THE LAW OF GOD

The law of God intensifies the wrath of God against sin: "For the law works wrath" (Rom. 4:15a ERS). With the introduction of the law, sin becomes a transgression (parabasis, a going aside, a deviation, hence, a violation) of the law. "But where there is no law neither is there transgression" (Rom. 4:15b ERS). A transgression of the law is sin, but sin is more than just a transgression of the law and it may exist where the law of God does not exist.

"For until the law sin was in the world;
but sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Rom. 5:13 ERS).
In the period between Adam and Moses, before the law was given, there was no law. But in this period before the law "sin was in the world." Men were sinning. Sin existed where the law did not exist. From the Biblical point of view sin must be understood and defined in terms of God and not in terms of the law. Sin is any choice that is contrary to faith in the true God -- "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23 KJV). A transgression of the law is sin but sin is not just a transgression of the law. The KJ version mistranslates the statement in I John 3:4: (he hamartia estin he anomia). It should be translated "sin is lawlessness" (RSV, NEB, NIV) not "sin is the transgression of the law" (KJV). The Greek word anomia basically may mean either "no law" or "against law." Hence, it means "anarchy" or "rebellion."
"Freely translated v.4 would then be to the effect that
'he who commits sin is thereby in revolt against;
indeed, sin is nothing but rebellion against God.'" [1]

The law came in alongside in order that the transgression might abound (Rom. 5:20b). Thus through the law sin became exceedingly sinful (Rom. 7:13b). "Since through the law comes the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20b; see also Rom. 7:7b), the law shows what sin is and thus makes clear the true character of sin and that the basic sin is idolatry (Exodus 20:3-6; Deut. 5:7-10; 6:13-15; 8:19; 11:16-17; 29:24-27; 30:17-18). But this does not mean that sin is to be defined in terms of the law. The law just exposes its true character. The law not only reveals what sin is but also God's direct opposition to man's sin, that is, the wrath of God which is the curse of the law.

"Cursed is every one who continues not in all things
that are written in the book of the law, to do them"
(Gal. 3:10 ERS; see also Deut. 27:26; 29:27).
Thus the law brings the wrath of God, not directly by means of an inevitable moral process of cause and effect, but indirectly by showing what is God's personal reaction to man's sin.

What is the law? The term "law" is used most often in the Bible, especially in the New Testament (Matt. 5:18) and Christian theology, to refer to the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue (Exodus 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-21), sometimes improperly called the moral law. Sometimes it is used to refer to the whole law of Moses, ceremonial as well as the Ten Commandments, statutes and ordinances (Luke 2:22; John 7:23). Sometimes it is also used to refer to the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch (Matt. 12:5; Luke 2:23-24; 16:16; 24:44; Rom. 3:21) as well as the whole Old Testament (John 10:34, quoting Psa. 82:6; I Cor. 14:21, quoting Isa. 28:11). The Hebrew word for law, torah, means direction, guidance, instruction, teaching. [2]

As such it is that content of God's revelation of Himself which makes clear man's relation to God and to his fellowmen. It provides guidance of man's actions in relation to God and to his fellowmen. Thus it is the Word of the Lord (Deut. 5:5; Psa. 119:43, 160). It is first of all about God's act of redemption of Israel from Egypt (Ex. 20:2; Deut. 5:6; Psa. 119:174 parallelism) and then about man's obedient response to this act (Ex. 20:3-17; Deut. 5:7-21). The law is the covenant that God made with the children of Israel through Moses (Ex. 24:1-12). The commandments of the law are based upon the grace of God who provided redemption from Egypt (Deut. 4:37-40; Psa. 119:146) and are the terms of God's covenant with His people (Ex. 19:3-8; Deut. 5:1-3). In contrast to the covenants with Noah (Gen. 9:8-17) and with Abraham (Gen. 15:12-18; 17:1-14), which were covenants of sheer grace, the Mosaic covenant is conditional. God made unconditional promises to Noah and Abraham of what He would do. The blessings of these covenants were unconditional. The blessings of the Mosaic covenant are, on the other hand, conditioned upon obedience (Deut. 28:1-14) and the curses upon disobedience (Deut. 28:15-20; 30:1-20). These conditions are given in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:3-17; Deut. 5:6-21) and other statutes and ordinances.

What is the difference between law and grace? The difference is not: rules and no rules. The difference is in the relation of the blessing to obedience. In a covenant of law the bestowal of the blessing is conditioned upon obedience; obey in order to be blessed (Ezek. 18). In a covenant of grace the blessing is bestowed unconditionally to bring about obedience: obey because you are already blessed (John 13:34; Eph. 4:32; Titus 2:11-12; I John 3:3; 4:11, 19). Grace appeals to the unconditioned prior bestowal of the blessing as the grounds of obedience. Law, on the other hand, appeals to obedience as the ground of the bestowal of the blessing.

