The Law – Why Was It Given?

Feature 2 – September 2020 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Law – Why Was It Given?

Let’s consider the law of Moses. Can we receive justification or salvation through this law? Is it the rule of life for us Christians? Why was the law given? Join us as we search the Scriptures on these important questions!

Are We Saved Or Justified By The Law Of Moses?
Was the law given for our justification? What do the Scriptures say?

• “And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39 KJV).
• “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20).
• “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (v.28).
• “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (10:4).
• “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal. 2:16).
• “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (v.21).
• “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith” (3:11).
• “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24), not by works of the law.

To anyone who is already subject to the Word of God, the above Scriptures are very clear and plain. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. We are not justified by law-works in any way, whether by our own attempts to keep the law or by another keeping it for us. If we could be justified by the law, then Christ died in vain. What a solemn statement! This shows that the death of the Lord Jesus was necessary to justify us before God; the law is not the means of our justification!

How then are we justified? Again, let us allow the Scriptures to speak to us:

• “... Justified by faith” (Rom. 3:28, 5:1).
• “... Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:24).
• “... Justified by His blood” (5:9).
• “It is God that justifieth” (8:33).

By believing in Christ and His redemption, His finished work at Calvary’s cross and His blood shed for our cleansing, we are justified in God’s sight. It is God’s work to justify us when we believe on His beloved Son, not our work at all! We only believe that Christ has done it! All the value of His work is imputed, or attributed, to us. Amazing grace! May we praise Him!

Is The Law Our Rule Of Life As Christians?
Was the law given as a rule of life for believers? Again we ask, what do the Scriptures say?

• “Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment” (Acts 15:24).
• “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid” (Rom. 6:14-15).
• “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God” (7:4).
• “For I, through law, have died to law, that I may live to God” (Gal. 2:19 jnd).
• “For as many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (3:10).
• “Knowing this, that law has not its application to a righteous person, but to the lawless and insubordinate, to the impious and sinful, to the unholy and profane, to smiters of fathers and smiters of mothers; to murderers” (1 Tim. 1:9).

Scripture clearly indicates that the law is not our standard or rule of life. We believers are not under law but under grace. This law does not apply anymore to those who are made righteous through the work of the Lord Jesus. The law given by Moses is for the natural, unsaved man, lawless and insubordinate, and so on.

We find in Romans 6 that we have died to sin, and in chapter 7 that we have died to the law. What power does a law have over a dead person? If a man is speeding down the highway and then crashes and dies, will the police give him a speeding ticket? No, he has died and is no longer under the authority of the law. It is similar for believers; we have died with Christ (7:4,6). The law no longer applies to us, but it remains in full force and effect to unbelievers. It also brings a curse to any who try to put themselves under it. Why? Because no one can “continue in all things” (Gal. 3:10) that the law demanded 100% of the time – which is what is required!

So then we may wonder who is our standard and rule of life? Again, read Scripture: “He that saith he abideth in Him [Christ] ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6 KJV). We have a far higher standard than the law of Moses! We are to walk even as the Lord Jesus walked. How did He walk in this world? Consider four features of His blessed life:

1. He did the Father’s will. “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (Jn. 6:38). Self-will – doing what I want when I want – is a very prominent feature of these last days. On coming “into the world,” the Lord Jesus said, “Lo, I come ... to do Thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:5,7). He was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). When the eternal Son of God became Man, He took all that manhood meant apart from sin, including obedience. Amazing grace! Likewise, we are to be obedient to the Lord and God’s Word.

2. He was dependent on His Father. Notice the occasions in the Gospels where we find Him praying. The gospel of Luke, in particular, emphasizes His true humanity and often presents Him in prayer. Read Luke 6:12 as an example: “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” The Lord Jesus spent all night in prayer with His Father. The next day He chose the disciples who would be His 12 apostles.

