Law and Gospel: Part 9: Reconciling the 'Contradictions'

As we saw in part 7, there are many apparent contradictions in the New Testament regarding Law and Gospel we have dealt with some of those by examining the different types of laws in the Old Testament, but we still need to deal with the different New Testament passages, specifically as they relate to the moral law of God.

The book of Galatians can be a great help to us in sorting through this subject. We read that righteousness could only be imputed by the law if it was kept completely, with no failure on any point (Galatians 3:10; 5:3; James 2:11). This is a demonstrably false hope, because none can keep the law of God fully (especially the moral law; which is the point of Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler – Mark 10:17-30).

What then, was the point of the law? There have traditionally been three views of the purpose of the law, but the one we will discuss is that the law identifies what sin is. "because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." – Romans 3:20. Not only so, but the law shows us most emphatically that we can not be good enough for God on our own, that we are in desperate need of a Saviour.

This, in fact, is exactly what God did for us through Christ. "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." – Romans 8:3,4.

So, what we see is that the Law is not expired, it is still in force, but has been fulfilled for us in the sinless mediator between God and Man, Jesus Christ. He was made a propitiation for our sins and His righteousness has been imputed to us (Romans 4:25) and in this way, our righteousness can exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees (Mat 5:20).

This brief overview has not done justice to all the issues, or even all the verses, relating to this issue, but hopefully has provided some clarification. Next time, we will consider exactly what relationship a 21st Century Christian has with the Law.