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Second Quarter 2014 (April–June)
COMMENTARY ON CHRIST AND HIS LAW

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Week 9: May 24–30
COMMENTARY ON CHRIST, THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL

PATRIA RECTOR

Following is a combined commentary on the material included in the Bible Study Guide with references as necessary to the supplemental passages included in the E. G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons.

 

 

Overview

The Sabbath School lesson makes three main points:

1. God is passionately interested in us.
    
2. God reveals His love for us through law: the guide to how we live, and through grace: the means by which He saves even though we violate the law.
    
3. The law and grace are inseparably linked and though we often think of them as contrary to one another, they actually work together to produce righteousness.

 

Commentary

It is true: God is passionately interested in us and longs for a deep, intimate relationship with us. The Law was given to Israel in the form of a covenant. The Mosaic Law or Old Covenant was explicit in its teaching regarding how to live a righteous life. There were blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.

However, the Law was given for these purposes according to Romans 3:19, 20:

1. Speaks to those under the Law
    
2. Given so that every mouth may be closed and the world may be accountable to God
    
3. To reveal utter need for God to intervene on our behalf: “by the works of the Law no flesh justified”
    
4. Through Law comes knowledge of sin

We would summarize our beliefs this way:

1. While the Law still holds the ability to condemn us in our sin, God no longer uses the Law as a guide for righteous living.
    
2. Law is incapable of anything other than condemning us in our sin.
    
3. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not under the Law (see Galatians 3:1113 ff and Romans 6:14, 7:6),
    
4. The righteousness of God is produced in us by the power of God through His Holy Spirit (John 16: 8, Galatians 5:2226;Romans 7:4).
    
5. We must make a choice to live righteously by the works of the Law OR by faith in Jesus Christ.

Let’s define Grace and Law.

Grace: unmerited favor from God toward us through which He bestows salvation and blessings.

Law: (Though the Bible uses the term “law” in several ways, in the context of our discussion, this is the appropriate definition for Law): Scripture containing 613 commands to Israel from God, also known as Torah.

The Law and Grace are contrary to one another. They do not work together to produce righteousness.

The Law produces condemnation and only condemnation. The Law produces a circular lifestyle of trying hard to be good, failing, despair, summoning the will and energy to try even harder to be good only to fail again. The Law is focused on what I can do to be holy and righteous.

Grace does not work in sync with this cycle, indeed it interrupts and destroys it. Instead grace is focused on what God has done through Christ.

Do you see how different they are? What would it be like for you, dear reader, to rest from the futility of trying to be good enough? What if Jesus is longing for you to rest from your works and trust Him to produce holiness in you? What would it be like to focus your eyes on Christ alone instead of your own failures?

The writer of Hebrews makes this profoundly Lawshattering remark in chapter 12:2a:

“...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…”

Paul reiterates this same jawdropping truth in Philippians 1:6:

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

You see, God did not only design the beginning of our lifestyle of righteousness in Christ’s work, He produces it in us by the Holy Spirit. Our “part” is to simply believe Him. He begins the work and HE completes the work.

The author quotes Ellen White at the end of the lesson. While this is a lovely quote, it nullifies what the author himself wrote that the Law and grace are inexplicably linked. In a nutshell, this contradiction summarizes the Adventist doctrinal problem. Adventist doctrine teaches two distinctly contradictory things:

1. Salvation by faith (in a few places such as the one quoted in this lesson)
    
2. The Law is required for righteousness. e.g. the keeping of the commandments is necessary for ultimate salvation.

These two statements are totally opposite from one another. They are biblically illogical and do indeed produce despair.

My prayer for you as you read this commentary is that you will be freed from the belief that God is counting on you to understand the Law well enough to live right enough to be Light enough to the world...

...because Jesus is enough.

 

 

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