Q: What’s the purpose of the law? Isn’t obeying God’s laws, decrees & rules too restrictive? Can I get to heaven by keeping God’s commands & just trying to live a good life or be a good person?
23-Sep-10 (updated 4-Oct-10)
God instituted the very first law in the perfect Garden of Eden & there was only 1 law – Adam & Eve could eat fruit from any tree in the garden except 1, the tree of the knowledge of good & evil (Gen 2.16-17). If you are thinking that tree had some magical or medicinal value, you’re missing the point. After Adam & Eve broke that law, God said “the man has now become like one of us” (referring to persons of the Trinity – Gen 3.22). The significance was that man was now defining what was right & wrong, which is strictly in the realm of God’s authority. Even in a perfect creation where man was perfect, man did not have the authority or capacity to define moral law. God alone is able to do so & when He does it, His law is perfect (Ps 18.30, 19.7). It’s also critical to point out that obedience to the first law would have resulted in life, but disobedience, a.k.a. sin, resulted in the promised & just punishment of death.
Thousands of years of sinful mankind isn’t going to improve man’s ability to define morality as is supposed by a humanist philosophy which holds that as society “evolves”, laws & morality must evolve & change in order for it to “progress”. In reality, all people have sinful natures that cause us to sin & it warps our ability to even detect sin (Ps 36.2, Jer 17.9, Mt 15.19, 1 Jn 1.8). Compounding the problem is when people guilty of, or otherwise in favor of a particular sin gather together to create or edit laws that cater to that sin. In politics, they’re called “special interest” groups. In religion, they’re called itchy heretics (2 Tim 4.3-4).
When it comes to human laws, they are either going to be based on God’s moral law or they are invented by people to direct others in a certain way – we’ll call it human law. The latter is not necessarily or always wrong, it’s just not going to be flawless like God’s law. Now, God’s law is always based on truth (Ps 119.30, 142) & is trustworthy because He is all-knowing (omniscient). His law flows from His character & nature. His law never needs improved because His knowledge never needs improved. He never has to learn anything & He always knows the future (Job 21.22, Isa 40.13-14).
By contrast, humans are flawed & have limited knowledge & therefore, are prone to making mistakes. Worse than that, humans are sinners & naturally tend to rebel against God & His morality (Ps 78.56, Isa 59.12-13). So when man is defining moral law, the options are to either base it on truth (may not always be recognized as God’s truth) or to base it on falsehood. Obviously, if laws are based on falsities, long & / or short term problems are inevitable. So human law can be faulty for reasons ranging from it having a basis of insufficient information (or ignorance) to having a fundamentally defective (& rebellious) philosophical foundation. This is likely the reason human laws (political or religious) can be so complicated (Eccl 5.7, 6.11).
My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. – Hos 4.6
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. – Pr 14.12
Thousands of years of sinful mankind isn’t going to improve man’s ability to define morality as is supposed by a humanist philosophy which holds that as society “evolves”, laws & morality must evolve & change in order for it to “progress”. In reality, all people have sinful natures that cause us to sin & it warps our ability to even detect sin (Ps 36.2, Jer 17.9, Mt 15.19, 1 Jn 1.8). Compounding the problem is when people guilty of, or otherwise in favor of a particular sin gather together to create or edit laws that cater to that sin. In politics, they’re called “special interest” groups. In religion, they’re called itchy heretics (2 Tim 4.3-4).
When it comes to human laws, they are either going to be based on God’s moral law or they are invented by people to direct others in a certain way – we’ll call it human law. The latter is not necessarily or always wrong, it’s just not going to be flawless like God’s law. Now, God’s law is always based on truth (Ps 119.30, 142) & is trustworthy because He is all-knowing (omniscient). His law flows from His character & nature. His law never needs improved because His knowledge never needs improved. He never has to learn anything & He always knows the future (Job 21.22, Isa 40.13-14).
By contrast, humans are flawed & have limited knowledge & therefore, are prone to making mistakes. Worse than that, humans are sinners & naturally tend to rebel against God & His morality (Ps 78.56, Isa 59.12-13). So when man is defining moral law, the options are to either base it on truth (may not always be recognized as God’s truth) or to base it on falsehood. Obviously, if laws are based on falsities, long & / or short term problems are inevitable. So human law can be faulty for reasons ranging from it having a basis of insufficient information (or ignorance) to having a fundamentally defective (& rebellious) philosophical foundation. This is likely the reason human laws (political or religious) can be so complicated (Eccl 5.7, 6.11).
