Law & Gospel (Akutan)

Introduction

This morning I want us to consider the law of God. Now, we won’t have the time to consider each of these ten commandments found in Exodus 20, but I want take some time to consider the law of God more broadly. I want us to consider how how to handle the law of God rightly, or as Paul put it, how to “use it lawfully.” (1 Tim. 1:8-11) One of the biggest mistakes Christians are prone to make is mishandling the God’s law, which can have major consequences, as we’ll see here in a minute. And once you know how to correctly handle the law of God correctly, then you’ll be prepared to apply each of the 10 commandments to your life.

Now, when we use the phrase “God’s law” or the “law of God” I think our minds runk i immediately, and sometimes exclusively, to the 10 commandments, but in the mind of the biblical writers the idea of the law often encompassed much more than that. In general, the law, both in the OT and NT, describes any doctrine, instruction, command, or statute that binds men to any duty which they owe to God or to men.

So, the law can be a reference to the whole Bible, but it can also refer to certain parts of the Bible, like the 10 commandments. The law can be a reference to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), it can be a reference to Israel’s ceremonial system, or Israel’s judicial laws. The law can also signify the old covenant in its entirety. The law is also expressed using different phrases, such as “the law of Moses,” “the law of Christ,” “the law of sin,” and “the law of love.” Which, as you can imagine, can make it difficult to interpret certain passages.

We also need to understand that the law is typically divided into three different categories (often referred to as the threefold division of the law), the moral, the judicial, and the ceremonial. The 10 commandments, for instance, embody the moral law, whereas the ritual washings of the levitical priesthood are ceremonial laws. Now, we’ll look at these aspects of the law later, but for now my point here is that it’s important for us to realize that we must have a basic understanding of these aspects before we go on trying to apply the law to ourselves.

We also need to consider the purpose and function of the law in it’s differing circumstances. The law has a different function and purpose depending upon the circumstances, which we need to grasp if we intend to use it rightly. For example, the law of God is intended to restrain evil when utilized by governments, whereas within the context of Gospel proclamation it’s intended to drive men to Christ.

And lastly, we need to understand the difference between law and Gospel, we need to understand the relationship between law and gospel. Every passage of scripture fits into one of two categories, either law or gospel, and if we don’t understand their relationship and their differences we’ll be at risk of destroying the Gospel. Again, it’s another reason why it’s paramount that we know how to use the law lawfully, because ultimately the Gospel is at stake.

Misusing the law

And so today I want to look at the two ways Christians often misuse the law. As I often point out, there are always two ditches, one on either side of the road, so our goal here today is simply to stay on the road, and to consider how we can avoid driving our lives into either of these ditches.

Legalism

The first ditch we must avoid is legalism. There are various degrees and kinds of legalism, but legalism basically insists that a person is accepted by God on the basis of law-keeping. This happens because legalism fails to see a distinction between law and Gospel, it conflates or confuses the two. Legalism subtly teaches that works of the law are the grounds of our salvation, that our obedience or good behavior merits our salvation. For example, the Apostle Paul described his unbelieving Jewish brothers in Romans 10:3 as “being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own.” Legalism seeks to establish it’s own righteousness by law-keeping. Legalism seeks to justify itself by the law.

Using the law to justify yourself

This was the fundamental flaw of the Pharisees, they wrongly thought that the law was a tool to justify themselves, to make themselves acceptable before God on the basis of law-keeping. This is also why their obedience to the law was fundamentally external and shallow, because it was impossible for them to keep the law. Paul writes in Galatians 2:15-16,

Galatians 2:15–16 ESV

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

The Pharisees were misusing the law of God, again, they wrongly thought that the law was a tool to justify themselves. And they hated Jesus, because Jesus was constantly poking holes through the thin veneer of their righteousness. Therefore, it’s essential for us to understand that the law is not a tool to justify ourselves, that law-keeping is not the grounds of our salvation, but rather the fruit of our salvation.

External obedience and hypocrisy

In fact, the significance of Jesus’ sermon on the mount was to teach his disciples that their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. Why? Because the righteousness of the Pharisees was hollow, that instead their obedience must come from the heart. This is why Jesus would go on to explain the heart of the law, saying things like,

English Standard Version Chapter 5

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment;

The Pharisees not only misused the law by seeking to be justified by it, but their obedience was not an obedience that came from the heart. It was not an obedience aimed at pleasing God, but an obedience that was rooted in spiritual pride and pleasing men. Princeton theologian, Geerhardus Vos, once write, “Legalism lacks the supreme sense of worship. It obeys but it does not adore.” Therefore, it’s important we understand that legalism inevitably promotes external obedience and hypocrisy, that legalism is a form of self-righteousness.

Subtle forms of legalism

Now, I suspect most of us, if not all of us, would heartily condemn legalism as I’ve articulated it here, but we would be foolish to think that we’re immune to it in our own lives. People rarely embrace legalism outright in its most obvious forms, instead legalism usually creeps into our lives with quiet subtly.

