Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Law in New Testament Usage
How the Law Could Give Eternal Life
Law Unable to Save Men
The Divine Purpose in Giving the Law
God's Written Law and Israel
The Mosaic Law and Gentiles
The Christian and the Law
Dangers of Putting Christians Under the Law
The Standard of Life for Christians
Objections, Questions and Problems

Among careful students of the Scriptures and church history, regardlessof their theological bias, there has always been general agreement thatif there is any outstanding characteristic term in Christianity, that termis grace . In much of the New Testament this term becomes almost a synonymfor Christianity itself. Thus in some of the Pauline Epistles there arebenedictions which mention grace alone, with the implication that thisterm covers everything in the Christian faith, and that if we have gracenothing else is needed.

As to the meaning of the term as used in the New Testament writings,there is also general agreement. Grace is the unmerited favor of God inChrist. Salvation by grace, therefore, is not of ourselves, not of works,but the gift of God (Eph. 2:8,9). And if Christian salvation is by grace,then it is not of works; otherwise grace is no more grace (Rom. 11:6).

Much of the controversy which has attended the Christian doctrine ofsalvation by grace has arisen about the place of the Law in relation tothe Christian believer who is saved by grace. This was true in the daysof the Apostles, and it has likewise been true down through the centuriesof church history. This was the subject of discussion in the first churchcouncil recorded in Acts 15:5, 11. It was also the occasion of the writingof Paul s sharpest Epistle, the letter to the Galatian churches. This isan endless battle, but every generation in the church of God must meetthe issue for itself.

Various motives - some good and some evil - have raised the issue. Recentlyit has been raised by teachers and writers with the best of intentions.These men have been grieved and disturbed by the failure of Christian peopleto live the kind of life the Word of God expects of those saved by grace.As a remedy for this distressing condition in the churches they have proposedthat we turn back to the Law. We have failed, they argue, because we havenot laid upon the members of the churches the obligations of the moralLaw. The path of success in both the Christian life and the work of thechurch, they say, will be found in getting the Christian people to seethat they are still under the moral law of God. It is quite astonishingto find how widespread that this opinion is held and advocated.

Although I have always held some very decided opinions in this areaof Christian doctrine, the present situation has led me to restudy theentire subject of the Law in relation to the Christian believer. The resultsof this study are presented here with the sincere hope that both the writerand those who read may find the path of truth as revealed in the Word ofGod.

1. The Law is the written Mosaic Law, including generally the entirePentateuch. In Galatians 3:10 the writer identifies the Law with the entirebook of the Law. Our Lord speaks of the Law, or the prophets, identifyingthe Law with that part of our Old Testament comprised in its first fivebooks, a well-known division in His day (Matt. 5:17). The same identificationappears in Luke 24:44 and Acts 28:23.

In addition, each one of the five books of the Pentateuch is identifiedas a portion of the Law. When Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:34 commands thewomen to be under obedience, as also saith the law, he undoubtedly is referringto Genesis 3:16. And quoting from Exodus 20:17 he speaks of it as the law(Rom. 7:7). Our Lord Himself refers a lawyer to a passage in Leviticus19:18, indicating that it was written in the law (Luke 10:26-27). Againin Matthew 12 5 Christ cites a reference in Numbers 28:9,10 and asks thePharisees whether they had not read in the law. Finally, in defense ofa paid ministry, Paul quotes a passage from Deuteronomy 25:4, declaringthat it was written in the law of Moses (1 Cor. 9:9).

This is not a novel view. Archibald McCaig says that in the Gospelsthe word law always refers to the Mosaic law, and that at times it meansthe whole Pentateuch. As to its usage in the Epistles, McCaig writes thatspeaking generally, the word with or without the article is used in referenceto the law of Moses. {ISBE}. And Salmond argues that the law (ho nomos)of Ephesians 2:15 is to be taken in its full sense, not the ceremoniallaw only, but the Mosaic Law as a whole, according to the stated use ofthe phrase.

It is true that occasionally the law seems to refer to the entire OldTestament. Compare John 10:34 with Psalm 82:6 and 1 Corinthians 14:21 withIsaiah 28:11,12. But even in this rare usage it must be remembered thatthe whole of Old Testament Scripture assumes the existence of the law,calls men back to the law and threatens the penalties of the law for itsviolations. Thus the idea of an original Mosaic law is probably never whollyabsent from such references.

2. This law is one law - an indivisible unity. While it is unquestionablytrue that at least three elements - moral, ceremonial and civil - appearwithin this law, it is wrong to divide it into three laws or, as is popularlydone, dividing it into two laws, moral and ceremonial.

This is clear from the New Testament references. James declares thatwhosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he isguilty of all (James 2:10). On the all of this text, Oesterley writes thatthe Greek panton is equivalent to all the precepts of the Torah. The sameviewpoint is expressed by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:3, For I testifyagain to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the wholelaw. And Christ declares that whatsoever therefore shall break one of theseleast commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the leastin the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:19), thus upholding the essential unityof the law. That the least commandments referred to by our Lord are thoseset forth in the Pentateuch, and not merely those of the moral law or thefew contained in the Sermon of the Mount, is perfectly clear from the contextin verses 17 and 18 of Matthew 5, where the identification is unmistakable.He is speaking about the law of Moses.

Some of the ablest commentators concur in this view. Meyer, writingon Matthew 5:17, says, In nomos, however, to think merely of the morallaw is erroneous; and the distinction between the ritualistic, civil andmoral law is modern. Peake declares, This distinction between the moraland ceremonial law has no meaning in Paul. The same view is expressed byGodet, In general, the distinction between the ritual and moral elementsof the law is foreign to the Jewish conscience, which takes the law asa divine unity. Thus he argues that Paul must have held this view.

In his able article on New Testament law, J. Denny points out an interestingfact in the New Testament use of the term. With one exception, he maintains,a quotation from the Septuagint Version of Jeremiah 31:33 in Hebrews 8:10and 10:16, the word law in the New Testament is always found in the singular.Another commentator claims, The law of God ... is the style of Scripture;a classical writer would say the laws of Athens or of Solon. This almostinvariable singular form points to the unity of divine law as opposed tomerely human laws.

The passage in Romans 2:15 may be cited as a possible exception to thegeneral usage of law as referring to the total law of God. Paul speakshere of the work of the law written in their hearts, that is, the Gentiles.Would not the law in this case be limited to its moral element? I do notthink so. The very heart of the Old Testament ceremonial law was sacrifice,and the urge to offer sacrifice is universal, found among all peoples.

3. This one law of God includes appropriate penalties as an integralpart in order to enforce its demands. The law of God cannot be separatedform its sanctions, as some have assumed. As many as are of the works ofthe law are under the curse (Galatians 3:10). The law worketh wrath (Rom.4:15). The apostle also refers to the law as the ministration of death,and the ministration of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7,9). And again he designatesit as the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). As Bishop Moule remarks, Itis the divine law ... by its very holiness the sinner's doom.

That law cannot be divorced from its proper penalties is also the viewof the greatest human legal authorities. John Austin defined law as embodyingthree essential ideas - command, obligation and sanction. Daniel Websteris reported to have said, A law without a penalty is simply good advice.In the state of Indiana there was an instructive lesson on exactly thispoint. The legislators passed a law against the use of daylight savingtime but attached no penalty for breaking the law. With tongue in cheekthe state officials left their public clocks on standard time (to set theproper example) and went to work an hour earlier. The rest of the peopleset their watches ahead and laughed at the law. Thus law tended to be broughtinto contempt.

To emasculate the law of God of its divine penalties and still callit law is a serious misnomer. It can only confuse the minds of men andfinally bring all law, whether human or divine, into contempt or indifference.Moreover, eventually such a procedure tends to empty the cross of Christof its deepest meaning. The law loses its absolute holiness, sin losesits awful demerit and Calvary loses its moral glory.

4. The Sermon on the Mount is an interpretation, in part, of the sameMosaic law, with special reference to its original inner meaning. Thisis clear from our Lord's words in Matthew 5:17-19. In verse 19 He declaresthat whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, andshall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.These commandments are contained in the law referred to in verse 17. Itis the Mosaic law, and verse 18 asserts that not one jot or one tittleof it can pass away. As Alford points out, These least commandments refersto one jot or tittle above.

In this Sermon on the Mount our Lord is not abolishing the Mosaic Lawand putting in its place another law of His own, as some have superficiallysuggested. On the contrary, He is reaffirming in the strongest kind oflanguage the unity and inviolability of the Mosaic law. Sometimes it isargued that Christ made certain changes, for instance, in matters suchas divorce (vv. 31-32). But, our Lord, as the divine Giver of that law,only abolished certain concessions which had been made earlier becauseof the hardness of men's hearts (Matt. 19:8), concessions which were notin harmony with the inner meaning of the original divine law. But thatlaw, in the mind of Christ, still stood in its every jot and tittle. Andto break one of its least commandments is condemned by Him in unmistakablewords.

Furthermore, if we examine the Sermon on the Mount carefully, it becomesclear that all three elements of the Mosaic law are present. That the moralelement is present needs no special argument, for the greater part of theSermon is devoted to this element. It is not so generally recognized thatthe ceremonial element of the Mosaic law is also present. Verse 23 &24 of Matthew 5 speak of the altar and also the gift brought by the worshiperto the altar. This is the language of sacrifice. H. A. W. Meyer translatesas follows: If thou, then, art about to present thy sacrifice ... And Alforddeclares that the whole language is Jewish, and can only be understoodby Jewish rites.

It is also very clear that the Sermon on the Mount contains referencesto the civil element of the Mosaic law. In Matthew 5:21 our Lord speaksof certain offenders being in danger of the judgment. The judgment referredto is that of the local courts of Deuteronomy 16:18, and the phrase indanger means legally liable to. In the next verse our Lord says that certainother offenders would be in danger of the council. The council here iswithout question the great court of the Sanhedrin. The local Jewish courtshad the power of capital punishment, but the special penalty of stoningwas reserved for the Sanhedrin. We are thus in the realm of Jewish civiljurisprudence as outlined in the Mosaic law. See Numbers 11:16 for theprobable origin of the Sanhedrin composed of 70 members. Furthermore, wefind in Matthew 5:35 a reference to Jerusalem as the city of the greatKing, indicating the central seat of civil authority in the Theocratickingdom, which that city was historically, and will be once again in thefuture reestablishment of the Kingdom according to the Old Testament prophets.

