The relation of the Christian to the law of God is a question that is ever being raised, and there ought then to be no weariness in replying to it. It is a question which must be, and ought to be, raised in the hearts and consciences of all who are brought into contact with the word of God, and it is one which must remain unanswered until the gospel, by the same word, is preached unto them; then, indeed, they ought to be satisfied. And, as all Christendom has been brought under the influence of the word, though comparatively few souls come under the power of a pure gospel, it is not to be wondered at if, for the most part, their relation to the law remains unanswered in the minds of professing Christians.
In endeavoring to show from Scripture the relation of the Christian to the law, we will begin with a few alternative questions.
What is a Christian? Is he a natural man or a spiritual man? a man in the flesh, or a man in the Spirit? a man in Adam, or a man in Christ? a man in his sins, or a man justified from sin? a child of wrath, or a child of God? a servant under law, or a son under grace? a man alive in his sins and in the world, or a believer dead with Christ and to the world? a man alive under law and under condemnation, or dead to the law by the body of Christ, and, in Christ Jesus., under no condemnation? Wig might multiply these questions indefinitely, but with only the same result-that Scripture teaches the second alternative to be true iii every case of the Christian, whilst the first applies to. man in his natural state apart from Christ. In fact, we may say that a true Christian is first a Christian, and then a man; and this is both true and safe. For, whilst a Christian is not unmanned by his Christianity, his Christianity will be terribly unchristianized by the assertion of his manhood, whether in its natural or social aspects.
It is vain to expect a soul to understand its relation to the law until it rightly apprehends its relationship to God. This also applies to man's relation to sin and to the world. Nothing can be seen or measured aright except God be known in grace, and relationship be established. Then, indeed, the soul can say, " With thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light." We will therefore, from Scripture, note especially two aspects of the Christian's standing with God, bearing in mind that all Scripture is given by divine inspiration.
First.-A Christian, then (we speak of those who are altogether, and not almost, Christians), is a believer in, and confessor of, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is thus himself a child, or son, of God; for " as many as received him; to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name," John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12). He has received the Spirit-of adoption, for God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into his heart, by which Spirit he calls God " Father," Rom. 8:1515For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Romans 8:15); Gal: 4:5,6; that is, he calls God Father by the same Spirit by which the Lord Jesus called God His Father. This Fatherhood of God, and sonship of the believer, is special to Christianity (" children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)), and not general to man. It is not a mere term, nor a figure of speech, to convey a sense of kindness and interest on the part of God. It is a spiritual fact, founded on the new birth, of which every true believer has been the subject, as " born of God," 1 John 5:11Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. (1 John 5:1), and " born again," or anew, John 3:33Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3). So it is written: " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; " 2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17); and again: " Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." 1 John 3:11Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1).
Second.-A Christian is joined to Christ by one Spirit, 1 Cor. 6:1717But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17). Consequent on Christ's resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God, the Holy Ghost has come down, John 16:77Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (John 16:7), and indwells every believer, 1 Cor. 6:1919What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19), and baptizes all believers into one body, 1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13), of which body Christ is the Head, Eph. 1:2222And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22).; Col. 1:1818And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18). These again are facts, not mere figures to describe an influence or unity of feeling and object; but an indwelling power, and a real and essential 'unity, formed by the Holy Ghost. This again is special to. Christianity, and not true of man as a race, or of any nation, or other religious profession whatever.
There are many other aspects of the Christian's standing, through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, which we do not touch on here, but the results of the above truths are numerous, and their importance is incalculable. As born of God the Christian is " no more a servant but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God, through Christ," Gal. 4:77Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7). As a new creature, part of God's new creation, he is not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world, John 17:1414I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14). His citizenship is in heaven, from whence also he looks for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20).
We repeat that these are facts, not figures representing a mental and moral change, or outward reformation. The Christian, according to God's word, is all that we have spoken, and more, or he is no Christian at all. We do not say that he always knows these things; on the contrary, we believe that the large majority of believers are ignorant of the full grace of God in which they stand; hence the legal character of their religious profession, the uncertainty and want of confidence towards God which marks their spiritual state, and the worldliness which, alas! too often is exhibited in their lives. Whilst they trust in the death and blood of Christ for salvation, they have never themselves, by faith, followed him into the grave as " buried with him by baptism into death," nor have they learned that they are "risen with him by the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead," Col. 2:1212Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12). So soon as the Christian learns these things, which form the very foundation of the Christian faith and state-so soon as he sees his place as dead with Christ, as risen and glorified in Him, as having thus died to sin, and to the world, and living unto God-so soon also will he see his relation to the law.
