As we continue looking at our riches in Christ, we are coming to one that many people may not actually grasp at first. That is that we are free from the Law. The book of Romans, Galatians, and other places speak clearly about our freedom from the Law.
Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” There has been a shift. In the Old Testament, the Jews were under the Mosaic Law and that Law contained over six hundred laws. Included are the Ten Commandments which were central. Then you have other laws wrapped around that, some ceremonial, some civil law, some moral law. All are wrapped around those things. One of the problems with the Law was that people tried to keep it for the wrong reasons. The Law was perfect as Romans 7 tells us. It reflects the moral nature of God. It is very important for us to examine it and much of the Old Testament moral law is reiterated in the New Testament so there is not a complete break here in that sense. However, the Law itself was powerless in two major areas: the Law could not save anyone, and the Law was never intended for sanctification.
First, the Law could not save anyone. I have heard Christians today, that I think should know better, say that in the Old Testament they were saved by keeping the Law and doing the sacrifices and in the New Testament they were saved by the finished work of Christ and by faith. That is not true. No one has ever been saved by keeping the Law. Firstly, because it was never intended to save anybody. Secondly, no one has ever kept the Law perfectly except Jesus Christ Himself who kept it on our behalf. So, to be saved by the Law is an impossibility.
Second, the Law was never intended for sanctification. Sanctification means to help us grow in Christ. We can look at the moral Law and we see the reflection of the nature of God in that Law, that is very helpful. Paul says in Romans 7 that he was not able to keep that Law. The more he tried the more he realized how much he failed. That was his whole life, trying to keep the Law, he was a miserable and hopeless failure because he could not keep the Law. So, it was never intended to save us or to sanctify us . . .