Not only are the three elements of the Mosaic law present in the Sermonon the Mount, but the penalties of that law also appear. Under the Mosaiclaw religious and civil authority were one. There was no separation ofchurch and state. Therefore we should expect to find both temporal andeternal sanctions among the penalties of the law. Thus in Matthew 5:25,26we read of the prison and the discharge of the offender when the penaltyhad been paid to the uttermost farthing. But in verses 22, 29 and 30 wehear the Lord warning offenders of the penalty of hell fire. See Deuteronomy32:22 for the basis of this dreadful penalty of the divine wrath as setforth in the Mosaic law.

5. This same Mosaic law was the law under which our Lord was born andto which He rendered the required obedience.

a. Christ was born under the law. Thus we read in Galatians 4:4 thatGod sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. In the Greekconstruction the phrase under the law is exactly the same as in 5:18 wherethe believer is said to be not under the law. The child Jesus was circumcisedand offered to God formally in the Jewish temple accompanied by the sacrificeof turtledoves - all done according to the law of Moses (Luke 2:21-24).And verse 39 declares that all things according to the law of the Lordwere duly performed. With reference to His earthly ministry to Israel,the Apostle Paul asserts that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcisionfor the truth of God, to conform the promises made unto the fathers (Rom.15:8).

b. Our Lord obeyed the Mosaic law. He came not to destroy this law butto fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). Whatever else may be included in this pregnantstatement, it certainly includes obedience. When He went to the Jordanfor baptism, He silenced the protests of John the Baptist by saying, Sufferit to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness (Matt.3:15. The righteousness here is that which is required by the law. Thebaptism of John was based on the bath in water required by the law forthose defiled (Num. 19:19). Our Lord's submission to the ritual bath signifiednot His own need of cleansing but rather His identification with His sinfulpeople. As He reminded John, It becometh us, not Himself alone. After all,His submission to John's baptism is not any more startling that His participationin the Jewish Passover. Both should speak to us of His identification withHis people, certainly not to any taint of uncleanness in Him.

Finally, as He approached the hour of His death, He commanded His disciplesto prepare us the Passover (Luke 22:8) in accordance with the requirementsof strict Mosaic law. Every detail of that coming feast had to be fulfilled.If sin is the transgression of the law, we also are reminded in the samecontext that in Him is no sin (1 John 3:4,5).

c. Christ commanded others to obey the Mosaic law. Here the classicreference is Matthew 5:17-19, where He commands obedience to that law downto the least of its commandments. This required obedience included, first,submission to the moral element as indicated in our Lord's demand of therich young ruler to keep the commandments, referring to the second tableof the law (Matt. 19:17019).

That He also required obedience to the ceremonial element is clear fromHis command to the cleansed leper, Shew thyself to the priest, and offerthe gift that Moses commanded (Matt. 8:4). And in Matthew 26 we have notonly an example of our Lord's submission to the civil authorities, butalso His command to Peter not to resist them (vv. 47-52). All this wasin full harmony with the injunctions of the Mosaic law which demanded respectto be shown to the ruler of thy people (Exodus 22:28).

1. Hypothetically, the law could give eternal life if men kept it. InLeviticus 18:5 it is written: Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, andmy judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.The same idea is repeated in Ezekiel, And I gave them my statutes, andshewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them(Ezek. 20:11, 13, 21). Unquestionably our Lord had the same principle inmind when He said to the rich young ruler who was seeking eternal lifeby works, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (Matt. 19:17b).And these commandments were all taken from the Mosaic law. The ApostlePaul summarizes the testimony, For Moses describeth the righteousness whichis of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them(Rom. 10:5).

2. But this keeping the law had to be perfect. In the first place, ithad to include the whole law: Cursed is everyone that continueth not inall things which are written in the book of the law to do them (Gal. 3:10).This obedience did not dare to fail at any point, no matter how small,For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, heis guilty of all (James 2:10).

Furthermore, this perfection of obedience included the inward attitudeas well as the outward act, the thought as well as the deed (Matt. 5:28).The question has been raised: Did not the law provide for failure to keepit? The answer is: Yes, in a certain sense, through the ritual of animalsacrifice. But here we must be careful to remember two things: First, thesmallest failure meant that the law was broken. Second, the blood of animalsacrifices could never take away sins. The sacrifice prescribed by thelaw did indeed bear witness to a way of salvation, but that way was whollyoutside and apart from all law (Rom. 3:21).

3. Certainly no man (Christ excepted) ever kept the law in the completesense. Sin is the transgression of the law we are told, and in Christ thereis no sin (1 John 3:4-5). But with reference to all men it is just as certainthat all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Thisis the testimony of all Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

4. Actually, then, the law can save no sinner. On this point the witnessof the Bible is ample and unbroken. By the deeds of the Law there shallno flesh be justified in His sight (Rom. 3:20). By him all that believeare justified from all things, from which Ye could not be justified bythe law of Moses (Acts 13:39). But that no man is justified by the lawin the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith (Gal.3:11).

So crucially important is this truth that the Holy Spirit repeats itno less that three times within the scope of a single verse in Galatians.A man is not justified by the works of the law ... not by the works ofthe law ... for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (Gal2:16). As a matter of fact, Calvary itself should make this clear to all,for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain (Gal.2:21).

1. There was no fault in the law. The law of the Lord, we are told,is perfect (Ps. 19:7). And there is no question here as to the identityof this law. It is the well-known law of the Old Testament, the law ofMoses. Coming to the New Testament, we read that the law is good (1 Tim1:8), and again, the law is holy, and the commandments holy, and just,and good (Rom. 7:12). Here we should note a striking fact. The highestestimate of the law was written by the Apostle Paul, the man who was thesurest that this law could in no wise give life and salvation to sinners.The weakness was not in the law.

2. The fatal weakness was in man. After declaring that the law is holy,good, and even spiritual, the apostle shows in Romans why even such a divinelaw cannot save. I am carnal, he says, sold under sin (Rom. 7:14). Theweakness was in man, not in the law. If the law appears to be weak becauseit cannot save, the explanation is that it was weak through the flesh (Rom.8:3). That is why the Son of God had to come to do what the law could notdo (Rom. 8:3). The writer of Hebrews seems to suggest that the first covenant(of the law) was faulty. But he guards from any possible misunderstandingby adding that the real fault was with them, that is, the people (Heb.8:7-8). We must understand that the whole difficulty is in man, not inthe law of God.

3. The law's demands could not be relaxed to accommodate the weaknessof men. This is the curious idea that some people hold. Grace, to them,is God's tolerance in lowering the absolute demands of the law to the pointwhere sinners can keep it. Such a misconception dishonors both law andgrace. If such a scheme had been possible, there would have been no necessityfor the Cross. If there had been a law given which could have given life,argues Paul, verily righteousness should have been by the law (Gal. 3:21b).This is made crystal clear in Romans: There is no respect of persons withGod. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law:and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law (Rom.2:11-12). The expression without law means without a written law such asthe Jew had.

But the apostle shows that even though these Gentiles did not have awritten law, nevertheless they had a divine law - the law written in theirhearts (Rom. 2:14-15). And both Gentiles and Jews in the day of judgmentwill be held completely accountable and responsible for the law which theyhad, whether is a book or in the heart and conscience. There is no respectof persons with God. The law stands inviolable as an expression of theimmutable nature of God. It will not, and cannot, be adjusted to suit themoral weaknesses of sinners. Justice (Righteousness) and judgment are thehabitation (foundation) of thy throne, we are reminded in Psalm 89:14.

The very throne of the eternal God rests upon the inviolability of Hisown law which is the expression of His divine nature. There can be no tamperingwith that law, not even by God Himself, in the interest of men who havebroken the law. If the salvation of the sinner lies in this direction,as some men suppose, there can be no salvation for anyone.

4. It was necessary, therefore, for God to devise a plan for savingsinners without any relaxation of the law. This brings us to the very heartof the gospel, which is the good news of God. Without the slightest relaxationof the law, the Son of God incarnate at Calvary paid man's obligation tobroken law to the last farthing. There was no reduction of the debt throughsome slippery evasion of the righteous demands of divine law. It was paidin full - Jesus paid it all. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse ofthe law, being made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). The Lord hath laid on himthe iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6b).

The death of Christ did more than save sinners; it declared the righteousnessof God while He was in the very act of saving sinners, so that God mightbe just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).Read carefully Romans 3:23-26. Not even an infinite God, absolute Sovereignthat He is, could play fast and loose with His own law. Therefore, thelaw was left standing in all the absolute holiness and severity of itsdemands. But God in Christ met those demands in our stead. Let us leavethe matter where God has left it. Only in this way can we establish thelaw (Rom. 3:31).

It was Isaiah, that prophet who perhaps saw most clearly what God woulddo at Calvary, who said, The Lord (Jehovah) is well pleased for his righteousnesssake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable (Isa 42:21). We shallnever understand the full glory of the Cross until we see there, not onlythe love of God for sinners, but also the righteousness and holiness ofGod in maintaining the inexorable standards of His own law while at thesame time saving sinners who were guilty of breaking it. This is the gloryof God's grace.

In Romans 8:3 the apostle speaks of what the law could not do. The lastthree words of this quotation represent but one Greek word which meansliterally powerlessness. The law of God can do nothing to save sinners.It cannot save us from the guilt of sin. It cannot keep us from the dominionof sin. It cannot provide a sufficient motive for obedience to the law.It cannot supply the power necessary to keep its requirements. It cannotrecover us when we break the law. May God open our eyes to understand thatour help cometh from the LORD (Ps. 121:2). Our only hope is in Him.

If the Law can neither save us nor help to save us, why should we beconcerned about it? Why was the law given? The Apostle Paul, who had mostto say about law in the New Testament writings, recognized the legitimacyof this question when he asked, Wherefore then serveth the law? (Gal. 3:19a).A literal translation would be, Why then the law? Paul has fully answeredhis own question.

1. The law was added because of transgressions (Gal. 3:19). The verbadded indicates that the law was not primary in God's dealings with sinners.The covenant and promises of God were first. The law was added. And thedivine reason is found in man's transgressions. This general statementwill be amplified in other more specific statements. But the heart of thematter is that the giving of the law is related to man's sin. There isa time element in the matter - the law was given because of transgressionsuntil the seed should come to whom the promise was made. Thus the givingof the law was neither first nor is it final with God in saving sinnersor dealing with the problem of sin. It was added and temporary. This indicatesa dispensational aspect.

2. The law was enacted for the lawless and ungodly (1 Tim. 1:9-10).The idea in this important passage seems to be primarily that of restraint.Viewing the matter from the social standpoint, this is a highly beneficentpurpose. The laws of nations are all imperfect reflections of the divinelaw and are intended to restrain evil and protect society. And in the administrationof law and its penalties, the government official is a minister of God(Rom. 13:4).

3. Another purpose of law is to give men the knowledge of sin (Rom.3:20). The Greek term is epignosis, suggesting not merely knowledge, buta full knowledge of sin. It is true that men totally without any positivelaw codes are nevertheless conscious in some degree of the fact that theyare sinful. And the law was given to increase and heighten this knowledge.Thus, man becomes more fully conscious of his sin and the need of somehelp which is outside and beyond the law. In this sense alone, law maybe said to prepare lost men for the gospel of Christ by making them moreconscious of their need. But no preacher should ever be guilty of preachinglaw to produce conviction without preaching at the same time the good newsof salvation in Christ without the law . It is fine to show men their needof the Bread of Life, but let us beware of sending them away unfed. Andthe law by itself does not give bread; it only gives a recipe for makingbread, a work which is totally beyond the ability of sinners.

4. Another purpose served by the law is to show the terrible natureof sin (Rom. 7:8-13). In this remarkable passage the Holy Spirit showsus that although the law was something wholly good, nevertheless the sinof man is of such a terrible character that it actually works through thelaw, so that the good and holy commandment of the law not only fails toeliminate sin but actually stimulates sin! Quoting the commandment, Thoushalt not covet, the Apostle Paul affirms that the effect of this commandwas actually to revive sin instead of killing it - When the commandmentcame, sin revived, he cries (Rom. 7:9).

This is the damnable thing about human sin; it can take a holy commandmentof God and work that which is evil through the commandment. Sin, takingoccasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence,Paul writes (Rom. 7:8). Who is there among the saved, enlightened by theSpirit of God, that has not found this true in his own experience? Theinjunctions of law actually stimulate sin instead of putting an end toit. That is why Paul speaks of the law as the strength of sin (1 Cor. 15:56).

(Note: It may seem that there is a contradiction between paragraphs2 and 4 above. How can the law both restrain sin and also at the same timestimulate sin? The answer is that the law contains two elements and ithas two effects. The two elements are the command and the penalty, andthe two effects are internal and external. The command inwardly stimulatesthe attitude of rebellion in men with sinful natures. On the other hand,the penalty externally restrains the outward act of rebellion. Thus thecontradiction is only apparent.)

5. Looking at the matter now from a slightly different standpoint, wefind that the law was given to reveal how vast is the number of our sins.Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound (Rom. 5:20). Theterm offense here refers not to sin in general, but rather to every individualact of sin committed under the law. Thus the law by multiplying the requirementsof God reveals to men the multitude of their offenses. In this sense, thelaw does not make men worse than they are, but rather shows more clearlyhow bad they are already. When Paul writes, The law entered, he employsa Greek verb which applies to an actor who does not occupy the front ofthe stage, but who appears there only to play an accessory part (Godet).How true! In dealing with sin, it is the grace of God in Christ which occupiesthe center of the stage in the divine drama of the ages.

6. The law was given to shut every mouth and establish the guilt ofall the world. This is an important function of the divine law - that everymouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God (Rom.3:19). The English word guilt has unfortunately been weakened in popularusage. To say that a man is guilty of a specific crime means only, in popularthought, that he committed the crime. But in the Bible, as well as in theterminology of our hearts, to say that a man is guilty means not only thathe has broken the law but also that he is under an obligation to sufferthe penalty for what he has done. The Greek word is upodikos, which maybe rendered under judicial sentence. Thus it is the function of divinelaw, in whatever form it may be revealed, to bring all the world underthe judicial sentence of God. And from this judicial sentence there canbe no appeal - every mouth is stopped. It is not difficult to get men toadmit they have sinned. It is not so easy to get them to admit that theydeserve to be punished for their deeds. This is the real meaning of guilt,and until we acknowledge our guilt God can do nothing for us.

7. The law was given to set a restraining guard upon men until theyfind true freedom in Christ by faith (Gal. 3:23-24). But before faith came,we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwardsbe revealed (Gal.3:23). Both verbs carry the idea of restraint; we werekept and shut up as if in a prison or under a military guard.

The 24th verse in the King James Version states: The law was our schoolmasterto bring us unto Christ. This idea is of the law serving as a schoolmasterconducting the sinner to Christ. The paidagogos [or pedagogue], a schoolmaster,of ancient times was a slave who exercised restraint over the child untilhe was made an adult son. He was also responsible for teaching and guidingthe child in areas of morals. So the law was the paidagogos until Christcame and full sonship was acquired by faith in Him (See also Gal. 4:5-7).The law then brings men to Christ, by imposing a necessary restraint uponthem until they find true moral freedom by faith in Christ. The law revealsto men their sin and their doom, and in this sense makes the sinner consciousof his need.

8. The law was given to bear witness prophetically and typically ofsalvation by grace in Christ (Rom. 3:21). After showing that the wholeworld is sinful and guilty before God and that by deeds of law no fleshcan be justified in His sight, the apostle proceeds to outline the trueway of salvation in Romans 3. He writes, But now the righteousness of Godwithout the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets(Rom. 3:21).

The first thing to notice here is that God's righteousness which savessinners is without the law. The Greek preposition is choris, meaning apartfrom in the most absolute sense. It is used in Hebrews 4:15 where our Lordis said to have been tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.Thus, the salvation of the believer is as absolutely apart from the lawas the character of the Son of God is apart from sin. Just as sin had nothingto do with Christ, even so the law has nothing to do with the righteousnesswe receive through Christ.

But on the other hand, if the law could make absolutely no contributionto our salvation in Christ, nevertheless this same law did function asa witness to that righteousness - being witnessed by the law and the prophets(Rom. 3:21). How did the law bear this witness ? First, the law bore thiswitness prophetically. The first great prophecy of salvation in a comingRedeemer is found in the book of the law: And I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruisethy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Gen. 3:15).

Second, the law witnessed to our great salvation in Christ through types.The entire sacrificial system of the Mosaic law pointed forward to theLamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Thus the law spoke clearlyand unmistakably of a divine righteousness bestowed by the grace of Godon those who simply believe, while at the same time the law could not makethe slightest contribution to that righteousness. The correct formula,therefore, is divine righteousness apart from law but witnessed by thelaw. The law had only the shadow of good things to come, but not the veryimage of those things (Heb. 10:1). Let us recognize the value of the shadow,but let us beware even of seeming to put one iota of the shadow in theplace of the substance.

1. As a written Law, it was given in the form of a covenant to Israelalone. As a preface to the giving of the Ten Words on Sinai, the Lord speaksthus through Moses to Israel: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob,and tell the children of Israel; ... Now therefore, if Ye will obey myvoice indeed, and keep my covenant, then Ye shall be a peculiar treasureunto me above all people (Exodus 19:3, 5). Then after the giving of thelaw at Sinai, we read that Moses took the book of the covenant, and readin the audience of the people (Exodus 24:7). As the giving of the law proceeded,the divine Voice enjoined upon Moses the making of a written record, Writethou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenantwith thee and with Israel (Exodus 34:27).

After the completion of the written record, the Levites were commanded,Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenantof the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee (Deut.31:26). In his article on the Decalogue, Dr. Sampey writes, It was to Israelthat the Decalogue was primarily addressed, and not to all mankind {ISBE}.

2. This divine covenant set forth in the Pentateuch is clearly describedas a legal matter. Thus the Ten Commandments are spoken of as the tablesof the covenant which the Lord made with you (Deut. 9:9). And the legalrecord is referred to variously as the book of the covenant (Exodus 24:7)and the words of the covenant (Deut. 29:1). Furthermore, the penaltiesof the divine law are called the curses of the covenant (Deut. 29:21).Finally, the blood of the animals sacrificed in obedience to the law ischaracterized as the blood of the covenant (Exodus 24:8). And the ark,which stands as a symbol of both moral and ceremonial law, is named theark of the covenant (Num. 10:33).

3. Regarded as a covenant, the blessings of the law were conditional,dependent on Israel s obedience. If Ye will obey my voice indeed, and keepmy covenant, then Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:... a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6). If thou shalthearken diligently ... to observe and to do all his commandments ... allthese blessings shall come on thee (Deut. 28:1-2). See Deuteronomy 28:1-14.On the other hand, if the people of Israel find themselves groaning underthe judgments of God, they must understand that all this is come upon thembecause They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law(Ps. 78:10).

4. Viewed as a law code, it was written to Israel because of sin. Inanswering the question, Wherefore then the law? Paul says It was addedbecause of transgressions (Gal. 3:19). When the children of Israel leftthe bondage of Egypt, their deliverance and exodus was accomplished inaccordance with the gracious promise of a sovereign God. But how did theyreact to this undeserved deliverance? The sorry record in Exodus tellsof their fearful wish to be back under the bondage of Egypt rather thanface the perils of Pharaoh s host, their petulant murmuring against Mosesbecause of the bitter waters at Marah, their lusting after the fleshpotsof Egypt, their readiness to stone Moses because of their thirst in thedesert - all this in the face of the Lord's mighty working of miraclesin delivering them over and over. It was the transgressions of Israel thatbrought them to the foot of Sinai, for they continually failed to walkby faith under the gracious promises of a sovereign God. Strongly reminiscentof their failure is the warning of Hebrew 12:15, Looking diligently lestany man fail of the grace of God. No other failure can be so disastrousin the moral and spiritual realm.

