The Law Cannot Save Us
Rom 3:20 (NIV) Therefore no-one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Rom 3:28 (Wey) For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in obedience to law.
Gal 2:16 (Wey) ...It is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt.
Why, Then, Was The Law Given?
Rom 3:20b (Phi) ...it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.
1 Tim 1:8 (Wey) Now we know that the Law is good, if a man uses it in the way it should be used.
1 Tim 1:8 (NIV) We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
The principle purpose of the law is to condemn us. It is to show us plainly that we CANNOT do good works in our own resources, so that we might give up our lives and gain true life in Christ. The law, therefore, has a valid and useful role which is called the "ministry of condemnation" in Scripture. It leads us to the condemnation of the cross, and the Spirit--by grace--resurrects us to new life in Christ.
2 Cor 3:9 (NAS) For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.
John 1:17 (NAS) For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:20-21 (Phi) Now we find that the Law keeps slipping into the picture to point the vast extent of sin. Yet, though sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still! The whole outlook changes--sin used to be the master of men and in the end handed them over to death; now grace is the ruling factor, with its purpose making men right with God and its end the bringing of them to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The New Covenant: Death To Self Vs. Self Righteousness
Conceptually, in Scripture, law and grace are pitted against each other as irreconcilable approaches to being put right (justified) with God. The law seeks to restrain, in the main, the passions of the carnal nature. "Don't do this and that", etc. The gospel of grace seeks to put to death all that is carnal in us, so that a new and eternal life can be born in us. What the law could never do, the Holy Spirit by resurrection grace can.
Gal 2:21 (NAS) I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness [comes] through the law, then Christ died needlessly.
Rom 7:5-6 (NIV) 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.
The New Way of The Spirit
Titus 3:4-7 (NAS) But when the kindness of God our Savior and [His] love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Rom 8:2 (NIV) Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3-4 (Phi) The Law never succeeded in producing righteousness--the failure was always the weakness of human nature. But God... condemned that sinful nature. Therefore we are able to meet the Law's requirements, for we are living no longer by the dictates of our sinful nature, but in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit.
Rom 8:9-14 (NIV) You... are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of [His] righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
2 Cor 3:6 (Wey) It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in... a new Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life.
John 6:63 (NIV) "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing."
Heb 13:20-21 (NIV) May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Rom 3:28 (Wey) For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in obedience to law.
Gal 2:16 (Wey) ...It is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt.
Why, Then, Was The Law Given?
Rom 3:20b (Phi) ...it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.
1 Tim 1:8 (Wey) Now we know that the Law is good, if a man uses it in the way it should be used.
1 Tim 1:8 (NIV) We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
The principle purpose of the law is to condemn us. It is to show us plainly that we CANNOT do good works in our own resources, so that we might give up our lives and gain true life in Christ. The law, therefore, has a valid and useful role which is called the "ministry of condemnation" in Scripture. It leads us to the condemnation of the cross, and the Spirit--by grace--resurrects us to new life in Christ.
2 Cor 3:9 (NAS) For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.
John 1:17 (NAS) For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:20-21 (Phi) Now we find that the Law keeps slipping into the picture to point the vast extent of sin. Yet, though sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still! The whole outlook changes--sin used to be the master of men and in the end handed them over to death; now grace is the ruling factor, with its purpose making men right with God and its end the bringing of them to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The New Covenant: Death To Self Vs. Self Righteousness
Conceptually, in Scripture, law and grace are pitted against each other as irreconcilable approaches to being put right (justified) with God. The law seeks to restrain, in the main, the passions of the carnal nature. "Don't do this and that", etc. The gospel of grace seeks to put to death all that is carnal in us, so that a new and eternal life can be born in us. What the law could never do, the Holy Spirit by resurrection grace can.
Gal 2:21 (NAS) I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness [comes] through the law, then Christ died needlessly.
Rom 7:5-6 (NIV) 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.
The New Way of The Spirit
Titus 3:4-7 (NAS) But when the kindness of God our Savior and [His] love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Rom 8:2 (NIV) Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3-4 (Phi) The Law never succeeded in producing righteousness--the failure was always the weakness of human nature. But God... condemned that sinful nature. Therefore we are able to meet the Law's requirements, for we are living no longer by the dictates of our sinful nature, but in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit.
Rom 8:9-14 (NIV) You... are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of [His] righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
2 Cor 3:6 (Wey) It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in... a new Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life.
John 6:63 (NIV) "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing."
Heb 13:20-21 (NIV) May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Comment
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Comment by James Pierce on April 29, 2009 at 7:28am
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Mark,
For the law's main principle purpose to condemn, it cannot be a duality. The law possess several things. It possesses life and good(the blessing), and death and evil(the curse). So, the law contains the blessing, and the curse(duet 30). The law's main objective is NOT to reveal sin to us, but ALSO to show us HOW to love God, and our fellow man, for which blessings are received from doing those.
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