Grace and Law XVI: The Right and Wrong Use of the Law

Welcome to the Whole Council Podcast. I'm Jon Snider, and with me again and for the last time for this series is Steve Crampton. Steve, thank you for making the many trips to New Albany in the midst of a busy schedule.

And we've been going through the book, The Law and the Gospel by Ernie Reisinger, and we've been looking at the relationship between law, grace, and the Christian. And today we're looking at the right and wrong uses of the law.

And Reisinger points out what Paul said to Timothy, the young pastor. And I think it's just so encouraging that we find in the New Testament so many letters. We don't merely have the historical accounts of Christ's life and of the spread of the church.

We have what we desperately need. We have counsel given based on the biblical principles and facts. Counsel given to young churches full of people from all different varieties of cultures and religion.

And this great reality of God, the rescue, the redemption, the rule of God through His law, it's all applied to these churches. So, young pastor Timothy, he's having some troubles. And Paul writes to him in the midst of the troubles, and he says this in 1 Timothy 1 verse 8, but we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

So, we could say this. There is a great amount of damage that can be done in a church, in a home, in a Christian's individual life, if the law is not used at all. So, antinomianism. It may look like it honors grace, that it protects salvation by grace, but it is an erroneous position, and you've gone too far.

You've misunderstood. And that will lead to danger when the law is not used at all. But, Paul makes it pretty clear here, there is also a time when the law is used wrongly or unlawfully. And the law is not good if it's used, you know, the impact is not good if it's used unlawfully.

So, Steve, why don't you pick it up from there?

Sure. And to put a finer point on it, Reisinger points out, what is at stake here is the actual meaning of the cross itself. False teaching on the law in the form of antinomianism robs the cross of its very foundation.

The base of the cross is eternal justice, as demonstrated in Christ's satisfying the just demands of God's holy law. So, the first message of the cross is not, God loves you, but God's law has been broken.

And so, until we can get that view of the cross in perspective, you have sort of like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together in thin air. Without that base, you can't connect the pieces. You can't get a clear picture of God's grace.

So, the spirit of the cross certainly is eternal love. But the base of the cross is eternal justice. I think that's really, really foundational, obviously. So, we want to avoid that preaching that turns itself into just sentimentalism, emotionalism, sort of a superstition that perverts the cross.

Instead, you've got to consider the cross, Reisinger points out, from both the human side and from the divine side. When we see it from the human side, yes, we see God's love demonstrated by His giving His Son to die for us as sinners.

But from the divine side, we see God the Father thrusting the sword of divine justice into the heart of His Son. It must be satisfied. Law must be satisfied before you get to the grace. So, again, perspective there is just so important.

Obviously, God was not surprised by the developments here. As Acts chapter 4, quoting Peter, points out, he says, "...for truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done.".

So, also, look back at Isaiah. John, you're often bringing us back to the servant psalms there in Isaiah 42, in particular here. Isaiah points out, through the Holy Spirit, one of God's purposes with the cross was to magnify the law and make it honorable.

Sort of shocking when you consider it in that perspective. Likewise, in its accusing and convicting function, again, we've hit this several times through the series, the law is the schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.

You don't get there apart from that conviction of the law, at least most of us don't. And, again, the law prepares the way for the gospel. This is a great word picture for me, at least. It is, the law is, it's the sharp needle that makes way for the scarlet thread of the gospel.

Beautifully put. So, to kind of bring us back to where we started in this journey with Reisinger's book, he set before us six questions. One, should someone who's under grace have regard for the law of God at all?

Do you even consider it? Two, is the person who's led by the Spirit obligated to keep the commandments? Three, to what kind of moral conduct does the Spirit lead a Christian? Four, does the gospel nullify the law?

Five, what function does God's law have in bringing lost sinners to Christ? And six, what function does God's law have in the Christian life? And right here, we're going to look in particular at those last two questions.

Five, what function does God's law have in bringing lost sinners to Christ? And six, what function does that law have in the Christian life?

Reisinger then points out that we need to stop and look at the context of 1 Timothy 1 .8. So, again, kind of the heart of that section is the statement, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

So, what's going on in Timothy's little church there that Paul has to write these things? What's the abuse? And he doesn't give specifics, but he gives a number of things that help us to kind of come to an idea of what's going on.

First of all, in chapter one, verse three and four, Paul warns that there are false teachers creeping into the church, and Timothy has been urged to expose the error. Now, he doesn't name them here, he names them later in the letter.

We do know that they are, it's what Reisinger called, they had the Athenian spirit. If you remember when Paul went to Athens, the Greeks of Athens loved to hear new philosophies, to kind of throw them into the pot and stir it around with all the other philosophies, all the other options for understanding reality, for living the best life.

