1 Timothy 8-11

Keep off the grass! At one time or another, we have all seen such a sign. Most of us have not stopped to consider how the sign prompted us to sin, or produced within us sinful emotions. However, the sign, like anything that represents the law, results in the occasion for sin. In some people it produces a sense of sinful pride, “Look at me, see how good I am; I would never walk on the grass.” In other people it stimulates the emotion of rebelliousness that resides in all fallen humanity, “You cannot tell me what to do. Who died and made you god; I’ll walk upon the grass if I want to.” This is an extreme example, but it does illustrate what Paul teaches in Romans about the way the law works to bring about evil in the heart of people.

Paul quite often made it known that the law is a good thing. The law does not stop bad people from doing bad things, but it warns of consequences, and lets them know that God will not excuse sinful behavior. The law reveals our sinful condition and our need for reconciliation with God. Regardless, it can never produce that reconciliation. It reveals a sickness of the heart that it can never cure. When the law reveals our need for God’s mercy and grace, it serves a useful purpose.

When misguided preachers and teachers make the law the focal point of salvation, they are revealing their ignorance of the true gospel. God did not make the law for righteous people; He made it for the ungodly, sinful, law breaking, rebellious, unholy, wicked people who live lives full of sexual immorality, deceit, violence, death, destruction and all manner of evil contrary to the gospel of Jesus.

The law is not the focus of the gospel. Christians are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ and that reconciliation makes them righteous. Christians do not live righteous because the law; they live righteous because of love.