What the Bible says about Law Defines Sin
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Exodus 20:8-11 When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a law for community relationships. Did He say, "All of My commandments you must keep—except for one"? The Sabbath is not a minor ceremonial regulation that rarely affects man's relationship with God. It is one of the major Ten Commandments, the laws that spell out God's character, defining love and sin for us. This is why James explained that the law is a package (James 2:10); if you break one law, you break them all. Once the package is broken up, it loses its effectiveness. The fourth commandment is especially important in keeping the other nine. In Ezekiel 20:7-8, 12-13, God specifies two specific commandments that Israel broke: the ones concerning idolatry and Sabbath-keeping. They are linked: If one does not keep the Sabbath, he will commit idolatry. In one sense, these are the two key commandments around which all the others revolve. If we break the first one, we will certainly break the rest. If our god is not God, then we are off the track already. In the same way, if we break the Sabbath day, then the others will be broken. Without the Sabbath, contact with God is lost. God has called a meeting of His Kingdom and Family to occur on that day. If we fail to attend, we are obviously absent and unable to benefit from it. For God to command something that we do not really have to keep would not be beneficial. It would be double-dealing, like handing someone a biscuit with one hand and taking it back with the other. People observe the practices of their religion because they matter to them. Yet, we have been told that one can be a Christian without keeping this beneficial day. Some people claim that it does not matter. If, then, we can meet the requirements of being a Christian without keeping the Sabbath, a law that does not fit the flow of this world's social, business, and religious activities, then why keep it? That would not make sense. What has happened? They have bought into the Protestant notion that God is only trying to save people, and that His law only defines sin. Such a belief has ramifications: The law will be seen in a totally negative light, rather than God's intended positive purpose. Law not only defines sin, but also provides a guide that will produce character in us identical to the Creator's, if we live by the power of His Spirit. Our small part in this entire wonderful purpose is not merely to say, "I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior," but it is to use our God-given free moral agency to make the right choices in order to do our small part in producing godly attitudes and character. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part One) Related Topics: Commandment Keeping | Community Relationships | Fourth Commandment | Free Moral Agency | Idolatry | Law Defines Sin | Sabbath | Sabbath and Relationship with God | Sabbath Commandment | Sabbath Keeping | The Fourth Commandment

Leviticus 16:1-2 Even as the instructions in Leviticus 16 follow a significant failure on the part of the priesthood, we can also credibly link the Day of Atonement with an infamous failure of the whole nation, the Golden Calf incident. By piecing together the dates and spans of time from the scriptural record, a significant possibility arises. Notice these time markers: » Israel left Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month (Exodus 13:3-4). » Sometime within the following week—between the sixteenth and the twenty-second day—the fifty-day count to Pentecost began. » It is generally accepted that Pentecost occurred when God gave the law to Israel from Mount Sinai. No verse directly says this, but the text puts Israel at Sinai in the general timeframe of Pentecost. Exodus 16:1 shows that Israel was already near Sinai on the fifteenth day of the second month. Israel was still camped at Sinai “in the third month” (Exodus 19:1), when Pentecost occurs. » After giving the law, Moses was on the Mount with God for forty days and nights to receive the tablets of stone (Exodus 24:18; Deuteronomy 9:9). » When Moses came down and saw Israel worshipping the Golden Calf, he broke the stone tablets and spent a second period of forty days and nights beseeching God not to destroy Aaron and the rest of the nation (Deuteronomy 9:15-20). » Moses returned to the mountain for a third forty-day period to receive a new copy of the stone tablets (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 10:10). The three forty-day periods mean that there were 120 days between Pentecost and the new copy of the tablets. Adding the fifty-day count to Pentecost brings us to 170 days. The count to Pentecost began between the sixteenth and twenty-second days from the beginning of the year, so the time between Abib 1 and the new copy of the tablets was between 186 and 192 days. This span of days is significant because the Day of Atonement falls on the tenth day of the seventh month, 187 days into the Hebrew calendar. The Day of Atonement, then, may have occurred when Moses returned with his face reflecting God's glory (Exodus 34:29-32). It may also have been the day when he gave the law to Israel a second time, after their blatant sin. Again, this timeline is not definitive, but we are in the ballpark. If this timeline is valid, then the Day of Atonement contains a reminder of a colossal failure, such that the law had to be inscribed a second time by the finger of God. God does not waste effort, and He does not repeat Himself or duplicate things unnecessarily. Thus, the Day of Atonement could well provide a reminder that the whole nation was on the brink of destruction, and it was through God's mercy and Moses' intercession that the people and high priest were not all blotted out. It is no wonder that the Day of Atonement is such a solemn day! It is tied to the failure of Aaron's sons, and perhaps to the more widespread failure of the nation, resulting in the addition of the sacrificial law. It may also have been when the Creator had to repeat His holy law. The law defines sin, and breaking it requires atonement. When the author of Hebrews 10:3 writes that the sacrifices were a reminder of sins each year, he may have had some highly significant national failures in mind. David C. Grabbe Who Fulfills the Azazel Goat— Satan or Christ? (Part Four) Related Topics: Azazel Goat | Cleansing and Removal of Sin | Counting to Pentecost | Day of Atonement | Fasting | God Removes Israel's Filth | Golden Calf | Israel's Failure as a Nation | Israel's Failure in the Wilderness | Law Defines Sin | Law, Giving of the | Pentecost | Pentecost, Counting to | Who Fulfills the Azazel Goat?