5. The giving of this legal covenant to Israel, however, did not abrogatethe earlier Abrahamic covenant which was unconditional. In its initialand original form, this covenant with Abraham is found in Genesis 12:1-3.Its sevenfold blessing is not conditional upon any legal perfection ofAbraham. God simply announces what He will do for the patriarch and hisseed. It might be argued that there is, after all, one condition laid downin verse 1, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred ... untoa land that I will shew thee. But Abraham s compliance with this injunctionwas only his response of faith to the sovereign promises of God. By faithAbraham ... went out, not knowing whither he went (Heb. 11:8). (In thesame way we respond by faith today to the call of God when we leave theworld and enter that blessed realm designated in Christ. ) Now this covenantwith Abraham was made 430 years before the law was given at Sinai, andPaul argues that this law ... cannot disannul [the covenant], that it shouldmake the promise of none effect (Gal. 3:17). Even the Mosaic law itselfwitnesses to the supremacy of the former covenant. In spite of Israel siniquities and the certainty of divine judgment upon the nation, the Lorddeclares, My covenant with Abraham will I remember; ... yet for all that,when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neitherwill I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant withthem: for I am the LORD their God (Lev. 26:42, 44).

6. The Israelite is under this Mosaic written law until he finds forgivenessand freedom in the new covenant under grace in Christ. Know Ye not, brethren,(for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominionover a man as long as he liveth? (Rom. 7:1). Freedom from the law's bondagecomes only as the Jew becomes dead to the law by the body of Christ (Rom.7:4). The same general idea is asserted in Galatians 5:3, For I testifyagain to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the wholelaw. The reference is not merely to the physical operation, but to submissionto the rite with the belief that it will either save or help to save thesoul. Such a one is bound by the entire law, to do it all or suffer thepenalty for failure.

It is clear that Paul regarded the unsaved Jews of his day as beingunder the law, for he says in Romans 3:19, We know that what things soeverthe law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. The Greek verbshere indicate a present reality, not merely a relationship which once existedbut is no longer in force.

At the very moment the apostle was writing, the law was speaking tohis unsaved kinsmen who, he argues, are under the law. If this were notso, there could be no day of judgment for them, as he affirms there certainlyshall be: As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law(Rom.2:12b). The same thought appears in Galatians 4 where Paul, speakingof the Jerusalem which now is, says she is in bondage with her children(Gal. 4:25). That this is the bondage of the law is clear from the context,especially in Galatians 5:1, where he warns the saved not to go back toit.

This view does not conflict in any way with the fact that what we callthe Dispensation of Law ended at Calvary. For God may change in His wayof dealing with men without totally abolishing the main feature of a formerdispensation. Conscience was not abolished when human government was established.Nor were the promises abrogated when the Dispensation of Law began. Sotoday, in this Age of Grace, there is still law for those who will notcome to Christ for freedom. And if when men believe, they are become deadto the law (Rom. 7:4) in order that they may be joined to Christ, thenthis dominion of the law must be a very genuine and present reality.

The relationship of the Mosaic law to Gentiles is important and therehas been some sharp disagreement on the subject. Some assert that not onlywas the written Mosaic law given to Israel alone, but that it also hasno relation whatsoever to Gentiles. Others argue that this law is for allmen and is universal in its obligations. There is some truth on both sides.

1. The law of Moses, in a certain sense, made provision for Gentilesto enter into its benefits and restraints. This provision, under the historicaltheocratic kingdom, is a well-attested fact. Thus, in the law concerningthe Passover, provision was made for the stranger who might sojourn withIsrael; and there was to be one law for the home born and stranger (Exodus12:48-49). Also, in the case of freewill offerings unto the Lord for burntofferings, the laws concerning perfect and imperfect animals applied toboth Israel and the strangers in Israel alike (Lev. 22:18-22). Regulationsdealing with the blood from animal sacrifices were imposed upon the stranger- Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers whichsojourn among you, that offereth a burnt-offering or sacrifice, ... thateateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul thateateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people (Lev. 17:8, 10).Quite evidently the stranger, under some circumstances, must have beenpermitted to join in the sacrificial rites.

Furthermore, from Deuteronomy 23:1-7 it appears that certain restrictionssurrounded the reception of outsiders into the congregation of the LORD,showing that such a reception was possible. The Prophet Isaiah seems tolevel whatever distinction there remained between the Israelite and theson of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD (Isa. 56:3).The latter is not to say, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people(Isa. 56:3). The chief point under consideration in the passage is thekeeping of the legal Sabbath (Isa. 56:2).

With these many clear provisions for the stranger written in the JewishScriptures, it is difficult to understand how such a violent antagonismagainst Gentiles could develop as appeared in the days of Christ.

(Note: Some interpreters have regarded the law as something which raisedan insuperable barrier between Jew and Gentile on the basis of Ephesians2:11-19. This is a misinterpretation of verse 14 which has doubtless contributedto this wrong idea. For he [Christ] ... hath made both one, and hath brokendown the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his fleshthe enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances (Eph.2:14-15). The middle wall of partition is not between us , that is, Jewand Gentile, as the words suggest. This middle wall is certainly the lawof commandments mentioned in verse 15, which was abolished by the deathof Christ. But this middle wall of law did not merely separate one kindof sinners (Jews) from another kind of sinners (Gentiles). It was rathera barrier which separated all sinners, both Jew and Gentile, from a holyGod. That is why the law of commandments had to be abolished in order toreconcile both [Jew and Gentile] unto God in one body (Eph. 2:16).

2. But even entirely apart from any provision made by the law for strangersto sojourn with Israel, the great underlying principles of the Mosaic writtenlaw were found reflected in some degree in Gentile morality and religion.The Mosaic law had three elements: the moral, ceremonial and civil. Discussingthe case of the Gentiles, Paul declares that sometimes the Gentiles, whichhave not the law [that is, the written law], do by nature the things containedin the law (Rom. 2:14). In so acting, Paul argues, the Gentiles shew thework of the law written in their hearts (Rom. 2:15). Thus, Paul claimseverything good that has ever appeared in the Gentile world as a reflection,however faint, of the one original divine law recorded in Scripture. Nowit is a fact that among the pagan Gentile nations there is found occasionallya fairly high knowledge of morality - a reflection of the moral elementwhich appears perfectly in the law written in Scripture. Also the urgeto offer sacrifice is universal, found among all nations - a reflectionof the ceremonial law in Scripture. Finally, in the civil codes of variousnations reflections may be seen of the written law of God (cf. the remarkablecode of Hammurabi). All this points back to the unity of the divine law,both in its content and its original source. In the one case it is writtenperfectly in Scripture. In the other it is written imperfectly in the heartsof men. There is one divine law, not two.

3. Therefore, we must conclude that even the Gentiles were and are underlaw, but in a somewhat different sense from the Jews. At this point oneshould carefully study the material in Romans 2:11-15. Here both Jews andGentiles are being considered as sinners apart from Christ. The Jews hadthe perfect divine law written in Scripture, and by that law they willby judged (v. 12b). The Gentiles did not have such a law, but they willperish for their sins nevertheless (v. 12a). Answering the objection thatthis does not seem fair to the Gentiles, Paul says that although they werewithout the written law of Scripture, they nonetheless had a law - thelaw written in their hearts, an inner law which reflected imperfectly thewritten law of God. And by this law they will be judged and condemned,because they violated the inner law of which the conscience within thembore witness (vv. 14-16). Thus there is no respect of persons with God.Judged by the light they had (one in its original source), all men mustperish, where Jew or Gentile. The only hope for sinners is not in the law,but in the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Several answers, all evasive in character, have been given to thequestion: Is the Christian under the law? For most part they are basedupon wrong or inadequate definitions of law.

a. Some argue that the believer is under the moral law, but not underthe ceremonial law.

b. Others say that we are under the moral law, but not under its penalties.

c. Still others assert that we are under the moral law as a rule oflife, but not as a way of salvation. Another way of saying the same thingis that we are under the law for sanctification but not for justification.

d. Another view is that we are under the Sermon on the Mount, but notunder the law of Sinai.

e. A rather curious view advanced recently is that the Christian believeris under the law of God, but not under the law of Moses. According to thisscheme the law of Moses is the entire system of law recorded in the Pentateuch,whereas the law of God is limited to the Ten Commandments! That such adistinction between the law of God and the law of Moses cannot stand isclear from Scriptures. See Luke 2:21-24, 39 where the same law is calledvariously the law of Moses and the law of the Lord, and the law under considerationis ceremonial in nature. See also Mark 7:8-13 where what Moses said isalso identified as the commandment of God, and the material quoted fromthe Pentateuch includes one of the Ten Commandments and also a death penaltyfrom the civil code. We will not be misled by any of the above erroneousviews if we hold fast to a complete definition of the divine law, namely,that the law of God in the Bible is one law, including moral, ceremonialand civil elements, and inseparable from its penalties.

2. The meaning of the Biblical phrase under the law. This expressionoccurs twelve times in the King James Version. The Greek preposition isen (Rom. 3:19), and it is hupo with the accusative case (Rom. 6:14-15;Gal. 3:23; 4:4-5, 21; 5:18). In the remaining passage the English phraseunder the law represents a translation of a single Greek word (1 Cor. 9:21),which will be discussed later.

According to S. G. Green, the en of the above texts refers to the spherein which the subject is dwelling and acting. This would accurately describethe Jew in relation to the divine law. He was not only under the law, butalso in the law as the sphere of his existence and actions.

The preposition hupo with the accusative in the other texts means subjectto the power of any person or thing. Thayer cites as examples the veryreferences under consideration in this study. An excellent illustrationmay be found in Matthew 8:9, where the Roman centurion says, For I am aman under [hupo] authority, having soldiers under [hupo] me. Just as thecenturion was absolutely under Roman military authority, both as to itslaws and penalties, so also were his soldiers under his authority.

In summary we may say that for one to be under the law in the Biblicalsense is to be under the law of God - the entire Mosaic legal system inits indivisible totality - subject to its commands and liable to its penalties.

