Yet, the law only ever grants the knowledge of sin. The law cannot save or deliver righteousness. The law was given not for us but for the one person who could obey it. Not only did He obey the law, He went far beyond the letter of the law.
Like virtually everything in the Old Testament, the law was a shadow that was fulfilled by the Christ.
Moses wrote about the Christ all the way through the law.
The law condemns and cannot be obeyed.
Yes, the law identifies sin and convicts us of it. And
yet…man was never created to be a sinner. So obedience
must be possible. In fact, if obedience was impossible then man couldn’t be held blameworthy for
disobedience. The answer is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ reconciles man with God; He
is that union which all humans are intended to become. He doesn’t just fulfill the law for us, He then fulfills it
in us. By union with God man may now begin to be who he was created to be even as he'll still struggle against sin and the old man and the pride that pulls us back down. In that struggle, however, we work our our salvation, we're tested and refined, we confirm our election, we grow in righteousness-or not; we may yet fail.
"To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life." Rom 2:7
"For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." Rom 2:13
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." Rom 6:21
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." Rom 8:12-13
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We" will continue to be part of the "equation" until we finally give it all up, until we finally love God fully, with no distraction, with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then man's purpose, the reason God made us-will be realized, even if only fully in the next life. And sin, incidentally, will be totally overcome, obliterated in us, by that love. We just need to be on that journey, that "journey to perfection" as it's been called, now.
It's incorrect to think that sin cannot be overcome in man. It will be-and that's to begin here and now. The gospel is
not about giving up, so to speak, and saying, "It can't be done so Jesus did it". Jesus shows us that it
can be done-and enables and empowers us to do it too. We can finally begin to do God's will on earth as it is in heaven. The lesson isn't that man is just a hopelessly wretched sinner, but that man is a hopelessly wretched sinner
apart from God.