgement, we die to the Law, when we die in him. Just like us, Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law.” (Galatians 4:2). As every human being he lived under the voice of judgement. But he was born “to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.” (Galatians 4:3). He was not only fully righteous according to the demands of the Law but was also righteous beyond the Law. For the Law demands justice, yet Jesus went beyond justice and forgave when he was fully in the right to demand justice! “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.’” (Luke 23:34.) It’s in this pinnacle moment that I believe Jesus overcame the charge of condemnation in the Law with love, showing that God's original intent was for us to live in love and not under law.
In Jesus we die to all of this once and for all - the voice of the Law is silenced. That includes dying to our own self-righteousness and our own ways of using the Law! This is why we must go through the cross and not just talk about it. Our theories of the atonement are far less important than the actual dying we have to do. In Jesus we are then raised to new life where neither law nor sin have any more power over us. “For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2.) Because if we die to the law then we also die to sin, because law tells us what sin actually is. “I would not have known sin except through the law,” says Paul in Romans 7:7. As Paul says in Colossians 2:14: “He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.” He means here all law - for if the law of God could not save, how could any law save?
*These blog posts are a series of thoughts from the upcoming book Holy Sin, which will be freely available in the next few months.*
