As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine…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. 1 Timothy 1.3, 6, 7
 

We are continuing to examine the proper use of the Law of God in the life of faith. Paul says that “the law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (v. 8), and our purpose here is to consider just what such lawful uses of the Law might involve.

So far we’ve seen that the Law of God defines sin, reveals the character of God, clarifies the significance of Jesus’ life and work, and engages the Spirit of God according to the purposes of His indwelling presence. Without the Law of God our understanding and practice of the faith will be lacking significantly in each of these areas.

In our text Paul indicates a fifth lawful use of the Law of God, that being to promote sound doctrine. The better acquainted we are with the Law of God, the better able we will be to guard ourselves and our churches from false teaching, teaching which “swerves” from sound doctrine into vain speculations.

But what is sound doctrine? Well, we know, first of all, that sound doctrine is not “different doctrine.” But different from what? Different from what the Apostles taught, of course (cf. 2 Thess. 2.14, 15; 2 Pet. 3.1, 2, 15-17; 1 Jn. 4.5, 6; Heb. 2.1-4). The doctrine which the Apostles taught is rooted in the life and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Apostolic doctrine is nothing less than Biblical doctrine, drawn from the springs of the whole counsel of God and filtered through the life, death, resurrection, reign, and return of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20.20, 26).

All teaching in the Church must be tested by the teaching of the Apostles, but that teaching cannot be rightly understood or practiced without a solid grounding in the Law of God. Thus, it is a lawful use of God’s Law when, by reading, studying, and meditating in it, we allow the Law, streamed through the channels of the Prophets and the Lord Jesus, to clarify our understanding and practice of Apostolic teaching and, when, in our own use of doctrine, we continue that tradition into our own contexts.

T. M. Moore

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