“Law” & “Works”
Introduction If we are to ever get “law” and “works” correctly defined as Paul used these terms, then we must let Paul do it. Although this seems so reasonably obvious, it has been my experience that we too often impose on Paul our own set of beliefs about what he was talking about when he used these terms. In other words, we are all too often engaging in eisegesis, rather than exegesis, and our polemics, more often than not, reflect it.
Introduction We do the same thing with “grace” and “faith,” but I’ll let Jonathan deal with those two terms, mentioning them in this lecture only as they relate to the two terms under consideration. Just why we have the tendency to read into, rather than out of, the Scriptures when it comes to the terms mentioned, I am not exactly sure, for we have been, and are, a people who seriously embrace the idea that…
Introduction the objective standard for everything we believe and practice religiously is God’s Word. Thus, as I attempt to define “law” and “works” as Paul used these terms, I am well- aware of my own susceptibility to doing the very thing I am here criticizing, and what that would make me, if guilty. Therefore, after hearing what I have to say, if you can demonstrate that I am guilty of reading into the definition of these terms my own ideas,…
Introduction then I trust you will point out just were it is that you think I have done so. Paul, who was directly inspired by the Holy Spirit, made it clear that no flesh has any cause to glory in God’s presence (1 Cor 1:29), and this because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Thus, there can be no mistake about whether Paul believed it was possible for anyone to be saved by perfect law-keeping. When I say…
Introduction “possible,” I don’t mean that he believed it was morally impossible for man to keep law perfectly, only that man has not done so, nor will he ever do so, and this was why, if man was to be saved, that the divine Logos had to take upon Himself flesh and ultimately die for our sins. Paul would have certainly known, either from what he had learned from the OT Scriptures, or what he had been taught by the Holy Spirit, that man, as a free moral agent,…
Introduction does not have to sin, but that he does, and because this is the common plight of every man, except for the wholly sinless Jesus, it was necessary for Him, the only begotten of the Father, to die for all mankind, doing so as the completely unblemished sacrifice (2 Cor. 5:14-15). When we become obedient to Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive, according to Paul, a “righteousness of God” that is not…
Introduction our own (Rom 1:17; 3:21-22; 10:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9). This righteousness of God that is put to (imputed to) the obedient believer’s account is not derived directly from the Lord’s perfect life, as Calvinists, and some brethren, believe. Instead, this righteousness derives from the fact that Jesus’ sacrificial death satisfied the debt we owed for our sins (Rom 5:18). In this way, according to Romans 4:5, and this way only, we, “the ungodly,” have…
Introduction been justified (Ac 13:39; Rom 3:24; Gal 2:16; Tit 3:4-7). If God has so justified us, who is it, as Paul asked in Romans 8:33, that can bring a charge against God’s elect and make it stick?
No Longer Under Law Paul taught that Christians, who were redeemed by grace through faith in baptism for good works (cf. Eph 2:8-10; Col 2:12), and are thus being led by the Holy Spirit, are no longer hupo nomon , that is to say, “under law” (Gal. 5:18). Here, then, as in other places where Paul emphasizes that the Christian is no longer under law, is where it is important for us to understand how Paul is here using “law.” There are plenty, particularly Calvinists,…
No Longer Under Law who think Paul’s point in these “not under law” passages is that the Christian is no longer under law, period. This is clearly false, for Paul taught unequivocally, as has already been noted, that Christians are “under law toward Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21). There are others, and more than a few of these are brethren, who believe Paul uses “law” in such passages to exclusively reference the law of Moses, thus teaching that Jews were no longer under the…
No Longer Under Law law of Moses, which was true. In fact, and there can be no doubt about it, the Old Covenant dispensation, with its law of Moses, was fulfilled and terminated by Christ’s death on the cross (Col. 2:14). It is therefore a categorical error not to understand that the OT was kartegeo (done away with) by Christ. But this is not the way Paul is using “law” in such passages. Instead, it is clear that Paul is using “law” in Romans 6:14-15 and…
No Longer Under Law Galatians 5:18 to make the point that we are no longer under a system of justification by perfect law-keeping . When I say “no longer under” (and it is necessary for me to make this point clear), I am not saying we are no longer under law, and neither was Paul, for we are indeed “under law toward Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21). What I mean is that we who have “obeyed the gospel” are not under a system that requires perfect law-keeping in order to…
No Longer Under Law be “righteoused,” to use Sanders’ term (a term I happen to like), which winds up meaning, and I’ll explain this in more detail as we go on, we are no longer interacting with God in just the Creator-creature relationship, which would have us all condemned and on our way to hell. Instead, we are interacting with Him through the Redeemer-saved relationship, which has us “righteoused” with a righteousness that is not our own—that is,…
No Longer Under Law not a righteousness we have earned by perfectly keeping law (cf. Rom. 3:21-22; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9), which is the only way man has ever been saved (and I’ll expand on this last point a bit later). Addressing the fact that we are “righteoused” with a righteousness that is not our own and not by perfect law- keeping, Paul said to Titus 3:4-7: “ 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of…
No Longer Under Law righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Then, writing to the Ephesians about the same thing, Paul said: “ 4 But God, who is…
No Longer Under Law rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith,…
No Longer Under Law and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (2:4-9) These passages, if they mean anything, and they mean a lot, teach us that a man isn’t saved by his perfect doing (i.e., “works of law”), for under such a system all are found wanting. There must be no doubt, then, that Paul makes it clear that the righteousness of God (viz., the imputed righteousness, or…
No Longer Under Law righteousness that is put to our account) that is ours by “grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (cf. Rom. 3:21-24) is a righteousness apart from law (viz., apart from a system of justification by perfect law- keeping). Thus, for someone to come along and cavalierly argue that such a system never existed, but is instead the invention of those who want to teach their brand of salvation…
No Longer Under Law by grace through faith, is to demonstrate a total lack of understanding of the Creator- creature relationship, a relationship that says the whole duty of man is, and always has been, to fear God and keep His commandments (Eccl. 12:13). That this was true during the Patriarchal and Mosaical dispensations, as it is now during the Christian age, is a truth that cannot be misunderstood without serious consequences, for it is why…
No Longer Under Law all (both Jew and Gentile) could be declared “under sin” (Rom. 3:9; Gal. 3:22). But if there is no law (i.e., if there is no system of justification by perfect law- keeping), there is no sin (Rom 4:15; 5:13). If there is no sin, then there was no need for a Redeemer who, in order to be qualified, had to meet the requirements of law perfectly. For it is only then we could be redeemed by His perfect, unblemished sacrifice. No, the truth…
No Longer Under Law is that man, whether Gentile or Jew, has always been amenable to God’s law-code. However, a Gentile was never, unless under indenture to a Jew or unless a proselyte, amenable to the law of Moses. But even so, he was, just like the Jew, a sinner (Rom. 3:27-31; 2 Cor. 5:13-14; Gal. 3:13). Thus, it must be necessarily inferred that Paul’s use of “law,” unless the context demands otherwise, is not to be understood…
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