Biblical Essays
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL
Luke 10:25-35
We desire to briefly dwell on two questions that are suggested and answered in our Lord’s interview with the lawyer – What is written in the law? What is revealed in the Gospel? These questions have only to be named to secure the attention and awaken the interest of many. It is needful to understand the object, nature and range of the law; and in no way can these things be as clearly seen as when examined in contrast with the glorious Gospel of God’s free grace in Christ. Let us then proceed with our enquiry:
What Is Written In The Law?
This question may be simply answered. The law reveals what man ought to do. This is what is written in the law. We often hear it said that “The law is the transcript of the mind of God.” This definition is defective. What idea should we have of God were we to regard “the ten words” uttered on the top of Mount Sinai, mid thundering and lightning, blackness, darkness and tempest, as the transcript of His mind? How can we know God if “the ministration of death and condemnation, written and engraven in stones,” is the transcript of His mind? We inquire of the framers of the above objectionable definition, “Is there nothing in the mind of God except death and condemnation? Is there nothing in the mind of God except thou shalt and thou shalt not? If there be more than these, then it is a mistake to affirm that “The law is the transcript of the mind of God.” If it is said that “The law declares the mind of God regarding what man ought to do,” we have no objection to offer – that is what we hold the law to be. But let us remember that the declaration of what man ought to do and the revelation of what God is, are two totally different things. The former is the law, the latter is the Gospel. Both are divinely perfect, but they stand in vivid contrast; the one is perfect to condemn, the other is perfect to save.
Let us observe how this point is unfolded in the Scripture before us. “And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, what is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.”
In no wise does it interfere with the teaching of this passage to say that the lawyer stood up with the intention of tempting Christ, or that he could flippantly and unfeelingly repeat what was written in the law. What we have to see is this, that the great law-question, “What must I do?” is here proposed and answered. If a man is to get life by keeping the commandments, he must keep them. There is no mystery about this. It is so plain that the question is, “How readest thou?” A man has only to read Exodus 20 to know his duty toward God and his neighbor.
But the solemn inquiry is, “Have I done my duty? Have I loved God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself?” No; we have not; far from it. We have proved times without number that we love many things contrary to God; that we have indulged in lusts and pleasures condemned by God; that our will is thoroughly opposed to God’s will; that we hate the things He loves, and love the things He hates. In other words, it is obvious that I have not loved God with all my heart, that I have not given Him a single affection of my heart. And as to my neighbor, have I loved him as myself? Have I, at all times and under all circumstances, as carefully sought to promote my neighbor’s interests as though they were my own? Have I rejoiced as unfeignedly in his prosperity as in my own? I dare not answer in the affirmative. I have only to bow my head and confess that I have utterly and shamefully failed in my duty both toward God and toward my neighbor. I fully admit that it is my duty to love God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself, but I also admit as fully that I have done neither one nor the other.
What then can the law do for me? Curse me and slay me on the spot! Is there no mercy? Not in the law! There is no mercy at Mount Sinai. If a man stands before that fiery mount, the tremendous alternative is duty or damnation. There is no middle ground. “This do, and thou shalt live” is the solemn, conclusive and emphatic language of the law. “The man that doeth these things shall live in them,” but on the other hand, “cursed is everyone [without a single exception] that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10; emphasis added). “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses” (Heb. 10:28).
The law makes no provision for imperfect obedience, however sincere. It makes no allowance for infirmity. Its one brief, pointed inquiry is, “Have you continued in all things?” If we say No (and who can say otherwise?) it can only curse us. Why? Because it is perfect. Were it to pass over a single transgression, it would not be a perfect law. Its very perfection insures the condemnation of the transgressor. “As many as are of works of law [that is, as many as work on the principle, stand on the ground, occupy the platform of works of law] are under the curse,” and cannot possibly be anything else. This unanswerably establishes the point. The law can only prove to be a ministration of death and condemnation to the sinner, simply because he is a sinner and “the law is holy, and just, and good.” It is no use for a man to say, “I am not looking to the law for life or justification, but merely as a rule and for sanctification.” As a rule for what? For the sanctification of what? If we say, “for our old nature,” the answer is, so far from being “a rule of life,” it is “a ministration of death;” and so far from sanctifying the flesh, it condemns it, root and branch. On the other hand, if we say it is for the new nature, then our mistake is equally obvious, since the apostle expressly declares that “the law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Tim. 1:9).
