Written on Our Hearts – Uses of the Law: The Law Defines Sin (2)

Written on Our Hearts

Uses of the Law: The Law Defines Sin (2)

Romans 2:14, 15

For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

How can we be sure that the Law of God is a reliable means for defining sin? What makes our view, as followers of Christ and students of His Word, more reliable for deciding questions of right and wrong than the view of someone of another religion or worldview?

These are important questions for, as we shall see, we intend to use the Law of God as a standard of righteousness and goodness for all people, and not just for those who have faith in Jesus Christ. So how may we know that we can rely on the Law to define sin?

Paul tells us that, by some means, “the work of the law is written” on the hearts, even of those who do not know or acknowledge God. The actual words of the Law are not “written” there; rather, the work, or, we might say, the outworking of the Law is etched on the soul of every person, so that, implicitly and inherently, people have a sense of when they are doing something right and when they are doing something wrong.

This is part of what it means to be made in the image of God. God, Who made us in His image, has included in that a knowledge of the work of the Law. As we shall see, this is not an infallible touchstone, by any means. Indeed, many people work hard to suppress and cover and desensitize themselves to the Law of God.

Nevertheless, that work of the Law is there. And we may expect that, if we are faithful in living and teaching the Law, we shall be able to exert a formative influence on the moral outlook and practices of all people.

But we get ahead of ourselves.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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