0371. Could the Law Bring Righteousness?

Could the Law Bring Righteousness?

"Is the Law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law" (Gal_3:21).

1. We suppose that all will grant that if righteousness could have come by the Law, it would have come that way. The Cross of Christ is God’s final answer to the impossibility of salvation by the Law.

Those who seek salvation by the "Be good" and "Keep sweet" route had better pause for they are believing something can be done, which God decided could not be done.

2. In Rom_8:3 we read "For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

There are many depths of truth in the above quotation. We wish to emphasize only one thing–the Law could not save us because the flesh could not keep the Law. This explains the reason for the Cross.

3. If Adam, created in the image of God and environed by the Garden of Eden, sinned, what can we expect from Adam’s sons, born in sin and environed by iniquity. Even Adam needed the Cross, as set forth in the robe of a slain beast, and Abel needed the Cross as seen in his accepted offering.

Let us rejoice that God did not shut us up to the Law, for our salvation–else none had been saved. The Law does no more than drive us to Christ.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR