Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight;
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3;20
God,
in giving the law, did not leave us with the impression that it was
going to curb sin. It is strange therefore when preachers present the
law as something we can do to find favour in the sight of God. nothing
can be further from the truth than such an assertion. Before we proceed,
it is important to say that there is nothing wrong with the laws: it is
good, holy, pure, and just. The problem is with the man who is entirely
corrupt in his fallen nature. But having said this, it is equally
important to say that there are things when the law cannot do, not
because it is deficient, but because it was not given to do such things.
For
example, the law was not given to make us righteous; it was given to
expose us as sinners who are in need of a Saviour. Though the law can
reveal sin, it cannot remove sin. In this regard, the law is like a
mirror into which one looks and sees a stain on our bodies, but beyond
this, it can do nothing in itself to remove the stain. The mirror shows
an apparent need that has to be addressed, but this is how far it can
go. The law is like this: it shows us our moral and spiritual
deficiencies and points us to the grace of Christ to remove them.
“Moreover, the law entered that the offence might increase...” Romans 5:20.
When
we are ignorant of what the law cannot do, we will naturally go to it
to do for us what it is not given to do, and when that happens, it leads
to the failures that we often mark the life of those who rely on the
law for righteousness. The entire letter written to the Galatians was
devoted to correcting this fault of attempting to receive from the law
what is only possible by grace.
Toni
