CHAPTER 6 - THE LAW
Can Mankind Repair What Was Broken?
Mankind had chosen separation from God. Sin had entered the world, and death had followed. The relationship mankind had been created to enjoy with God had been broken. But God had not abandoned mankind. From the beginning, God continued to reveal Himself. He made promises. He called people to trust Him. He worked through Abraham and his descendants, forming a people through whom His purposes would continue to unfold.
God intended to restore what had been broken. The question was how.
One answer might initially appear obvious. If disobedience had broken the relationship, perhaps obedience could repair it. Tell mankind what righteousness requires. Give mankind God's commands. Clearly distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, what is permitted and what is forbidden, righteousness and sin. Then mankind would know how God expected them to live. And God did exactly that, but not for the reason we just inferred.
Through the Law, God revealed how His people were to live. It governed worship, justice, atonement (through sacrifice), relationships, morality, and Israel's life as a nation. God had not left His people guessing about what He required.
The Law was good. Paul makes that clear:
“So the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
(Romans 7:12)
The problem was never that God's standard was defective. The problem was mankind’s inclination to sin.
THE LAW REVEALS SIN
One of the Law's most important purposes was to make God’s boundaries of sin known, to remove any excuse by man of misunderstanding, and expose the depth of sin within mankind.
Paul writes:
“For by works of the Law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:19–20)
The Law establishes and reveals God's standard of righteousness and, in doing so, makes mankind's failure to meet that standard unmistakable. It gives mankind what Paul calls “knowledge of sin.” Paul gives a personal example:
“Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (Romans 7:7)
The command did not create coveting. It identified it. The Law did not create mankind's rebellion. Adam had already demonstrated mankind's ability to rebel against God long before the Law was given through Moses. What the Law did was make God's standard explicit. Paul describes this elsewhere:
“For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.” (Romans 4:15)
And:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned - for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”
(Romans :1)
Sin existed before Moses. Death existed before Moses. Mankind's separation from God existed before Moses. The Law did not create the problem. It revealed the problem more clearly.
KNOWING IS NOT OBEYING
Perhaps, then, the problem was simply ignorance. If mankind knew exactly what God required, perhaps mankind would obey.
But Scripture had already shown otherwise. Adam was given a command. He knew what God had said. He disobeyed anyway.
Israel would demonstrate the same problem on a much larger scale. God gave His people His Law. He told them how to worship, how to treat one another, how to administer justice, and how to live as a people set apart for Him.
Yet Israel's history became a repeated cycle of disobedience. God warned them. They rebelled. God disciplined them. They cried out. God showed mercy. And eventually they rebelled again.
The problem was not simply that they did not know what God wanted. They knew.
Second Kings describes generations of this rebellion:
“Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes...’ But they would not listen, but were stubborn...” (2 Kings 17:13–14)
Jeremiah confronted the same problem:
“Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people... But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts...” (Jeremiah 7:23–24)
The Law could tell mankind what God required. It could identify obedience. It could identify disobedience. It could command righteousness. But a command cannot force someone to desire what is commanded.
Knowing what is right is not the same as choosing what is right. And knowing what God requires is not the same as trusting God enough to obey Him.
CAN OBEDIENCE REPAIR THE RELATIONSHIP?
But suppose, for the sake of arguement, that someone did obey. Could obedience restore what sin had broken? Could a person establish righteousness before God by doing enough good?
To address this we will return to Romans 4. Paul addresses that question through Abraham.
“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” (Romans 4:1–3)
Paul then explains the difference between wages and grace:
“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4–5)
If righteousness could be earned through works, God would simply be paying a debt.
Mankind could point toward its obedience and say, in effect: “I have done what was required. Now You owe me righteousness.”
But that is not the relationship Scripture describes. Abraham believed God. God made the promise. Abraham trusted Him. And his faith was counted as righteousness.
