WHAT GOOD IS THE LAW?
Sin is aroused to further rebellion by God’s law. Does this mean that God’s law is itself sinful? Certainly not! If a mother tells her toddler not to touch the hot stove, she has given the child her law. Yet, the sin nature within the child is immediately activated to do the very thing she was commanded by her mother not to do. She feels the overwhelming urge to touch it! So, the mother’s law was good, but it did not have the power to affect the child’s desire.
If God’s law cannot save, what good is it? There are at least three good purposes for God’s law. In Romans 7:7, Paul named its first purpose, which is to show our sinful condition by naming what is sinful, thus reflecting our guilty condition. Paul used as his example the one who covets and is proven sinful by the tenth command of God’s Decalogue, “Thou shalt not covet.” What are the three purposes of the law?
THREE “R”s OF THE LAW: (OR THREE “P”s)
1) Reflect our guilty condition (Like a perfect mirror).
2) Restrain our sinful behavior (Like a prison guard)
3) Reveal our need for a Savior (Like a pedagogue).
The law is good and useful, but it cannot save. Only faith in Christ saves and empowers us to produce a harvest of righteousness in His name. For only Christ has fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law, so that we might be saved by faith in Him.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we love Your law for it is perfect. Yet we are not perfect. We are sinful apart from Christ. Thank You for Christ’s perfect sacrifice on our behalf. Fill us afresh today with Your Spirit that we might live for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.