In Jesus, Ken Page

I believe that the purpose of the Law is one of the most important and the least understood doctrines in the Christian life. We erroneously believe that it was given to us to bring about holiness in our life. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul clearly teaches that this understanding of the Law is wrong, weak and can be Spiritually fatal.

The Law's work is to crush and curse us. It is to reveal to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are incapable of pleasing God in ourselves. When Christians believe that they are "doing" the Law they are deceived. I may feel good about myself because I mowed the widow lady's lawn next door; but when I measure that relationship in the light of loving her as myself, I fail miserably. I must confess that much of my heart is filled with selfishness.

In reality, the Pharisees (and those living by the law today) did not have a high view of the Law. Although they added to it, they did so in order to think that they were doing it. Most of the ministry by Jesus to those who "knew the Law" was to poke holes in their watered down law. They said they did not commit adultery- Jesus said the Law governs the heart as well- they were lusting. They said they did not commit murder- Jesus said they had broken the real Law by being angry with their brother and thinking he was a fool.

The following is a great quote from a source I can no longer remember:

"The worst tragedy would be to turn the Sermon on the Mount into another form of legalism; it should rather put an end to all legalism. Legalism like the Pharisees' will always fail, not because it is too strict but because it is not strict enough. Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace."

It is interesting to me that when referring to his life before Christ, Paul said, "as to the Law found blameless". In describing his life as a believer, he said, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do now wish." When the Spirit of God revealed the lofty holiness of the Law, Paul was broken. The Law had done its work. Now Paul was ready to embrace the righteousness of God- Jesus.

"The law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." John 1:17

Scriptures

We know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.

So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God.

Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you carries out the law?

Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

[Israel] received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.

We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule keeping but only though personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it-and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

Without faith it is impossible to please [God].

Before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

"Through the law comes the knowledge of sin".

Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions.

"And the law came in that falling away might increase."

I would not have come to know sin except through the law; for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."

Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.

Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.

The law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified.

Through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses.

If a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

The law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience? Yes, I’m full of myself-after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.

We are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

While we were in the flesh [under the law], the sinful passions, which were aroused by the law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Those who are according to the flesh [law] set their minds on the things of the flesh [law], but those who are according to the Spirit [faith], the things of the Spirit [faith]. For the mind set on the flesh [law] is death, but the mind set on the Spirit [faith] is life and peace.

The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body[flesh] is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

We have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

I was once alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.

Sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

Through the law I died to the law, that I might live to God.

The law brings about wrath... For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace.

This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the law.