The Place of God's Law

One of the things which strikes us in the world today is the confusion which reigns in the area of morality. We are astonished to see how the very idea of law is disappearing in our country today. Discipline in the home and in society has almost vanished. The place of the law of God in our lives is, therefore, a vital subject. Failure to preach the moral law is one reason why there is so little conviction of sin today. And if people have little conviction of sin they will not see their need of Christ. Preachers are offering the gospel to those who often have no sense of their need of it. Of course proclaiming the law of God and nothing else is not the answer.Yet it is essential for Christians to understand the place that God's law should have in their lives and in that of others.

THE MORAL LAW IS PERMANENT
Man was created in the image of God. As such, he was and is a moral creature. The effects of sin after the Fall were to weaken, although not wipe out our sense of what is right and wrong, When God gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, He was republishing the original standard of righteousness which was at first known and understood by Adam and Eve. To show the permanence of this moral standard God wrote it in stone. The ceremonial law and the civil law of Israel were not written in that way. The ceremonial law, with its sacrifices and priesthood, was fulfilled in Christ and is no longer binding. The civil laws have also expired with the passing of the nation of Israel, apart from the principles of general equity to be found in them. The moral law remains of permanent obligation.
Further, the moral law binds all, non-Christians and Christians alike. All are obliged to keep the whole moral law. It is fanciful to suppose that Christ in the New Testament age has in any way weakened our duty to keep God's moral law. At the beginning of Christ's ministry, He declares in the Sermon on the Mount: "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt.5:17,18). We should regard the law of God as perfect, holy, just and worthy of our lifelong careful obedience. We owe this to God and we owe it to Christ.

THE PLACE OF THE LAW IN SOCIETY
This is what John Calvin refers to in his book, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, as the "second office The Place of God's Lawof the law". We must tell people about the fearful consequences of breaking the Ten Commandments. Even if worldly people are not converted, this knowledge has the tendency of restraining their lusts and passions like a bit put in the mouth of a horse. People who are not Christians need to be made to feel shame and even terror so that they may be kept back from doing those fearful things which are in their hearts. Sinners without Christ, hate the law and they long to be free from it. The second Psalm talks of their desire to cast away God's cords from them and break His bands asunder. These bands are God's authority over their lives and His restraints upon their lusts. Calvin puts it well in these words: "They thoroughly detest the law itself and execrate (curse) the Lawgiver (God); so that if they could they would most willingly annihilate (kill) Him, because they cannot bear either His ordering what is right, or His avenging the despisers of His Majesty" (Institutes, Book II, ch. 7).
This truth is taught by the apostle Paul when he states, "that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers (those who promote sexual impurity), for them that defile themselves with mankind (homosexuals), for men- stealers (kidnappers), for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine" (1Tim.1:9,10). The Christian church wishes above all to have sinners converted to Christ. But this does not always happen even when people hear sound preaching. Yet, the sheer knowledge of the Bible and of the moral law is good for society as a whole. Where this knowledge is lost sin breaks forth with sevenfold vengeance and no one's life is safe. But where the truth of God's revealed will is known, where His moral laws are taught, where the punishments attaching to sin have been preached, people will usually live a more restrained and ordered life than others.
It is hardly necessary to add that our country today, as it loses the gospel, is becoming a terrible jungle of moral disorder. One of the great needs is for the Christian church to reassert the claims of God's law upon our governments, upon our leaders, and upon society at large. The Christian church is obliged to do this and the Free Church's view of the relation between church and state is the reason why our Church has often written letters on moral subjects to those who govern this nation. Hardly any subject could be more relevant than this in our modern permissive society. The law of God speaks to society as a whole.

THE LAW PREPARES FOR THE GOSPEL
It is well known that the moral law was given by God to prepare sinners for Christ. By this we mean that the law, when preached to the consciences of the unconverted, has the effect through God's grace of making them see their need of salvation. Sinners are by nature dead to God and to the claims of God upon their lives. They do not believe that God would ever condemn them. They have a vain hope that they will prove good enough for God and fit for heaven when they die. It is a hard task to convince the ungodly that God will reject them at the end and send them to hell if they do not repent and turn to the Saviour.
It is the work of the preacher to attempt to make the sinner feel the guilt of his sin. One of the reasons why God has given us the Ten Commandments is to produce guilt in people's minds when they realise how different their own lives are from God's standard. Paul says: "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom.7:7). This sense of guilt and sin, accompanied with shame, may become very acute in people's minds before they find peace with God. We refer to this function of the law as that of the schoolmaster bringing us to Christ (Gal.3:24). The word here translated 'schoolmaster' is paedagogus which in Roman times was the name used for the slave who accompanied the son to and from school. The parent gave him permission to cane the boy if he did not behave on his way to school or in the classroom. So God's law 'canes' sinners for not being obedient to Him and thus drives them to seek mercy from God. This mercy is found in Christ and peace follows the experience of believing in Jesus.
It is dangerous to "heal" sinners with a false peace before they have really come to feel the guilt of their own sins. When people profess faith in Christ, yet have no sense of the evil of sin and have not come to fear God or His punishment, the danger is that they may profess faith in Christ with only head knowledge. When such people are admitted into the membership of churches they are merely nominal Christians. The moral law cannot save the sinner. Only Christ can do that. But the moral law is God's stick for driving the sinner to the Cross. To refer to the well-known scene in Bunyan's immortal Pilgrim's Progress, the sinner must feel the burden on his back and cry out for eternal life if he is to flee from the wrath to come. The preacher's work is to try to bring sinners to Christ in this God-given way. If sinners are healed without the realisation that they are guilty and under the wrath of God, there is a danger that like the false prophets of old, the evangelists are only healing "people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace" (Jer.6:14).

THE LAW AND THE CHRISTIAN
The law is of great importance to the Christian as well as to others. We are not finished with the moral law when we come to Christ. The true Christian is "not under the law" (Rom.6:15) as a means of salvation or as a covenant of works. The moral law neither justifies us nor can it condemn us, since we are now in Christ. But when we come to Christ He points us to the law as the rule for our life. The moral law shows us how we are to glorify God. The law is a definition of love. So Christ says: "If ye love me keep my commandments" (Jn.14:15), and the apostle Paul says that "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom.13:10).
The moral law, therefore, is of great value to us as Christians because it shows us the sinful tendencies of our hearts and lives. The benefit to Christians of seeing this is that we may examine ourselves more carefully and watch against the risings of lust in our hearts. The moral law shows us as Christians how great is our need of Christ's perfect obedience as our own righteousness. Moreover, the law shows us that if we do indulge in sin we must expect God to chastise us. God will never condemn true Christians but He will certainly chastise them. This chastisement is something which every believer wishes to avoid because it is painful. Besides that, it is a comfort and joy to us to know that we are walking with God. Our heavenly Father delights in spiritual obedience, that is, obedience from the heart. God is the Christian's supreme delight. The law is a revelation of God's character and so Paul says: "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" (Rom.7:22).
It is a great pity that today some of the above mentioned uses of God's law are not clearly understood even amongst professing Christians. One of the greatest evils which has attacked the visible church and is gnawing at the vitals of godliness today is Antinomianism or careless breaking of God's law by those professing to be Christians. The view of the moral law expressed in this article is that which is found in the teaching of Christ and of the apostles. It is also the teaching of the great writers of the Christian church: Augustine, Calvin, Luther and the Westminster divines. This view has been standard in the Free Church of Scotland since its beginning in 1843. Our prayer is that this subject may be carefully studied again by Christians in our own and other churches. We believe that such a study would do great good to all our congregations. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt.5:16).

Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the editor.

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