This is plain enough for anyone who is content to take the Holy Scriptures as his guide. To a fallen creature, the law can neither be the ground of life nor the rule of life; neither can it be the ground of righteousness nor the power of sanctification. “By deeds of law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). This one passage is conclusive regarding both justification and sanctification. No flesh can be justified in God’s sight by the law; and as to sanctification, how can we ever become holy by means of that which only shows us our ungodliness? If we measure a short board by a true measure we must prove it short. A true measure cannot make a short board the proper length; it can only show what it is. It is likewise with the law and the sinner. Again, “The law worketh wrath” (Rom. 4:15). How is this? Because it is pure and we are impure.
The law and the sinner are complete opposites – wholly irreconcilable. Before we can delight in the law of God, we must get a new nature, stand on new ground, be in the new creation. “I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Rom. 7:22). But how do we get this “inward man,” this new nature? How do we get into the new creation? Not by works of law, but by faith of Jesus Christ. We become united to Christ in the power of a new and endless life, upon which the law has no claim. We died in Christ. Hence the law has no further demand on me. If a man is in prison for murder and dies there, the law is done with him, because the life in which the crime was committed is gone. So it is with the sinner who believes in Jesus. God sees him to be dead. His old man is crucified. The sentence of the law has been put into execution upon him in the Person of Christ. Had it been executed on him, it would have been death eternal, but having been executed on Christ, His death is of infinite, divine and eternal effectiveness. Moreover, having the power of eternal life in Himself, He rose, as a Conqueror from the tomb after having met every claim. And the believer, having died in Him, now lives in Him forever. Christ is his life; Christ is his righteousness; Christ is his rule of life; Christ is his model; Christ is his hope; Christ is his all and in all (Rom. 6, 7; Gal. 2:20-21; 3, 4; Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 2:10-15).
Some may feel disposed to inquire, “If the law cannot yield life, furnish righteousness or promote sanctification, then for what end was it given?” The apostle anticipates and answers this question. “Wherefore then the law? It was added because of transgression, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made” (Gal. 3:19). We also read, “Moreover, the law entered [or came in by the way, between the promise and the accomplishment] that the offense might abound” (Rom. 5:20; emphasis added). In simplest terms, these two passages declare the object of the law. It is not said, “The law entered in order that we might get life, righteousness or sanctification by it,” but quite the opposite. It was “because of transgression” and “that the offense might abound.” Where is it said in Scripture that the law was given so that by it we might get life, righteousness or sanctification? Nowhere. But it is declared that “the law was added because of transgression” and that “it came in by the way that the offense might abound.” It is not possible to conceive two objects more diverse.
The legal system speaks of life, righteousness and sanctification by law; on the contrary, the Scripture speaks of “offense,” “transgression” and “wrath.” Why? Because we are sinners and the law is holy. It demands strength and we are weak; it demands life in order to keep it and we are dead; it demands perfection in all things and we are perfect in nothing; it is holy and just and good and we are unholy, unjust and bad. Thus it stands between us and the law; and regarding the principle of the law, it matters not in the least whether we are regenerate or unregenerate, believers or unbelievers, saints or sinners. The law knows nothing of any such distinctions. It is addressed to man in the flesh, in his old-Adam condition, in his old-creation standing. It tells him what he ought to do for God, and because he has not done that, it curses him: it cannot do anything else. It shows him no mercy, but leaves him in the place of death and condemnation. Let us now proceed to inquire in the second place,
What Is In The Gospel?
This is unfolded with uncommon beauty and power in the touching parable of “the Good Samaritan.” The lawyer, like all legalists, “willing to justify himself,” sought to ascertain the identity of his neighbor. In reply, our blessed Lord draws vividly presents a picture of the true condition of every sinner. “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead.” What a picture of man’s life and condition. “A certain man went down.” How true. Has not our course always been downward? When left to ourselves, have we ever taken a step upward, a step in the right direction? There is no use in generalizing, in making statements about mankind, the whole human race, Adam’s posterity and the like. What we need is to bring the matter home and say to ourselves, “I am the ‘certain man’ of this beautiful parable; it is myself that appears in the foreground of this masterly picture; my course has been a downward one; I have gone down from the innocence of childhood to the folly of youth, and from the folly of youth to the matured wickedness of manhood, and here I am, stripped of every shred in which I might wrap myself; wounded in every region of my moral being; and having the painful consciousness that death has already begun its terrible work in me.”
