When you mention the word law in our society people immediately think of the police or the court system where lawyers battle it out in front of a judge. No one would refute the need for the laws of the land. We understand that without them it would be impossible to maintain a functioning society. Without the law, if someone stole from you, there would be no means of regaining possession of your property. If a person murdered another, they would be free to do it again, and our lives would constantly be in danger. We understand that while there are many laws that seem foolish to us, the law is necessary for our protection and the honest treatment of our fellowman.
If you study the laws of the land that our forefathers penned, most of them are based on the laws that God laid out for His people. Thou shalt not murder, steal, or bear false witness, to name a few. All of these are based on the Bible. Over and over, we see God’s divine laws showing up in our laws.
In the Old Testament, the law was given to Israel, not as a means of salvation, but it was to identify and show them their sin. The Jews were a very proud people and God wanted to reveal to them their need for salvation by faith. God never intended the law to become a set of rules where they would check the box and determine they were ok. God always desired a personal one-on-one relationship with mankind. In Deuteronomy 28:1 and verses 9 and 10, God tells his people they are to keep all the commandments and He will exalt them above all nations. It was to show the world who God is and how awesome he is through the blessing of His people. They were to be holy and set apart from all the rest. They were to be a testimony to all nations.
Deuteronomy 28:1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.”
Deuteronomy 28:9-10 “The LORD shall establish thee a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.”
Old Testament saints were saved by faith just as New Testament saints are today. It was a faith in God that looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. A Messiah that was perfect in every way. A Messiah that knew no sin. He was the spotless Lamb of God. The law revealed that we needed a Savior. It not only showed us what qualifies as sin, but it also set the standard for holiness. A holiness that we must have to enter Heaven.
Paul says in Romans 3:20, that no one is justified by the law, but the law shows us our sin. The law was not bad, because it was a means to bring us to Jesus. In Romans 7:6, Paul notes that he was delivered from the law. Before His conversion, he was proud, self-confident, and impetuous. He felt he had kept the letter of the law, and nothing would hold him back from enforcing it. Because he had checked all the boxes, he felt justified in his behavior. He was on a mission to persecute those who taught and served Jesus as the Messiah. He was doing the opposite of the law’s intent. The law was designed to bring humility to the proud, a consciousness of God, not self, and a need for redemption.
Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 7:5-6 “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Romans 7:9 “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
The law was necessary to show us how to live and how much we needed a Savior. God knew before time began that we could not keep the law. No one is without sin, there are none righteous on their own merit, but when God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh for our sins, the righteous requirement of the law was fulfilled. When we take on Christ as our Lord and Savior, we also fulfill that righteous requirement if we walk after the Spirit. The only way for us to see our need for saving grace is if we have a standard to live by. That standard is revealed in the law. The standard is perfection! The law helps us understand that we can’t measure up without the righteousness of Christ.
Romans 8:3-4 “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
