“We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6)
The law of the Old Covenant is a mixture of positives and negatives. It reveals God’s holiness and perfection; it is beautiful in its way; it appeals to our desire for a high ethical standard. It also has some serious deficiencies which make it inappropriate as a way for us to relate to God.
The law stirs up sin. Paul discovered this when he was still a Pharisee: “I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind” (Romans 7:7-8 HCSB). The law may seem like a path to getting right with God, but the reality is, “No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:20). The law showed that we could never save ourselves, and a whole different approach was needed: “The law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).
In contrast, the new life God gives us as Christians naturally pulls us towards things of God. We have a desire to know and be close to him, absorb his word, grow in the likeness of Jesus and to give and receive love. All these things were implanted in us by the Holy Spirit when we believed, and the fruit of the Spirit will always keep on growing in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23).
Law is powerless to help people do what it demands. “If a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law” (Galatians 3:21). The law has no life in it, leaving people with just their own human “flesh” to try and obey it. But according to Jesus, “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless” (John 6:63 NRSV). And so Jesus came and met the demands of the law on our behalf, making us righteous before God: “What the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son” (Romans 8:3).
The law only knows how to condemn, and it never encourages or affirms. In 2 Corinthians 3:9 Paul refers to the law as “the ministry of condemnation” (HCSB). If it was an actual person standing in front of you, the law would be constantly pointing out your faults and telling you what is wrong with you. This makes the law a heavy burden. When some Pharisees tried to put the new non-Jewish believers under the law, Peter objected: “Why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:10).
In contrast, Jesus offers us a “light and easy yoke” (Matthew 11:28-30), and we are told that “his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). They do not weigh us down, because they are a perfect fit with how we are made and the new life God has placed inside us. Not only that, Jesus encourages, affirms and never condemns us (Romans 8:1). Even if we stumble he lifts us up and embraces us, letting us know we are still accepted and loved. An environment of grace means we can never fail in God’s eyes.
The law also puts the focus on your performance and your own personal goodness. This locks you into a cycle of ups and downs. The law gives you a “righteousness of your own” (Philippians 3:9), which you can boast about if you’ve been doing well, but leaves you feeling awful when you have sinned. Both ways of thinking are a form of self-righteousness: looking at ourselves to find out if we are acceptable to God. But as Christians, 100% of our righteousness comes from Jesus and not from our performance. Instead of looking inwards, we “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) and spend time looking at his beauty and glory and all the things that are right about him, rather than what is wrong about us. And in gazing on him, we are transformed to be like the one we are beholding (2 Corinthians 3:18).
For reflection
1. Grace and law cannot be mixed together, but the Galatian church tried to have both. Paul told them that if they got circumcised (the sign of the Old Covenenant) and went under the law, “Christ will be of no value to [them] at all” (Galatians 5:2) and they would be obligated to obey the whole of the law (vs 3) – they couldn’t just pick some parts of it. How do we respond when people tell us to obey commands in the Old Testament such as giving tithes, not working on the Sabbath, the Ten Commandments and so on?
2. “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10), and in the New Covenant God said he would write his law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). We have the “real thing” – a heart of love rather than a list of strict rules, which are not always compatible with love. Are you aware of any religious rules that might actually be unloving in some situations? (A related talk by Ken Blue)
3. When offered a choice between the freedom and life of grace, and the self-effort and condemnation of law, many people go in the direction of laws and rules to try and relate to God. What do you think motivates them do that?
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