Such is the career, such the condition of every sinner – his life, downward; his condition, death. What is to be done? Can he keep the law? No; he is not able to move. Can the “priest” do anything for him? No; he has no sacrifice and no ability to rise and get one. Can the “Levite” help him? No; he is so polluted with his wounds and bruises that neither Levite nor priest could touch him. In other words, neither law nor ordinances can meet his case. He is utterly ruined. He has destroyed himself. The law has flung him overboard as a defiled, good-for-nothing, condemned thing. It is useless talking to him about the law or asking him will he take it as a means of justification, a rule of life or the power of sanctification. It has cursed, condemned and set him aside, and he can only cry out from the profound and awful depths of moral ruin, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Only when a man is brought to this point is he in a position to see the moral grandeur of the Gospel. He is prepared to appreciate the ample provisions of the grace of God only when he has discovered his own guilt, misery and ruin, and also his entire inability to meet the just and holy claims of the law, or profit in any wise by the appliances of the legal system in its most attractive forms.
These facts are most strikingly illustrated in the scene before us. When the poor man had gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho, from the city of God to the city of the curse (Joshua 6:26; 1 Kings 16:33-34); when he lay stripped, wounded and half-dead; when both priest and Levite had turned from him and gone their way; it was then that he was in a position to prove the grace of the Good Samaritan who assuredly is none other than the blessed Lord Jesus Himself, blessed forever be His precious name. He appears in the form of a Samaritan only to enhance the grace that breathes forth on our souls in this lovely scene. “The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” Hence, if the Jew in this parable had sufficient strength, we may safely affirm that he would not have permitted the stranger to touch him. But he was so far gone, so powerless, so under the power of death, that the gracious Samaritan could have it his way. And what a tender way it was. “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”
Here is what is revealed in the Gospel. Man has ruined himself. He has gone down from God. He has fallen under the power of the enemy. He is the victim of Satan, the slave of sin, the subject of death. His case, as far as he is concerned, is hopeless. But, blessed be God, the true Samaritan has come down into all the ruin. The Son of God left His Father’s bosom, His eternal dwelling-place, came down into this world to remedy our ruin, bear our guilt, and endure the wrath of God in our place. All this He did as the expression of His own tender compassion and love. “He had compassion” and came to bind up our wounds, to pour “the wine and oil” of His own precious grace into our souls, to heal, restore and bless us, to put us into His own position according to the power that had brought Him into ours, to make ample provision for all our need until that bright and happy moment when we shall be ushered into His presence to forever go out no more.
The page of inspiration does not present a more touching picture than that which the Master’s pen has drawn for us in “The Good Samaritan.” It is perfectly beautiful and beautifully perfect. It is divine. Every expression is filled with exquisite moral loveliness. “He came where he was” – not half-way or nine-tenths of the way, but all the way. “And when he saw him,” what then? Did he turn away in disgust at his appearance and in despair of his condition? No; “He had compassion on him.” His tender heart yearned over him. He cared not what he was or who he was. Jew or Gentile, it mattered not; the streams of tender compassion came gushing up from the deep fountains of a heart that found its own delight in ministering to every form of human need. Was this “compassion” a mere movement of sentimentality – a momentary feeling uttering itself in empty words and then passing away? No; it was a real, living, acting thing, expressing itself in the most unmistakable manner. “He went to him.” For what? To meet his every need; not leaving him until he had placed him in a position of security, rest and blessing.
Nor was this all. Not only did this gracious stranger fully meet the wounded one’s present need, but before leaving, he spoke these touching words, “Take care of him.” How this must have melted the poor man’s heart. Such kindness. And all from a stranger, from one with whom he would naturally have “no friendly dealings.”
