An easy place to see this cycle being played out is through the form of worship on Sunday morning. At some point during regular worship, the Law is read, demonstrating to all believers that they have broken God's Law and are therefore sinners. Following the Law is some sort of declaration of pardon. The believer, convicted by the Law's work, is reassured that they are forgiven because of the gospel. After one is assured of their right standing with God, a sermon is preached. This solidifies one's right standing and motivates them towards "love and good deeds." Communion often comes last, serving as another testimony of God's grace toward the believer. It is essential to understand that every aspect in corporate worship is both essential and intentional. The church service serves as a model for believers, reinforcing their personal cycle of sin, confession, and obedience. Although formal worship takes place once a week, the believer is encouraged to live by the cycle daily, as they seek to glorify God in their personal lives.
But what if I told you that the Law's purpose was to bring about more sin? What if you discovered that your confession and repentance will not bring one step closer to God? And, finally, what would you think if God never intended us to even know good and evil so that we could obey the good and disobey the evil?
As you ponder these questions, consider what the New Testament says about the Law's. Romans 3:21 tells us that a righteousness "apart from the law has been made known." In Romans 5:20, Paul, an expert in the Law, says that the "law was added so that the trespass might increase." I Corinthians 15:56 says the "power of sin is the law." In the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul claims that death was brought through the "ministry....engraved in letters on stone" (7). Three verses later, this same ministry of death is described as a "ministry that condemns" and one that "has no glory" in the present. Prior to, and leading up to, this discussion of death and condemnation, Paul asserts that "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." The letter to the Galatians actually answers the question of the Law's purpose: "it was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come" (3:19). This means that the Law has a temporary function as a "tutor" until we come to Christ. In Philippians 3, Paul contrasts his former life of depending on the Law with his present life in Christ - the former was a pile of "dung" based on a "righteousness that comes from the Law." Colossians tells us that the "written code, with its regulations" was "cancelled," although it was "against us and....stood opposed to us" (2:14). And, finally, Hebrews makes absolutely clear that Old Covenant is "obsolete" and the Law is merely a "shadow of the good things to come", the reality of those shadows being found in Christ.
The evidence and weight of the New Testament is actually against the Law, not for it. It has served its purpose for the believer in Christ, and, therefore, does not need to be preached, taught, or returned to. As Romans 8 declares, "What the Law could not do...God did by sending His own Son." Living in Christ - in the "newness of life" or "in the Spirit" - has nothing to do with Law. The contrasts between the old and new could not be more clear. There is another way to live, one that does not require a constant reminder of sin, leading to confession, and leading to a new obedience. That is perhaps the greatest irony of returning to the Law - no one actually obeys it. In fact, no one can obey it. That's why it was given in the first place - to demonstrate that we could not be God and to point us to the person who is God, the Christ.
Once we know Christ, we have passed from darkness to light. We have come from death to life. How? His work provides complete forgiveness for every sin, past, present, and future. And, He gives us the Holy Spirit, who gives us life when He indwells us. This life is a restoration of that life we had before the Fall - a life that was not focused on "good and evil." It was a life of utter dependence on, and joy in, God our Creator.
The Christian life, then, is not a cycle. It does not focus on failure and sin. It is oriented in Someone Else's obedience. It is more concerned about what God has done for us than what we can do for God. It is not focused on Self, trying to rid sin from the body and bringing the flesh under control.
Get rid of the cycle. Embrace the inheritance and grace you have already received.
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