Is the Law Contrary to the Gospel?

To understand the Law of God properly, we must understand the historical context in which the law was given. Paul called special attention to this fact in Galatians 3:17, where he wrote these words:

The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God.

Paul referred to the giving of the Ten Commandments as the “introduction” of the law, indicating that this was the first time Israel had possessed God’s law in this form. Of course, God’s people still had many commandments prior to Moses’ time. We see very clearly in the flood of Noah’s day that God had a number of standards that he expected people to follow. And when the people failed to obey God, he destroyed the whole planet with the floodwaters. Moreover, Abraham was not without laws and stipulations to obey. In Genesis 17:1, God had given him the broad and demanding instruction:

Walk before me and be blameless.

A common misunderstanding among Christians is that the law is contrary to the gospel of grace. Many believe that because we are saved by grace apart from works of the law, we have absolutely no obligation to obey the law. Others believe that the law is properly seen only as a threat and terror against sinners, whereas the gospel, by contrast, is what saves us after the law has condemned us.

Since the Protestant Reformation, theologians have frequently spoken of three different ways the law is used in Scripture. The first use of the law is the pedagogical use, or the use of the law as a teacher. When used pedagogically, the law drives men to Christ by inciting and exposing their sin, and threatening punishment against it. This threat drives some unbelievers to Christ, who graciously saves them from the law’s curse. This is the idea behind Paul’s words in Romans 6:14:

[S]in shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

In this sense, the pedagogical use of the law does not apply directly to believers. Once a person has been driven to Christ, the law has finished its work in this regard. So, with regard to the pedagogical use, we are no longer under the law.

The civil or second use of the law involves the way the law restrains sin by threatening punishment against those who violate it. We can think of ways we restrain our own behavior for fear of punishment by those who hold civil authority over us. This use of the law is for believers and unbelievers alike, and it focuses especially on God’s place for civil government as an instrument for restraining evil.

The third or normative use of the law, however, is very helpful to study when we think about the law in terms of the gospel and Christian ethics. We might compare it to the household rules that our parents made to keep us safe, and that we obeyed because we loved and trusted our parents.

Before we were saved, we were all sinners, incapable of keeping the law. We were under the law’s curse because we were lawbreakers. But now that we are saved, we are counted as perfect law-keepers in Christ, so that we receive the law’s promised blessings of salvation and life. Paul referred to this state as being “under grace” to contrast it with being under the law’s curse.

In short, while believers are not “under law” in the sense that we suffer its curse when we sin, we are “under law” in the sense that we receive its blessings, and in the sense that we are obligated to obey it. In Hebrews 8:8-10, we read these words:

I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Notice that in this passage, the new covenant is not something that frees us from the law. Rather, in the new covenant, the law is still central. We might even say that the new covenant gives us even greater reasons to obey the law. But again, it is important that as Christians we reapply the law in light of the changes that have taken place between the old and new covenants.