And so, Paul kind of gives this picture of these men. They love new, clever ideas, they're fascinated with these things. In verse four, he gives a picture of them as paying attention to myths, endless genealogies.

These give rise to speculation rather than really moving forward the kingdom of God. And then in verse five, Paul makes it clear, what is the right goal of instruction? It's not these kind of, I want to do mental gymnastics, and we have clever new ideas that we want to introduce into the church, Jesus plus this other thing.

Verse five is a wonderful verse, the goal of our instruction is love. So that's a pretty simple statement. What is the goal of Christian doctrine? What's the goal of studying eschatology?

Love.

What's the goal of theology proper, the character of God?

Love.

What's the goal of pneumatology? What's the goal of soteriology? Love, love, love must be the goal of every advance in learning in the Christian, which is quite a high calling, and we do tend to kind of be more like the Corinthians, where Paul says, knowledge puffs up.

You know, if we don't get knowledge by the right, you know, in the right perspective, if we don't gain it in the right way, we just become proud. But the goal of all good doctrinal learning is love. And then he describes what kind of love, from a pure heart, from a heart washed by Christ, from a heart united, it's no longer fragmented in love with a hundred different lovers, but one great lover.

Love to God, love to people, from a pure heart, and a good conscience, a clear conscience, you know, not just washed clean by the justifying work of Christ, but kept clean by the gracious work of God within to help us to stay on the path of obedience and a sincere, genuine, earnest faith.

Then he says, for some men, straying from these things, from that pure-hearted love, that good conscience, that sincere faith, they love fruitless discussions, they love theology, and they want to be teachers in the church.

But they do not understand some things they need to understand. And so attempting to take leadership in the teaching, they actually do damage. And one of the things he says they don't understand, verse 9 and 10, they don't understand the law and how to apply it.

Now, we've seen in the New Testament a number of misapplications of the law, but the primary one that we come across in the New Testament is the Judaizers, those that come from Judaism, and they love the Old Covenant because it was a covenant that God gave.

They love the law. They don't just love the moral law. They love the ceremonial law. They love the civil law. And they feel that it just makes sense to them that if Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews, and he's going to open the door of forgiveness to those non-Jews, as they come in through the door of the Messiah, they need to come all the way into Judaism, so to speak, and they need to have Jesus, wonderful.

Plus, Jesus plus our ceremonial laws, Jesus plus our civil laws, and of course, Jesus plus the moral law. And the problem, of course, is that they have misapplied how the Old Covenant moves into the New Covenant, what is kept, what is left behind, what is fulfilled, what is not fulfilled.

But they also have misunderstood the purpose of the moral law. Again, it's not above us, as in Romans 6, we're told we're not under the law. We're not looking to the moral law to save us. And so if you apply that to these people and say, hey, if you keep the law and you have Jesus, you'll be justified.

So Paul points out that the law has a very definite use, and he just gives one of them here. But I think that the context shows that he's saying the law is not given for the justified saint, those united to Christ by faith who have been made right with God and declared right with God and God's law.

The law is not given to continually point a way to make themselves better. They're not going to be saved by the law. What is the law for? Well, verse 9 says that the law is not made for the righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.

So the law is not going to make these new Christians better new Christians if they keep it. They're not going to be even more justified. Paul says the law was meant to drive the rebellious and unrepentant to see their sin, and as you mentioned, Steve, to drive them to Christ.

So you touched on some lawful uses. Now, Reisinger turns us to what are unlawful uses of the law. Well, there are many. We have eight in particular that he's highlighting here. One, it's an unlawful use when it's misinterpreted, as it was by the scribes and Pharisees, that whole externalizing of the law, for example.

Two, it's unlawfully used when it is set up as opposed to Christ, opposed to grace or opposed to the gospel, one of the errors of the Jews, again. Three, the most dangerous and damning unlawful use is when men look to the law for justification.

We've said again and again, it cannot, it will not save us. It overthrows the very nature of grace, opposes Christ in his fullness, and overthrows justification by faith alone. Four, it's an unlawful use of the law to use it to discourage the brokenhearted sinners.

And I find that an interesting one, John. It's like if we just kind of stand on the moral law and point the finger at the sinful folk around us and never give them the avenue of escape, the avenue of salvation.

So, to discourage the brokenhearted sinners, not good. You must preach the law and the gospel together. Five, it's an unlawful use of the law to overthrow the grace of hope. Again, the balance there, you've got to bring it back to grace.

