Law vs Faith

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."- Matt 5:17-18

Just the other day Agnes came back from her weekly church class, and she was given an assignment for the following week to memorise the Ten Commandments or something. The discussion somehow deviated to how different her opinion on the matter was from mine. Just for the record I come from a church that does not teach our members to remember the ten commandments. Our belief is that our justification is based not on works or obedience to the Law, but by faith in Christ finished work alone.

That is not to say that we are free to live sinful and licentious lives if we are not under The Law. But rather that through our justification by faith, the fruits of it will be good works and righteous living. Right believing will always produces right living.

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them," Heb. 10:16.

This was God's promise, that he will write his laws on our hearts and minds, no longer of words merely printed on paper. This means that all our thoughts and deeds will be lead by the Holy Spirit. This leading is with us in all we say and in all we do. Unlike the Law written on stone or commandments written on paper, this law on our hearts and minds will guide us on all things at all times. It does not depend on our obedience or sacrifice to keep God's commandments now.

It is not that the Law of God is deficient or flawed in any way that it needs to be replaced by something else. It is rather that it is the very perfection of God's standards. The standard as set in the Ten Commandments requires perfect submission. It requires perfect adherence.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.James 2:10

There is no room for compromise in God's Law. We can be outwardly obedient in 9 laws, and yet fail in only one, but we are then found guilty of ALL. It requires perfection in the believer. Anything less than perfect compliance to the Law means that the person has utterly failed to live up to the standards of the Law.

Beyond the outward obedience to God's law, is the literal heart of the matter; what lies in the heart of every man! Obedience to the law is not merely not killing or not stealing, or just honoring your parents. It goes above and beyond just outward actions, but also deals with issues of the heart and our true motives.
Matthew 5: 17 - 30 expounds on how even hate towards another is tantamount to murder, or how even feelings of lust towards someone who is not your spouse is the equivalent of adultery. So the question remains, is there any amongst us who can truly fulfill God's laws, and maintain the perfect standards that it requires? If not, why did God give us law's that are beyond the scope of human ability?

"As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;"Romans 3:10

So we are now back to why God gives us law's that are beyond our natural ability to live up to.
The main purpose was to reveal the holiness of God, and the standard of his righteousness. By seeing this we now realise how futile even our best works, actions and obedience is in the light of God's perfect holiness. We can try as hard as we may, but even the best of us fail to come close to the perfection required of The Law. It seems almost unfair that God set the bar so high that no mortal being can even come close to the standards of the Law. Unless God is using the Law as a means to some higher purpose...

“So that the Law has become our tutor to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Galatians 3:24

The law was given to expose our shortcomings and show our dire need for a Saviour. Through the law serves only as a means to that end, and not an end unto itself. We then see the futility of our own self effort to attain righteousness with God. Law is likened to a tutor to point us in the right direction, which is to Christ. When faith has come, the law is rendered redundant. The only way to Christ is through FAITH, and not through our old tutor, the Law.

“Because by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”Romans 3:20

Once again we see that we cannot be justified by the law. Rather that the law only exposes our sins, failures and shortcomings all the more. The law exposes all the more our sin for all to see. No man will be justified by the Law. Justification can only be found in the Law when the man is perfectly perfect. Only a man without sin, without even a stain of imperfection can fulfill the Law and all it's requirements.

“We reckon that a man is justified by faith, apart from the works of the Law”Romans 3:28

This is the famous verse that Martin Luther read that sparked off the Reformation and the subsequent Protestant movement. Here it is said that a man is justified by faith APART from the works of the law. What it means to say that a man's justification before God is hinged upon only faith, and not upon his deeds or actions in compliance with God's law, no matter how outwardly good or how noble his intentions.

“The Law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound more exceedingly”Romans 5:20

The verse here seems to say here that where the law is, sin abounds! Sin increases and multiplies exponentially! Looks here like the law is more of an antithesis to righteousness than the means by which Man obtains righteousness. Thankfully the same verse also spells out how we can negate the adverse effects of the law and sin. Because where sin abounds, grace abounds much, much more!

‘I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died in vain’ Galatians 2:21

Now this one is the clincher. If righteousness with God can be found through the law, then Jesus Christ died a needless death on Calvary's cross when there was a simpler and painless way to achieve righteousness in the first place. In other words, Christ came down as a man, was beaten and scourged, utterly humiliated and was subjected to the most cruel manners of deaths as he was crucified; and it would seems it was all for nothing, when there was already a means to righteousness through the Law.

To summarise,
- God will lead us in our hearts and minds how to live our lives.
- God's Law requires perfect obedience with no room for error.
- That no person is able to claim to be righteous through his or her own self-effort.
- That fulfilling the Law requires not only outward obedience, but that God also see's the heart's true motives and feelings as well under Law.
- the intention of the Law is to lead us to Christ and expose our need for His righteousness.
- The law cannot justify, but can only expose our inadequacies.
- Faith alone justifies apart, from our own good works
- we make Jesus Christ's death at the cross in vain if we seek righteousness through the law.