God’s Law and the Christian

It seems there is quite a lot of confusion over the relevance of God’s law to the Christian in evangelical circles today. I claim no special insight into this as I too have grown up in this confusion. We’re not under law but under grace right? So that means the law is irrelevant? Why does Jesus say he didn’t come to abrogate the law when Paul seems to say the Christian is not under the law? What about the laws around sacrifice? What about stoning adulterers? it seems so very complex. Recently, however, I read an excellent book called “By this Standard” by Greg Bahnsen which is an outline for the case of the ongoing validity of the Law.

Before you accuse Bahnsen of arguing for works righteousness, that is not what he is talking about at all. There are some things the law cannot do.

What the Law Cannot Do

  1. The law cannot contribute anything toward the personal justification of one who stands under its curse for violating its precepts.
  2. The law cannot break the stranglehold and power of sin in a person’s life.
  3. The law delivered by Moses never could actually make anything perfect. Redemption comes not through the law.

What the Law Can Do

So according to Bahnsen what can the law do?

  1. The law declares the character of God and so reveals His glory
  2. The law displays the demand of God upon our lives as men.
  3. The law pronounces blessing upon adherence to its demands
  4. The law provides a definition of sin.
  5. The law exposes infractions and convicts of sin.
  6. Even more, the law works to incite rebellion in sinful men.
  7. Consequently, the law condemns all transgression as deserving God’s wrath and curse.
  8. The law drives us to Christ for salvation.
  9. The law guides the sanctification of the believer.
  10. The law also serves to restrain the evil of the unregenerate.

Bahnsen definitely got me thinking about the typical “Oh that’s Old Testament stuff” that we use to so easily write off the law that the Psalmist meditated on day and night and the Scriptures that were able to make Timothy and his readers wise unto salvation.

The Resistance – Evangelism and the Lordship of Christ – Part 4

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Due to the events currently taking place in New Zealand, we had to postpone continuing The Resistance series. The events including mandated vaccines for health care professionals, teachers and others as well as rules that will punish churches who choose to operate non-segregated services. This only goes to prove what we suggested at the beginning of this series.

It certainly feels like we are on the edge of something. And when I say “something”, I do not mean pink cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles. More the kind of something that Gandalf refers to when sitting with Pippin on the walls of Minas Tirith and says, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge.”

Things are certainly intensifying, fault lines are showing, and we are beginning to see division. In some ways this is healthy. All around New Zealand the reactions to what is going on are telling. We learn which pastors are courageous, and those who can only talk a good game. Those who have sold out because of their desire to look socially acceptable to the powers that be are obvious as are those who are controlled by fear of man rather than fear of God. We continue to see the divide between Christians who actually have a Christian worldview and those who have a personal faith, but have been deluded by the shallow and deceptive philosophies of this world. I suspect these divisions will become clearer and lead to changing alliances and movement among churches.

So now is a good time to once again continue our series on Christian resistance in these times. Thus far we have covered the first 3 requirements: repentance over individual and corporate sin, dependence on the Word, Spirit and prayer and confronting the dualism that has stripped the church and its members of strength.

Today we will briefly focus on the fourth requirement of Christian Resistance.

We must develop and practise an evangelism that not only calls for personal salvation, but Christ’s lordship in every sphere of life. In other words we must disciple the nations to obey everything that Christ taught and call unbelievers to recognise Christ’s kingship on earth.

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New Marcionites

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I’ve noticed recently that a number of Christians when discussing Scripture seem to relegate the Old Testament as sub-standard. The law of God is particularly shunned. Comments like “I see you are quoting from the Old Testament, but we are New Testament Christians,” abound. It’s almost as though these people think Christ has done away with the Old Testament. These are our modern-day Marcions.

To respond, we must first of all look at how Jesus viewed the Law. In Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explains the Christian approach to the Law and the Prophets (the majority of the Old Testament.)

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:8-20

Sometimes people remember the fact that Jesus came to fulfil the Law, and assume this means he has done away with it. But the very context does not support this. Fulfil cannot mean abolish, since it is contrasted with that word. Jesus does not abrogate the law, he fulfils it for us. This does not mean the law has no relevance to the life of the Christian anymore. According to Christ, people who teach that will be least in the kingdom of heaven! Hardly a view he endorses.

Paul himself, when writing to Timothy wrote these famous words.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

When Paul wrote these words, the only Scripture that was available to the church was the Old Testament. For Paul then, the Old Testament Scriptures are profitable and enable the man of God to be trained and fully equipped for every good work. Consequently as Greg Bahnsen points out in By this Standard “If we disregard any portion of the Bible we will – to that extent – fail to be thoroughly furnished for every good work. If we ignore certain requirements laid down by the Lord in the Bible our instruction in righteousness will be incomplete.“

Certainly, more could be said on the role of the Old Testament, and particularly the Law in the life of the Christian, but at the very least we should be very sceptical of those who would seek to denigrate Old Testament Scripture as irrelevant for the Christian.