The Law and God’s Love

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. – Romans 3:19-20 ESV

Paul continues his polemic on the relationship between the Jews and the law by saying, “the law speaks to those who are under the law” (Romans 3:19 ESV). In other words, the law given to the Jews by God told them exactly what His righteous expectations were. No arguments. No questions. No quibbling. No excuses.

But in revealing His righteous standards to the Jews, God was not implying that everyone else was exempt from His law. In fact, Paul makes it clear that God gave His law to the Jews “to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God” (Romans 3:19 NLT). The Jews were given the privilege and responsibility of knowing God's law, but they would prove incapable of living up to it. They could not claim ignorance, only incompetence. They would find themselves completely unable to keep the law.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:20 NLT

Later in his letter, Paul clarifies God's purpose in giving the law. He states, “It was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, ‘You must not covet’” (Romans 7:7 NLT). The law said, “You shall not…”, but Paul's sinful nature said, “Why not?”

The law revealed God’s righteous requirements, but indwelling sin took advantage of that knowledge. Paul describes it in vivid terms.

But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. – Romans 7:8 NLT

Paul goes on to say that the law is good, holy, and spiritual. It was given by God to men and is, therefore, righteous. Paul describes the conundrum in which man finds himself.

So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.  I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. – Romans 7:14-15 NLT

The Jews wanted to keep the law, but couldn't. They tried, but they failed, and their failure was fully intended by God so that He might expose man's complete inability to earn a right standing before Him based on human effort.

For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight. – Romans 3:20 ESV

Paul expounds on this thought in his letter to the church in Galatia.

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. – Galatians 2:16 NLT

Later in that same letter, Paul states, “If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:21-22 NLT).

But according to Paul, the law had a purpose. God had a perfectly good, completely righteous reason for implementing the law.

Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. – Galatians 3:23-24 NLT

The law was designed to reveal the kind of righteousness God demanded. But in revealing the righteousness of God, the law also revealed the sinfulness of man; it exposed our inherent weakness. Even on our best day and given our best efforts, we could never live up to God's holy standard. The law showed us our sin and revealed to us our need for a Savior.

Augustine wrote, “The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered, and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace.” The law was intended to drive the people of Israel to God. Its stringent requirements were meant to expose their desperate need for His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and strength to live the lives He had called them to. The sacrificial system He provided was a constant demonstration of their sinfulness and their need for atonement. There was never a time when they could stop making sacrifices, because there was never a time when they stopped sinning.

The author of Hebrews describes the temporary nature of the sacrificial system God provided for the Jews.

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. – Hebrews 10:1-4 NLT

Then in verse 10, he points out God’s plan: the gospel.

For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. – Hebrews 10:10 NLT

The law revealed God's righteous expectations and, in doing so, exposed our sin and our need for a Savior. No one can save himself. The hope of self-righteousness is deceptive and ineffective. But the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Father, man tends to see the law as a hindrance to his happiness. He views it as a staggering list of dos and dont’s that cramp his style and stifle his freedom. But You gave the law to reveal Your own righteousness and to expose our inability to adhere to Your non-negotiable holy standards. Your own chosen people couldn’t pull it off, so there is no way that we will ever earn Your favor and forgiveness through religious rule-keeping and our paltry attempts at self-righteousness. Yet, You provided a way for us to be restored to a right relationship with You that is based on grace, not grit. The gospel isn’t about earning, it’s about received the free gift of salvation made possible through the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Your Son. As Your adopted and fully accepted children, we are free from having to keep Your law as a means of proving our righteousness because we have been imputed the righteousness of Christ. And because You have given us the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower us, we have the capacity to keep the law but out of a sense of delight, not duty. As Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15 ESV). You loved us while we were still enslaved by our own sinfulness and, now, we love You in return and express that love through our faithful obedience to Your commands; not to earn Your favor, but because we already have it.
Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

No Excuse.

Deuteronomy 11-12, John 15

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ­– John 15:22 ESV

The people of Israel were without excuse. They had seen the hand of God in their lives. He had rescued them from captivity in Egypt, led them through the wilderness for more than 40 years, and now had them poised to enter into the long-awaited land of promise. Moses told them, “For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did” (Deuteronomy 11:7 ESV). All that they had seen God do over the years on their behalf should have empowered them to obey Him. They should have had no problem believing in God and his ability to lead, provide for and protect them. As they entered the Promised Land, they should have been fully confident in God's ability to do what He had promised to do. Not only had He said He would give them the land, He had told them that the land would be rich and abundant and, if they obeyed Him, it would get ever better. Moses reminded them, “he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full” (Deuteronomy 11:14-15 ESV).

