Thursday, October 21, 2010
Romans 5:20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
CONFESSING THE TRUTH: ABOUT THE LAW
If one were to ask 100 people selected at random, "What is the most important teaching in the Bible?" there is a good chance many would respond "The Ten Commandments." To a great number of people in the world, religion is good for little else than laying down a moral code by which one must live to please his god and eventually win salvation.
God's law is part of His holy word and as such it is important, but it dare not be misused. It is not to be used as a code of conduct which, when followed, helps a person to inch closer toward heavenly glory. Martin Luther valiantly tried to use the law this way and it didn't work. No matter how strictly he applied God's regulations to himself, he could never do well enough to merit eternal life. Instead, the law made him angry at God and unsettled within. (cf. Romans 4:15a).
How do we use God's rules in a proper way? Luther discovered the answer in the Bible and confessed it in his Smalcald Articles of 1537: "The Law was given by God, first, to restrain sin ... but the chief office or force of the Law is that it reveal original sin with all its fruits, and show man how very low his nature has fallen ..." (III, 2). To a limited degree, the law can control outbreaks of wickedness, but its primary purpose is to reveal man's sinful nature.
From there Christ must enter the picture. For the law does the necessary job of showing us that the cancer of sin exists, but only the Lord can do something about it. Only He can heal us by His innocent suffering and death, and by His resurrection the third day. Grace comes through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