The Roman epistle, which in chapters 1. and 2. gives the history of man in nature and under law; in chapter 3, God's way of justifying the sinner; in chapter 4, the nature and principle of the righteousness which is by faith; in chapter 5., the fruits of faith, in justification, peace, access into grace, rejoicing in hope, glorying in tribulation, patience, experience of God, hope which maketh not ashamed, because of the love of God shed abroad in the heart, and joy even in God Himself; as also the contrast between Adam and his sin, and Christ and His work which meets it; in chapter vi., God's way of deliverance from the present power, and dominion of sin by identification with Christ in death; this same epistle, in chapter 7., teaches also man's relation to the law so long as he lives in the flesh and in the world, and the only way of escape from its condemnation by the same way of identification with Christ in death.
Let us dwell for a few moments on the seventh chapter of Romans, and endeavor to gather from it the Lord's mind concerning His believing people-Christians-under the present dispensation of the Holy Spirit.
Speaking to those " who know the law," the apostle reminds them that the law has dominion over a man so long as he lives, illustrating this by the relation of the wife to her husband, under whose dominion she is, so long as he lives. Death alone can sever the bond; and, if the husband die, the woman sins not in marrying another man. There can only be subjection to one husband at a time; so a man, under law, is bound by the rule of law, and death only can deliver him from it.
The apostle then passes on to show that by faith in the death of Christ, and identification with Him who suffered in the flesh for us-whose body was given for us-by identification with Christ in death, and counting Christ's death in place of his own death, the believer becomes dead to the law. The figure here changes, and the wife dies, and not the husband (for the law never dies, it is, as truly as the gospel, the word of the Lord which endureth forever); by faith, then, the believer dies- dies out of the dominion, and beyond the reach of the first husband (the law), in Order to be married to another (Christ) in a new state and in another sphere of being, where law does not reach, and to which law does not apply, even to Him " who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God; " and " against such there is no law," Gal. 5:2323Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:23).
The apostle then shows that, whilst living as a man under law, so far from bringing forth fruit unto God, the movements of sin, provoked and defined by the law, brought forth only fruit unto death. That is, an honest and true heart, longing to live to God, found nothing but sin and failure continually developed through the very holiness and inflexibility of the law: for the more stringent the rule, the more is man's failure under it manifested. But now, through the knowledge of Christ, who was delivered for his offenses and raised again for his justification, and through his interest in and identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, this honest and exercised soul finds deliverance from the law, and from its intolerable exactions. Being dead to that (see margin) under which it was once held, the now delivered soul can serve God in the newness of the Spirit-that is under the new husband's rule, as led of the Spirit of God-and not in the oldness of the letter-that is by the literal commandment, which hitherto was the limit of his knowledge of the mind and will of God.
Thus knowing deliverance, the apostle turns back to describe the exercises of heart and conscience through which man passes while thus under the dominion of, and conviction by, the law of God. He justifies the law, showing that it was not sinful, but that it brought to light sin in man, which without it was latent and unjudged (verse 7). He lived once without law, as a man in the world and in the flesh, in darkness truly; but when the commandment of God came, in its heart-searching and spiritual power, sin revived and he died, condemned by the law. " Thus the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," but its very excellence proved the sinfulness of sin. With a heart exercised towards God yet he could not do what he desired; and the greater his effort, the greater only the sense of failure. In despair at last he exclaims: " O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? " and finds in Christ, outside himself, the only reply which could satisfy his heart: " I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The apostle then in chapter 8. continues the argument from the point at which he paused at the sixth verse of the last chapter: " There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.. For (as we learned in chapter 6.) the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh (as we learned in chapter 7.), God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
If our reader has now followed the argument of the apostle through these passages, and has, apart from preconceived opinion, really apprehended the meaning of his plain language, he must have learned:-
First.-That man, whether unbeliever or believer, cannot be under two rules at once. He is either under law or under grace. He cannot be under grace for salvation, and under law for conduct and practice, any more than a woman who has been married to a second husband, could be permitted to remain under the authority of the rule and precept of the first.
Second.-That death, and death only, whether in fact or by faith, can break the link which exists between man as a sinner in the old creation, and the law which is the rule given by God for man in that state. Thus " He that is dead is justified from sin," Rom. 6:77For he that is dead is freed from sin. (Romans 6:7). And again: "Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ," Rom. 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4).
Third.-That by the death of Christ, and faith in it, he, reckoning himself to be dead with Christ, passes out of his standing in the old creation, and, by Christ's resurrection, becomes part of the new creation of God, Eph. 2:55Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (Ephesians 2:5); James 1:1818Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18); whose rule is that of the Spirit, and not of the law, Rom. 7:66But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:6); Gal. 6:15,1615For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:15‑16).