My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. – Hos 4.6
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. – Pr 14.12
The Law for Life
Nonetheless, people generally have a distaste for law because of faulty human law or because proper law somehow interfered with their unlawful, rebellious behavior. Unfortunately, it seems that when people think of God’s laws, they immediately associate them with human law. In order to get a proper understanding of God’s law, we must refrain from doing this. Consider these verses…
Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me (God) and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! … So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. – Dt 5.29, 32-33
I gave them My laws and taught them My rules, by the pursuit of which a man shall live. – Eze 20.11 (JPS)
God mapped out moral codes so that we could more easily & abundantly live! God is very merciful & gracious in providing us His law because He knows we do not know what is ultimately best for us. God wants us to live… really live (Dt 6.24) in a way that honors His authority & avoids the fallout of folly & sinful choices (Ps 38.5, Pr 29.6). In fact, it’s interesting to note that whenever people forsake God’s law, they eventually end up in distress (2 Chr 15.3-4). God always gives laws flowing from His perfect knowledge that are beneficial to us (Isa 48.17). He is not some tyrant that makes laws just to be oppressive & somehow flaunt His power over us.
Thus, because humans do not have perfect knowledge of all things, are prone to making honest mistakes & are rebellious sinners by nature, there is a need for the all-mighty, all-knowing, all-holy, transcendent, eternal God to provide moral laws that apply to all people regardless of their geography or the era in which they live (Ps 119.160).
Today, people are not so sophisticated that they don’t sin. Quite the contrary. In actuality, people are just sinning in more sophisticated or covert ways (Rom 1.29-32). They commit the same old sins through new means. And, of course, the old fashioned ways of sinning still prevail as well. However, nowadays, sin is not recognized as sin because God’s truth is being suppressed (Rom 1.18-20). Therefore sin can often be found being celebrated instead of condemned (Ps 12.8).
Unlike, human law which can be irritatingly complex, God’s law is really simple. When a legalistic religious guys asked Jesus which of God’s laws was the most important…
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." – Mt 22.37-40
Jesus compiled the whole of the Old Testament law into just 2 commands – love God & love others. Indeed, if everyone kept these in mind, we wouldn’t need most of the human laws we have today. Jesus said this in response to some people who misunderstood God’s law as a means to gain God’s approval, which has never been & never will be its purpose.
Some people like checklists, and many religious people have religious checklists. They can be physical lists made by you or some religious entity. Or they can be unwritten or subconscious lists imposed by yourself or like-minded people. People likely like lists because they’re easy to fulfill without really facing the motive behind why you are doing them. It’s easy to say “I did this everyday” or “I go there every week” without ever really considering why God would have you do them or if it’s even how, or what He wants you to do at all. Worse, it could blind you to recognizing something God wants you to do that’s not on the checklist. Worse yet, the checklist can become so routine & mechanical that you start believing you are doing a pretty good job of pleasing God & doing religion. Except that’s not what God wants.
Checklists have a way of breeding pride in one’s self & contempt for others. You start feeling you’ve done pretty well or at least better than some others. In fact, it can create an elitist view of yourself and/or your denomination. Instead of the focus being on God, it’s on you or your church brand. Instead of measuring against God’s holy standard, you now measure against a lowly standard cloaked in religion. You can use such human standards to fake out yourself & others, but not God. In fact, once you achieve this deflated standard, you can find yourself looking at others in disdain & think “Why can’t they just do this or that like I do?” This is the stuff legalism is made of. God hates it. God doesn’t want your checklists or achievements & He’s not impressed by them (1 Sam 16.7, Rom 4.2). It’s God who plans & empowers us to do anything in the first place (Jn 15.5, Php 2.12-13).
"The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. – Isa 1.11-17
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” – Isa 29.13
What God desires is a personal & active relationship with us. Similarly, if I merely wanted tasks done around my house, I would hire someone. But I wanted a relationship, so I married my wife. We regularly speak together, enjoy life together & we do things for each other because we love each other. We do things for each other because we are in a loving relationship. We don’t do things for each in order to be married or to stay married. This is the same marriage picture we get from Scripture of how we are to relate to God (Isa 54.5-7, Hos 3.1, Eph 5.25-28).
Elsewhere, Christ scorned:
"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. – Lk 11.42
Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me (God) and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! … So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. – Dt 5.29, 32-33
I gave them My laws and taught them My rules, by the pursuit of which a man shall live. – Eze 20.11 (JPS)
God mapped out moral codes so that we could more easily & abundantly live! God is very merciful & gracious in providing us His law because He knows we do not know what is ultimately best for us. God wants us to live… really live (Dt 6.24) in a way that honors His authority & avoids the fallout of folly & sinful choices (Ps 38.5, Pr 29.6). In fact, it’s interesting to note that whenever people forsake God’s law, they eventually end up in distress (2 Chr 15.3-4). God always gives laws flowing from His perfect knowledge that are beneficial to us (Isa 48.17). He is not some tyrant that makes laws just to be oppressive & somehow flaunt His power over us.
Thus, because humans do not have perfect knowledge of all things, are prone to making honest mistakes & are rebellious sinners by nature, there is a need for the all-mighty, all-knowing, all-holy, transcendent, eternal God to provide moral laws that apply to all people regardless of their geography or the era in which they live (Ps 119.160).
