Chapter 4: The Purpose of the Law

Chapter 4: The Purpose of the Law

There is a tendency in organized religion to, as Paul says, revert to the Law of Moses, (Both the ceremonial and physical aspects.) In this chapter Paul discusses the need of the law prior to the Lord’s coming.  In military terms the law is like a drill sergeant who trains officer candidates. The drill sergeant while he is training officer candidates is over them. His job is to push the candidates hard so that those who are unable will be weeded out. Yet when the candidates graduate and receives his/her commission the drill sergeant becomes their subordinate.

The purpose of the law was to point out our need for a savior. By showing how unable we are in keeping every single part of it. The Law of Moses points out our sin. Those who do not know the Lord look at the law with frustration and anger. Some call the Ten Commandments the terrible ten. They consider the law written on their hearts as a curse. The law of God is hard wired into our very being. It is no coincidence that every civilization has a similar set of laws both religious and civil. Every religion has a god that must be pleased in some way. Only our faith has a God that paid the price for us. Glory and Honor to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit! Amen. Unbelievers harden their hearts and refuse to listen to their conscience. As Paul says in the first chapter of Romans they do things they know are wrong and refuse to repent so God gives them over to their reprobate mind and allows them, at least for a while to continue in their sins.  

The law shows us that pleasing God in mind, body and soul is something we simply cannot do no matter how hard we try. Jesus tells us that to even think of sinning means we already have sinned (Mt 5:28). Sin has its birth in evil thought. First we think about a sin then we commit it and our mind justifies our evil actions. But the law judges us telling us we’ve sinned. In the first and second chapter of Romans Paul tells us that there is a law written upon our hearts. The Jews had the Law of Moses but the gentiles had their own laws both moral and physical. Neither the Jews nor the gentiles were able to keep their own laws. So we all stand accused before God as law breakers. We all face our inadequacy under the law whether it is God’s law or man’s law we are unable in and of ourselves to keep it. Paul says it so beautifully in Romans 7: 15 -25: For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.  We justify our most evil acts as being good when left to our own devices. Throughout history men and women have justified the most heinous acts. Some have killed, tortured and destroyed whole cities in the name of God, even Christ the Lord.  

Because we are so filled with sin we are unable to come to the Lord on our own. Jesus says that no one come to him unless the Father draws him, (John 6:44). When the Holy Spirit draws us to Christ He first uses the law to convict us of sin showing us our unworthiness and then points us to the grace that is in Christ Jesus. When we accept Jesus we are adopted as sons and daughters into the family of faith, verse 6 tells us that “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba Father.”   Strong’s Concordance tells us that “abba” is a familiar term for father. This is the word used when Jesus prayed in Mark 14:36 he used the word “Abba” Father when He asked if the cup could pass from Him. Just think we who are sinners are made righteous by Jesus and able to, by the Spirit of Christ cry “Abba”! Father.