The Mosaic covenant is not pure law but is based on the grace of God who graciously provided redemption for the children of Israel and who in free grace chose to establish His covenant with them. This redemption by God from Egypt is the grounds of the appeal for obedience to the terms of the covenant which are stated in the Ten Commandments.

"2 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage.
3 You shall have no other gods before me."
(Ex. 20:2-3)
This is the order of grace; obey because you are already blessed. But the Mosaic covenant is not pure grace because the blessings of the covenant are conditioned upon Israel's obedience.
"15 See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil.
16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God
which I command you this day,
by loving the Lord your God,
by walking in his ways,
and keeping His commandments and His statutes and his ordinances,
then you shall live and multiply,
and the Lord your God will bless you in the land
which you are entering to take possession of it.
17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear
but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,
18 I declare to you this day, that you shall perish,
you shall not live long in the land
which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse;
therefore, choose life, that you and your descendants may live."
(Deut. 30:15-19)
This is the order of law: obey in order to be blessed. Hence, the Mosaic covenant is a mixed covenant of grace and law.

What is the purpose of the law? Being a clarification of man's relation to God, the purpose of the law is to expose the nature of sin (Rom. 3:20; 7:7b) and God's reaction to man's sin in the form of wrath (the curse of the law; see Rom. 4:15; Gal. 3:10). Therefore, to the question: "Why the law?" Paul answers in Gal. 3:19:

"It was added because of transgressions,...
until the seed [Christ, Gal. 3:16] should come
to whom the promise had been made." (cf. Rom. 5:20)
Until Christ came, the Jews were kept under the law (Gal. 3:23) as a tutor (Gal. 3:24) who guarded the immature child until he became a mature son (Gal. 4:1-2). Therefore, the law was a temporary arrangement (Heb. 7:18; 9:9-10). The Mosaic law was given only to Israel (Deut. 4:7-8, 32-33, 36; Psa. 147:19-20). From Adam to Moses there was no law (Rom. 5:13-14), and the Gentiles do not have the law (Rom. 2:14, twice).

The Scriptures, and in particular the Apostle Paul, do not teach that there is a law of nature, lex naturae, after Stoic fashion. In Romans 2:15 Paul does not say that the Gentiles have "the law" [ho nomos] written on the heart, but that the "the work of the law" [to ergon tou nomou] is written on their hearts. In this passage Paul is not talking about having the law but about keeping or fulfilling the law. In the context Paul is contrasting the Jew who has the law but does not keep it with the Gentile who does not have the law but does what the law commands. Having the law is not sufficient.

"For not the hearers of the law are righteous with God,
but the doers of the law shall be justified." (Rom. 2:13 ERS). [3]

It is these particular actions of the Gentiles, which are in harmony with the law, that Paul is referring to when he says that the work of the law is written on their hearts. For it is from the heart, where the decisions are made, that the work of the law comes. Grammatically the word "written" [grapton] agrees with the word "work" [ergon], and not with the word "law" [tou nomou]. The work, not the law, is written on the heart. For if Paul had said that the law was written on the heart, he would be saying that the Gentiles had the law in a more intimate way than the Jews had it. The latter had it written only on the tables of stone or in a book. [4] Moreover, Paul would also be saying that the Gentiles had the law written on their hearts which provision was only promised in the new covenant.

"But this is the covenant
which I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my law within them,
and I will write it upon their hearts;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people." (Jer. 31:33)
But in the preceding verse 14 Paul specifically says that the Gentiles do not have the law.
"14 For when Gentiles, not having the law, do by nature the things of the law,
these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,
15 who show the work of law written in their hearts." (Rom. 2:14-15a ERS)
And he says it twice in that one verse alone that Gentiles do not have the law, so that there will be no misunderstanding. We must be careful not to read into Paul any Stoic-like concept of the law of nature, lex naturae, that is the exact opposite of what he here intended or meant.

The conscience does not contain an absolute standard of right and wrong as implied in the Stoic law of nature. The standard that conscience uses to judge the action of the will is relative to the ultimate criterion that the person has chosen. That is, the god that a person has chosen and worships supplies the standards of the conscience. This is why not every person has the same feelings of guilt or responsibility for his decisions or actions (I Cor. 10:28-29; 8:7). The conscience can be modified (seared or hardened, I Tim. 4:2) by rejecting the judgments of the conscience (I Tim. 1:19-20). And a weak conscience can be made strong by the increase of knowledge (I Cor. 8:7). The fact that everybody's conscience has a standard does not mean that all have the same standard. There is not in everyone's conscience a universal standard, lex naturae.

