Does the law really apply today. Haven’t we been delivered from the law?
The Law Applies Today
17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17, NET©
Just because we do not live during the Old Testament time does not mean that the law has disappeared or would not be of any use anymore. The law is timeless, the moral and righteousness reflected in it still applies. Jesus did not come to remove the law but to fulfill it. The standard of morality and ethics today is the same as it was then.
Justified by Keeping the Law?
20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20, NET©
Most people try to gain salvation by being good enough. They try to do the works that are good and try to avoid doing what is evil. The problem is that the more we try to do good and avoid the evil, the more we realize we do not have the power to do it. We can not gain righteousness by keeping the law, but instead get insight into how great sinners we are.
The Law Is a Measure
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” Romans 7:7, NET©
The law is not evil in any way, it is you who live in sin and now has become aware of it. It’s not the fault of the law but your own ignorance. The law is a measure by which we measure the distance between God’s righteousness and our own evil. Thereby seeing the gap between us and God.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. … 14 For we know that the law is spiritual– but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. Romans 7:12, 14, NET©
So the law is holy, right, good, yes, even spiritual. By this we discover that we are sold to slaves under sin, and discover our own inability when we try to do good works.
Sin Is Crime Against the Law
4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4, NET©
If the law is the measure and represents what is righteous and just then, we must realize that breaking against the law is sin. Sin can be translated as “missing the goal,” we miss the goal of living a righteous and holy life.
12 For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. Romans 2:12, NET©
It doesn’t matter whether you no the law or not. All have sinned, and all will either be judged, or perish, without righteousness.