One of the subtle symptoms of legalism that comes cloaked in piety, is the legalism that adds to God’s law. It puts a fence around God’s law under the guise of keeping us from getting to close. The Pharisees were especially known for this. By that time, the Jews had already added hundreds of oral laws to the law of God. Only a few of them are recorded for us in Scripture, but those examples include handwashing before eating, adding a multitude of Sabbath regulations, and corban, meaning “dedicated to God,” a law that avoided providing financial support to their their parents under the guise of dedicating their money to God.

We’re prone to take similar actions today. For instance, we might make a law that Christians should never touch alcohol, in order to avoid drunkeness. While drunkeness is clearly forbidden and sinful, the general consumption of alcohol is certainly not, but the legalist will forbid both. I sometimes wonder if that’s one of the reasons why it’s become common, especially among baptist churches, to serve grape juice rather than wine during communion.

Another example, it’s very common within Christian circles to live and eat “naturally.” Whether that’s homesteading, making your own butter, treating with essential oils, eating more “natural” foods, giving birth to your children at home instead of a hospital, avoiding modern pharmaceuticals, and so on. Now, there’s probably nothing at all wrong with doing these things, in fact, many of them may confer real tangible benefits in many regards, and practicing them is probably well within our Christian freedom.

However, when we start describing ourselves as feeling guilty after eating certain food, or we feel ourselves looking down on those who don’t eat or live as naturally as we do, then these might be symptoms of legalism. No one should feel as though they’re eating more righteously than another. This isn’t to say all foods confer health benefits equally, but that we shouldn’t look down on others for eating what God freely permits. We must remember we can make idols of both kale and Cheetos. And it’s not within our right or authority to establish dietary laws that God has not. One of the symptoms and effects of legalism is that is binds the conscience where God has not, and it robs Christians of their liberty. And we should fear binding the consciences of men where God has not, just as much as we fear breaking God’s law.

A low view of God’s law

And finally, it’s important we realize that legalism does not have a high view of God’s law, but rather a low view. While we might be tempted to think that legalism has a high view of God’s law, because it’s inclined to add to it, this isn’t at all the case. First, legalism reduces God’s law to merely external observance, second, it de-emphasizes grace and the righteousness of Christ, and third, it emphasizes man and his own righteousness and his ability to justify himself, legalism undermines the sufficiency of Christ. Legalism is fundamentally arrogant and presumptuous, it’s an offense to God, and should be avoided at all costs. Again, the fundamental error of legalism is it teaches that the law is a tool to justify oneself before God.

Antinomianism

Now, the second ditch that we must avoid is what Martin Luther called antinomiamism. Now, please don’t turn off your brains when you hear that word, it’s simply two Greek words put together, anti and nomos. Anti, meaning against, and nomos, meaning law. Antinomianism is the ditch opposite of legalism. While legalism misuses the law, antinomianism dispenses with it altogether. Or to say it another way, antinomianism teaches that God no longer requires us to obey the moral law. The antinomian has no need of the law after salvation. The antinomian views the law only in a negative light, reasoning that because the law condemns us then it must be bad.

Some have called this conviction-less Christianity, that repentance is merely a single event in the life of the Christian, but not necessary to be repeated. Antinomian thinking tends to minimize the danger of sin and minimize the importance of obedience, and it stresses only grace at the expense of the law altogether. In fact, anyone who pursues holiness will likely be perceived as legalistic. And similarly, the one who practices legalism will call anyone who talks about grace an antinomian. Both throw food at each other from their respective ditches, all the while those who are on the road get hit with false accusations from both sides. To the antinomian you’re a legalist, but to the legalist you’re an antinomian.

License for sin

Within the antinomian paradigm grace eventually becomes a licence for sin. But the Apostle Paul in Romans 6:1-2 tells us that just because the law isn’t a tool to justify ourselves, and that no one will be justified by works of the law, we are not to continue in sin, he writes, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” While we’re not to use the law to justify our ourselves, that doesn’t mean the law serves no purpose at all in the Christian life, or that because of grace we have no obligation to obey the law at all.

Ironically, antinomianism, like legalism, results in hypocrisy, empty professions who live lives in manifest contraction to the law of God.

Subtle forms of antinomianism

Now, again, probably all of us, would heartily condemn antinomianism as I’ve defined it here, but we would be foolish to think that we’re immune to this kind of thinking in our own lives. While people rarely embrace antinomianism outright, in its most obvious forms, like legalism it usually creeps into our lives with quiet subtly.

For instance, one of the subtle effects of antinomian thinking is easy-believism. How many people have responded to an alter call, only to never return to church, their lives remain unchanged, yet they call themselves Christians. How many people treat that event like they had their ticket punched to heaven, and yet their lives remain indistinguishable from the world? And how often have we been naively reassured by such professions? How often have we falsely assured ourselves that someone we love is saved when we know they bear no fruit in their life? Love certainly holds out hop, but love does not lie to itself.