3. Now the Word of God declares plainly that the Christian believeris not under the law. At least three times, simply and without qualification,the New Testament asserts this great truth: For Ye are not under the law(Rom. 6:14). Because we are not under the law (6:15). Ye are not underthe law (Gal. 5:18). It should also be noted that in two of the above quotedtexts, the writer ties two great facts of the Christian faith directlyto the truth that we are not under the law. In Romans 6:14 the Christians deliverance from the lordship of sin is tied to his deliverance fromthe law, and in Galatians 5:18 our deliverance from the law is regardedas an evidence of our being led by the Spirit. These practical effectsin the realm of the moral and spiritual life will be discussed more fully.

a. Consider further that the Christian believer is not under the lawin any sense as a means of salvation or any part of it. In Romans 3:20we read that by the deeds of the law ... shall no flesh be justified inhis sight. And in this text the Holy Spirit seems to broaden sweepinglythe exclusion of all deeds of all law from the divine act in the justificationof sinners. There are no definite articles. The Greek text reads simplyby deeds of law. Again in Romans 6:14 the Scripture declares not only thatthe law as law has absolutely nothing to contribute in the accomplishmentof the believer s sanctification, but on the contrary that freedom fromthe law's bondage is actually one indispensable factor in that importantwork of God in the soul. Still further, when Paul comes to deal with thematter of Christian security in Romans 8, he asserts that the law has nopower to keep us in safety, but what the law could not do in this regard,God sent His Son to accomplish for us and also in us (Rom. 8:3-4). Thuswe see that the law can neither justify, sanctify nor preserve us.

b. The law can five no help to men as a means of salvation from sin.In Colossians 2:14 who can fail to see the reference to Sinai in the phrasehandwriting of ordinances ? The apostle declares that this same divinelaw was not only against us but also contrary to us. And the same writer,referring to the Decalogue written and engraven in stones, describes itas a ministration of death (2 Cor. 3:7). In Romans 4:15 we learn that thelaw worketh wrath, and in Galatians 3:12 that the law is not of faith.And when certain men arose in the early church to insist that believersshould be placed under at least a small part of the law, Peter himselfrebuked them with the reminder that this law was a yoke ... which neitherour fathers nor we were able to bear (Acts 15:10).

c. According to the New Testament, the Christian is delivered from thelaw. This is the central argument of Romans 7. Any failure to see and acceptit leads inevitably to that moral and spiritual defeat pictured so vividlylater in the chapter. Those believers had not learned that Ye also arebecome dead to the law by the body of Christ (v. 4), and that we are deliveredfrom the law (v. 6). Both verbs are in the aorist tense, pointing backto something done once for all. The same book sums up the argument in oneirrefutable statement, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness toeveryone that believeth (Rom. 10:4). The Greek arrangement of the wordshere puts the word end first in the sentence. That is where the emphasismust be put - the end of the law has come for all believers in Christ!God says end. Let there be no equivocation here. Either this is true orthere is no salvation for sinners.

d. The conclusion must be that the law itself as law, for the Christian,has been abolished. No one can read 2 Corinthians 3 with an unprejudicedattitude and not see that the writer is discussing the very center of thelaw of God with its tables of stone (v. 3). All this, so far as the Christianbeliever is concerned, has been done away (v.11) ; it has been abolished(v. 13). The same thing is set forth in Ephesians 2:15, Having abolishedin his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.And again we read that the handwriting of ordinances that was against ushas been blotted out, nailed to the cross of Christ (Col. 2:14). In sodoing, our blessed Lord Jesus spoiled the powers of darkness and triumphedover them. For the great accuser of the brethren and his hosts had foundhis base of operations in the law. Under the law he could rightly arguethat we sinners deserved to be judged and forever doomed. But, thank God,all this ended for the believer. Every penalty of the divine law has beenpaid, every demand of the law has been satisfied - not by us, but by theLamb of God.

(Note: It has been argued by some that the above quoted texts referonly to the ceremonial elements of the law and not the moral law. Hereagain I refer the reader back to my earlier argument for the unity of thedivine law. Also, on Colossians 2:14, Peake says, This distinction betweenthe moral and ceremonial law has no meaning to Paul. The Law is a unityand is done away as a whole. On the clause took it out of the way, he comments,The change from aorist to perfect [tense] is significant as expressingthe abiding character of the abolition. For the Christian there can beno point of return back to the law. On the clause nailing it to his cross,Peake adds, When Christ was crucified, God nailed the Law to His cross.Thus it, like the flesh, was abrogated, sharing His death. The bond thereforeno longer exists for us. )

4. In what sense were God's people under the law in the Old Testamentage? This is a question which will inevitably be raised at this point.And it is a legitimate question which should be answered.

a. Let us note that God had a people in Old Testament days and thatthis people was under the law from Sinai to Calvary. This is the substanceof Paul s argument in Galatians 3:17-23. Speaking of that Old Testamentpeople, with whom he himself had been once associated, Paul writes, Butbefore [the] faith came, we were kept under the law (v. 23).

b. Consider now that in these Old Testament days the phrase under thelaw could have had only two possible meanings - either under the law asa way of salvation, or under the law as a rule of life.

c. We can be certain that under the law in those days could not havemeant a way of salvation. For nothing is taught more clearly in the Wordof God than that no one in any age could be saved by law-keeping. By thedeeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight (Rom. 3:20).The entire fourth chapter of Romans is given to the proposition that bothAbraham and David were saved by faith, not by law. With this possibilityexcluded, there is only this possible alternative: Under the law for theseOld Testament people meant that they were under it as a rule of life.

d. Let us follow now the argument to its logical conclusion. The dispensationalchange from the Age of the Law to the Age of Grace does not mean that formerlysinners were saved by deeds of the law whereas today they are saved bygrace, for we have already seen that men could not be saved by law in anyage! But it does mean that God's people in the former age were under thelaw as a rule of life, whereas today they are not under the law as a ruleof life. Yet this is the very sense in which the legalistic theology ofour day affirms that the law is still in force over the Christian believer!

What utter nonsense! If their affirmation be true, then the distinctionbetween being under law and not being under law has been canceled, andthe Apostle Paul wasted his time writing the great books of Romans andGalatians, to say nothing of the other books which declare the vital importanceof this distinction.

1. There are at least three possible ways in which a theological systemcan be constructed for the purpose of putting the Christian under law:

a. A system which would place the Christian under the total law, includingall its elements and penalties. This is pure Judaism.

b. A system which would place the Christian under the moral law andits penalties. This is moral legalism.

c. A system which would place the Christian under the moral law strippedof its proper penalties. This might be called a weak and beggarly legalism(cf. Gal. 4:9).

2. It is this third system that deserves the severest criticism.

a. It employs an UN-Scriptural terminology, taking only one elementof the law and divesting even that of its sanctions, and then calls itthe law of God. In the Bible the law is a unity which includes all itselements with its penalties.

b. Claiming to honor the law of God, the system actually dishonors thelaw, especially because it reduces the holy law of a holy God to the levelof mere good advice, comparable to some of the legalistic functions ofthe United Nations organization.

c. This ultimately moves in the direction of theological disaster, bringingand compounding confusion into our views of sin, of salvation, of the workof Christ and even of the doctrine of God.

d. Worst of all, this abstraction of the moral element from the ceremonialelement in Old Testament law, and its imposition upon the Christian asa rule of life, has a grave spiritual and moral danger. For it is preciselythis ceremonial element which provides the context of grace for the moralelement, and this context of grace provides the great motivating principlewhich secures the fulfillment of the moral element of the law. Thus thiskind of legalistic morality defeats itself.

3. The Word of God condemns unsparingly all attempts to put the Christianbeliever under the law. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul gave tothe church the book of Galatians for the very purpose of dealing with thisheresy. Read this epistle over and over, noting carefully the precise errorwith which the writer deals. It is not a total rejection of the gospelof God's grace and a turning back to a total legalism. It is rather theerror of saying that the Christian life, having begun by simple faith inChrist, must thereafter continue under the law or some part of it. Thisis clear from the apostle s indignant charge: This only would I learn ofyou, Received Ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearingof faith? Are Ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are Ye now madeperfect in the flesh? (3:2-3). Little wonder that he begins the chapterwith a cry of astonishment, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,that Ye should not obey the truth ...? (3:1).

And having pursued his devastating argument against this type of legalismthrough chapter 3 and into chapter 4, showing that the redemption of Godin Christ has set us free from all the bondage of the law, he again askswith irony, But now, after that Ye have known God, or rather are knownof God, how turn Ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereuntoYe desire again to be in bondage? (4:9). And then he adds, I am afraidof you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain (4:11). Ye did runwell; who did hinder you that Ye should not obey the truth? (5:7). As forthe preacher who had introduced this heresy among the flock, Paul writesby inspiration of the Holy Ghost, He that troubleth you shall bear hisjudgment, whosoever he be (5:10).

That this matter was no mere case of theological hairsplitting (as sometoday are accustomed to charge) is made clear in the very beginning ofthe book of Galatians. In seeking to add some modicum of law to the gospelof God's grace, these legalistic teachers are preaching another gospel(1:6). Paul hastens, however, to add that what they are preaching is reallynot another gospel at all, for the very meaning of the term gospel excludesall works of law. And so, strange as it may seen to some, for anyone toadd any law (no matter how worthy) to the simple good news of God's gracein Christ, is actually to destroy the gospel as gospel! It is no longergospel at all! If even the smallest item of the law should be added tothe gospel and made binding upon believers, so that the requirement nowbecomes believe plus something else in order to be saved, the soul whichaccepts this plus something else automatically becomes a debtor to do thewhole law (5:3). For such a one, the apostle warns, Christ shall profityou nothing (5:2).

And so the problem becomes very simple: Either Christ will save youby grace through faith plus nothing, or He will not save you at all! Asa matter of fact, even an omnipotent God can save sinners in only one way- that is, by grace. Because of what God is and because of what we are,there is no other way. Paradoxical as it may seem, this in one place wherethe addition of something finite actually results in a subtraction whichis infinite. Such is the mathematics of grace. If the sinner adds anything,he loses everything. If he adds nothing, he wins everything.

