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

1 John 3.4

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

It’s not surprising that, in many churches today, we don’t hear much talk about sin. After all, if we have no use for the Law, then we have no basis to determine what is or is not sin.

John says that sin is lawlessness. This can be taken both as a descriptor and as a warning. How can we know sin? By looking at the Law of God (Rom. 7.7). We can know when out behavior has begun to run afoul of the favor of the Lord by comparing it with the Law of God.

This presupposes, of course, that we have some knowledge of the Law of God, which, if we are indeed followers of Christ and seekers of righteousness (cf. 1 Jn. 2.1-6; Ps. 1), shall certainly be the case. As we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we cannot do so apart from the holy and righteous and good Law of God (Rom. 7.12). We want to be great in that Kingdom; therefore, obeying and teaching others the Law of God must be a primary concern (Matt. 5.17-19).

The warning implicit in John’s statement is that, if we ignore the Law, if for any reason we conclude that the Law of God is for us a “dead and a useless thing,” then we shall surely, soon enough, find ourselves languishing in sin, if only out of ignorance.

The Law of God is useful, therefore, to define sin, and to warn against it. We shall have to look a bit more deeply into this matter in order to understand how this can be so, and what we must do in order to make it so.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.organd click on our Book Store. While you’re there, sign up to receive our newsletters, Crosfigell and Voices Together.