Friday, July 20, 2007
Galatians 2:19-20 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
JUSTIFICATION CANNOT COME TO MEN THROUGH WORKS OF THE LAW
Although God's law is good, perfect and praiseworthy, it is ultimately a terrifying thing to a man who is left alone to face its requirements. No person can ever meet the demands of God's law, because all human beings are sinners. In fact, all people are sinful in their very natures from the moment of their conceptions.
The reality that all human beings must face is that we will never be justified before God on the basis of our doing the works of His law. In a sense, the best thing God's law can do for us is to convict us of our many sins and confront us with the reality that we will never be saved by it. This how the God's law prepares us for His beautiful gospel message. This is how we die to the law in order that we might live to God.
Once we know that we cannot save ourselves according to works of God's law, we know that we need a savior. In the gospel message of His Word, God tells us that our Savior is His own Son, Jesus, who laid down His life for us, bearing the weight and the consequences of our sins. It is by faith in Him that we are justified before God. By faith in Him, His righteousness is credited to us for eternal salvation.
And there's more. Now that we have been saved by the things Jesus has done for us, Jesus actually comes to live with us and in us. Our sins are forgiven day by day, and our old, sinful nature is actually crucified with Christ. We are given a new life with Christ because of His Work.
As new creations in Christ, we have a fresh, new outlook on God's law. We do not have feel pressure to keep God's law out of coercion, or from fear of punishment, or from a fear of losing our hold on eternal life. As new creations in Christ, and as Christ lives in us, we are now freed to gladly and cheerfully love God's good and perfect law and to put its righteous standards into practice in our daily lives. Because of what Jesus has done to justify us in God's sight, we don't do the works of the law in order to be saved, rather we gladly put God's law into use in our lives because we have already been saved apart from it.
