Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology
Using Law Lawfully
by Doyle D. Dewberry
Date: N/A
Text: 1 Timothy 1:8
What is antinomianism? It is derived from a combination of two words: the preposition avti and nomos. The preposition when used in combination usually means "against", and the noun the common ordinary word "law". When one is said to be "antinomian", it therefore basically means he is "against law". It is not the same as avomos "no law", but is referring to an existing law. It differs from "anarchy" which means "without law", and generally refers to a government or a people without law - every man being a law unto himself, and thus a very disruptive condition exists in the land.
Sometimes you hear the word "legalist" which is a word describing "one who looks at everything from a moral legalism", that is law. If one considers God's people under no restraint in his walk, and another preaches he is under one, and so defines his walk, he is called a "legalist". The question in the Christian life is "Are we under any requirement for good works?" or, as well, are we under any requirement to avoid sin?" This determines if legalism is proper or not! If there are no requirements, then legalism is wrong; if there are such, then legalism is proper.
What motivates the antinomian? That is, why are they so avid in declaring that we have no responsibility toward the law? We are convinced you can find the answer in Romans the sixth chapter. Much depends upon that which the child of God accrues from the death of Christ, and his union with Him. In the passage we read: How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein (6:2)? Now what is meant by dead to sin? Most feel this speaks of our being free from the "guilt" of sin, which it does, but is this all that is envolved? Robert Haldane tells us it is all when he says:
The meaning of this expression is very generally understood, and extended to include death to the power of sin, to which it has not the smallest reference. It exclusively indicates the justification of believers, and their freedom from the guilt of sin (Romans, p.239).
Now Robert Haldane is not antinomian, that is very clear from his writings. But his inability to see the true meaning of the rest of Romans six allows a danger of assuming antinomianism. He is right thus far that the passage dealing with being freed from sin does mean "freed from the guilt of sin." But in the overall message of Romans six, this is as far as he is willing to go.
He (that is Haldane) went to another extreme, and maintained, that to die, or to be dead to sin, means to be free from its guilt, while the whole context proves, that it means deliverance from its power as a master, from the servitude or bondage of sin (John Owen, in his translation of Calvin's Commentary on Romans).
So is it all that is involved in this chapter? Is there any references to the fact that we have a responsibility to live moral lives, avoiding sin, as well as being free from the guilt of sin? The chapter begins with: Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound (v.1)? One can very well see this is the theme upon which Paul writes. Our union with Christ in His death is clearly declared so that when He died we died, and that is a freedom from the guilt of sin, but are we left there?
The following are those verses which indicate there is more to our dying with our Savior than just the freedom from the guilt of sin. In v.4 the final result of His death is that we can also walk in newness of life. This passages involves our walk, and not just our standing in Christ. In v.6 since our old man is crucified with Him, and through it the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin (v.7). This, Haldane claims speaks of our freedom from the guilt of sin, and it does. But notice this: even though we are dead, having died with Christ, we are alive through the same union we have with His resurrection. So Paul says: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but ALIVE unto God, through Christ Jesus our Lord (v.11). We are not just left stagnated in death, but are alive, and this establishes our responsibility. Being alive, how are we to live? We believe the next seven verses answers this question.
12 Let not SIN therefore REIGN in your MORTAL BODY, that ye should obey it in THE LUSTS thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as INSTRUMENTS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS unto SIN: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are ALIVE from the dead, and your members as instruments of RIGHTEOUSNESS unto God. 14 For SIN shall not have DOMINION over you: for ye are NOT UNDER THE LAW, but UNDER GRACE. 15 What then? SHALL WE SIN, because we are not under the law, but under grace? GOD FORBID. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of SIN unto death, or of OBEDIENCE unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye WERE THE SERVANTS OF SIN, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made FREE FROM SIN, ye BECAME THE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Rom 6:12-18)
One should be able to see from all the above passages that being in union with Christ in His death, and alive through his resurrection, we have a responsibility unto good works, and an avoidance of sin. The reference Paul makes of the law and grace pertains to salvation through justification by grace through faith rather than law, as no man is justified by the deeds of the law. Being under law is not a reference pertaining to the walk of the believer once in Christ. Such references speak of attempting merit by the law. All the responsibility set forth in Romans six more then suggests this. Where sin is envolved one must remember that all sin is a transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), and thus the law has very much to do with the walk of the believer if he is to avoid sin. By the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20).
So now to our above stated text - what is the main emphasis in it? Just this! We are to understand that we must use law, and when we use it, we are to use it lawfully. The law is not the culprit! it is not the curse! Paul said we know the law is good (kalos, a word basically meaning "beautiful"). How some men can demean God and His law when there are many words such as Paul uses here is beyond us. It is a curse if one seeks to merit justification by it, but that is not the fault of the law, but man's own weakness in the flesh, which is all he has when outside of Christ. (See Rom 8:3). If man could be saved by the deeds of the law, then Christ died in vain.
