Law and Faith

Law and Faith
Exodus 20-22 | Psalm 24 | Romans 3

Our reading from Exodus today introduces us to God's law: the Ten Commandments. According to this law: we shall not have any other gods (1), make idols (2) or take God's name in vain (3); we shall remember the sabbath and keep it holy (4), and honour our parents (5); and we shall not murder (6), commit adultery (7), steal (8), lie (9) or covet someone else's property (10).

Honestly looking at this law it is a good law - it is fair, loving and respectful. God didn't just want the Jews to obey His law, He expected them to. And He didn't just expect it from the Jews, this is what God our creator demands of all men. He Himself is true, just and perfect, and cannot stand imperfection - in fact He hates it. This hatred is not to be confused with a misguided feeling of enmity as we may shamefully feel towards another person; God's hatred of sin (God's wrath) is an expression of His inability to condone it. He cannot Tolerate sin, to do so would be to deny His characteristic perfection.

So God expects perfection from all men - He cannot expect otherwise - but as Paul points out in today's reading of Romans, all men are sinners: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (vv.10-12)

In His justice and perfection, God must punish man for his sin; in His love, grace and perfection He must have man reconciled to Himself. In order to satisfy both needs, God sent His Son to be a man so that as a man He could in substitution take the punishment for mankind, allowing all other men to take His righteousness through faith in Him.

Jesus lived the life God expects all men to live and so was righteous, deserving neither punishment nor death. In His death God's wrath for sin in mankind was applied to Jesus, allowing the relationship with God which Jesus deserved to be imparted onto any who would entrust their lives to Christ - to any who would have faith that Christ's death had power to save them. In this way, anyone in a 'faith-union' with Christ is viewed by God to be righteous - they are righteous in His sight.

Since fulfilling the law is what God expected from mankind, to be righteous meant 'to have lived by the law perfectly, all your life.' Paul explains rightousness through faith in today's reading from Romans:

No one will be declared righteous by observing the law, as no man can fulfill the law (vv.9-20). But in Christ a righteousness apart from the law has been made known (v.21). This righteousness is freely available to all who believe - there is no one excluded (v.22), for all men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (v.23). Equally, all are made righteous freely through the redemption of Christ (v.24) as God presented Christ as a sacrifice to turn aside His wrath and to remove the sin of men who have faith in the power of Christ's blood (v.25a); and He did this to demonstrate His justice in punishing sin (v.25b). God is indeed just and the one who justifies (makes rightous) those who have faith in Jesus (v.26).

After all this, the ten commandments are certainly not redundant. As a guide to righteousness they are superceded by the Way of the Cross; but they still represent God's expectation of all men, and the life of a Christian is to seek God's will.

Praise God for His perfection and love, His justice and mercy, His grace and His forebearance; and thank Him for how these have worked in your life.