Freedom in Christ from the Burden of the Law

Freedom in Christ from the Burden of the Law

From the very first chapter of John's Gospel account we read this staggering polemic, "law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The rest of John's gospel is written for the express purpose of belief in Christ (John 20:31). If then, as Christians, our identity is based upon our belief in Christ, what is our relationship to the Law of God given through Moses his prophet? This is the question I intend to address in the following pages, specifically concerning what the Apostle Paul believed about this issue as evidenced in his epistle to the Romans. We will see that the Apostle writes clearly and emphatically that salvation by faith in Christ both removes the burden of Law and fulfills its demands for the believer.

Certainly God, who is the source of all wisdom, would not reveal himself in unimportant ways. In the Old Testament we see that a primary theme concerning the revelation of God to man is bound up in the giving of the Law. What is God's intended purpose for the law? We must address this question in at least three different ways. 1) What was the purpose of the Law for the nation of Israel under the old covenant? 2) In what way did the law serve to condemn mankind? 3) What role does it still play in God's redemptive plan for mankind, specifically through the work of Jesus Christ? But first we must consider what is being talked about when Paul makes reference to "law."

The first mention of Law (Gk. Nomos) in Paul's epistle to the Romans comes in verse 12 of chapter two, "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law." What law is Paul talking about here? Douglas J. Moo, Professor of New Testament at Wheaton Graduate School and author of the NIV Application Commentary on the book of Romans writes, "'Law' refers to the law of Moses - the requirements that God imposed on his people at Sinai through Moses. It was to Israel alone that this law was given, and they were made responsible for it. Therefore, when Jews sin, they sin 'under' it or 'in its sphere'."

Yet, is this the only sense in which we talk about the Law, or does it also encompass the whole of God's righteous demands for both Jew and Gentile alike (the Moral Law)? Verse 14 gives us the answer, "For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law." This idea of "Law" is then a multi-faceted concept. Indeed the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary states, "The most common term, nomos, "law," bears a range of meanings from a specific duty that God requires of a person, to the Mosaic law, the Pentateuch as a whole, and indeed the OT as a whole (John 10:34; 12:34; 15:25; 1 Cor. 14:21)." It seems here to concretely refer to the list of commandments and requirements written by Moses to the Jews from God in the Old Testament - indeed this is the way we will most often take it to mean. However, it additionally includes any attempt towards righteousness on the basis of works. Moo continues, "If Paul is describing Gentiles generally in verses 14-15, then they are probably connected with the first part of verse 12, where Paul asserted that Gentiles sin 'apart from the law.' He now wants to qualify that remark by noting that Gentile do, in a certain sense, have access to the law. To be sure, they do not have the law - that is, the law of Moses, the Torah. But their frequent conformity to many of the requirements of that law (e.g., they do not murder, steal, or commit adultery) shows that they have a knowledge of God's basic moral requirements - God's "law" in an extended sense."

Paul validates his claim that this form of the law - the Moral Law as Calvin called it - held authority over even those to whom the Mosaic Law was not given. In chapter 5 he writes, "For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam." (emphasis mine) On the surface the fact that "death reigned" before the law was given would seem to contradict Paul's argument that the law brings death (a fact we will look at later) and what he wrote in 4:15, "Where there is no law there is no transgression." Yet if this were the case it would impugn God's character - he would be guilty of condemning those who had committed no sin! Therefore Paul recognizes that indeed there was a form of the law that all mankind was bound by apart from violating an express command of God (e.g. Adam's transgression and the transgressions of the Israelites under the Mosaic covenant).

What does this mean for us moving forward? It means that in discussing the purpose and demands of the "law" we will be discussing both the form which when transgressed is against a stated standard (particularly the Mosaic Law) and the form which when transgressed is against the law of God written on every human heart and conscience (the Moral Law). We will use these interchangeably. They are both ways in which God has expressed both his Character and his righteous and holy demands.

The first purpose behind the giving of the Mosaic Law is blessing. We see this clearly stated in Deuteronomy 30:16, "If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply and the Lord your God will bless you and the land that you are entering to take possession of it." Indeed, for the believer, adherence to God's law was truly a blessing. True believers from every age recognized that it was by grace they had been saved, the Law therefore playing a role of guidance into God's blessing. This is the attitude of the Psalmist when he writes, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day...I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." (Psalm 119:97,102-103)

The second purpose is exposure and condemnation of sin. This purpose is equally clear in Deuteronomy 30. "But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish." (17-18a) The history of the Jews' failure to live up to God's standard vindicated God