Today, people are not so sophisticated that they don’t sin. Quite the contrary. In actuality, people are just sinning in more sophisticated or covert ways (Rom 1.29-32). They commit the same old sins through new means. And, of course, the old fashioned ways of sinning still prevail as well. However, nowadays, sin is not recognized as sin because God’s truth is being suppressed (Rom 1.18-20). Therefore sin can often be found being celebrated instead of condemned (Ps 12.8).
Unlike, human law which can be irritatingly complex, God’s law is really simple. When a legalistic religious guys asked Jesus which of God’s laws was the most important…
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." – Mt 22.37-40
Jesus compiled the whole of the Old Testament law into just 2 commands – love God & love others. Indeed, if everyone kept these in mind, we wouldn’t need most of the human laws we have today. Jesus said this in response to some people who misunderstood God’s law as a means to gain God’s approval, which has never been & never will be its purpose.
Some people like checklists, and many religious people have religious checklists. They can be physical lists made by you or some religious entity. Or they can be unwritten or subconscious lists imposed by yourself or like-minded people. People likely like lists because they’re easy to fulfill without really facing the motive behind why you are doing them. It’s easy to say “I did this everyday” or “I go there every week” without ever really considering why God would have you do them or if it’s even how, or what He wants you to do at all. Worse, it could blind you to recognizing something God wants you to do that’s not on the checklist. Worse yet, the checklist can become so routine & mechanical that you start believing you are doing a pretty good job of pleasing God & doing religion. Except that’s not what God wants.
Checklists have a way of breeding pride in one’s self & contempt for others. You start feeling you’ve done pretty well or at least better than some others. In fact, it can create an elitist view of yourself and/or your denomination. Instead of the focus being on God, it’s on you or your church brand. Instead of measuring against God’s holy standard, you now measure against a lowly standard cloaked in religion. You can use such human standards to fake out yourself & others, but not God. In fact, once you achieve this deflated standard, you can find yourself looking at others in disdain & think “Why can’t they just do this or that like I do?” This is the stuff legalism is made of. God hates it. God doesn’t want your checklists or achievements & He’s not impressed by them (1 Sam 16.7, Rom 4.2). It’s God who plans & empowers us to do anything in the first place (Jn 15.5, Php 2.12-13).
"The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. – Isa 1.11-17
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” – Isa 29.13
What God desires is a personal & active relationship with us. Similarly, if I merely wanted tasks done around my house, I would hire someone. But I wanted a relationship, so I married my wife. We regularly speak together, enjoy life together & we do things for each other because we love each other. We do things for each other because we are in a loving relationship. We don’t do things for each in order to be married or to stay married. This is the same marriage picture we get from Scripture of how we are to relate to God (Isa 54.5-7, Hos 3.1, Eph 5.25-28).
Elsewhere, Christ scorned:
"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. – Lk 11.42
The Law Reveals
Also, notice that Jesus invokes this idea of justice. Justice is essentially maintaining a standard of correctness & that standard is God’s. God judges with perfect justice according to His standard & He expects people to observe His standard as well (Dt 16.20). The big problem is that, apart from Jesus, no person ever has or ever will perfectly maintain God’s standard of righteousness (Eccl 7.20, Isa 64.6, Rom 3.23). God is so absolutely pure & holy, that His standard is perfection. So if we sin just once in the slightest way, we completely fail (Jas 2.10). Thus, another function of God’s law is to reveal sin & show us that we are not able to obey it (Rom 7.7).
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. – Rom 7.10-13
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. – Rom 7.10-13
The Law Points the Way
Remember Jesus’ compilation of God’s law? No one has ever perfectly loved God or perfectly loved others. Fortunately for us, Jesus was able to perfectly keep God’s law & never sin (2 Cor 5.21, 1 Pt 2.22, 24) because He is God. That is why if we trust that Christ was punished for all our personal sins on our behalf, He will give us His righteousness to qualify us for heaven (see: Is Jesus the only way? & Was Jesus Christ human?). God satisfies His justice in both punishing Christ for our sin & also accepting Christ’s moral perfection on our behalf. If you are looking for checklists, rituals or sacraments to fulfill in order to gain merit for heaven, they will be utterly useless. By faith, you must wholly depend on Christ’s merit alone.
Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? – Gal 3.3
Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? – Gal 3.3
Galatians 3.10-11, 23-25 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."... Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
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Romans 8.1-4
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
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Of course, just because one has been permanently saved through faith in Christ’s merit, doesn’t mean that they can just go live however they want (Rom 6.15). When someone becomes a Christian, they are what Jesus calls “born again” (Jn 3.3 - 1st birth is physical life, 2nd birth is spiritual life) & they become a new creation (2 Cor 5.17, Gal 6.15). The Holy Spirit of God then comes to live in them forever, serving as an eternal seal of approval (Jn 14.16, 17, Eph 1.13-14).