[The double genitive absolute phrase in Rom. 2:15b,
"their conscience bearing witness
and their conflicting thoughts accusing or even excusing",
is a grammatically independent clause. [5] It should be taken with the sentence that follows, which is the usual syntax, and not with the preceding subordinate clause. It should be translated as follows:

"15b "As their conscience bears witness
and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse,
16 in that day God will judge the hidden things of men
according to my gospel, through Christ Jesus."
(Rom. 2:15b-16 ERS)
This makes good sense if the Stoic teaching concerning the law of nature in the conscience is not read into the context.]

Can man keep the law? Yes, he can; that is, man is able to choose to do what the law commands.

"11 For this commandment which I command you this day
is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that you should say,
'Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us,
that we may hear it and do it?'
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say,
'Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us,
that we may hear it and do it?'
14 But the word is very near you;
it is in your mouth and in your heart,
so that you can do it." (Deut. 30:11-14)
But man does not do it (Rom. 3:10-12; Jer. 4:22; Psa. 10:4; 14:1-3; 53:1-3). Why? He is spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), and he sins because he is spiritually dead (Rom. 5:12d). The law cannot make alive and thus produce righteousness.
"Is the law then against the promise of God?
Certainly not;
for if a law had been given which could make alive,
then righteousness would indeed be by the law."
(Gal. 3:21)
Although the law is God's revelation of Himself, the Word of the Lord (Deut. 5:5; Psa. 119:43, 160), it contains only a knowledge about God and not a personal knowledge of God. But more basically, this knowledge is only about God's act of redemption of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, and not of the salvation of man from death and sin. The situation of man spiritually has not been altered by this act of God or the giving of the law. Man is still spiritually dead. Therefore, because the law contains only the knowledge about a national, political-sociological act of God and not about God's of act of salvation from death, nor a personal revelation of Himself to the heart of man that makes him alive, the law cannot make alive. On the contrary, the law presupposes the possession of life and righteousness. The keeping of the law only guarantees the continuance of life (Lev. 18:5; Ezek. 18:5-9, 21-23, 27-28; 20:11; Luke 10:27-28) already possessed. This is not to say that man was spiritually alive in the Mosaic covenant but it is only to say that the law is not able to make men alive to God.

From the Biblical point of view the law has three serious weaknesses (Rom. 8:3).

  1. The law cannot remove the wrath of God but causes wrath (Rom. 4:15; Gal. 3:10; the curse of the law = the wrath of God). And the law cannot remove the wrath of God because
  2. it cannot take away sin (Heb. 10:1-4, 15-18). Not only is the law unable to take away sin, but it causes sin (Rom. 7:5, 8, 11, 13). This is not because the law is evil (on the contrary, it is holy, righteous and good, Rom. 7:12) but because
  3. the law cannot make alive (Gal. 3:21). The law cannot deliver man from the death that has been passed to him from Adam (Rom. 5:12, 15, 17). On the contrary, it brings death (Rom. 7:10-11, 13). The law makes spiritual and physical death as well as eternal death the result of personal sins (Ezek. 18:4, 20; Deut. 24:16; Isa. 59:2) and superimposes this relationship of death because of sin upon the more basic relationship of sin because of death (Rom. 5:12d; Gal. 4:8). But the law did not change this more basic relationship; man sins because of spiritual death. And the law cannot remove this death, and therefore cannot remove sin. Also, since the law cannot make alive, it cannot produce righteousness (Gal. 3:21) and therefore peace with God (Rom. 5:1).
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness (Rom. 10:4) because He alone can and did remove death and does make alive and thereby righteous. The law has therefore a three-fold weakness: it cannot remove wrath, sin or death because it cannot produce peace with God, righteousness or life. There is no salvation by the law.

ENDNOTES

[1] W. Gutbrod, "anomia", in
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,
ed. Gerhard Kittel, translator, Geoffrey W. Bromiley
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,1967), Vol. IV, p. 1086.

[2] W. A. Whitehouse, "Law,"
A Theological Word Book of the Bible,
ed. Alan Richardson
(New York: The Macmillan Co., 1952), pp. 122-125.

[3]Anders Nygren,
Commentary on Romans
(Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1949), pp. 123-124.

[4] Ibid., p. 124.

[5] Eugene Van Ness Goetchius,
The Language of the New Testament
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1965), pp. 179-180.
Machen, New Testament Greek, pp. 124-5.