Why Christians Cannot Be Trusted to Keep the Law of God
The Christian life is informed by the law of God, but it is not defined by works of the law done in righteousness.
The law of God is good. The law of God is spiritual. It is written upon the Christian’s heart because the Holy Spirit has taken up residence, removing the heart of stone, and replacing it with a heart of flesh. Stone was the original material used for the law, given to Moses at Sinai. The law, despite its display of the holiness and righteousness of God, only hardens the unregenerate heart.
The Spirit of Christ, the righteous One who fulfilled the law, does not abide in the Christian to inspire sinful flesh and the body of death to comply with the revealed law. Human flesh will never submit, even the flesh of the believer in Jesus. This is why the body of the Christian dies. It is the error of Galatians to expect the law to sanctify Christians, even with the presence of the indwelling Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit, in sanctification, is to fulfill God’s will of conformity of the Christian to the image of Christ Jesus. This is not an external work of visible compliance to the law of Moses. It is an internal work performed exclusively by the indwelling Spirit. Sanctification has been decreed, and the will of God must be accomplished by the work of God, ensuring glory to God.
Men insist on some external formality, fomenting the stench of legalism, which says, “Do this and you are with us. Don’t do that or you are excommunicated.” Really? Who can stand? The Christian is the object of grace. Grace has taken hold of the elect soul and brought it through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians were dead in sin, but now they are dead to sin. We speak of the soul, but the body of death remains.
The flesh of the Christian wars against the indwelling Spirit (Rom 7). Death must come to the Christian’s body because of sin. Whereas the Christian soul has been made alive, the Christian body is dying, soon to be buried, but it is lives and dies in hope. The promise of the resurrection of the body, on the day of Christ’s second advent, is as sure as the already regenerated soul of the Christian.
Sin continues in the Christian body, and there is no reformation of the body in this life. The law of God continues to expose Christians as sinners in the flesh. Whereas the Christian soul speaks of a realized salvation, the Christian body sins, daily. The law has no renewing power for sinful flesh. The body of flesh must die, in order for sinning to stop.
It is for this reason that Christian compliance to the law of God should not be expected. A civil war continues in the Christian life. The Spirit gives grace, gives faith, and a victory is won, but on the same day the devil tempts the flesh of the Christian. The world approves of sins committed in the body. The paradox is a grief to the born again believer. Still, the law offers no solution for the body of sin to comply. Religious Christians put on a show of holiness and godliness. External displays of legal compliance generate an increase in pride, and the Christian is no better off for his good, albeit sporadic, days of compliance.
In conclusion, Christians are inconsistent law-keepers. Therefore, we should live as people of grace toward one another. When compliance to the law appears, it must be attributed to the indwelling Spirit, who causes the Christian to walk in God’s statutes (Ezek 36:27). The work of the Spirit, being internal and according to God’s agenda of time and circumstances, is accomplished by the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. The Spirit wields the Word, and the result is sanctification. Sanctification is incomplete in this life, so Christians cannot be trusted to keep the law of God.
The law is preached for Christians to know the holiness of God and to know our non-compliance to the law. The Gospel is preached so the Christian will look to Christ, and not to the performance of self, in relation to the law. Thus, we trust Christ, not ourselves, to keep the law.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
August 8, 2021