Six, it's an unlawful use of the law to take away the glory due to God in the great and marvelous work of justification. And I would point folks back to our covering chapter 12 last week, John 2, on that one, that the balance in the work at the cross, that the law must be satisfied before grace and truth can come.

Seven, it's an unlawful use of the law to overthrow the doctrine of sanctification. There is power in the law. I'm sorry, there is no power in the law to justify or to sanctify. It doesn't, it's not for that.

It's not going to come. The power must come from the Spirit. That's why we can't separate the Spirit from the law or the gospel either. Each will be powerless without the Spirit. Finally, number eight, it is an unlawful use of the law to use it merely as ammunition in unfruitful and unprofitable disputes.

Preachers and teachers must bring it back to Christ. Again, that's a little bit like your endless genealogies and sort of getting sidetracked, right? So there's the unlawful uses. Quickly, let's talk just a little bit about how the law is good.

Text says the law is good if it's used lawfully. Well, consider a couple of examples. The law is good in respect to its content, that is, the substance found in the Ten Commandments in particular. When rightly understood and sort of mined, as it were, for the deep truths of those Ten Commandments, all Christian duty can be traced back to the Ten Commandments, as can all sin.

It's a tremendous summary statement right there. Likewise, the commandments are good concerning the authority that God has stamped upon them. That is the righteousness, the holiness of God, right there reflected in those laws.

Third, the law is good because it is that instrument that the Spirit of God uses to convict of sin and to quicken believers to duty. We talked about it as that schoolmaster, but also we have talked in past shows about how it is our friend, and it does give us that clear path to our own duty before God.

Not to save us, not to really deliver us from any power of sin, but rather to help us in loving God and walking with Him. The law is also good, consider this, in respect to its acts. And what Reisinger is talking about here is, it acts, one, to declare the will of God regarding moral conduct.

Two, to command obedience to the will of God. And I would argue that's for both the unrighteous and for the righteous, though again, it doesn't deliver us from sin. Three, it acts to invite by promise, or on the other side, to compel by threats.

There is a judgment, there is a penalty that must be paid. And finally, it acts to condemn transgressors. That's a good thing in the end of the day. Finally, the law is good in respect to its end or purpose.

And what is that end or purpose? It is Jesus Christ. So He has come to fulfill it, He embodies it, and it ultimately ought to bring us back to Jesus Christ.

After talking about what is so good about the law, He then gives us a list of eight things. These are the good uses of the law. Number one, the law is used lawfully when it is used to inform all creatures, Christian and non-Christian, of the nature and the will of God.

So again, we've talked about this a lot. The law is a moral expression of God's perfection. It is also an expression of His will. The law stems from God's nature, He writes, reflecting in its perfection the perfection of God.

Second, the law is used lawfully when it informs all creatures of their duty to God and man. So it shows us something of the perfections of our God, of the perfect desires of our God, which we're very grateful that we belong to a Creator whose desires are always good and pure.

And we just take that for granted, I think. You know that, well, of course, He's God. But what if we had a God whose desires could be bent, could be altered with our behavior? What if we belong to an all-powerful, all-present being who had wicked desires?

But it doesn't just show His perfection, it shows our duty. Number three, the law is used lawfully when it binds all creatures to walk according to the Creator's revealed will. So it's not just it shows us our duty, but it binds us to walk according to that duty.

Number four, the law is used lawfully when it is used to convince believers and unbelievers of their inability to keep it apart from the Spirit. So, even for the Christian, we are reminded of the need for the constant work of our God in our salvation.

And, of course, the unbeliever reminded of his or her need of a Savior. Number five, the law is used lawfully when it is used to convince men, women, and children of the sinful pollution of their natures, hearts, and lives, thus driving them to Christ for forgiveness.

So, not merely demonstrating that you shouldn't have said that, you shouldn't have done that, you shouldn't have looked at that, but the law, that spirituality of the law, that, you know, Sermon on the Mount kind of probing beneath the surface reveals that actually it's what I am that's wrong, not just what I've done.

Number six, the law is used lawfully when it is used to humble men and women in the sense of their sins and misery. Number seven, the law is used lawfully when it is used to help men and women to a clearer sight of their need of Christ and the perfection of His obedience.

So, you know, I guess we could say on that one, because there's some overlap in these, you could say, well, the more clearly you understand the law, exactly what it demands, what God demands, the more clearly, not just a general vague idea of, well, we're all sinners, well, we all need forgiven, we all need a second chance, you know, that kind of cultural admittance.

You move from that to a very painfully, acutely painful awareness of how much I need a Savior in every area. And then number eight, the law is used lawfully when it helps men and women to have proper esteem for the matchless character of Christ.