Understanding this, we can then accept sympathetically the ultimatumof Galatians: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any othergospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed(Gal. 1:8).

This standard is the will of God in the context of His grace given inour Lord Jesus Christ as revealed perfectly in the entire written Wordof God. This is so important that it should be memorized. The essentialelements are:

a. The Will of God.

b. In the context of His grace.

c. Given in our Lord Jesus Christ.

d. Revealed in the entire Word of God written.

Three passages should be read and studied in this connection. The firstis Romans 12:1-2, where Paul sets before us as Christian believers whathe calls the will of God. But it should be noticed that this will of Godis enshrined within the mercies of God. The mercies are first. For savedsinners this is the order of approach to the will of God. The first elevenchapters of Romans are devoted to the exposition of the mercies of divinegrace. Then the apostle takes up the matter of God's will for Christians,and he sets it before us in the very center of the mercies. In exhortingus to realize the will of God, he writes, I beseech you ... by the merciesof God. This is what we mean by the will of God in the context of His grace.

The second passage is John 5:39, where our Lord declares Himself asthe central object and theme of all written revelation. To the Jewish hearersof His day, men who prided themselves on their zeal in study of the writtenWord, He says, [Ye] search the scriptures; for [ i.e. because] in themYe think Ye have eternal life. And then He reminds them that these sameScriptures are they which testify of me. If they miss Him, all their zealoussearching of Scripture will count for nothing. For the gift of eternallife comes only by divine grace, and the grace of God comes only in HisSon our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the will of God in the context of His graceis found in Christ alone. Grace ... came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

The third passage is 2 Timothy 3:16-17, where the Holy Ghost throughPaul affirms that All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and isprofitable in every way for the children of God, to bring them to perfectionand furnish them unto all good works.

Consider now these important truths found in the above passages:

1. The entire written Word of God is able to make us wise with referenceto that salvation which we have by faith in Christ. It is undoubtedly truethat a sincere perusal of the Scriptures can, under the guidance of theHoly Spirit, bring the unsaved to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But itis also true that one may in simple faith receive eternal life in Christand yet remain unwise in many respects with reference to that great salvation.For this reason God has given us His total written Word to make us wiseregarding the greatness of our salvation in Christ.

2. This entire Word of God is profitable to all Christians in all itsvarious parts. We should notice the sweeping character of the apostle sstatement: All scripture ... is profitable. Literally, it is Every scripture... is profitable. Let us beware, therefore, of the error of supposingthat there is anything in the Book of God which can be set aside, or evenneglected, by the Christian believer. All of the Book - every part of it,no matter how small - will be found profitable for the saved. We cannotdispense with any of it without loss to ourselves. In this connection,it needs to be emphasized without any compromise, that all scripture includesall the elements of that law - moral, ceremonial and civil. And includedalso are the penalties of the law. We who are saved are not under the law,but the law is part of the written Word and is therefore profitable tothe saved. In what way is all scripture profitable? The answer is: (a)for doctrine, (b) for reproof, (c) for correction, (d) for instructionin righteousness. We find in 1 Corinthians 10:1-14 an instructive lessonin how Paul used the law of Moses in the Pentateuch in the various waysoutlined above for the good of Christian believers in his day. We are notunder the law; but because that law is inspired Scripture, it is full ofvaluable doctrine and useful lessons for us.

3. This entire written Word serves as a mirror for the Christian. Inthis perfect mirror of the Scriptures we may see ourselves. Speaking ofthe Word of God in relation to Christian believers, James describes theman who beholdeth his natural face in a glass: ... and goeth his way andstraightway forgetteth what manner of man he was (James 1:23-24). He contrastshim to the man who not only looketh at himself in the mirror but also isa doer of something about the matter (1:25). In the beginning, the differencebetween the two men is not merely a matter of doing or not doing, but ratherin the manner in which they look onto the mirror of the Word. The Greekverb of verse 24 suggests a merely casual look, whereas the verb of verse25 indicates a careful look. It is the careful look and continuance thereinthat produces the doer of the work and the resultant blessing.

But this looking at ourselves in the mirror of the Word must not beseparated from the look into the same mirror to behold the image of ourLord. Looking at ourselves is not enough and by itself can only bring utterdespair. We must see the Lord. And the Holy Scriptures in their totalitycomprise the perfect mirror in which we may see our Lord in all His graceand glory. As the Apostle Paul writes, But we all, with open [unveiled]face beholding as in a glass [mirror] the glory of the Lord, are changedinto the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord(2 Cor. 3:18). Seeing ourselves in the mirror of the Word is very worthwhile,but it is beholding the Lord in this mirror that brings about the moraland spiritual change that all of us need so much. And it is significantthat Paul in writing about the importance of this mirror of the Word, hasin mind primarily the Old Testament Scriptures, and especially the fivebooks of the Pentateuch written by Moses (cf. vv. 14 and 15).

This brings us to the remarkable character of the truth taught in 2Corinthians 3. In the first thirteen verses the apostle declares emphaticallythat for the Christian believer the law of Moses has been done away andactually abolished (vv. 11, 13). Yet this same law remains as part of themirror of the written Word in which we see the glory of the Lord. As lawit has been abolished; as believers we are no longer under it as law. Yetit remains as a part of Scripture, and as such it is profitable for usbecause it bears witness to our Lord and Savior. Thus, to emasculate thewritten Word or any portion of it, whether moral or ceremonial law or anythingelse, is to mar and deface to the same extent the only divinely authorizedportrait of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the end to hinder the Spirits perfect work of sanctification. We see the importance of this in thepost-resurrection ministry of our Lord. Beginning at Moses and all theprophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerninghimself (Luke 24:27). (See also Luke 24:44).

4. This entire written Word of God points us to a perfect example inChrist. As we beheld His glory in the mirror of the Word, we see:

a. What we as believers ought to be here and now. We shall rememberthat we ought so to walk, even as he walked (1 John 2:6). We shall notforget that even hereunto were Ye called: because Christ also sufferedfor us, leaving us an example, that Ye should follow his steps (1 Peter2:21). If we ever expect to have the mind in us which was also in ChristJesus (Phil. 2:5), we must find that mind in the record of what He wasand what He did. And for this we must have more than the four gospels oreven the New Testament writings, but the total written Word of God fromGenesis through Revelation. Furthermore, as we see Christ in this totalWord we learn:

b. What we shall be at His coming. We shall understand that, againstall present appearances and adverse conditions, when he shall appear, weshall be like him (1 John 3:2). And with this blessed hope in our hearts,we shall become purer men and women here and now even before He comes (1John 3:4). Thus we shall count the sufferings of this present time noteven to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom.8:18). If God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of hisSon (Rom. 8:29), He has also predestined the means by which this blessedconformation is being carried forward even here and now. It is the totalWord of God written and inspired, bearing witness of His Son.

5. This total Word of God written is given us to center our attentionupon Christ, what He is, what He has done, and what He said. For the truebeliever, Christ must be the center and circumference of all things. Thou,O Christ, art all I wand; more than all in Thee I find.

a. The written Word fixes our attention on Christ Himself. There areother great figures in the Scriptures. Think of Moses and Elijah, probablythe greatest in the halls of Old Testament fame. But even these fade fromsight in the light of the glory of the eternal Son. If we read the willof God rightly, led of the Spirit, we shall see no man, save Jesus only(Matt. 17:8). Let all those who preach and teach the Word take some solemnheed. If they speak of Moses and Elijah and the others, let them be carefulso to speak that these lesser lights will direct the eyes of men to Himwho is both their Lord and ours.

b. The written Word fixes our attention on the love of Christ. Evena lost world recognizes the value of love and its leaders talk much aboutlove. But most of this talk concerns itself with love in the abstract.Sometimes it becomes a mere verbal idolatry. But in the Bible we meet somethingaltogether different. Here we are told indeed that God is love (1 John4:8), but we are not left to speculate as to the real nature of love inthe unseen and ineffable deity. The same Word which tells us that God islove goes on to direct our eyes to something historically concrete: Inthis was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent Hisonly begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (1 John4:9). Do we struggle intellectually to understand the real nature of divinelove? Well, herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). Andas we behold the love of God incarnate in the Son, our ears become moreattentive to the exhortation which follows: Beloved, if God so loved us,we ought also to love one another (1 John 4:11).

c. The written Word of God also directs our eyes to the work of Christ.No matter where we open the Book, if we have eyes to see, we meet the bloodof atonement. John the Baptist, last in the great succession of prophetsof the Old Testament, sums up the testimony as his eyes look upon the incarnateSon. Behold the Lamb of God, John cries, which taketh away the sin of theworld (John 1:29). And these word upon the lips of John spoke of death,for a lamb cannot take away sin except by dying.

Thus, throughout the written Word, wherever we open its pages, we seeJesus, who was made a little lower that the angels for suffering of death,crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should tastedeath for every man (Heb. 2:9). And perceiving in Calvary the love of God,because he laid down his life for us, we are brought to see that we oughtto lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16).

d. The written Word of God also opens our eyes to the words and commandmentsof Christ. Our Lord says, He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them,he it is that loveth me (John 14:21), and again He says, If a man loveme, he will keep my words (v. 23). Here again we must have the total Wordof God in order to hear in its widest aspect the voice of our Lord. Wemust understand that the voice of the infinite God comes to men alwaysthrough the Son, the eternal logos.

It is wrong, therefore, to reject the Old Testament or any part of it,as some do, or to set aside the epistles of the New Testament as somehowinferior to the four gospels, or to treat the prophetic element in Scriptureas of little or no importance to the Christian life, as others do. As weread the written Word, if we are wise we shall hear the voice of the preexistentSon speaking to us in the Old Testament, the voice of the incarnate Sonspeaking to us in the gospel records in the days of His flesh, and thevoice of the exalted and glorified Son speaking to us from heaven in theother New Testament books.

To be sure, there is progress in the revelation of God through the Son.In the movement of history, some things are superseded; others may be abolished.Some things are more important that other things. We must read the Bookof God, not mechanically, but under the guidance of His Holy Spirit.

