Of what use, really, is the Law of God?

1 Timothy 1.6, 7

Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Let’s review what we’ve seen thus far about unlawful uses of the Law.

It is unlawful not to use the Law of God. It is unlawful to use the Law as a means to salvationor for claiming a righteousness of our own.

And as we see in our text, it is unlawful to use the Law as a way of vaunting one’s status within the believing community.

The Law of God is a complex, mysterious, and beautiful body of divine wisdom, justice, and love. It is not easily mastered.

Yet it is the duty of every believer, as we shall see, to make proper use of the Law; and, in order to do so, we must understand the Law. For this we engage in personal reading and study. But we will also look to wise and experienced teachers for help. Yet any teacher of the Law who uses his position in order to boast about what he knows or to vaunt his knowledge above others has made the Law of God his own servant for the purpose of establishing some status above others in the community of faith. And this represents a gross misuse of the Law.

The Law of God, as all of Scripture, intends to exalt and glorify God only. Any time we use the Word of God to impress others or to advantage ourselves over them, we have made the Law our servant, a means for our exalting, rather than God’s, and this is yet another unlawful useof the holy and righteous and good Law of God.

For a fuller discussion of the uses of the Law, and why it remains useful today, order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store. And while you’re at the website, be sure to read T. M.’s weekly comments on worldviewand to subscribe to our thrice-weekly newsletter, Crosfigell.