Introduction

A couple of weeks ago we asked the "how to" question regarding glorifying God. One of the ways that was given as an answer to this question was "by the law" (by prayer, by the law, by love, and by our confession). This fact presupposes a friendly relationship between the gospel and the law. Or, to use Matthew 5:17f for a reference point, this use of the law in glorifying God presupposes a friendly relationship between Christ and the law.

Sometimes the friendship between law and gospel is overlooked even denied. One major reason for overlooking or denying the kinship of law and gospel is the striking fact that in the NT there are many passages that present the law in antithetic terms. These passages have a strong negative flavor about the law. They can lead to a bias against the law if they are not balanced with the positives that are given in the OT and in the teachings of Christ.

I want to consider "the antithetic aspect of the law" this morning. And the context for this study is what I like to call the continuity passages from both the OT and the NT. In the OT itself keeping the commandments is the whole duty of man (Ecc. 12:13). It is the way the young cleanse their ways (Ps.119:1-24). It is a matter of obedience from the heart (Ps. 119:2-4) that is the way of blessing, cleansing, and delight (Ps. 119:1, 2, 9-10, 16, 24). Hence the summary glimpse that presents a man under the law as living within the orbit of delight:

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers (Ps. 1:2-3)

Jesus in John 15 teaches the same fruit of joy and delight under the law:

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (vs. 10-11).

Three matters of emphasis are here. 1) There is a rich welcome, warm, delightful, experience for the saints of God, by faith from the heart, in living under the commandments of God in the OT, that is, as a person under the Ten Commandments and all the rest of God’s prescriptive will revealed in the OT. 2) The NT operates in the same milieu; it looks to the OT word for guidance in good works and righteousness of life (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17). Love and joy are associated with this walk in righteous deeds defined by the law. 3) Therefore, we should approach the law wearing positive sunglasses. We should look for continuity. We should look for the new wineskin forms of the law by which to guide our lives. In other words, we should not have a negative or antithetic attitude toward the law.  These emphases serve as the balancing context for discussing the antithetic aspect of the law that is presented to us in the NT.

What I propose to do today is to present the antithetic aspect of the law in the NT in four categories. As we look at the verses I will direct you to the immediate context for clarification within the larger positive context that should control our reading of these passages.

Beginning with the following phrase we can state each category: "we are not under the law." I will begin with the sense in which we are not under the law but it is important to note that at the end of the day each category helps us understand the abiding positive relevance of the law for Christians today.

Here is the outline. We are not under the law 1) in its promise form, 2) in its vain legalistic use, 3) in its misuse for justification, or 4) in its aggravation of sin.

1A. We are not under the law in its promise form

Grace means that we are no longer under the law in its Mosaic form (Jn. 1:17; Matt. 11:11,13; Rom. 14:14,20; so Bahnsen, Theonomy, p. 49). In John 1:17 if there is no law in the present then there was no grace or truth in the past, which is impossible. Thus what we have is greater grace with law in the NT. Matthew 11:13 has a promise/fulfillment context (11:11, prophet promise versus being "in the kingdom").

Given Matthew 5:17, we are under law in its fulfillment form. Even the wineskin illustration shows continuity: the new wineskin is still a wineskin. For example, consider the Mosaic Passover law that is old wineskin. So, we are not under it. But think continuity and what do we find? We find that communion is the Christian Passover meal. Thus, we are not under the distinctively typical Mosaic promise forms of the law. Still when we look for continuity we are under the law (Cf. Luke 22 on Passover and the Lord's supper "fulfilled" or brought to its lived expression over the life of the church).

In 1 Corinthians 9:20-21, Paul shows the shift. He says that 1) He is not under the law, that is, he is not under the Jewish, Old covenant form of the Law. And 2) with regard to Gentiles he says he is without law (v. 21). This again means he is without the Jewish system. But this does not make him free from God's law; he is under the law to Christ (21). I take the latter as saying he is under the new wine skin, fulfillment form, of the Law of God. He is "without" the Jewish promise system but he is "not without the law of God" but is under the law of Christ. At the same time that he is without the law, he is not without God's law; he is without the OT, old wine skin form, but has the new wine skin form of the OT; he still has God's law with an abiding validity.

The abiding validity of the law shows the need for careful distinctions when reading about the law and the various antithetic sounding passages. We have to continually ask, "in what sense are we not under the law?"

We should recognize that we are under the law in the basic sense of moral responsibility to God's commandments in their fulfillment forms but, at the same time, there are diverse senses in which we are not under the law.

