Not long after I was saved, several of us were at the home of an older believer when another brother and I were invited into the office—the sanctum sanctorum. This was never a good sign. That is to say, in the light of eternity it was beneficial, but at the moment it instilled panic. For it meant that we were about to have some sort of Bible question posed to us. A seemingly innocent question. A deceptively simple question. The kind of question that, but for experience, we might have naively—even cheerfully—answered. By this point, I was beginning to be able to smell a trap. The friendly smile, the gracious tone, the casual air—none of these could any longer fool me into thinking that I was being afforded the safety of an easy question.
“What role, brethren, do you feel the Law ought to play in the life of a believer today?” Relief! This time, I could see the trap, and so I artfully dodged it. “Well, certainly nobody gets saved by keeping the Law. Also, the ceremonial portion of it has been fulfilled in Christ. So, instead, we keep the moral portion of the Law in order to please the Lord after we are saved.”
A part of me was confident that I had evaded both the obvious trap (salvation by law) and the subtle trap (the ceremonial law). And yet, my adversary did not seem at all discomfited. He received my explanation peacefully. Too peacefully. If I had eluded his trap, why the calm smile? And why was my sense of impending doom growing instead of diminishing?
At this point, my cunning opponent revealed the real trap. A trap that to this day ensnares vast numbers of genuine believers without their even knowing it: the bondage of living under the Law; of thinking that the Law can somehow produce godliness in the lives of God’s people. That day I had my introduction into a biblical understanding of God’s purpose for the Law. I was given a copy of a little booklet in which was explained the true role of the Law today (see The Pump, on the back cover) and the folly of life under law.
Don’t misunderstand. There is nothing wrong with the Law itself. It is holy and righteous and good (Rom. 7:12). It is spiritual (Rom. 7:14). The Law perfectly accomplishes its goal: exposing sin. “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law” (Rom. 7:7). The Law is excellent, provided one uses it, well, lawfully (1 Tim. 1:8). But the Law has a fatal flaw: us! Although the Law is spiritual, we are carnal (Rom. 7:14).
Romans 1-5 teaches us that we cannot look to the Law for justification. But Romans 6-8 stresses that neither can we depend upon the Law for sanctification. God has a far better plan. And, as always, God’s answer is His Son: “For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3f).
Christians know that the Law cannot save. It was never intended to. But how many believers understand that the Law is not the standard or source of day-by-day Christian living? Do you, as a believer, attempt to live the Christian life in slavery, caught in the trap of bondage to the Law?