There is another problem with trying to establish righteousness through the Law. The Law cannot be treated selectively. Paul writes:
“Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Galatians 3:10)
James makes the same point:
“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” (James 2:10–11)
A person cannot establish his own righteousness by pointing toward the commands he has kept while ignoring those he has broken. And Scripture's judgment concerning mankind is universal:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
The Law can show mankind what righteousness looks like. It cannot allow sinful mankind to declare itself righteous.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE CANNOT BE UNDONE
There is an even simpler problem. Obedience today cannot make yesterday's disobedience disappear.
Suppose someone lies. Later, he tells the truth. The truthfulness of his later statement does not make the earlier lie cease to have occurred.
Suppose someone steals. He may return what he took. He may regret what he did. He may seek forgiveness. Those things matter. But none of them changes history. The theft still occurred. The sin still created brokenness. Any apology cannot undo what happened.
The same is true of sin. Future obedience cannot travel backward and erase previous rebellion.
Repentance matters.Restitution matters. Obedience matters. Forgiveness matters. But none of them means that the original act of unrighteousness never happened.
Once mankind has sinned, mankind cannot create a history in which it never sinned.
The Law can direct what should happen next. It cannot undo what has already been done. Mankind cannot repair its past by simply behaving better in the future.
THE PROBLEM GOES DEEPER
But Jesus reveals that mankind's problem reaches even deeper than outward acts of disobedience.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes commands that could be measured by outward behavior and directs attention toward what is happening within the person.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder...’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment...” (Matthew 5:21–22)
A person could look at the command against murder and say, “I have never murdered anyone.” But Jesus does not stop with the outward act. He directs attention toward the anger from which such an act can arise. He does the same with adultery:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27–28)
Again, outward behavior could provide a person with a measure by which to judge himself. I have not committed adultery. Therefore, I have obeyed the command.
Jesus looks deeper. What about the desire within the person? This distinction would have been revealing and especially challenging in a religious culture where obedience could become heavily focused upon outward observance. Jesus repeatedly confronted religious leaders who were meticulous about visible obedience while neglecting what was happening within.
Yet once Jesus directs our attention toward the heart, we can see that the Law itself had never been entirely concerned with outward behavior. It's command against coveting addressed desire.
And Israel's greatest obligation to God could never be satisfied merely through outward conduct:
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Jesus was not inventing a new concern that had been completely absent from the Law. He was exposing how deeply God's standard of righteousness had always reached. And He eventually identifies where mankind's problem originates:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:20–23)
The problem is not merely what mankind does. The problem is where those actions come from. Sin proceeds from within. The Law can tell mankind not to murder, but the command itself does not remove anger. It can prohibit adultery, but the command itself does not remove lust.
It can prohibit coveting, but the command itself does not remove desire for what belongs to another. The Law can reveal what righteousness requires. But merely commanding the heart to be righteous does not make the heart righteous.
And if the source of mankind's sin lies within the heart, then a complete answer to mankind's condition must eventually reach the heart itself.
SOMETHING MORE IS NEEDED
This makes something the prophets said especially significant.
Jeremiah lived among people who already possessed God's Law. Israel did not need another copy of the commandments. Yet after generations of rebellion, Jeremiah spoke of something God would one day do.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34)
The significance should not be overlooked.
Israel already had the Law. The commandments had already been given. God's standard had already been revealed. Yet God promised something more.
He spoke of putting His Law within them. He spoke of writing it on their hearts.
Ezekiel describes God's promised work in even more striking terms:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean... And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you... And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes...” (Ezekiel 36:25–27)
Notice where God's promised work is moving. God speaks of cleansing. He speaks of a new heart. He speaks of a new spirit. And He speaks of placing His own Spirit within His people. The answer to mankind's problem will require something more than additional rules.
The Law had revealed God's standard. But mankind's problem was not merely a lack of information. The problem reached into the heart itself. And now God promises a work that will reach into that same place.
The full significance of these promises will become clearer later. For now, the contrast is enough. The Law can reveal what is right. It cannot, merely by commanding it, make mankind righteous. Something more is needed.
WHAT, THEN, IS THE LAW FOR?