Finally, as if to complete the picture, he says, “when I come again.” He awakens in the heart by these last words, “the blessed hope” of seeing him again. What a lovely picture. And yet it is all a divine reality. It is the simple story of our blessed Jesus who, in His tender compassion, looked on us in our low and hopeless condition, left His eternal dwelling-place of light and love, took on Himself the likeness of sinful flesh, was made of a woman, made under the law, lived a spotless life, and fulfilled a perfect ministry down here for 33+ years, and finally died on the cross as a perfect atonement for sin so that God might be just and the Justifier of any poor, ungodly, convicted sinner that truly trusts in Jesus.
Yes, whoever we are, high or low, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, Jesus has done all this; and He is now at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. The One who was nailed to the cross for us, is now on the throne. Eternal Justice has wreathed His sacred brow with the wreath of victory on our behalf. Nor is this all. He has said, “I will come again.” What precious words. Would we be glad to see Him? Do we know Him as the Good Samaritan? Have we felt His loving hand binding up our spiritual wounds? Have we known the healing virtues of His oil, and the restoring, invigorating, and cheering influence of His wine? Have we heard Him speak the thrilling words, “Take care of him?” If so, then surely we will be glad to see His face: we will cherish in our heart’s tender affections the blessed hope of seeing Him as He is and of being like Him and with Him forever. We pray the Lord grant that it may be so with all of us, and then we will be able to appreciate the immense difference between the law and the Gospel; between what we ought to do for God and what God has done for us; between what we are to Him and what He is to us; between “do and live” and “live and do”; between “the righteousness of the law” and “the righteousness of faith.”
We pray that the blessing of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit shall rest on each one of us, now, henceforth and forevermore.
Dead to the law
“For I through law, am dead to law, that I might live to God” (Gal. 2:19). This is a weighty word and much needed in this age. The spiritual apprehension of the truth set forth will preserve the soul from two errors that are common in the religious world – legality on one hand and licentiousness on the other. Were we to compare these two evils, were we compelled to choose between them, we would undoubtedly prefer the former. We would much rather see a man under the authority of the Law of Moses than one living in lawlessness and self-indulgence. Of course, we know that neither is right and that Christianity gives us something quite different, but we have much more respect for a man who, seeing nothing beyond Moses and regarding the Law of Moses as the only divine standard by which his conduct is to be regulated, bows down in a spirit of reverence to its authority, than for one who seeks to get rid of that law so he may please himself. Thank God, the truth of the Gospel gives us the divine remedy for both cases. But how? Does it teach us that the law is dead? No. What then? It teaches that the believer is dead. “I through law am dead to law.” And to what end? That we may please self? That we may seek our own profit and pleasure? By no means, but “that I may live to God.”
Here lies the grand and all-important truth – a truth lying at the very base of Christianity, and without which we can have no true sense of what Christianity is. So in Romans 7 we read, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also have become dead to the law [not the law is dead] by the body of Christ, in order that ye may be to another [not to yourselves, but] even to Him that was raised from the dead, that ye might bring forth fruit unto God” (v. 4; emphasis added).
Again, “But now ye are delivered from the law, being dead to that wherein ye were held, that ye might serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter” (v. 6).1 Note, it is that we may serve, not that we may please ourselves. We have been delivered from the intolerable yoke of Moses that we may wear the “easy yoke of Christ,” not that we may give a loose run to nature.
To a serious mind, there is something shocking in the thought of men appealing to certain principles of the Gospel to establish a plea for the indulgence of the flesh. They want to fling aside the authority of Moses, not that they may enjoy the authority of Christ, but merely to indulge self. But it is vain. It cannot be done with any shadow of truth, for it is never said in Scripture that the law is dead or abrogated, but it is said – and repeatedly urged – that the true believer is dead to the law and dead to sin so he may taste the sweetness of living unto God, of having his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
We earnestly commend this weighty subject unfolded in Romans 4 and 5, Galatians 3 and 4. A right understanding of it will solve many difficulties, answer many questions, and deliver the soul from a mass of error and confusion. May God give His own Word power over the heart and conscience.
Footnote:
1 Regarding verse 6, It is well to note this, as also the difference between the way in which the apostle uses the illustration. It is the husband who dies, but in the application, it is the believer, not the law. Not seeing this had led many into the error of teaching that the law is dead, whereas in 1 Timothy 1:8, the apostle expressly declares, not that the law is dead, but the reverse; “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” And how is it to be used lawfully? “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless.” It is of the utmost importance that we understand this.