Sometimes we are asked: What does it mean to keep the words and commandmentsof the Lord Jesus Christ? We can answer that at least one thing it cannotmean is to put ourselves back under any legalistic system of any kind.But positively we have some texts which shed light upon the problem. Oneis 1 Kings 14:8, where the Lord speaks of King David as one who kept mycommandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only whichwas right in mine eyes. This is God's pronouncement upon the total lifeof David, a man who had failed terribly more than once.

Another passage is found in the New Testament in John 17:6. Here westand upon solemn ground and hear the communings of deity, the Son reportingand praying to the Father. And concerning the men who had followed Himduring the days of His flesh, He reports an amazing thing: They have keptthy word. Reflecting back upon the ways of three weak men, we think oftheir selfish ambitions, quarreling at the Last Supper, the impending denialof Peter, and the doubtings of Thomas. Yet the Lord, who knows the heartsof men, beholds these weak and vacillating men lovingly, and says, Theyhave kept thy word !

Surely this judgment is not based upon any legalistic balance betweenso many things done and so many things left undone, but rather upon thestate of the heart and the direction of the life course. They loved theLord and treasured His words and they were faced in the right direction.

6. The will of God revealed in the written Word must always be seenin the context of God's grace. I have already touched upon this, but nowwe shall discuss the matter at some length. Nothing could be more crucial.Unless we see the will of God in the context of His grace, we shall alwaysbe in danger of reverting to old systems of legalism or building new ones.If we center upon the will of God and ignore that context of grace, itis possible to erect a legalistic system even on such books as Romans andGalatians!

But consider now how carefully the Scriptures put the will of God inthe context of His grace. In Romans 12:1-2 we are besought to realize thewill of God, but the exhortation comes to us by the mercies of God. In1 Corinthians 8:7-11 we are taught how careful we should be in our treatmentof weaker brethren, and the ultimate argument used is that the weak brotheris one for whom Christ died. In Philippians 2:2-5 the writer exhorts usto a life of love and forbearance, to be concerned with the good of othersrather than our own things.

And how is this lofty ideal to be reached? The apostle approaches hisreaders through the love and mercies they have found in Christ (Phil. 2:1),and he closes the appeal by setting before their eyes the gracious condescensionof the Son of God as He stoops from God to humanity, and then from humanityto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:5-8).

In Philippians 4:1-3 Paul writes to bring together two women in thechurch who have had a falling-out. He tells them to be of the same mind,but that is not enough. They are to be of the same mind in the Lord, andthe apostle closes by reminding them both that their names are in the bookof life. What an argument! Two women whose names by the grace of God arewritten in the book of life, but they have failed to be gracious to eachother with their names written on one church roll. Literally hundreds ofother examples may be found by the diligent reader of the New Testamentwritings.

In the progress of revelation there will be found, of course, certainsharp contrasts between the Age of the Law and the present age. Thus inDeuteronomy 6:5 the great obligation of man is stated in blinding severity,unrelieved by any color of grace: Thou shalt love the LORD thy God withall thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they might. Contrastthe language of grace: We love him, because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).The passage from Deuteronomy brings us into the presence of a great whitethrone ; the passage from John's pen puts a rainbow round about the throne.If we are wise, we shall always read the two texts together.

Take another example: Our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of man's obligationto his fellowmen, lays down the second great commandment, Thou shalt lovethy neighbor as thyself (Matt. 22:39). This is the law - the law of God.And we dare not and cannot change it. But come on this side of Calvaryand hear the voice of the same Lord as He speaks through John, Beloved,if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (1 John 4:11). Itis the same duty, but now enshrined in the context of grace. Take anotherexample, this time from the Sermon on the Mount, Therefore all things whatsoeverYe would that men should do to you, do Ye even so to them: for this isthe law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12). It is a good law, but there is somethinghigher, Let each esteem other better than themselves (Phil. 2:3).

The law gives us the careful balance of justice, but the exhortationof grace is reckless in its demand. Grace works because it is set in acontext of grace - the blessed Son of God laying aside His preexistentglory, making Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant,humbling Himself to death for us who deserve nothing (Phil. 2:3-8). Thisis the argument for grace, and it is irresistible for those who have beensaved and know the Lord. To it there is no answer apart from humble submissionin lowliness of mind.

But although dispensational distinctions are genuine and may be clearlyobserved, we are not to suppose that the context of grace is completelyabsent from the earlier parts of Scripture. Paul, speaking of the Age ofLaw, observes, Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound.Then he adds, But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Rom.5:20). If you wonder how grace abounded even in the Age of Law, you needonly read the record of the ceremonial law of sacrifice. It is here thatwe may find that context of grace in the midst of law. Consider, for example,the giving of the Decalogue, those ten words which constitute the verycenter of the law. The record is found in the 20th chapter of Exodus. Tragically,most sermons on the Ten Commandments end with verse 17. And the resultis often the same as that found in the history of Israel. The people ...removed, and stood afar off (v. 18). This is the result of the preachingof the law apart from the context of grace.

But in verse 24 the God of Sinai speaks again, An altar of earth thoushalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings ...and I will bless thee. The altar was to be made of earth, the one materialwithin the reach of all! But if stone should be used, no tool was to beused to shape it, for to do so would be to pollute it. Moreover, therecould not be steps up to reach the altar. Surely, this is the languageof God's grace! And what a pity that so many preachers, on the assumptionthat we are yet under the moral law but done with the ceremonial law, goon preaching the commandments of God without the context of grace, thusomitting the one factor which is able to secure the fullest realizationof the ideal of moral law.

The truth, of course, is that the Christian is not under law in anysense, whether moral or ceremonial. But on the other hand, both elementsof the law continue to be essential parts of the total written Word ofGod down to the last jot and tittle, and as such it is profitable to allthe children of God in every age.

In this connection I would like to encourage Christians who delightin finding the Lord Jesus Christ upon every page of Scripture. Do not permityourselves to be frightened by those overcautious souls who cry againstwhat they call too much typology. Doubtless there are some things whichmay properly be catalogued as types and others not. But whatever you maycall it, it is the privilege and highest duty of the Christian to discoverand behold the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture - everywhere!Far better to break a few rules of classical hermeneutics than to missthe vision of His blessed face.

We need only one caution - let us be sure that what we find is alwaystrue to the historical revelation of the Son as recorded in the New Testament.With this safeguard, there is no end to what we may find in the inspiredrecord of the infinite and incarnate Son of God. And by finding Him throughoutScripture, we shall be finding the perfect will of God in the wonderfulcontext of grace. For grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal lifeby Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:21).

7. This context of grace is the only environment in which the will ofGod can be most fully realized in the Christian life. In this context ofgrace we grow (2 Peter 3:18) ; we stand (1 Peter 5:12) ; we are built up(Acts 20:32) ; we are made strong (2 Tim. 2:1) ; we are made perfect (1Peter 5:10) ; we find freedom from sin s dominion (Rom. 6:14) ; we findcomplete liberty from legal bondage (Gal. 5:1-4) ; we find a sufficientmotive for doing the will of God (2 Cor. 8:9) ; we find an enabling powerfor Christian living (2 Cor. 12:9) ; we find recovery when we fall (Heb.4:16) ; we find assurance as to the final outcome of the Christian life(Acts 20:32).

Let us take care to follow the counsel of the apostle Paul, given toChristian believers in the midst of conflict with legalistic troublemakers,Continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43). And let us be cautious of thosewho offer any other counsel. Paul writes with deep indignation againstthose who urged a departure, seemingly very small, from the gospel of graceof God (Gal. 4:9-12).

1. The charge has been made that in affirming the believer is not underlaw we are rejecting a part of Scripture. This slanderous charge has beenanswered already by the Biblical evidence presented earlier, but I wishto deal with it more specifically.

First, we deny categorically any rejection of the law. On the contrary,we accept the law of God in Scripture in its totality, including all itselements - moral, ceremonial and civil - not merely a small part of thelaw stripped of its penalties, as our opponents are accustomed to do. They,not we, are the real rejecters of the Law!

Second, we accept this total divine law as a part of the inspired Wordof God. Therefore it is profitable for all Christian believers, to be usedunder the guidance of the Holy Spirit for doctrine, ... reproof, ... correction... [and] instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). No part of the Wordof God - not even the ceremonial law - can be neglected in our teachingand preaching without spiritual loss.

Third, we accept this law of God as something good, if a man use iflawfully (1 Tim. 1:8). For the meaning of the term lawfully (nomimos) see2 Tim 2:5, where it must unquestionably carry the idea according to law.Therefore, to use the law according to law must mean that it should beused as law, not emasculated of any of its elements or penalties.

This proper use of the law is further elaborated in 1 Timothy. If usedlawfully, that is, strictly as law, the law is not made for a righteousman (1 Tim. 1:9). And since the Christian believer is righteous in relationto the law as law (because through the work of Christ the law was completelyfulfilled and satisfied for us in all its demands and penalties), it isa wrong use of the law to put the Christian under it. To apply the lawas law to the Christian is to deny the eternal efficacy of the work ofChrist. On the other hand, argues the apostle, the law as law was madefor the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners (1 Tim.1:9). And he is careful to point out that in the long category of humanwickedness which renders men subject to the divine law of external restraintall this is contrary to [the] sound doctrine; according to the gloriousgospel of the blessed God (1 Tim. 1:9-11).

In the same context the apostle is careful to state the simple standardof life for the Christian believers: It is charity [love] our of a pureheart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned (1 Tim. 1:5). Forthe love of Christ constraineth us ...(2 Cor. 5:14) ought instead be thebattle cry from the pulpits to admonish and exhort Christians to grace!

But even in Paul s day there were some who were not satisfied with thissimple rule of life. These had turned aside unto vain janglings; desiringto be teachers of the law [lit. law-teachers]; understanding neither whatthey say, nor whereof they affirm (1 Tim. 1:6-7).

