1. In God’s dealings with men He made a marked distinction between Jew and Gentile. (See Rom. 2:9, 109Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: (Romans 2:9‑10).) Of the Gentile He says: “As many as have sinned without law:” of the Jew: “As many as have sinned in the law” (Ver. 12.) Verse 14 states distinctly that “the Gentiles have not the law.” The Jew, on the contrary, “rested in the law” (ver. 17); “knew God’s will” (ver. 18); “had the form of knowledge and of truth in the law” (ver. 20); and “with the letter and circumcision transgressed the law.” (Ver. 27.) This is in contrast to “without law.” (Ver. 12.) Note a cognate word in 1 John 3:44Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4), revised version, is translated correctly “lawlessness,” so that this would be “lawless.”
To the Jews “were committed the oracles of God” (chap. 3:2), that is, the Old Testament Scriptures, including the law; and the Gentiles have been proved guilty before God by His testimonies to them, that is, in creation (chap. 1:19-23, “therefore without excuse”) and conscience. (Chap. 2:15.) The Jews are proved guilty before Him by their own law. (Chap. 3:10-18.) “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law” (ver. 19), clearly distinguishing between the two classes, Jew and Gentile, as does also chapter 2:6-16. If both were under law there would be no sense in these scriptures, nor in the argument of chapter 4, where the Jews are called “they which are of the law” (ver. 14) in contrast to Gentiles which “have not the law.” (Chap. 2:14.) Chapter 9 again: “Israelites, to whom pertaineth.... the giving of the law” (ver. 4); verses 30, 31 Contrast Gentiles and Israel, the latter as having “followed after the law of righteousness.”
Note. —See also Exod. 25:22Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. (Exodus 25:2); Deut. 27:10, 14, 26; 32:10, 2-410Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. (Deuteronomy 27:10)
14And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, (Deuteronomy 27:14)
26Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. (Deuteronomy 27:26)
10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. (Deuteronomy 32:10)
2My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. (Deuteronomy 32:2‑4); Josh. 22:55But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Joshua 22:5) Kings 17:13, 34, 37; 21:8; 2 Chron. 33:88Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. (2 Chronicles 33:8); Neh. 8:11And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. (Nehemiah 8:1); Psalm 78:55For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: (Psalm 78:5); Mal. 4:44Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. (Malachi 4:4)— (“The law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms”); John 7:19, 51; 8:5, 17; 10:34; 15:25; 8:31; 19:719Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? (John 7:19)
51Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? (John 7:51)
5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? (John 8:5)
17It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. (John 8:17)
34Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? (John 10:34)
25But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. (John 15:25)
31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (John 8:31)
7The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. (John 19:7); Acts 7:53; 18:15; 24:653Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. (Acts 7:53)
15But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. (Acts 18:15)
6Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law. (Acts 24:6).
2. Rom. 3:20-2220Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:20‑22): “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.” (N.B. Not by the law-keeping of Christ in whole or in part.) Verses 24, 25: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood [not in his law-keeping] to declare his righteousness,” &c. Verse 30: “It is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.” In what? “His blood.” (Ver. 25.)
Chapter 5:1: “Being justified by faith.” “On him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” (Chap. 4:24. 25.)
Note. —Chapter 5:18, 19, have nothing to do with the question of imputed righteousness, for the law was not against sin, that is the “original sin” of our nature, but was “added because of transgressions.” (Gal. 3:1919Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Galatians 3:19).) Now Rom. 5:18, 1918Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:18‑19) refer to sin: (“as by one man sin entered into the world,” ver. 12), and show how God dealt with that, even by “sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by a sacrifice for sin [margin] condemned sin in the flesh.” (Chap. 8:3.) This is the one righteous act referred to in verse 18, bringing in “Justification of life” for all men (contrasted with the one offense of Adam which brought condemnation upon all men); but it is those only which believe who receive it, and are constituted righteous, that is, stand in righteousness with Him, being connected with Christ as Head of the new race. In verse 19 the obedience of the one by which many are constituted righteous is His “obedience unto death even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:88And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8)), in contrast with! the disobedience of the one—Adam’s act in Eden—by which many were constituted sinners by nature, that is, those connected with him as head of the fallen race. The teaching of Galatians is equally clear upon this point. Chapter 2:16: “A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,” not in His law-keeping, but in His blood-shedding; “for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified,” neither our works of the law nor His, for whose-ever they are, they are “works of the law,” and not “without” or “apart from the law.” And the apostle concludes his argument in verse 21, by saying: “If righteousness come by the law [whoever keeps it, we or He] then Christ is dead in vain.”