But in spite of all that God had done for them, the Israelites continued to struggle with believing and obeying. Moses had to repeatedly warn them not to worship other gods. He made sure they fully understood that they were going to have to destroy all the nations living in the land, along with all their false gods. They were going to have to remove every imaginable temptation to turn their attention from God and worship anything or anyone other than Him. God had made His will clear. Moses had made the conditions regarding God's promises non-negotiable. So whatever happened in the days ahead, they would be without excuse.

What does this passage reveal about God?

From the very beginning, God has made Himself known to man in a variety of ways. God's creation reveals His divine nature, power, and presence. Paul wrote, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20 ESV). God is not hidden from man. He has displayed His glory all around them. But man has tended to worship the creation rather than the creator, making gods out of animals, trees, the planets, and even one another.

In the days following the fall of man, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, mankind found itslef on a trajectory of disobedience and rebellion against Him. Each of the nations developed a whole host of other gods to worship. By the time Abram received his call from God, idolatry was in full-swing. So God revealed Himself to Abraham in a remarkable way, making Himself known more intimately to man than ever before. Over the centuries, God would continue to reveal Himself to the descendants of Abraham – visibly and even verbally. He would reveal Himself through His law and the sacrificial system. He would display His power. He would allow them to enjoy His divine presence. No longer would they be limited to learning about God through nature. His revelation of Himself had become intimate and immediate. So they were without excuse. They knew that God existed. They knew He was faithful. They knew He was powerful. They knew He was holy, righteous, and just. And they knew He had a strong hatred for sin and had to punish it unapologetically.

And yet, theycontinued to struggle with belief and obedience.

What does this passage reveal about man?

The problem with man is not that God is impossible to discover, but simply that the God of the universe is not the God they want. They prefer a god of their own making. They don't want an all-powerful, must-be-obeyed-at-all-costs God. They want a loving, merciful, gracious, gift-giving, wish-granting god who exists for their benefit. The truth was, the Israelites had experienced God's abundant grace, mercy, and generosity. But His gifts came with requirements. He demanded allegiance and faithfulness. He required fidelity. God had made man for His glory. Man had turned that idea on its ears, insisting that God existed for their glory. Even the Israelites had slowly begun to believe that they were somehow special because God had chosen them. They convinced themselves that He owed them His undivided attention and affection. In their minds, God owed them something. He had to bless them. He had to prosper them. But they had forgotten that God chosen them in spite of them, not because of them. Rather than seeing themselves as dependent on God, they had somehow convinced themselves to believe that God needed them. They believed themselves to beindispensable to God. After all, they were His “chosen people.”

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

God was not done revealing Himself to man. With the coming of Jesus, God had chosen a new way to make Himself known. Jesus was “God incarnate” – God in the flesh. He was Immanuel, “God with us.” But even when Jesus left heaven and took on human flesh, men chose to reject Him. Even after He had performed miracles and given them sign after sign of His deity, they just couldn't bring themselves to believe in Him. Why? Because He was not who they were expecting or offering what they wanted. As always, God's revelation of Himself blatantly exposed the sinfulness of man. Jesus came to keep the law that no man had ever been able to keep. He came to offer them salvation from sin. But Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22 ESV). He had arrived on earth proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven. They were looking for a kingdom on earth. He had come to offer salvation from sin. They wanted freedom from Roman rule. He came demanding that they must believe in Him as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But they refused to believe Him. His arrival had demanded a decision on their part. They either had to believe in Him or reject Him. But Jesus said, “If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father” (John 15:24 ESV). His signs and miracles were intended to reveal His deity. They were meant to validate His claim to be the Son of God. But the people worshiped His miracles instead of Him. They wanted to see signs and wonders, but rejected His offer of salvation. And they were without excuse.

God wants to offer me so much more than just a better life and temporal blessings that fade with time. He wants to provide me with more than simply good health and a trouble-free existence in this life. He sent His Son to pay for my sins and offer me eternal life, free from condemnation and the fear of death. Jesus offers me abundant life, but based on the promise of a life after this one. The tendency is to make this life the goal, to attempt to get everything I can here and now, and forget about the hereafter. God wants us to live in dependence upon Him, allowing Him to bless us as He sees fit in this life, but focusing our hopes and desires on the life to come. Jesus promised us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 ESV). We must rely on Him. We must depend upon Him. We must allow His life to flow through us, producing the fruit of His Spirit, not the deeds of our own sinful flesh. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. And if we attempt to live this life in our own power, focused on our own selfish desires, believing that God exists to make us happy, we are without excuse.

Father, I can so easily make it all about me. Help me to understand that I can do nothing without You. I am helpless and hopeless without Your Son and His gift of salvation – available to me every day of my life. May I continually learn to live for You and Your Kingdom, not my own. I have no excuse for believing that this life is all there is or that You somehow owe me a favor. May my life bring you glory each and every day I live. Amen