So we see in the law, we're really watching, you know, a sketch of the perfection of the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth and that the Father received, the law received all it demanded from that man.

Well, there are three uses also that Reisinger gives us of the law for non-Christians. And number one, John really hits me with regard to the practice of law. It is a lawful use of the law when it is used to restrain the spirits of wicked men.

In other words, our criminal law code is based on, founded on, grows from, at least when it's done properly, from those Ten Commandments and the moral law of God. It is the means by which society maintains some sort of order and civility and protection of the innocent.

Likewise, number two, it's a lawful use of the law when it is used to inform sinners of their duty to God and man. Again, without the law, it's easy to have this vague notion of what right and wrong is and what our need is and duty is with respect to God, if we even recognize a God and so forth.

There's this vagueness, and the further we get from perfection, the more clouded is our conscience and our lack of understanding of what really is right and wrong. And third, it's a lawful use of the law when it is used to render sinners inexcusable if they reject God's promise and remedy in Christ.

So that convicting power is a wonderful thing, really, to drive us away from ourself, away from our delusions, and back to Christ and our need for Him.

Well, having come to the end of the book, I think it's good, again, to consider what's said at the end of the psalm that speaks most about the Word of God, the law of God, and the believer, Psalm 119.

That most complete picture of a believer with their feet on a very specific path, the path of God's law, His Word, His principles, His statutes. But in their hand is an open book, and their face is toward God.

So of the 176 verses in Psalm 119, 172 are direct prayers to God. So there's that dynamic, always. And if we forget that, I think we're in danger of kind of focusing on law, almost like being a person just looking at the book and forgetting the God that has given us the book.

So open book, face toward God, 172 prayers rise from the heart of a believer as they read God's Word and consider the gift that He's given us in giving us His commands and laws and teachings. The last two verses of Psalm 119, I think, just sum it up in such a balanced way, but with such a beautiful realism that might look to us like it's a bit anticlimactic, but it's not.

Here's the second-to-last verse. So I think that right there, whether a person wants to argue for antinomianism or a person wants to argue for theonomy and we have to bring the law to bear upon everybody, we'll fix people with God's law, we'll fix our nation with God's law, and certainly our nation needs the law of God.

With all the different variations of people's views on the law, verse 175 really just sums up the right approach, and that is a heart that delights in God. Let my soul live that it may praise you. I want to live for the praises of my King.

Now, if you can find a heart like that, then there will be another part to their plea, and it can't be divorced from the second half of verse 175. And let your ordinances help me. God, I want to live for your praises.

Now, I don't know how to do that. I don't know what decisions to make with my kids at work. How do I work? How much time do I give to my boss, to God, to my family? I mean, you know, we always, we have so many questions.

So, God, let your ordinances help me to do what? To live for you, to live for your praises. So, maintain this spiritual life in me so that I can live for your praises, so I can praise you and let your ordinances guide that life.

Then the final verse, which is the realism that might look anticlimactic, but it is not, is the confession of a constant need. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

So, there's this wonderful realism. No matter how much my heart longs to live for the praises of God, and no matter how much I treasure the Word as my food, you know, as my gold, my silver, my path, my light, my comforter, my security, my stronghold, my companion, all the things that Psalm 119 says, at the end of the day, the Christian still is sadly capable of straying.

And so, there is the constant need that the God who gave the law would not only maintain in us the desire to do the law, but would continually wash our feet when we sadly step off the path. I have gone astray like a lost sheep.

Seek your servant. Don't just forgive me. Come find me. But nobody has a right to say that, who doesn't also yearn for the final phrases of the verse, and that is, so, I have gone astray like a lost sheep.

Seek your servant, for, here's the final, I do not forget your commandments. I'm not asking God to just give me a blanket forgiveness, you know, I plan to do it again tomorrow. God, I'm the guy that just said to you, I want to live for your praises.

I want your law to guide my feet, but I know that I am so capable of straying like a dumb sheep, and sometimes I can't even seem to find my way back to the path. You're going to have to come find me. But I'm pleading with you, God, not so that I can live for myself.

I will not forget your law. I don't forget that there's a path, and it's still my delight. So, wonderful balance, wonderful realism, and at the heart of all law-keeping is the love expressed in that 175.

Let my soul live, that it may praise you. Well, we hope that the book has been at least just an introduction to the key themes here, some of the areas that are debated. It is really just an introductory level book, so if you can start with that, that might be a good place for you, and Teddy will put in the show notes the other books that we've mentioned along the way that are helpful with this same topic.

Thanks, Steve.

Thank you very much. Enjoyed it.