Moreover in the nature of things one man’s law-keeping could not be imputed to another who was a law breaker. “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them.” (Lev. 18:55Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:5).) The man who did keep them should live in them, not someone else, or millions of others. “And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us” (Deut. 6:2525And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. (Deuteronomy 6:25)), that is, the righteousness would belong to the person who did the commandments, not to others. And further, according to this scripture this would be “our” righteousness, i.e., human righteousness, the righteousness of man as such. What the apostle calls “mine own righteousness” (Phil. 3:99And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:9)), law-keeping righteousness, or human righteousness. Not divine, not “the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Not the law-keeping righteousness of Christ as a man imputed to us—the law could not be addressed to Him as God. So that though Christ as man kept the law, yet that human righteousness is not at all what is meant by “the righteousness of God” which is what God has done in our redemption through Jesus Christ.
3. The Gentiles never having been under the law (“without law,” Rom. 2:1212For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (Romans 2:12)), it follows that Christians from among the Gentiles must have been put under it since the cross by a distinct divine enactment, if they are under law now. But there is no such thing to be found in the New Testament. On the contrary, when Judaizing teachers of the sect of the Pharisees insisted that it was needful to circumcise the Gentiles and to command them to keep the law of Moses, (Acts 15:55But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. (Acts 15:5)), Peter asked: “Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (Ver. 10.) So far from the Gentiles being put under the law, Jewish believers were delivered from it, God “ blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” (Col. 2:1414Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; (Colossians 2:14).) “For I through the law [that is, through Christ bearing the penalty of the broken law, death] am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” (Gal. 2:1919For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. (Galatians 2:19).) “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made,” that is Christ. (Gal. 3:1919Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Galatians 3:19).) But before faith came we were kept under the law.... “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ! ... but after that faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Verses 23-25.) “We, when we were children, were in bondage.... but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.... Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son.” (Chap. 4:3, 4, 5, 7.) The three foregoing passages show the duration of the law, and when its jurisdiction came to an end. (Rom. 10:44For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4).) Jerusalem which now is in bondage with her children. “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” (Gal. 4:25, 2625For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. (Galatians 4:25‑26).) “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Chap. 5:1.) And if those who “are justified by the law are fallen from grace” (ver. 4), assuredly those who take the law as a “rule of life” are departed from grace.
It all arises from not seeing and believing that we have died with Christ—died to sin, died to the law, died to the world. Laws are not made to control dead men. The Holy Ghost is the power of the new resurrection life of the believer, and hence the injunction: “Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Ver. 16.) “But if ye be led of the Spirit [that is the rule or line followed] ye are not under the law.” (Ver. 18.) Why add more? God emphatically states ye are not under the law, here and in Rom. 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14) In the latter because we have died with Christ; in the former because we are alive in the Spirit, as long as man was alive under the law sin had dominion over him (Rom. 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)), and people want Christians to go back under that which never gave power against sin, but left a man under its power. The law was never given to give power against sin; all it did was to forbid and to condemn; it even set sin in motion through the flesh suggesting the thing forbidden. (Rom. 7:55For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. (Romans 7:5).) Moreover “the law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Tim. 1:99Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, (1 Timothy 1:9)), and the Christian is constituted righteous. (Rom. 5:1919For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19).)
Maintaining that the believer is under law is a sad proof how thoroughly Judaized the professing church is. Grace teaches, the jurisdiction of the “schoolmaster” having ended. Grace teaches “us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” (Titus 2:1212Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (Titus 2:12).)
From the above we gather—1St. That the Gentiles were never under the law.
2nd. That “the righteousness of God” is apart from the law.
3rd. That the believer is not under the law as a rule of life.
W. G. B.