At this point, the antinomian has no use for the law in his walk as a child of God, for which Romans six outlines for us. He is "against law" for anyone to use such as a means of living lives pleasing to the Lord, though he may state, "I only live by the law of Christ." We say, "Is not the law of Christ the same as the law of God"? He may even say, "I love the law of God." But in his walk he wants nothing to do with it! He loves that which is of no benefit to him whatsoever. He cannot see that our Lord Jesus Christ preached God's law, and pointed us unto it in a more extended mode than what we could know from the Old Testament. In reality, he sees that we are "freed from the guilt of sin", so sin appears to be no great concern to him. While he may admit, as Paul, that we are God's workmanship, he denies that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has ordained that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). If he does agree to good works, he claims the law does not motivate him unto them.
But the purpose of law is not to "motivate" us - the indwelling Spirit does that. We are told, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:13). The law is our text book to tell us what sin is according to our God. Paul said, What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet (Rom 7:7). And then the most peculiar one is he who tries to claim he does keep the law on one hand, but insists he doesn't on another.
And so our text tells us to USE law, and to use it lawfully. Paul tells us the law was made for sinners (1:9), and he places himself as such when exclaiming presently to be under law, when he confesses, I AM chief (notice it is present tense, GK, eimi egw, v.15). He not only reminds us of his past as he tells us he was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious one who found mercy, but he still confesses he is presently a sinner, as we all must do. The law was not made for a righteous man (v.9), but for an unrighteous. The child of God is only declared righteous, not righteous of himself, as we must always remember there is none righteous, no not one (Rom 3:10), and all OUR righteousnesses are as a filthy rags (Isa 64:6). How does one use the law lawfully? We thus propose five factors involved in using the law lawfully.
I --- AN UNLAWFUL USE IS TO SEEK JUSTIFICATION BY IT IN SALVATION:
If the law is to be used lawfully, it infers it can be used unlawfully. No one should argue that the law is not the means of justification - that means is by grace through faith only. Paul tells us:
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight (Rom 3:20a).Being justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:24).
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Rom 3:28).
Herein is where the Jew stumbled when he sought to obtain righteousness by the deeds of the law. This was an assumption on their part, and they sought to merit salvation by law, and thus attempted to keep the letter of the law. The law was not given to attain justification, but was given for the rule of life in the believer's walk. It was by the grace of God that He gave the law as it outlined that which God expected from His people. If they transgressed the law, blood must be shed to cover the sin. We are informed that now the law is kept not by the letter of it, but by the spirit of it. Listen to the words of Paul:
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness OF SPIRIT, and not in the oldness OF THE LETTER (Rom 7:6).
Being in the context of law, we must see a vast difference in attempting to keep the letter of law, and serving in newness of spirit of the law. If Israel was expected to keep the letter of the law for salvation, why was the shedding of blood demanded whereby their sins were covered when they transgressed the law? Nothing has changed there expect the ceremonial aspect of the law, that is, the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats; now it is the blood of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The law must be understood from two different aspects: the inability to keep any part of it as unsaved; and the expectation of our keeping the spirit of it as saved, those who have the indwelling Spirit who enables one to fulfill the law in whatever part of it He so helps us (comp. Gal 5:14 and 22,23).
II -- A BENEFICIAL USE IS AS A MEANS OF CONVICTION OF SIN:
For by the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). Those who claim it is an "evil thing" to preach law have no excuse here. We measure sin in our lives by the law. John wrote, My little children, these things I write unto you that ye sin not (1 John 2:1). Antinomians say the law has no part in the walk of the saved, but is not sin a concern of them? And what does the law have to do with such? John said, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for all sin is a transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). If we are told to sin not, and all sin is a transgression of law, do we not need to know the law, and to strive to keep the law, in the spirit of it, and not in the letter?
Many feel that we keep law out of fear, but the word says just the opposite. John tells us where there is love there is no fear, Perfect love casteth out fear (1 John 4:18). Now this love is a divine love which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit. Besides the Word tells us we keep God's law when we love, not fear: For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments (1 John 5:3).
