Q: Since no one can keep the law, what is its purpose?
A: That we may know the holy nature and will of God, and the sinful nature and disobedience of our hearts; and thus our need of a Savior. The law also teaches and exhorts us to live a life worthy of our Savior.
For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of in.
Romans 3:20
A running joke in our household is that the kids like to comment that their mom has really high standards for everyday housework – much higher than their dad. We like to joke about mom’s “impossibly high standards” for cleaning, and the kids know that they will never be able to attain the lofty goals set by her. Now, their mother is actually a very gracious person, despite the picture this paints of her – and she joins in with the joke willingly – but the premise stands: mom’s standards are impossibly high for housework. However, they are impossibly high for good reasons. For starters, she knows that the kids can always do better than their first feeble attempt at a task. Also, she knows it is for their own good. It is to teach them principles of cleanliness for life that she maintains such high standards for such young children (now teens).
We often approach God’s law the same way. It is an impossibly high standard to attain: We can’t seriously be expected to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength? Or to love others as ourselves? We can’t seriously be expected to not merely affect outward conformity, but inward transformation? These standards are impossibly high.
There is an often preached juxtaposition of Law versus Grace. When preachers use this dichotomous scheme, they usually are trying to point out the dangers of legalism, the idea that one can gain merit before God by their good works. And this is contrary to the Gospel, so when the Law vs Grace scheme is used in this way, it is truly a noble task. However, what often ends up happening is there develops in our minds this notion that the Law is actually a bad thing – something that actually is our enemy, working against us. Anytime we get confronted with a biblical command, we become inclined to think: No, that can’t be. That is the law. The gospel of grace says this…
However, we never find this notion anywhere in Holy Scripture. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The Psalter often writes of how happiness follows those that delight in the law (Psalm 1:2), and how the law is lifegiving to them (Psalm 19:7-8), a ‘light unto their path,’ truly a good thing (Psalm 119). Even Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians, in his polemic against legalism, elevated the law to its proper place: not as a brutal taskmaster – but as a caring guardian, protecting and nourishing those under it (Gal. 3:24). Sure Paul warned of certain uses of the law, but the law itself was never written of as being a bad thing.
In fact, the Law of God is one of the first words of God revealed, in the historia salutis, the history of God’s self-revelation of himself to His people. No sooner had he created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden than he gave them the law to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). Likewise, no sooner had he led the Israelites to freedom from slavery in Egypt than he gave the Law (through Moses - Exodus 20). The Law of God reveals something about the very heart of God. In each of those revealings, its designed intent was to protect those under it from peril. The law was, even then, a guardian; designed to protect Adam and Eve, and later the wayward Hebrews wandering through the wilderness, from peril.
Not only is the law a thing revealed. It is truly revealing. Paul, tracking the argument of some theoretical antagonist who would suggest that the Law is actually a bad thing, writes:
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” Romans 7:7 (ESV)
The law doesn’t cause sin to arise in our hearts, but it reveals that it was there all along, crouching in the corner (Genesis 4:7), waiting to pounce on us in the darkness. The law serves to shine a light on the ugliest corners of our heart, revealing to us the peril that lies within. Our pride loves to find some outside agent responsible for this ugliness in our own hearts. We love to shift the blame off ourselves, and onto something – anything – outside of us. So, we like to label the law as a brutal taskmaster; get angry at it; say it’s to blame for our hearts' ugliness.
But this only serves to defeat the purposes of the law: to reveal to us the holy nature and will of God, and to reveal the sinful nature and disobedience of our hearts. The Law versus Grace dichotomy is truly misleading, because the law is actually a special grace designed for our good. Romans 8:2 tells us “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (ESV). The law of Christ, the law that is written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 36:25-27), is for our good. It is showing us the best possible way of living, contrary to our stubborn and sinful hearts’ desires. Properly understood, the law is beautiful and life giving for the Redeemed. It is with this in mind that Paul can command us to ‘conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ’ (Phil 1:27), because the command is not burdensome for the believer, but liberating. The Law of Christ becomes the operating manual to the believers' new heart that they inherit in Christ.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
This is what I tell my kids when they tire of the joke about their mothers ‘impossibly high standards’ for housework, when she sends them back for a third time to clean their rooms properly, because the first two times weren’t good enough: I tell them about the Law of God, about its lofty ideals and seemingly unattainable goals. But I tell them about the truth of their declared righteousness in Christ, about the reality of their already perfect standing before God — in Justification – and about the promised completion of the good work He began in us.
“I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:7 (ESV)