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The Law – Simply a Tutor
There was a man who dedicated himself to being blameless under the law. He sat under the most respected tutors, lawyers, and priests. The excitement and dedication he had drew the attention of his elders, and he excelled above his peers and became a powerful force in the religion of his day. A religion that found its roots in the Old Testament Law that God established to guide His people.
The Old Testament law was so integrated into the Jewish culture that it united the religious and political systems of its day. This man protected the law with all his might and was determined to do the will of God by enforcing it to the letter.
You may have already identified this man – Saul the Pharisee. Later he would abandon his religious profession and would make his living building tents. His tent making funded a lifetime of missionary work. God would soon change his name to Paul, and he would become the apostle responsible for penning two-thirds of the New Testament.
Before Paul understood the purpose of the law, the law was his life, and all he held dear. After his encounter with Christ, he declared that all he once held dear was nothing more than trash. The law itself wasn’t the trash, but it became trash when it was mixed with human effort. Religion that is dependent upon man is flawed to the core. Yet the law served an important role. Look at Galatians 3:22-27
22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
The passage above was written by the very man who once made it his mission to stamp out faith in Christ because he thought it was a threat to the law. Then he understood that Christ didn’t destroy the Old Testament Law, but fulfilled it. It’s important to understand that God didn’t try one thing, fail, and then try something new. The Old Testament wasn’t a failure that led to the New Testament. The Old Testament and the law that undergirded it serves the New Testament and was instrumental in guiding man to God’s unfolding plan. Let’s look at the three things God ordained the law to accomplish through the Old Testament, and how it applies to our faith in this age.
The Law Condemns
At first glance, this seems like an odd purpose. We think of the law as a means to accomplish good works. Not so. It serves to open our eyes to something greater than human effort – the unmerited and undeserved favor of God. How does condemnation point us to favor? To understand this, let’s first look at what the law is doing. Romans 3:19-21
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Once again, we see the odd purpose the law is serving. Notice that keeping the law and doing the deeds of the law do not justify us before God. It is impossible for man to fully keep the law for we cannot overcome our own human nature through human effort.
Remember our discussion about the rich young ruler? He claimed to be keeping all the commandments including to love his neighbor as himself. While that is something we strive for, ultimately we love ourselves over our neighbors. We may give a hungry man the food or change we can spare, but we don’t take food off our own table and give it to someone else while we have needs or wants.
The purpose of the law is to show me that I cannot measure up to the standard of perfection required for holiness. I can boast about my charity, good works, and noble efforts – until I look at my reflection in the mirror of the law. It is then that I see my inability to act without selfish motives. The deeper I look into the law, the more I realize how much I fall short of the glory of God. The law reveals to me my sinful human nature and condemns me for falling short in any area.
Just as with our legal system, keeping ninety-nine percent of our laws do not justify us when we break the law in one area. Showing a judge all the laws you have kept doesn’t inspire mercy. The law only focuses on where we break its commandments. In the case of the Bible, failure to keep the law in every point shows my need for God’s mercy. The law has no mercy; therefore, we need something greater than the law to redeem us.
Condemnation points me to the cross. When I recognize my inability to raise my dead life from the grave of human nature, I then have the knowledge of sin so that I look outside myself for answers. At this point I must look to the cross where the burden was lifted and life is given. There are many religions, but none raise the dead and bear the penalty for our sins so that we are declared as being just and worthy of life, when we should have been condemned.
The Law Constrains
Why did God give the Ten Commandments? Why am I warned not to covet anything that belongs to my neighbor? Why did the Old Testament issue such harsh penalties for lawbreakers? It is to constrain man’s behavior.
Without the fear of consequences, lawlessness abounds. This can easily be seen just by looking around. Consider the countries that lack the ability to enforce the law. South of our border there are drug cartels ruling cities. Murder is a daily occurrence and justice is rarely enforced. Across the ocean war lords reign unchecked. They rampage through towns, murder, take people hostage, and terrorize without discretion. People flee these crimes and look in vain for refuge, but weak governments cannot enforce laws to protect citizens.
The law keeps man in check. Without accountability, man tends toward corruption. There must be either an internal or external restraint. The law is an external restraint.
The Bible refers to the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is simply the ability to make a wise choice based on the word of God. It isn’t a choice for the moment out of a desire for instant gratification. Wisdom counts the cost, looks ahead to the benefit, and directs us to make a choice that is good. Or causes us to resist a choice that is not good, and has negative consequences.
The reason the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom is because we fear the consequences we see our choice will bring. Knowing with certainty that we will be held accountable is a strong deterrent. Why does someone with an out of control temper at home suddenly find control in public? Or at work? When the consequences are real, restraint follows. This is what the law does.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but the disciple of Christ has the ability to grow into mature wisdom. Wisdom based on fear is to do what is right or not do what is wrong because we fear consequences. Mature wisdom is to do what is right because we see the value of what is right.
Children learn to obey out of a fear of consequences for their actions. If someone matures correctly, as they grow into adulthood, they learn to recognize the value of doing what is right, and no longer need to be kept in check by threats of punishment. The same is true for the Christian. The fear of the Lord recedes as wisdom matures and we see the value of doing what is right simply because we recognize it is good.