Romans 2:12-13 We cannot be justified before God except through faith in the sacrifice of God's Son, Jesus Christ, and then God gives us grace. This does not excuse us from keeping the law because He says those who keep the law will be justified; therefore, keeping the law cannot justify. It cannot save a person, but those who keep the law will be justified and saved—not because they are keeping the law in order to be saved but because they are faithful in showing God that they are preparing their lives for His Kingdom, where everybody will live the same godly life, according to the same rules. That is what God's law outlines—His way of life. This section, up to verse 16, shows that both those with a formal ignorance of God's law (say, the Gentiles) and those with knowledge of the law (in this case, the Jews, or in our context now, Christians) will be judged by the law. Why? Because the law defines sin! Sin brings God's judgment. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Sixteen) Related Topics: Faith and Works | God's Judgment | God's Justice | God's Law | Jesus Christ's Sacrifice | Judged by the Law | Judged by the Things Written in the Books | Justification by Faith | Justification by Grace through Faith | Justification by Works | Law "Done Away" | Law Defines Sin | Law Keeping | Law of God

Romans 6:12 Paul is not saying the law is done away. Nor is he saying that grace gives us the right to live apart from the government of God. He really nails this down. John W. Ritenbaugh Grace Upon Grace Related Topics: Cheap Grace | God's Law Done Away | Grace | Grace, Cheap | Law and Grace | Law and Grace Complementary | Law Defines Sin | Law Keeping | Sin is the Transgression of the Law

Romans 6:14-15 What does it mean to be "under the law"? The apostle Paul says that we are "not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14). "Sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4, KJV), and every human being who has ever lived—except Jesus Christ—has sinned (Romans 3:23). Once the knowledge of the law comes, there is no excuse, and the law condemns all who break it to eternal death. Paul personifies the law as the instrument that points the finger of condemnation at each of us: "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died" (Romans 7:9). Therefore, to be "under the law" means to be "under the condemnation of the law." The phrase "under the law" is also used in Romans 3:19; I Corinthians 9:20-21; Galatians 3:23; 4:4-5; 4:21; 4:18. Earl L. Henn Was Jesus Christ Born Under the Law? Related Topics: Antinomian | Dead to Sin | Dead to the Law | Death Penalty | God's Law | Grace | Law | Law "Done Away" | Law and Grace | Law and Grace Complementary | Law as Standard of Judgment | Law Defines Sin | Law Illuminating Sin | Sin | Under the Law

Romans 7:9 What Paul means by "I was alive once without the law" is that, at one time, he without the knowledge of what the law meant. It was "when the commandment came" that he understood. At this point, Paul knew that he was as good as dead because he had broken the law (Romans 6:23). John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Seven) Related Topics: Death as Wages of Sin | Death Penalty | Law as Spiritual Mirror | Law as Standard of Judgment | Law Defines Sin | Law Illuminating Sin | Sin Produces Death | Sin's Consequences | Sin's Effect | Sin, Consequences of | Sin, Deceitfulness of | Sin, Malignant Power of

Romans 7:9-14 Notice that it was not the law that killed him but sin! Plain, simple truth—sin slew him. By contrast, Paul says that the law was ordained to life. It is holy, just, good, and spiritual. That is very clear. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Nine) Related Topics: Death as Wages of Sin | Death Penalty | God's Law | Law as Spiritual Mirror | Law as Standard of Judgment | Law Defines Sin | Law Illuminating Sin | Law is Holy | Law is Spiritual | Sin Produces Death | Sin, Consequences of

