ROMANS UNWRAPPED 55

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3v31.


c)  In the gospel the law is established:



We come now to the third issue arising from the declaration of the gospel, was the law void? was it a failure? in effect is the gospel plan B?.........absolutely not! Rather the gospel establishes the law. What does this mean?
This is best understood by Paul's explanation in Galatians 3v24 "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster".  Now this is important; the law had a very definite function, which we shall see, and it has fulfilled that function. We should thank God that He takes time and care to explain everything to us. What was the function of the law, and in what way does the faith establish it?



1)  The law revealed the character of God:

"The law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." Romans 7v12. A casual reading of Exodus 20 will help us understand this aspect of the law. Two features of God are stated there: He is a JEALOUS GOD and He is a JUST GOD. We might recoil at the thought of God being jealous, but the truth of it is this......He is HOLY, that is He is apart, above, greater than all else in existence, He is absolute perfection, and you do not alter in any way that perfection. You do not demean it, you do not detract from it, you do not diminish it, you cannot improve it, so being eternally that, He jealously guards the eternal perfection that He is. He will brook no rival, because He has none, to make an image of Him is impossible, to reduce His name to a common level is to demean Him, He jealously guards all that He is for the best possible reasons. He demands that we love Him, for that is for our best good. He is JUST, completely fair in all His dealings, and sets before us a programme of unparalleled justice to regulate human society. Conformity to this would result in a perfect society, any other way will be less than perfect.


2)   The law exposed human sin:      

Scriptures abound with this fact; "the law entered that the offence might abound" Romans 5v20. "I had not known lust except the law said "thou shalt not covet" " Romans 7v7. "sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence" Romans 7v8. etc. The law acted as a mirror to expose my sin, it acted like a comprehensive diagnostic tool in the hand of the great physician to reveal. in all it's stark reality, the problem affecting us all. The law did it's work, it exposed our sin, indeed it made our sin worse, because that is what happens, it is the old "forbidden fruit" scenario, the more we are "restricted" the more we want to do what our sinful nature compels us to do: but the law cannot deliver us from sin's power, it cannot save us, it can only condemn us, and that was it's design. We want to cover our sin's, God through the law wants to expose them, so that we see the need of His salvation.



3)   The law illustrated the sinless perfections of Jesus Christ:


"What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, GOD (did understood), sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.........". Romans 8v3.
To accomplish the only possible way of salvation for mankind, " God sent forth His Son made of a woman made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law"   Galatians 4v4.   This was done " when the fullness of time was come", that is when, in the estimate of God, the law had fully done its work, had fully shown that we were incapable of keeping the law, and therefore were hopelessly exposed to the condemnation of the law, He sent His Son to do what we could not do, and this He did.   From His birth to His ascension, He subjected Himself to the law with all its commandments (all 2,000+ of them, summed up in the ten commandments) and in the course of 33+ years kept the law with all its demands to the satisfaction of God.   In Matthew chapter 5, during His famous sermon on the mount He said this "think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.   For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled."   Matthew 5v17        Time and space  would fail us to expand on this but the fact of it is stated clearly in Hebrews chapter 10   "when He cometh into the world, He saith sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me......then said I lo I come , in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Thy will O God "   Hebrews 10v5-7.

In all His days here on earth Jesus Christ fulfilled every last detail of the law, that all mankind had broken, and this He did to the satisfaction of His Father, God.   The evidence of this was seen on a number of occasions when the Father from heaven declared His satisfaction with His Son, and then finally in the resurrection when God answered a perfect life and a perfect sacrifice, sufficient to save all men and women by raising Him from the dead.

In this way the gospel of God establishes the law, it ratifies its purpose and demonstrated the inability of man to save Himself and the need for God's salvation.   It is not generally understood, but to get to heaven PERFECTION is demanded.   We all know we are far from perfect but a perfect creator will only have perfect people dwelling with Him.   We must raise our thoughts to the thoughts of God and finally understand that only in Jesus Christ can a human being dwell with God.   The alternative is unthinkable.

Tomorrow d.v. we study the subject of justification by faith.