The Law – Part 2

In Part 1, we considered what the law is and how it came about.

In this article, we list its purpose, effect, and relationship with the believer in the New Covenant.

•  The law is like a mirror that reveals our flaws but cannot do anything about them (Romans 3:20; 7:7, 14).
• The law gives sin-consciousness (Romans 3:20).
• The law is the strength of sin (1 Corinthians 15:56).
• The law arouses sinful passion (Romans 7:5).
• The law amplifies sin (Romans 5:20).
• The law brings wrath (Romans 4:15).
• The law brings death (Romans 7:10).
• The law produces curse to anyone who tries to keep it but does not keep it in full (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10). There were 613 regulations therein. You fail one, you fail them all. It is an all-or-nothing system.
• The law is of works (Romans 3:27).
• The law is powerless to save (Hebrews 9:9; 10:4).
• The law is the ministry of condemnation and death (2 Corinthians 3:7-9).
• The law is a shadow (Colossians 2:14-17; Hebrews 10:1).
• The law is opposed to faith (Galatians 3:12).
• The law is a yoke that entangles (Acts 15:10; Galatians 5:1).
• The law cannot justify (Acts 13:39; Rom 3:28; Galatians 2:16).
• The law makes nothing perfect (Hebrews 7:19).
• The law is weak (Romans 8:3).
• The law is weak and unprofitable (Hebrews 7:18).
• The law has no mercy (Hebrew 10:28).
• The law is a guardian to bring us to the Justifier, Christ (Galatians 3:24-25). It reveals man’s helplessness and inability to meet God’s righteous standard by themselves and their need for a Savior. It has completed that assignment and thus we are no longer under it.
• The law covers the heart with a veil. It obscures the grace of God in the hearts of men (2 Corinthians 3:15).
• The law cannot give life (Galatians 3:21).
• The law is not for the righteous (1 Timothy 1:8-9). We are righteous (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
• God found the law faulty (Hebrews 8:7-8).
• Jesus has fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:44; Acts 3:18).
• The law is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).
• We are delivered from the law (Romans 7:6).
• We are dead to the law (Romans 7:4; Galatians 2:19).
• We are not under the law (Romans 6:14).
• The law has been nailed to the Cross (Colossians 2:14).
• Christ abolished the law in His flesh (Ephesians 2:15).
• The law has been changed (Hebrews 7:12).
• Christ is the end of the law (Romans 10:4).
  And finally:
• The law, in principle, was not even given to the Gentiles in the first instance (Leviticus 26:46; Psalm 147:19-20; Romans 2:14-16; Ephesians 2:12).