If the Law cannot make sinful mankind righteous, why did God give it? Turning to Galatians, Paul addresses that question directly:
“Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” (Galatians 3:19–26)
Paul begins with the question we are asking, “Why then the law?” He answers that it “was added because of transgressions.”
The Law made mankind's rebellion explicit. It identified sin against a clearly revealed standard and established accountability for those who received it. This is consistent with what Paul told us earlier: “through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
But Paul also places the Law within a larger story. It was added “until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made.” The Law was never the final destination. God's promises had already been given before the Law, and the Law did not replace them.
That is why Paul immediately asks another question, “Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God?” His answer could hardly be stronger. “Certainly not!” The Law and God's promises are not competing plans.
God did not first attempt to restore mankind through the Law, discover that mankind could not obey it, and then develop another solution. The Law had a purpose within God's unfolding plan, but it was never intended to accomplish everything mankind needed.
Paul identifies one thing it could not do.
It could not give life. “For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.” That statement reaches directly back to the problem we have been tracing from the beginning. Mankind's condition is not merely ignorance. It is death. Separation from the source of life.
The Law can reveal righteousness. It can identify sin and expose mankind's failure to meet God's standard. But it cannot restore the life that mankind lost through separation from God.
Paul then says, “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” The Law therefore does not establish mankind's ability to save itself. It demonstrates the opposite. It leaves mankind confronted with sin while directing attention back toward something that has been present throughout the story, God's promise.
Paul proceeds to describe the Law as a guardian. “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”
A guardian has a purpose, but a guardian is not the destination. The Law served its purpose by revealing God's standard, making transgression unmistakable, and demonstrating mankind's need for something the Law could not itself provide.
Paul completes the thought, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” That final statement is important because God's purpose was never merely to produce people who could successfully follow a set of rules.
From the beginning, God desired relationship with mankind. The Law revealed what righteousness required, but the Law itself could not restore the relationship sin had broken. Paul points beyond the guardian to something greater: faith, Christ, and a restored relationship in which those who are in Christ are called sons of God.
The Law was never mankind's ladder back to God. It revealed why mankind could not build one. God would have to provide the way.
THE LAW IS NOT THE PROBLEM
None of this makes obedience meaningless. And none of it makes God's Law bad.
The Law is holy. Righteousness is still righteous. We are still called to obedience. Loving our neighbor is good. And loving God is still the goal.
The problem comes when mankind attempts to turn obedience into a means of making God indebted to us. Good works cannot erase previous sin. They cannot reinvent a history of perfect righteousness. They cannot make selective obedience equivalent to complete righteousness. They cannot repair the human heart merely by commanding it to change. And they cannot make mankind its own savior.
The Law does not fail because it reveals mankind's sin. In that respect, it succeeds. It tells the truth about us. It shows us God's standard. And then it exposes our inability to meet that standard perfectly.
The problem is not the Law. The problem is us.
GOD MUST PROVIDE
We have now arrived at an important conclusion. Mankind cannot repair what mankind has broken. More information is not enough.
Adam had a command. Israel had the Law.
Knowing them did not guarantee obedience.
Meanwhile, future obedience cannot erase past sin. And outward compliance cannot repair a heart from which sin itself proceeds.
If the relationship between God and mankind is going to be restored, the answer cannot ultimately come from mankind. God must provide it. This should sound familiar. God made promises to Abraham that Abraham could not fulfill by his own power. We addressed this in Chapter 2.
God provided what was necessary. Abraham was called to trust Him. The same pattern is beginning to appear again. God makes the promise. God provides what is necessary. Mankind is called to trust what God has promised and receive what He provides.
The Law has shown us what mankind cannot do.
The prophets have begun pointing toward something God Himself will do.
And the New Testament identifies God's provision with Jesus Christ. Jesus said:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)
His death and resurrection will eventually stand at the center of the Christian explanation of how God restores what mankind has broken. But before we ask what His death accomplished, there is a more fundamental question.
The significance of everything Jesus does depends upon the identity of the One doing it. So before we examine the cross, we must first ask:
Who is Jesus Christ?