To summarize: In relation to the Christian, the law, as law, havingbeen completely fulfilled and satisfied in Christ, has been done away.But as law it still remains to operate as an external restraint upon theungodly. On the other hand, the law, as inspired Scripture, abides forall the saved and as such is profitable in all its parts. Only the soulsaved by grace, understanding clearly what took place at Calvary, can trulydelight in the law of the Lord. Such a one has seen in the cross the awfulseverity and doom of the law and rejoices in the assurance that its demandshave been satisfied to the last farthing by the Lamb of God.

2. It also has been said that since many professing Christians are notliving as they should, the law should be used to remedy this situation.Here we must admit the problem, even while we deplore the situation. Everyfaithful pastor faces it, often to a degree which is almost heartbreaking.But we also know that the remedy for this shameful condition in the professingchurch is not to turn from grace back to the method of law. The law hasalready been demonstrated historically as utterly powerless to make mengood. The law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:19). That is why the grace ofGod was manifested in Christ to do what the law could not do (Rom. 8:3).The remedy for sin is not more law but more grace. Where sin abounded,grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20). See also Peter s answer to thesuggestion of putting believers back under the law for righteousness inActs 15:10.

3. If you preach the grace of God for salvation, you will be warnedthat some may use the doctrine of grace as license to go on sinning. Hereagain we admit the warning is often based on fact. Even in the early churchthere were some who actually had turned the grace of God into lasciviousness(Jude 4). But in the case of such men, the basic trouble was not merelythat they had broken the moral law (for in this sense all have sinned),but rather that they were denying the only Lord God, and our Lord JesusChrist (Jude 4). They were ungodly men, Jude writes, not saved men at all,before of old ordained to this condemnation. Distressing as such casesare, it will do no good at all to change our message from grace back tolaw. Such a retreat can only deepen the disaster. Certainly these high-handedsinners should be warned of their final doom and urged to flee to Christfrom the wrath to come. But we as preachers must never forget that thelaw can neither regenerate men nor make them good. Only the grace of Godin Christ can do that. This message must remain: As Ye have therefore receivedChrist Jesus the Lord [by grace alone], so walk Ye in him (Col. 2:6).

Furthermore, if you preach this gospel of God's grace, you are likelyto be charged with antinomianism. But this charge is nothing new in thehistory of the church. The Apostle Paul himself was accused of the samething (Rom. 3:8). Therefore we need not be too much surprised to meet thesame charge today. As a matter of fact, unless you are charged thus sooneror later you are probable not preaching the good news of God's grace asit ought to be preached! For it has been truly pointed out that only thetrue doctrine of grace can be caricatured as a form of antinomianism. Youmay be sure you will never be charged with antinomianism as long as youare willing to compromise the message of grace with the smallest modicumof law. But the charge is false when leveled against the preacher of salvationby grace. For in the gospel of salvation by grace alone in Christ we arehonoring the law and establishing the law. By His death our Lord JesusChrist satisfied in full all the law's holy and just demands.

The real antinomians are the legalists, for they either take only oneelement of the law, or they strip it of its penalties or they soften andrelax its demands; to this extent they are against (Greek anti ) the law.

5. You will also be told that, in refusing to put Christians under law,you are lowering the standards of the good life. Actually, however, weare not lowering the moral standards, but raising them. The standard ofthe law was Love thy neighbor as thyself, but the rule of grace as laiddown by our Lord Jesus is That Ye love one another, as I have loved you(John 15:12). The difference is almost infinite. It is not the law, butChrist, dying under the law for us and in our stead, who sets the standardof the good life in the gospel of grace. Let all who may have any doubtsabout this matter turn again to the great passage in Philippians 2:5-11,reading it carefully and prayerfully. Here we have something that no meremoralist ever imagined - not only an infinitely high rule of goodness,but also an infinitely powerful incentive which ever lifts the sinner towardthe goal of perfection.

6. But, some will say: Does not the Bible command us to fulfill thelaw of Christ ? The sole basis for this idea is found in the King JamesVersion of Galatians 6:2. The Greek verb here is almost certainly a futureindicative, not an imperative. Thus we have in Galatians 6:2 a simple statementof fact - in bearing one another s burdens, we shall fulfill the law ofChrist.

But more important still is the question: What is this law of Christ? In seeking an answer it should be noted that nearly all the commentatorswho deal with the question at all find a reference to our Lord's words:A new commandment I give unto you, That Ye love one another; as I haveloved you, that Ye also love one another (John 13:34), and This is my commandment,That Ye love one another, as I have loved you (John 15:12). John undoubtedlyrefers to this same thing when he writes: And this is his commandment,That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love oneanother, as he gave us commandment (1 John 3:23).

Love for ones neighbor was nothing new, for it was the second greatcommandment of the law of Moses. What was absolutely new was this obligationof loving others as Christ loved us. This, then, is the law of Christ ;not the Decalogue, nor even the Sermon on the Mount, but the law of loveaccording to a new and divine measure, namely, that we should love oneanother as Christ loved us.

We should also notice that the New Testament treats this law of loveas the fulfillment of all other divine law dealing with human relationships.We are exhorted to Owe no man any thing, but to love one another; for hethat loveth another hath fulfilled the law ... Love is the fulfilling ofthe law (Rom. 13:8, 10). Again the apostle exhorts us to use not libertyfor an occasion to the flesh, but by love server one another. For all thelaw is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighboras thyself (Gal. 5:13-14). That this is no reversion to a former legalismis clear from the context. For this life of love is to be realized as wewalk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) ; and if Ye be led of the Spirit, Ye arenot under the law (Gal. 5:18).

Nothing could be clearer that Paul s word on the good life in his firstletter to Timothy: The Christian life is to be a life of love ; and thislove rises in its ultimate source out of unfeigned faith. It is not somethingworked up in any mechanical fashion. Furthermore, the apostle writes, thislove is actually the end of the commandments. It comprehends everythingof value in the realm of Christian ethics, and beyond it there is nothing.

We close the discussion of this point by calling attention to a rathercurious and striking thing: While we are commanded to love one another,and this love is the fulfillment of the law, nowhere are we commanded tofulfill the law ! The proper Christian formula is set forth in Romans 8:1-4;

a. We are told that there can be no condemnation to them which are inChrist

Jesus, (and those are they who are not walking after the flesh, butafter the Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that is the believers guidinglight, it is no longer the flesh).

b. The reason for this exemption is found in our freedom from the law,which in fallen man could only stimulate sin and finally bring death.

c. What the law could not do, God in Christ did for us at Calvary, whenHe was made an offering for sin.

d. The moral result of this way of saving men is that the righteousnessof the law is fulfilled in us. The verb is passive, not active in form.It is not our doing, though done in us. (Denny; Romans ).

7. Perhaps the commonest objection to the doctrine of salvation by gracewithout the law is that such preaching may turn out to be morally dangerous.People may argue, as some did in the days of Paul, that since the graceof God is always greater that all our sin, why not go on sinning that gracemay abound? Is there not therefore a danger that men may say: Let us doevil, that good may come (Rom. 3:8) ?

In replying to this objection we may say, first, that the doctrine ofsalvation by grace without the law may indeed be dangerous for some people.For that matter, all divine truth is dangerous to those who resist or rejector misuse it. The same gospel which is a savor of life to those who believeis also a savor of death to all who reject it (2 Cor. 3:15-116). Surelyit is folly to suggest that we should cease to teach divine truth becausethere are some who pervert it. The Apostle Paul had to deal with such peoplein his day, and his ultimatum was brief and to the point - whose damnationis just, he writes (Rom. 3:8). It is a waste of time and breath to arguewith people who will stoop to pervert the truth in the interest of immorality.

But on the other hand, for the true Christian this doctrine of salvationby grace without the law is not dangerous. But anything else is dangerous,for the simple reason that only the grace of God in Christ can break thepower of sin and transform our lives into the image of His Son. Reversionto methods of law can only compound the moral disaster, for the strengthof sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56). Not that the law of God is evil. Hislaw is holy and good. But we are evil, so terribly evil that even the holyprohibitions of divine law can only arouse the worst that is in us - Whenthe commandment came, sin revived ... And the commandment, which was ordainedto life, I found to be unto death (Rom. 7:9-10). Not the law, but onlygrace, can give us moral victory. For sin shall not have dominion overyou: for Ye are not under the law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14).

It is utterly false to argue, as some do, that the doctrine of salvationby grace alone will lead Christian people to go on sinning. Grace doesnot teach God's people to sin. Grace teaches them not to sin. For the graceof God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us [whobelieve] that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessedhope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior JesusChrist (Titus 2:11-13).

8. Doesn't 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 say that Christians are under the law?Those who are legalistically inclined have leaned heavily upon this passagefor support. It reads as follows in the King James Version (vv. 20-21): And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to themthat are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that areunder the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being notwithout law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain themthat are without law.

This is the only text in the King James Bible that seems to say thatChristians are under the law. Although the Greek is confessedly difficult,I feel that the translators could have at least indicated to the Englishreader that the Greek expression translated under the law to Christ istotally different from the ordinary formula. Under the law in verse 21represents but one Greek word, ennomos, whereas the ordinary formula isupo nomos. See verse 20, where it occurs three times and is properly renderedeach time under the law.

What did Paul mean when he wrote being not without law to God, but underthe law to Christ in verse 21? It is a matter of interest here that notonly under the law but also without law represents only one Greek word- under the law is ennomos, while without law is anomos.

It is generally agreed that the words God and Christ here are in thegenitive rather than the dative case. Thus the passage might be literallytranslated, Not being an out-law of God, but an in-law of Christ (A. T.Robertson). Or Dr. Scofield s rendering of, Not lawless toward God, butinlawed to Christ." It is not where we are, but what we are in relationto Christ.

Whatever the passage means, it cannot mean that Paul was asserting thathe was upo nomos - under the law. For, as I have pointed out above, notonly does Paul not say this in the original, but one portion of one passagecan never override the clear counsel of God. The Christian is admonishedto walk by faith, not be sight (2 Cor. 5:7). And Paul quotes from Habakkuk2:4, in the Old Testament, showing the unity of the whole counsel of God,telling the believer The just shall live by faith (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11).I beseech you brethren, as Ye have therefore received Christ Jesus theLord, so walk Ye in Him (Col. 2:6).