We have had much to say about sin, and how bad it is, and how much it violates God’s standards, and so on. So it seems that our first priority would be to cinch ourselves up, prepare ourselves to race out and fulfill all the rules, and NOT SIN. But this would mean living out our life IN CHRIST, by having faith IN OURSELVES, believing that we are capable of keeping God’s righteous laws. We have much to learn.
There is nothing wrong with the standards specified in the Law, as framed in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. The problem is that we can’t follow them. We are unable to keep the Law. If we break ONE law or violate ONE standard, we are “lawbreakers” (James 2:8-10).
We must begin our discussion of the Law with an admission that we can’t live up to it. The Law is not the problem...we are. We will get to the “alternative” to law-keeping soon...and see what we can do, since we can’t keep the Law. For now, we just want to see that we will not get badges or rewards for “law-keeping”, because we can’t do it. Gal. 4:9 reminds us that the slavery of law-keeping should be avoided, because only misery and disappointment will result from efforts to follow it. This passage says the following:
"But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles [of the Law]? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?"
The trap for new believers is that they think (usually because this is what they have been told) they can go out and perfect their behavior by observing certain rules. This is futile. We will see soon how we can “do good” and “produce righteousness”, but we must admit right off, or learn the hard way, that it is not “determination” to do good that makes it happen.
Keeping the law did not work for salvation, and it will not contribute to our Christian walk. Gal. 3:2b-3 makes this clear, saying, “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
It is well-established in Scripture that the Christian life is not to be lived by human effort. Why? Because God doesn’t need our efforts...He just needs our trust and our cooperation. We will break these apart in Chapter 5. In essence, self-motivation and self-effort are works of the “flesh”, which is the “sinful nature”. We have to be careful not to get ahead of ourselves here, but we have already reported that, “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). This is true, even if what we do comports with the Law!
If we are not pleasing God, even when we are “trying”, we will hit wall after wall and wonder why nothing seems to work out. Yet we are told to be “pure” and to “live a holy life”. Consider 1 Thess. 4:7, which exhorts, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” We do not know yet how to become pure and live a holy life, but we must be clear at the outset: Memorizing a bunch of laws, rules, standards, and so on, and trying to keep a mental or literal chart on how well we are following them, WILL BE COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE...and WILL NOT PLEASE GOD! This is because we are looking at ourselves to sustain this effort...and we simply aren’t strong enough to do it.
This is a lot to think about. When we explain how it is we DO please God, all of this will become clear.
There is nothing wrong with the standards specified in the Law, as framed in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. The problem is that we can’t follow them. We are unable to keep the Law. If we break ONE law or violate ONE standard, we are “lawbreakers” (James 2:8-10).
We must begin our discussion of the Law with an admission that we can’t live up to it. The Law is not the problem...we are. We will get to the “alternative” to law-keeping soon...and see what we can do, since we can’t keep the Law. For now, we just want to see that we will not get badges or rewards for “law-keeping”, because we can’t do it. Gal. 4:9 reminds us that the slavery of law-keeping should be avoided, because only misery and disappointment will result from efforts to follow it. This passage says the following:
"But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles [of the Law]? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?"
The trap for new believers is that they think (usually because this is what they have been told) they can go out and perfect their behavior by observing certain rules. This is futile. We will see soon how we can “do good” and “produce righteousness”, but we must admit right off, or learn the hard way, that it is not “determination” to do good that makes it happen.
Keeping the law did not work for salvation, and it will not contribute to our Christian walk. Gal. 3:2b-3 makes this clear, saying, “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
It is well-established in Scripture that the Christian life is not to be lived by human effort. Why? Because God doesn’t need our efforts...He just needs our trust and our cooperation. We will break these apart in Chapter 5. In essence, self-motivation and self-effort are works of the “flesh”, which is the “sinful nature”. We have to be careful not to get ahead of ourselves here, but we have already reported that, “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). This is true, even if what we do comports with the Law!
If we are not pleasing God, even when we are “trying”, we will hit wall after wall and wonder why nothing seems to work out. Yet we are told to be “pure” and to “live a holy life”. Consider 1 Thess. 4:7, which exhorts, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” We do not know yet how to become pure and live a holy life, but we must be clear at the outset: Memorizing a bunch of laws, rules, standards, and so on, and trying to keep a mental or literal chart on how well we are following them, WILL BE COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE...and WILL NOT PLEASE GOD! This is because we are looking at ourselves to sustain this effort...and we simply aren’t strong enough to do it.
This is a lot to think about. When we explain how it is we DO please God, all of this will become clear.
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