Or how often have we thought like an antinomian when confronted with temptation? Thinking to ourselves, as we contemplate sinning, that maybe I can indulge just a little, because I know God will forgive me if I repent. I read recently a quote from the Puritan Josiah Shute that said, “True repentance is when a man grieves for his sin to the extent that he abandons it."

Law & Gospel

Both legalism and antinomianism are deadly. The one misuses the law of God while the other throws it to the wind. So, what’s the biblical path forward? What’s the right use of the law? If we shouldn’t do away with it, and if it’s not meant to justify us, what is it’s purpose? Well, it serves several functions that we’ll look at later, but for now I want to look at it’s relationship to the Gospel, and how it functions in the life of the believer.

The law supports the gospel

First, we must understand that the law is not at odds with the gospel, it doesn’t contradict the Gospel, rather they mutually support one another, but the law is not the gospel, as legalism might have us to believe, therefore we must not confuse the two. The law makes demands, it tell us what God requires, it says to do this or that, it says pay this or that, it says be righteous, and the law condemns us, whereas the gospel meets the law’s demands, the gospel supplies the law’s requirements, the gospel says that Jesus has done it on our behalf, the gospel says that Jesus has paid it all, it says that Jesus is our righteousness, and while the law condemns us, the gospel saves us.

The law condemns

The law is a tool that’s intended to condemn us, which makes the Pharisee’s attempt to justify themselves by it all the more shocking. They missed the point badly. If you’ve ever seriously examined yourself with the law, it’ll lead you to despair, it should, it’s meant to. The law is meant to be a terror to us, it’s meant to leave us hopeless in our own strength. The law is meant to bring us to our knees, it’s meant to bring conviction of sin, it’s meant to humble us, because we tend to think very little of our sin.

The law is a schoolmaster

The law is meant to expose our sin and convict us of our sin, and the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3 describes the law as holding everyone captive until Christ came. That the law is like a schoolmaster that drives us to Christ, that prepares our hearts us to receive and believe the gospel, that the righteous might live by faith in Christ, not by works of the law. So, in summary, the law is a tool that is meant to expose our sin, it’s meant to convict us of our sin, and it’s meant to drive us into the arms of Christ.

The law in our gospel proclamation

One of the reasons the Gospel so often falls on deaf ears is because men don’t think they need the Gospel, they think they’re good enough, they think very little of their sin. This is why the law is essential to our gospel proclamation. The use of the law in our proclamation of the Gospel is meant to expose sin and to condemn men, to prepare the man’s hearts to hear and embrace the Gospel. Therefore, when we neglect to bring the law to bear upon the consciences of sinful men, we give men no reason to embrace Christ. We may think we’re being kind when we don’t bring the law to bear upon their conscience, but instead we’ve one removed the teeth of the Gospel, and allowed men to go on believing that they don’t stand condemned before God and his law.

There’s been an awful lot of unbiblical rhetoric over the last 70 years that’s negatively impacted how Christians share the Gospel. We’ve so desperately tried to avoid legalism that we’ve become antinomians in our proclamation. Because we desperately don’t want to be viewed as hypocrites or legalists we’ve removed the law of God from our proclamation altogether. We’re so fearful of the rhetoric, “Judge not, lest you be judged” and “you’re not my judge” that we’ve come to believe the law has no place in our proclamation at all. Our culture has successfully convinced us that preaching the law just isn’t very nice.

But the biblical admonition to not judge, lest we be judged does not mean the law has no place in our proclamation, but rather that our judgement should be right judgement. You see, Jesus was coming against the legalism and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, their hypocritical judgement. Jesus was not instructing his disciples to never make judgments or to never bring the law to bear upon the consciences of sinful men. It’s absolutely true that we’re not the judge, but we are his ambassadors, and our proclamation is intended to carry with it both the law and Gospel. Not because we’re the judge of all the earth, but be because we’re ambassadors of the one who is. It is not us who condemn, but God and his law. Just as it is not us who saves, but God alone. We’ve been successfully convinced by the world to preach a toothless Gospel.

The only way men come under the conviction of their sin is by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the law. Therefore, if our hope is that men would come under the conviction of their sin through our proclamation of the Gospel, then we by necessity must preach both law and Gospel. If you neglect to set forth the law, no one will know they are sick and in need of a physician. We err in our Gospel proclamation when we assume men are already acutely aware of their own sinful condition, because, you see, men are naturally convinced of their own righteousness.

When we neglect to include the law in our proclamation we refrain from employing the very tool intended to drive men to Christ. The tool that drives us to despair, is meant to drive us to Christ.

The law and sanctification

And lastly, the law of God within the context of the Christian life is intended shape us into the image of Christ, while it isn’t an instrument of justification, it is an instrument of sanctification. The pursuit of holiness and obedience to God’s law becomes the fruit of genuine faith. The Christian pursues holiness to please God, not to justify himself. The Christian delights in the law of God, because he delights in the lawgiver. The Christian doesn’t view grace as a license to sin, but as the motivation and power to pursue holiness for the sake of pleasing God. The grace of God empowers the Christian to live a life that’s pleasing to God. We are able to work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Prayer