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

1 Timothy 1.8, 11

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully…in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Any teaching of the Law of God apart from the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is unlawful. Any teaching of the Gospel without the Law is another gospel than that which Jesus and the Apostles proclaimed.

This only makes sense. Apart from the Gospel, we cannot understand or obey the Law, so that we should live by it. Without the Law to guide the redeemed, we cannot know what good works God has before ordained for us to walk in (Eph. 2.10).

At the same time, apart from the Law we cannot know our sinfulness or need for the Savior.

Even when, like Daniel or John the Baptist, we are seeking to hold secular authorities accountable to the holy and righteous and good standards of the Law of God, we must not do so apart from the Gospel, lest we give the wrong impression about the nature and purpose of the Law or the meaning or means of salvation.

As we shall see in further explorations of the lawful uses of the Law, the Gospel is the defining key to understanding and obeying the Law of God. And the Law of God can be a key to open the depths of a sinner’s heart to his need for Christ. Thus we must not allow a separation between these, as though, somehow, they were not intimately and inextricably linked with one another.

The Gospel of the Kingdom is the only hope of men. And they only will be great in that Kingdom who keep the Law of God and teach others to do so as well (Matt. 5.17-19). We must keep Gospel and Law together, or we will invariably use the Law in an unlawful manner.

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.