“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse : for it is written: ” cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” Galatians 3: 10. Why is this, because the scripture says in James 2: 10 : “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” It is such a futile effort to live under the law to attain justification. For this reason, the scripture reveals in verse 11 of Galatians chapter 3 that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. Also, the law is not of faith, and without faith, no man can please the LORD (Hebrews 11: 6).
“The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” Galatians 3: 12. To live by law is to rest on works and not faith, but the scripture in Romans 3 : 28 holds: For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. The preceding verse to this expatiates the more concerning the state of all men. Verse 23 of Romans chapter 3 states: “For all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.” Since all men have been concluded as “have sinned” against the law, pardon can only result not by living in the law that we have transgressed against and which already condemns us, but by grace under the prerogative of God’s mercy. That prerogative was demonstrated in Christ Jesus, whom God gave as a propitiation for our sins and our redemption from the wages of our sins. The bible declares in Romans 3: 24 that we are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Now the law is spiritual (Romans 7: 14) and good, but man, sold out to sin through the disobedience of Adam, has another nature apart from God, the sinful (carnal) nature. The sinful nature or carnal nature is directly opposite of the nature of God and cannot submit to God’s law because its inclination is towards sin. The law was given to show the exceeding sinful nature of man. Romans 7: 7 states: I would not have known I have lust, covetousness, murder and the like in my nature if the law had not said “thou shall not covet; thou shall not commit adultery; and thou shall not commit murder. To look at a woman and lust after her is tantamount to adultery, and to hate your brother without a cause is equivalent to murder. By law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3: 20). We must understand the purpose of the law, it is not to bring about justification, but it is to show us how exceeding sinful our carnal nature is and to drive us to God’s redemptive provision in Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Hebrews 9: 22). Definitely, this cannot be the blood of animals. It has to be the blood of God’s own provision, who is Jesus Christ, the LORD’s propitiation for our sins (1 John 2: 2).
Does the teaching of grace abolish the law. On the contrary. Grace points us to a new law, not the law that shows the exceeding sinful nature of the flesh, but a law that reveals to us the nature of God. It is a spiritual law called the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8: 2). This law of the Spirit is in Christ our redemption, who is the author of the new life that we now live. Romans 8 : 2 says: ” For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Just as the carnal law reveals the knowledge of the sinful nature of man, the law of the Spirit reveals the knowledge of the nature of God. To live under the law that reveals sin is to keep partaking of the sinful nature opposed to God. To live by the law of the Spirit is to grow in the knowledge of, and partake of the nature of God which Galatians 5: 22 declares “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Justification by grace through faith in the redemption that is in the blood of Christ is not a call to lawlessness, but a transformation to a higher law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Elsewhere in the bible, it is called the law of liberty. By the law of the Spirit of life, we mind the things of the Spirit and walk after the newness of life in Christ Jesus. No more do we reflect the nature of sin, but we reflect the nature of God and reproduce after His kind, and we no more practice sin. It is a new birth experience, and the scripture says in 1 John 3: 9: whoever is born of God cannot sin because God’s nature is in him. This is the higher law that we partake of through the free justification we have by grace through the redemption by the blood of Christ. The scripture says in James 1: 25: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
Self-righteousness is not far from those who go about to live by carnal law, thinking they will be justified. If a man chose to be under the carnal law, he lives by them and seeks to attain justification before God by works. The futility of this is when you offend in one law, you offend all the laws. So, it is an unending cycle of offence and condemnation and self-inflicted burden. Thank God for the perfect law of liberty (James 1: 25) we now have through the knowledge of Christ. In Christ Jesus we do not have the knowledge of sin, because we died together with Him to sin, and being raised up vicariously with Him in baptism, we are raised to newness of life and to the knowledge of God (Romans 6: 4; Colossians 2: 12-13). Jesus Christ our Lord gave an open invitation to all in Mathew 11: 28-30 “Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” To go about to establish one’s righteousness by the deeds of the law and coarsing others into same is to walk in ignorance and self-righteousness. The scripture says in Isaiah 64: 6: “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousness are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” In addition to self-righteousness, which is like a filthy rag before God, it amounts to rebellion for one to seek to justify themselves by the deeds of the law. Such persons want their own righteousness earned by the deeds of the law, which is apart from God’s gift by the riches of His grace in Christ. Father Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15: 6; Galatians 3: 6). Righteousness is of God, and it is a gift by grace. Psalm 14: 2-3 declares: ” The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt. There is none who is righteous. There is none who does good. No, not one.” Given this testimony of God about man, how can anyone seek to attain to righteousness by the deeds of the law, it is only futility and hardiness of heart” (Romans 10: 3).
The gospel in Luke 18: 9-14 recounts the parable of the Lord Jesus of some who trusted in themselves that they are righteous and despised others. The Pharisee stood to pray and rehearsed that he is not one like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterer, and tax collector; he fasted twice a week, give tithes of all that he possesses. The tax collector, on the other hand, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his chest, saying: God be merciful to me, a sinner. The Lord Jesus concluded that this tax collector went home justified rather than the Pharisee. Just like our salvation, there is no righteousness or justification apart from the gift by grace in Christ Jesus. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh can be justified in the sight of God. There is nothing we can earn by works, it has to be of faith.
The law is legal and spiritual. Man transgressed and by it earned the wages of death and lived under condemnation (Romans 5: 17). Christ came, paid the penalty for sin by his blood, and died to pay the wages of death for our sin. Through faith in Him, we become a new creation, old things are passed away. The scripture boldly declares: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Through faith, we are transformed by the power of the Resurrection in Christ to a new spiritual creation that does not live after the flesh. We live by a new law, the law of the Spirit of life because it is now Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2: 20) and through the increasing knowledge of Him, we partake of the nature of God to live holy and righteous. It is futile to live by a law that only gives the knowledge of sin and made us aware of the exceeding sinful nature that we bear about. Our Lord Jesus is still calling: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