Fourth.-That thus led of the Spirit, he has power to walk even as Christ walked, as a son of God in the world, holding forth the word of life; and that the righteousness of the law -namely, that righteousness which the law required-is fulfilled, and more than fulfilled, in those who thus walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
It is indeed a misapprehension of the scope and character of law, to put back under it a believer who has been saved by grace. " The law," says the apostle, speaking concerning Israel, " was our schoolmaster unto," or until (NOT " to bring us to ") " Christ, that we might be justified by faith; but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster," Gal. 3:24,2524Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Galatians 3:24‑25). The law was their tutor for the period preceding the coming of Christ. " The man that doeth these things shall live in them," was then the order. But when Christ, the object of faith, came, the office of the law was void, and faith took the place of carnal obedience: it was no longer " do and live," but " believe and be saved," " believe and have eternal life." " The just shall live by his faith." " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Gal. 3:1111But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. (Galatians 3:11); 1 John 5:44For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4).
This is still morally true of individuals; they are under law until they learn Christ, and thus obtain deliverance. The fourth chapter of Galatians develops this fully. While the heir is a child, he is as yet under tutors and governors; in fact, he is at school, and whilst there he is under the laws of the school. But when a boy leaves school for his father's house, he does not, if a dutiful son, break out into lawlessness, nor is he less really acting within that which was good in the laws of his school than when he was there. But he is now a son in the Father's house; love and not law is his motive. If he were obedient under law, his obedience will shine out the more, inasmuch as the field for its display under grace is so much the larger. Having been saved by grace, he has that which is all-sufficient for his instruction; for we read, " The grace of God, which bringeth salvation unto all men, hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world," &c. (Titus 2:11-1411For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:11‑14)). Be sure that if grace will not teach a Christian, a child of God, how to act and walk before God; the law will never do so: Such an one is taught to walk in love, but the " law worketh wrath."
Again, the law cannot, and does not, give life or righteousness. " If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law," Gal. 3:2121Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. (Galatians 3:21). The law promised long life On the earth, Deut. 4:4040Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. (Deuteronomy 4:40), &c. It never promised eternal life or heaven. It was a rule for men on the earth, and if it had been kept, they would have enjoyed the earth. It is true that faith in the Old Testament saints " desired a better country, that is an heavenly," but we are expressly told that this was, by faith as distinct from law. " They died in faith," Heb. 11:1313These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13). Their expectation was from God by faith," verses 10, 14, 16, and not from the reward of their own works under law.
In thus teaching that the law not only is not the Christian's rule of life, but that he is delivered both from its curse and condemnation, and from its service in the letter, it must be remembered that the authority of the law is not lowered or set aside. The law has, and will always have, its place in the dealings of God with man. " We know," says Paul to Timothy, "that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully: knowing 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, &c." 1 Tim. 1:8,98But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9Knowing 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 1:8‑9). It convicts of, and rebukes, sin. It measures sin; and if a man ask, " What shall I do?" he gets his answer from the law. But the true Christian is not a sinner, but a saint; his proper state is holiness, and his ways are holy. God's Spirit is given to him, to form him after the image of Christ, and to lead him in Christ's footsteps, and bring him into Christ's glory. If he walk in the Spirit, he walks as Christ walked, and he does all the will of God, in which he desires to be perfect and complete; and this includes most surely the righteousness required by His law. But he does that will of God, not because the law says " Thou shalt," and " Thou shalt not," but because it is his joy and blessing to live not to himself, but to Christ, who died for him, and rose again. He walks in love, even as Christ has loved, and given Himself for us, Eph. 5:22And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor. (Ephesians 5:2). He loves. God who has first loved him; and, having passed from death unto life, he loves the brethren for whom he ought to lay down his life, 1 John 3:14-16;4. 19. In fact, his standard is Christ, his rule that path and those ways in which the Spirit of God leads him.
Truly, if a man sin, the law is there to speak to and judge him. If a Christian transgresses the law, it will define, and condemn his sin. But if asked what is the Christian's rule of life, we do not suppose a rule for "lawless and disobedient " Christians, but what is God's rule for His saints, His redeemed, justified and spiritual people in this present dispensation of the Spirit; and of such we say unhesitatingly, the Scripture teaches that the law is not their rule of life, but that they are to walk in the Spirit; to walk as Christ walked; to walk as belonging to the new creation of God; and the word of God adds, " as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and upon the Israel of God."
H. C. G. B.