THE 3 USES OF THE LAW
Our current sermon series in 1 Timothy provides us with opportunities to consider the law of God. In the letter, Paul charges Timothy to put a stop to “certain persons” within the church at Ephesus who are promoting “different doctrine,” given over to “myths” and “speculations,” and “desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they or saying or the things about which they make confident assertions” (1 Tim 1:3, 4, 7).
At the heart of the false teaching they’re promoting is an “unlawful” use of the Mosaic Law (see 1 Tim 1:8-10). This is likely occurring in either one of two (or a mix of both) ways: 1) by promoting any form of law-keeping in order to be saved and declared righteous in God’s sight, or 2) by promoting fringe, fanciful, or novel interpretations of the Mosaic Law as a means to experience true spirituality.
The problem with both of these approaches is that they are “unlawful” uses of the law which miss the point of why it was given. As scholar Philip Ryken puts it, “Paul was opposed to the self-appointed teachers of the law in Ephesus, but not to the law itself.” So, in order to help us make sense of what’s happening in 1 Timothy and rightly relate to the law in our Christian lives, we’ll consider the three classic categories for the purpose of God’s law.
TO EXPOSE AND CONDEMN SIN
While the law itself is “holy and righteous and good” (Rom 7:12) it was given “because of transgressions” (Gal 3:19). Revealed “so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified (declared righteous) in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:19-20). The first purpose of the law is to present us with God’s righteous standards and demonstrate that we’ve fallen short of meeting them. The law functions like a mirror to show us who we really are. It comes to convict us, humble us, leave us despairing of our own righteousness, and, by God’s grace, send us running to Christ.
Clashing with the potential purpose of the false teachers, the Bible makes it clear there was never a law given by which we could be saved. But instead, the law was given to show us that we were sinful, guilty, and in need of a salvation and redemption that must come from outside of us. Similar to our laws today, the law was not given to reward us. If you follow the speeding limit, you don’t get a reward. You just don’t get a ticket. The law was not given to get anything from it, it’s given to expose and condemn those who break it.
Because of this, any pursuit of law-keeping, obedience to God’s commands, or trust in anything we could do to contribute to or establish our acceptance before the holy and righteous Lawgiver is an “unlawful” use of the law. This error not only misses the first purpose of the law, it denies the gospel as well.
TO RESTRAIN EVIL AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS
While the law cannot save or change our hearts, it can restrain people (both believers and not) from acting as unrighteously as they might otherwise. The law functions to deter wrongdoing by revealing the consequences and judgment law-breakers deserve. In the Mosaic Law, there were a variety of punishments for a variety of crimes. In our legal system today, there are sentences and outcomes assigned to those who violate the law. Ultimately, the Bible reveals that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23) and every human being made in the image of God, possesses an undeniable sense that evil deserves to be punished. In some instances, they may refrain from doing what God has said to be in the wrong, even if only out of fear of punishment or negative consequences. This restraint isn’t always the case, but that’s not because the law is unclear or isn’t all that good, but because we’re bad and go beyond its bounds.
Like Paul says in Rom 1:32, “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things (see vv.28-31) deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
1 Tim 1:3-11 seems to indicate that the false teachers in Ephesus were missing this second purpose of the law. They were so caught up in myths, speculations, and their own fringe, fanciful, and novel interpretation of the law that they forgotten the plain purpose of the law - to prevent sins! It’s in this way that the “law is not laid down for the just,” (not as in believers, but as in those who are generally well-behaved, basically righteous - from an external standpoint) “but for the lawless and disobedient” (1 Tim 1:9). The implication is that the false teachers misuse of the law was leading them to engage in the very behavior the law of God most emphatically and expressly forbids! The kind of behaviors which violate the summary of God’s righteous standards revealed in the 10 Commandments - which are echoed in the list of sins mentioned in 1:9-10 (see Ex 20:1-17; Deut 5:6-21).
Among other things happening here, the fact that the sins Paul mentions correspond with the order and contents of the 10 Commandments demonstrates the on-going and abiding validity of God’s law as a moral standard for righteous living. Even in the era of the New Covenant, after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, these commandments remain the standard by which all mankind is judged.
TO GUIDE THE LIVES OF GOD’S REDEEMED PEOPLE
Lastly, while the law cannot be used for justification (our right-standing before God), it does have a role to play in our sanctification (our on-going growth in holiness and conformity to Christ). Paul reflects this as he cites principles from the law in order to guide the on-going life of the church (1 Tim 5:18-20). As believers, we can learn to love the law because of what the gospel has done for us and begin to use it “lawfully” in our Christian lives.
How does this work? First by acknowledging that Christ has fulfilled the law. In his perfect life and sacrificial death he kept every command of the law and satisfied the consequences for our law-breaking. This fulfillment means that there is a new way for us to relate to the law. We’re no longer bound to the ceremonial, dietary, or laws that governed Israel’s worship because Christ is our perfect high priest and perfect sacrifice. The particular civil codes, penalties, and punishments that governed national Israel - while remaining as examples of God’s righteousness applied to specific situations of social life that any government could learn from today - no longer bind God’s people (comprised of those who are spiritually united to Christ by faith) as they once did. But the moral core of the law (summarized in the 10 Commandments - which codified in time and history the righteous character and demands of God that had existed from the beginning) remains. Not so that we would strive to be saved by keeping it, but so that we’d be guided in our lives as God’s redeemed. Christ’s kept the moral law of God perfectly and then died for our every violation of it in order that we would no longer sit under its condemnation but now learn from its instruction.
Jesus himself said that the summary of the whole law is to 1) Love God, and 2) Love others (Mt 22:34-40). So what does it look like to love God and love others? It looks like the 10 Commandments. As Charles Spurgeon once put it, “You want to know what God would have you to do. Nine times out of ten, look to the Ten Commandments, and you will as least know what you must not do; and knowing what you must not do, you will be able to conclude what you may do.”
Commandments 1-4 are what it looks like to love God. Commandments 5-10 are what it looks like to love others. These commands were once written on tablets of stone under the Old Covenant, but have now been etched upon our hearts by the work of the Spirit according to the promises of the New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:6-13). They are intended to be kept not only according to the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. Just as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7). Which means that the believer who has been justified and declared righteous before God by faith and filled with the Holy Spirit, can now begin to keep the law in the power of the Spirit, from the heart - not to earn or contribute to our salvation - but to become more and more like our Savior (Rom 8:1-13).
Would we meditate upon the law in order to be made more like Christ and enjoy life in God’s house to the fullest as we embrace his commands. Loving the God who has so loved us in Christ. Loving one another, “for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom 13:8).
