Good for All – The Kingdom Curriculum III (1)

Good for All

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:12

Few Christians will quibble with the Apostle Paul over his assertion that the Law of God is holy and righteous and good. We have previously seen that, not only the Apostle Paul, but the Apostles Peter, James, and John, together with the Lord Jesus Christ, embraced the Law of God and instructed their hearers and readers to abide by it as essential to living in the Kingdom of God.

In the context of his epistle to the Romans, Paul argued that the righteousness of the Law cannot save us, for the simple reason that this is a righteousness beyond what sinful people can attain. That is, we cannot, by trying to keep the Law, achieve a righteousness that will put us in favor with God (Rom. 3:1-20). And yet the Law is involved in our salvation, because the righteousness God requires for those who would dwell in His presence is that same righteousness of the Law. Because of our sin we are not capable of attaining it; however, Christ Jesus did attain that righteousness in complete and exhaustive detail, righteousness only He could achieve, which God is pleased to credit to all who trust in Jesus for salvation (2 Cor. 5:21). In Jesus Christ we are clothed with a righteousness not our own, but which comes to us as a gift of Christ, by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9).

But because we are not saved by the Law does not mean we may simply disregard it, having come to faith in Christ (Rom. 3:31). Keeping the Law will not save us; however, keeping the Law is what the Spirit is working to do within us, as we have seen, and it is the way those who have believed into Jesus follow Him in the path of righteousness. For the believer, the Law is now established as a holy and righteous and good standard to guide us in learning to love God and our neighbors (Matt. 22:34-40). Safe in the and clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, we now look to God’s Word and Spirit to make us willing and able to grow into that righteousness (Jn. 17:17; Phil. 2:12,13), which we do by living in obedience to God’s Law. The Law is God’s standard of righteousness for our sanctification

But for whom is it such a standard? For Christians only? Did God intend only that His redeemed people should be bound by the Law? That seems difficult on the surface. Since the Law is holy and righteous and good, ought we not to expect that it would be such a standard for all people – not, as we have seen, for salvation, but for guidance in the ways of righteousness and love? Jesus said that a day is coming when all men will be judged by their works (John 5:28, 29). The believer, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, will survive that test unto eternal life; the unbeliever, having only his own righteousness, will disqualify himself.

Nevertheless, the same standard will be applied to both. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that the wrath of God which is even now being poured out against sinful men (Rom. 1:18-32) is grounded in that same standard of holiness and righteousness and goodness, the Law of God. Keeping the Law will not save the unbeliever; however, in any society where the Law of God provides the ground for ethics and morality, people may expect that the purposes of the Law – life, liberty, and love – will be more in evidence than if some other ground were the basis for that society’s morality. Thus, even where men reject or ignore God’s offer of saving grace, He is yet determined that they should know His goodness by means of His common grace, including enjoying many of the temporal blessings that attend to obedience to the Law (Ps. 52:1).

Order your copy of The Law of God today. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, Waxed Tablet, to place your order and take up the Kingdom curriculum of our Lord.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.