Reflections
Now we know that what things the law says, it says to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Gal. 3:19)
What does the law say to those who are trying to keep right with God by obeying it? It says, “You are guilty. In fact, you are dead. So your mouth had better stop speaking about the possibilities of your own righteousness.”
The more we try to obey God’s law, the more we are exposed as dead. Why? Because the fundamental problem with man is not simply found in what he does or does not do. The problem is what man IS. The Adam race is spiritually dead – dead to God. You cannot cure a dead person by giving them laws to keep. You have to give him life. Christ IS the Life — He must give us Himself.
God’s law was given to expose the Truth about us. It was given to show us our dead condition — but not to leave us in that condition. It is God’s intent that we would finally realize that it is only through the grace of God in Jesus Christ — and through NOTHING about ourselves — that we have any hope.
God does not give us some power to keep His law. He gives us Christ, who is the power of God — and He alone is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. (I Cor. 1:30) The growing result will be Christ manifested through us: i.e., “faith working through love.” But what folly it is to continue on, “under the law.” To do so is, according to Paul, ANOTHER GOSPEL.
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