2A. We are not under law in its vain use

So, the Sermon on the mount sounds like discontinuity with Moses; but see Matthew 5:21; 27, these are not done away but clarified as to their depth over against the distortions of the Rabbinical tradition. There is a twisting for misconduct when people are brought under the commandments of men in a legalism that makes vain the commandments of God (Mk. 7:8, 13).

3A. We are not under law in its misuse for justification

This was the OT yoke no man can bear (Acts 15:10; v.11 narrows the focus to false justification). We are justified apart from the works of the law (Rom. 3:21, 28; 10:4). Note that Galatians 3:3 does not eliminate the law duty of Christians; it eliminates being perfected by the flesh, without the Spirit, without faith (cf. with 2:16 and the meriting of God's favor). Even if "perfected" refers to sanctification, what is opposed is law works of the flesh without the Spirit not law works in the Spirit.

4A. We are not under law in its aggravation of sin

The law often excites and incites sin to more aggravated transgression (Murray, I, 229 on Rom. 5:20). Also, Romans 6:14 speaks of being under the law of sin and death. From 14a we have the impact of the law undergirding and intensifying our sin outside of justification by faith, sin being master over us (thus the relation of law, sin, and death).

I want to argue that Galatians 5:18 fits into this same category. But it lacks contextual development. However, it is parallel with Romans 6:14 (not under law). Furthermore, being led by the Spirit in Galatians 5:18 is a quality that defines a Christian when compared with Romans 8:14. So, "not under the law in Galatians 5:18" is defined as being under bondage to sin and outside of grace. The Spirit leads the one who is freed from this bondage; this confirms that under law in Galatians 5:18 refers to our state outside of grace in unbelief. Again, we have to ask, in what sense are we not under the law? In these passages, it is in the sense of bondage, inciting to sin, mastery, outside of childship to God, and without the Spirit.

In 1 Timothy 1:9, we have to ask, "in what sense is the law not for the righteous?" given all the varied uses. In other words, it is parallel to ask "in what sense are we not under the law"?

1) First, the law is good and has a proper use (1:8). So, we have duty to the law. This further makes us seek a peculiar sense from the context for not being under the law.

2) Second, the phrase "not for the righteous" (1 Tim. 1:9) has a legalistic (outside of grace) context (vs. 5-7). It is not difficult to take it in the sense of its function as a taskmaster in a falsely informed legalism (vs. 6-7). So, with regard to the unrighteous it excites a wicked heart, bad conscience and insincere faith (via the contrast of its proper work in the believer, v. 5). In this sense, the law is not for the righteous. A paraphrase would be this: "the condemning/taskmaster function of the law in a false legalistic use is not for the righteous" (or whatever of the negative function that is distinctively appropriate in this context). So, Berkouwer:

Paul was responding to those "teachers of the law" who forgot that the law itself is a taskmaster for sinners. These people manipulated the law (by trying to make it more "legal") to such an extent that they understood neither "what they are saying" nor the things about which they make assertions" (I Tim. 1:7). Paul's objection to this legalistic practice is evident from what he says about "the divine training that is in faith" as well as the goal of admonition: namely, a "love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith: (1:4-5). The interest is by no means the "antithesis" of spontaneity and God's law! For the only antithesis we find is that between faith and love, on the one hand, and the practice of legalism, on the other (Sin, 164-165).

Similarly, that there is no law against the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23) does not tell us that Christians bearing fruit do so without commandments. Instead, what it is telling us is that where these fruits are manifest there is no condemnation proclaimed by the law (or any other sense of the aggravating function of the law).

Likewise the letter kills but the Spirit gives life in 2 Corinthians 3:6-11. This passage goes with the old wine skin form that has passed away but it also shows the condemning and killing function of the law. This was one function it had among many; it should not be reduced to exclusively a ministry of death; it brought death to those who did not have the Spirit, who lacked faith, who misused the law, who served God with their lips with their hearts far from God. Again see Psalm 1 and 119 for the delightful place of the law in the life of the believer.

Conclusion

There are many senses in which we are not under the law. But these all serve to show us the ways we are under the law.

• Not promise form but fulfillment form
• Not vain use of Pharisees but actual commandments of God
• Not misuse for justification but for sanctification
• Not under its aggravation of bondage but for freedom

We are under the law as summarized in the word of God in general in both OT and NT in its New Covenant, new wineskin form. We are under the law/word of God as summarized in the Ten Commandments. We are under the law of love to God and our neighbor. It is simply a matter of living out our baptismal commitment to live under the authority and commandments of the triune God (Matt. 28:19-20).

By the blessing of the Holy Spirit may we be enabled more and more to glorify God by the law.