The Law Teaches
The law is our tutor (or schoolmaster) that brings us to Christ. We hit on this a bit earlier. It is the law that took mankind by the hand and led him to the cross. The law showed us what is right. It showed us how we ought to live. The law revealed the character of God and what we must be in order to walk with Him. Then it showed us the inability of man to live by that standard without the Spirit of God empowering us to do so. Like a merciless schoolmaster, it deals decisive penalties for failures.
The Bible explains the reason for this – “So that no flesh should glory in His presence.”[1] The law teaches that God is perfect, requires perfection, and then condescended to man’s level in order to reconcile us to Himself. Just as my children cannot boast that they did something to make themselves worthy to be my children and to be in my house, we cannot think we have done anything to deserve to be God’s children. There is nothing we can do to make God accept us. Nor can the law accomplish this. The law simply teaches us to look toward our Redeemer and accept His gift of adoption into His kingdom.
These are the things God teaches about the law as it pertains to us. To understand the law more clearly, let’s look at what the law teaches about Christ.
The Sacrifice
From the beginning, the law pointed to Christ. Often people think that God provided one way of salvation in the Old Testament, and a new way of salvation through Christ in the New Testament. This is not the case at all. The Old Testament law was the tutor that prepared mankind for the coming of Christ and according to the Bible, the Old Testament saints are saved through Christ just as we are.[2]
Moses is the prophet that wrote down the first five books of the Old Testament. That’s why the law is often called, The Law of Moses. The beginning of God’s revelation in word began while Israel was enslaved to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God showed his power by breaking the will of Pharaoh through the ten plagues. These plagues came to their conclusion when God struck the firstborn of every house in the land. Every house lost their firstborn – except the ones that had the blood on the doorpost.
God instructed his people to sacrifice a lamb, take the blood and strike the door posts and the mantle. When you think of this, what symbol comes to mind? First, Jesus is called the Lamb of God, signifying that He was the sacrifice for sins. The blood on the door is the image of the cross, and striking it symbolizes Christ being nailed for our sins. When judgment came, everyone was already under condemnation. Death did not pass over those who did good deeds or kept strict religious practices. The only deliverance from judgment was the blood on the door posts.
In other words, Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who does not believe is condemned already. In Exodus, the gospel we now read in John 3 was already being preached. These sacrifices pointed to Christ and though it was called the sacrifice of atonement, it was an act of faith in God’s symbolic ordinance. The sacrificed did not pay for sins, it was merely an act of faith given for the Old Testament saints, who were waiting for God’s redemption. The sacrifices practiced in Israel for thousands of years did not pay for sin. Let Hebrews 10:1-10 explain:
1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.
…
9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.
10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Just as God slew an animal in the Garden of Eden to cover the nakedness of His people, the animal sacrifice of the law served no other purpose than to remind man that the wages of sin is death, and to ease his conscience with the yearly reminder.
Faith is not a New Testament concept. Abraham believed God, and his faith was accounted to him for righteousness. In the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament, we are told, “The just shall live by faith.”[3] Many wicked men made sacrifices, but God was not pleased. For those who did not obey in faith, God declared that their sacrifices were not acceptable.[4] At one point, God calls the sacrifices an abomination to Him[5]. These people were performing things God required through the law, but the Lord used words like ‘it is an abomination’, ‘things I hate’, and ‘I abhor’, to describe their works. Though it was required by the law, these works did not put the religious seeker in a loving relationship with God. That is accomplished and has always been accomplished by faith in God’s plan of redemption.
The Apostle Paul made an interesting statement about the religious followers of his day. “For they are ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seek to establish their own righteousness.” They were very zealous over the scriptures, but they missed the key to understanding – all things point to Christ and are fulfilled through Christ.
Without Jesus Christ, the law is dependent on sinful human nature. Then it becomes religion plus man’s effort. When mankind, who has fallen short of God’s glory, becomes the foundation of religion – even religion that believes the scriptures – that religion also falls short of God’s glory. It becomes man’s effort to raise himself to God – a goal that cannot be obtained.
The Old Testament saints kept the sacrifices by faith, looking ahead to the salvation yet to be revealed. This is why Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day,[6]” and “Moses considered being reproached for Christ to be more valuable than the riches of being Pharaoh’s grandson.[7]” We live by faith, looking back to the salvation that has been revealed through Christ. The only difference between our salvation and theirs is that they trusted God without seeing what was to be revealed, but we trust God through what has now been revealed.
When the Bible explains New Testament faith, it points back to Abraham and even calls him the father of faith. He is how God revealed faith and righteousness. Abraham did many works, but the Bible doesn’t credit righteousness to anything he did. He believed God and was credited with righteousness. In the same way, we believe God and are credited with righteousness.
God declared that salvation is in Christ, and when we believe, we find the righteousness of God. No human effort. No good works. God simply reveals salvation to us in the cross, and we believe or reject it.
[1] 1 Corinthians 1:29
[2] Hebrews 11:24-26, 1 Corinthians 10:2-4, John 8:56
[3] Habakkuk 2:4
[4] Jeremiah 6:20
[5] Isaiah 1:11 – 14
[6] John 8:56
[7] Hebrews 11:26