THE ROLE OF THE LAW IN OUR SANCTIFICATION

by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Dennis E. Johnson, Dennis E.

If we live by faith in Jesus Christ rather than by faith in ourselves and our works, we’ll know the joy that protects us from accusation and we’ll live in the love that will constrain true obedience. Since we no longer view the law as the means to obtain righteousness, since it no longer has the power to either harm or threaten us, we may now use it as it’s meant to be used. We will be free to delight in the law because we are freed from the power of the law to curse us. 

All of the wonderful obligations of the law will then help us on our way toward godly living and sanctification. Since we cannot be made any more perfect in God’s eyes than we already are, we are now free to make the law serve us. It will serve us by making us more thankful for Christ when we see how we fail to obey it, and it will serve us by showing us how to love God and our neighbor as we long to. Rather than viewing the law as our enemy, we’ll learn to say along with our Savior, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Ps. 40: 8). From this position of security and rest in God, the psalmist wrote: 

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold,even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Ps. 19: 7– 11) 

When the law is kept where it belongs —as a means to draw us to Christ and to show us how to love—it is delightful and causes us to rejoice. When it goes beyond this and attacks our conscience, we must silence its threatenings by remembering the gospel and putting the law back in its place. The law is a light on our path, but it is not the path, and it cannot impel us toward holiness nor make us love God." [1]

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1.  Fitzpatrick, Elyse M.; Johnson, Dennis E. (2009-06-23). Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ (Kindle Locations 1902-1919). Crossway. Kindle Edition.