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In fact, there is a gospel current running through the whole of the Old Testament, which
reaches its highest point in the Messianic prophecies. And it is equally contrary to Scripture to
say that there is no law in the New Testament, or that the law does not apply in the New
Testament dispensation. Jesus taught the permanent validity of the law, Matt. 5:17-19. Paul
says that God provided for it that the requirements of the law should be fulfilled in our lives,
Rom. 8:4, and holds his readers responsible for keeping the law, Rom. 13:9. James assures his
readers that he who transgresses a single commandment of the law (and he mentions some of
these), is a transgressor of the law, Jas. 2:8-11. And John defines sin as “lawlessness,” and says
that this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, I John 3:4; 5:3.
b. It is possible to say that in some respects the Christian is free from the law of God.
The
Bible does not always speak of the law in the same sense. Sometimes it contemplates this as
the immutable expression of the nature and will of God, which applies at all times and under all
conditions. But it also refers to it as it functions in the covenant of works, in which the gift of
eternal life was conditioned on its fulfilment. Man failed to meet the condition, thereby also
losing the ability to meet it, and is now by nature under a sentence of condemnation. When
Paul draws a contrast between the law and the gospel, he is thinking of this aspect of the law,
the broken law of the covenant of works, which can no more justify, but can only condemn the
sinner. From the law in this particular sense, both as a means for obtaining eternal life and as a
condemning power, believers are set free in Christ, since He became a curse for them and also
met the demands of the covenant of works in their behalf. The law in that particular sense and
the gospel of free grace are mutually exclusive.
c. There is another sense, however, in which the Christian is not free from the law.
The
situation is quite different when we think of the law as the expression of man’s natural
obligations to his God, the law as it is applied to man even apart from the covenant of works. It
is impossible to imagine any condition in which man might be able to claim freedom from the
law in that sense. It is pure Antinomianism to maintain that Christ kept the law as a rule of life
for His people, so that they need not worry about this any more. The law lays claim, and justly
so, on the entire life of man in all its aspects, including his relation to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When God offers man the gospel, the law demands that the latter shall accept this. Some
would speak of this as the law in the gospel, but this is hardly correct. The gospel itself consists
of promises and is no law; yet there is a demand of the law in connection with the gospel. The
law not only demands that we accept the gospel and believe in Jesus Christ, but also that we
lead a life of gratitude in harmony with its requirements.
D. THE THREEFOLD USE OF THE LAW.
It is customary in theology to distinguish a three-fold use of the law.