III - A PROPER USE GIVES US AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD:
What is meant by God's holiness? No less than that He is "set apart" from His creation. While the world hates law, God loves law; while the world is content to be lawless, God demands obedience to His law. Law is a verbal expression of the very holy and righteous nature of God. He has sanctified His people, that is, set them apart from the world unto Himself. They are His purchased possession, and a peculiar people unto Him. Thus He has given us law, and His law is holy, because He is holy. God does not set aside His law for any, any more than He would deny Himself, which for God is impossible. Thus Paul tells us this of the law of our Holy God:
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. (Rom 7:12-14)
Paul tells us the law is holy, just, and good. There is nothing wrong with law - it is man who is carnal, sold under sin. Thus he needs grace, but he also needs law, to curb his continued carnality, for the law defines sin. It can be no other way with our Holy God and His holy law. The law is spiritual, and thus we serve it as children of God in newness of the spirit, not in the letter, and the law in the hands of the Spirit of God is an effective tool.
IV -- A BLESSED USE IS AS A RULE OF OUR WALK IN CHRIST:
And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3-4).And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us (1 John 3:22-24).
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:2-3)
It is noteworthy that John uses the Greek tense for keep as a continuous keeping of His commandments, and the doing so signifies that the one so doing loves God. If the antinomian denies law, is he not denying the word of God, and demonstrating his lack of love for his God? He claims the law is not to be used as a rule in our lives, but what does the word say? When we love God we keep His commandments, John says, and he adds the law is not grievous, (Gk, barus). This word is used in Matt 23:4 to describe the scribes and pharisees which bind heavy or "unbearable" burdens on the shoulders of men, but will not lift one finger to remove them.
There are those who claim Christians do not use law in their walk because it makes pharisees of them. Now is it not strange that John tells us that is not so? Gods law is not a grievous or "heavy" burden for the child of God. And of course not, for he seeks to keep the spirit of it rather than the letter, and he has the Holy Spirit, whom the pharisees did not have, to enable him to fulfill the law, through the fruit produced in him by the same Spirit. (Gal 5).
For nothing is grievous or burdensome to him who loves. They are not grievous, (that is, the laws) because love makes them light; they are not grievous, because Christ gives strength to bear them (Pusey).
When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he admonished the young people to obey your parents, in the Lord, for this is right (6:1). In reality this is a pointing to the law of commandments. Was Paul being legalistic? He certainly was not antinomian as this statement bears out? Was it a reference to God's holy law? Note carefully, the next two verses: Honour thy father and mother; which is the first COMMANDMENT with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. (vs.2-3; see also Exod 20:12). It not only pointed to the law, but carried with it, as well, a warning if the law was not obeyed. Here is Paul preaching law to the people of God.
Does Paul deny the law in the walk of the believer? Remember his words in Rom 7:22, For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Of course, the old man hates the law, but the inward man, that man which speaks of that "spiritual part which has been regenerated by God, delights in God's law (Calvin).
V --- A HUMBLING USE IS TO GIVE EVIDENCE OF OUR NEED OF GRACE:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Rom 7:24-25).
Paul, realizing the holiness of the law, and the Lawgiver, had only this humbling statement to make, O wretched man that I am! Here is a soul crying out for grace, and it is only found in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The law was doing, as it does for all those in Christ, its perfect work. When we read or hear its precepts, we instantly see our need of grace. Here is the law bringing us to Christ, and its continued blessing in it keeps God's people humble.
Notice also, Paul's testimony as to the use of the law: I myself serve the law of God even with the mind. All is said while a child of God, thus we have one, Paul himself, using law to aid against serving sin. When the mind serves the law, the flesh is aided against serving sin! In conclusion, listen to John Newton when he wrote on our text:
From hence we may collect in brief, how the law is good to them that use it lawfully. It furnishes them with a comprehensive and accurate view of the will of God, and the path of duty. By the study of the law, they acquire an habitual spiritual taste of what is right or wrong. The exercised believer, like a skilful workman, has a rule in his hand, whereby he can measure and determine with certainty; whereas others judge as it were by the eye, and can only make a random guess, in which they are generally mistaken. It likewise, by reminding them of their deficiencies and short-comings, is a sanctified means of making and keeping them humble; and it exceedingly endears Jesus, the law-fulfiller, to their hearts, and puts them in mind of their obligations to him, and of their absolute dependence upon him every moment.
Dear Reader, be not deceived by those who would have us disregard God's holy law - it is a critical mistake to do so. We have been enabled by the blessed Holy Spirit with fruit which we are to bring forth. And even though it is true we are not saved by works of righteousness (Titus 3:5), Titus, as well as we, are admonished, they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto man. (Titus 3:8). Doing so is using the law lawfully.
Updated 2/24/2001
| Minister Doyle D. Dewberry, formerly of Alameda, California, is an outstanding student of the Bible, and the beloved retired Pastor and author of Sovereign Grace Baptist Proclaimer, Setting Forth The Doctrines of Grace In Salvation. He can be reached by email at sovereigngrace at 5star-living dot com. |