Do we, too, depend on our Father and the Lord Jesus in the decisions we have to make: who to marry, where to live, or what job to take? Let us be sure to seek His direction and His help. Spiritual independency is foreign to the Word of God, yet it certainly characterizes the world and even the attitude of many Christians today. The Lord in His care often allows us to come into circumstances where we feel we are dependent upon Him for wisdom, strength, healing, or simply the grace to work out our difficulties. We should be characterized as men and women of prayer!

3. He overcame temptation with the Word of God. In Matthew 4 and Luke 4 we see the Lord Jesus tempted by the Devil. The Lord did not use His divine power to repel him; instead He used the Word of God. The same resource is available to us today. Temptation will come into each of our lives as believers. May we have God’s Word hidden in our hearts so that we might not sin against Him (see Ps. 119:11).

4. He submitted to His Father. This, too, is an important point. When the cities where His mightiest works were done did not repent, He submitted to His Father. “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Mt. 11:26; read also v.25). In the most incredible example we see the Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, asking His Father that if it were possible, the cup might be taken away from Him. “Not My will, but Thine, be done” was His prayer (Lk. 22:42). Sometimes when we ask our Father for something, He may say no. We must learn to submit to our Father’s “good, and acceptable, and perfect, will” (Rom. 12:2). In this way, too, we are called to learn to walk as He walked.

God’s thought is not to conform us to the law of Moses but to conform us to the image of His Son. Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He [God] did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” We have trials here so Christ may be seen in our lives more and more – the life of Jesus might be manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:10-11).

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). It is not the law that is to live in us, but Christ; it is not the law that is to be seen lived out in our lives, but the character of Christ. The life we live now in the flesh – here on earth now – is to be by the faith of the Son of God. He is our object and example.

The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 gives us nine qualities that were seen perfectly in the Lord Jesus: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness [and] temperance.” These qualities are not produced by the law but by the Holy Spirit forming the character of the Lord Jesus in us!

Why Was the Law Given?
Once again, let us start by considering what Scripture tells us:

• “The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (Jn. 1:17).
• “For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent His own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3 JND).
• “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law” (Jn. 7:19 KJV).
• “Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it” (Acts 7:53).

The law was not given for justification or salvation. In fact, the law of Moses was given quite late in the history of the world. We read that Abraham, who lived before the law, was justified by faith alone. “He believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; see Rom. 4:3).

So why was the law given? The law in itself was “holy, and just, and good” (7:12). It revealed God’s expectation of the children of Israel. However, the law also showed that they, and by extension all mankind, had no strength or ability to do the will of God. It was given to show that “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23)

Both the Lord Jesus and Stephen had to tell the Jews that they had been given the law of Moses, but they had not kept it. If God’s chosen nation could not keep the law, what can be said of those who were Gentiles? We had “no hope” and were “without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12).

• “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come” (Gal. 3:19 NKJV).

We have two reasons in this verse as to why the law of Moses was given. First, it was given for transgressions, in other words to reveal the sinful acts that were done under it as against a definite commandment. No one could say, “I didn’t know.” God had given His rules for their conduct. When they disobeyed, it was against a known rule that God had given, so they were transgressors. They had transgressed His law.

Second, the law served until the Seed should come. Who is the Seed? It is Christ (v.16)! The law was only a temporary measure to reveal Israel and all mankind as willful sinners, that they would be prepared for Christ’s coming. He brought salvation by grace and justification by faith as a result of His work on the cross.

The law has sometimes been referred to as God’s minimum standard. When Christ came, then we see God’s complete thought of what He desired in mankind. All God desired to see in man He saw in the Lord Jesus! How wonderful a person is our Lord and Savior! Yet for us, for ungodly sinners who were without strength to do what pleased God, He died, taking upon Himself all our failures in responsibility – our sins.

He bore the judgment of God against those sins, and now we are free! We are set at liberty to walk as He walked, live as He lived, serve as He served – all for the glory of His Father. To enable us to do this, the Holy Spirit has come, sometimes called the Spirit of Christ, because He forms the character of Christ in each one of us. Here it is only partially seen, but we wait for that day when we look upon our Savior and then we will be completely like Him. Wonderful day! Lord Jesus, come!

By Kevin Quartell