Romans 10:4 Here, end does not mean "conclusion" as in "done away." If the law was done away, sin could not exist because Paul states, "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). Rather, end should be "goal" or "purpose," meaning that this verse names Christ as the object of the Bible (see Romans 6:22; I Timothy 1:5; James 5:11; I Peter 1:9). The law—indeed, the whole Bible—is aimed toward Him; He is its target. Paul is saying Jesus is what the law produces; He personifies its intent. John W. Ritenbaugh The Offerings of Leviticus (Part One): Introduction Related Topics: "End" of the Law | Law | Law "Done Away" | Law Defines Sin | Law Illuminating Sin | Law's Purpose and Intent | Law, Intent of | Law, Purpose of

Galatians 2:19 The law plays a large part in our salvation in that it is through the law that we are revealed as sinners—that we might repent, be justified, and thus made alive to God. If the law were not there to tell us what sin is, we could never repent. If the law were not there to set the standard, we would never have anything to shoot for. If the law were not there to show us "this is the way to live," we would have no clear path as to what is right. Thus the law, far from being done away, is there for our salvation—even though it cannot give us life, of and by itself. This ties in with Romans 7:7-9. Paul also says, in Galatians 2:20, that he "died," which needs to be connected with Romans 6:1-6. He died, then, because the law revealed that he was a sinner and claimed its due. He remained alive only because he is joined with Christ, becomeing a part of His body. Paul rose from baptism as a symbol of Christ's resurrection, and he lived because of the faith of Jesus Christ, who made this possible by what He did. Paul's life was different than when he was striving to be justified by the law. The law can condemn and guide, but it cannot give one life. Nor can it give a person the power to keep it. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Six) Related Topics: Baptism as Symbol of Burial | Baptism as Symbol of Death | Justification | Law Defines Sin | Law Illuminating Sin | Law, Purpose of | Purpose of the Law | Repentance | Repentance, Motivation For

Galatians 3:12-14 Even though the law can guide a person in the right way to live, and even though it describes the character of God, it also condemns and brings one guilty before God through an awareness of sin. However, it does not possess the power to forgive, to justify, or to give life. It takes a living Personality—the Giver and the Enforcer of the law—to forgive, to justify, and to give life. The law can do nothing to reverse the condemnation—the curse—once it is incurred through sin, but Christ took the curse upon Himself so that we do not have to bear our own punishment. The Father, in His mercy, permits His death to apply for us. He forgives and justifies us, if we accept Christ's death on our behalf with true repentance and faith. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Six) Related Topics: Awareness of Sin | Curse | Curse of Sin | Forgiveness | Forgiveness of Sins | Jesus Christ's Sacrifice | Justification | Justification through Christ's Sacrifice | Law Defines Sin | Law Illuminating Sin | Repentance

Galatians 3:16-17 Ceremonies identified Israel as a nation that was in the world but separate from all the other nations. It played a part in driving the Gentiles up the wall and building barriers between them. What makes the spiritual family that God is drawing us into separate and distinct from the world? God makes it clear: It is the way we live, not ceremonies or rituals! Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:53). God insured that the ceremonies could not be performed. He allowed the Temple and the altar to be destroyed, and scattered the Levites all over the world. Those three things were necessary for making sacrifices. In order to get the focus away from the nation of Israel and the Old Covenant, God made sure that they could not make those sacrifices. (1) They had to be made at the Temple. (2) They had to be made on one altar. And (3) it had to be done by the Levites, and, specifically, the family of Aaron. God got that out of the way because He wants people to focus on the way His children live! And His children live according to His law. If you do away with His law, you cannot live according to His law. You cannot show the characteristics of God unless you know the way that He lives, and He lives according to His law, which describes Him. Though God no longer requires ceremonies, this in no way means that the spiritual intent of those ceremonies is done away. Though we are no longer required to cut an animal's throat, bleed its blood out, and burn it on an altar—the intent, the stretching out of those principles, still applies. Thus, Jesus said in Matthew 18:9, "If your eye offend you, pluck it out." Jesus requires sacrifices so that we do not sin. Paul also said, "Put to death therefore your members which are on earth" (Colossians 3:5). He restates this in Romans 12:1 and Ephesians 5:2. The principle of sacrifice remains. This is why Jesus could say that not one jot or tittle of that law would pass until all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18). In the book of Galatians, the laws of God are hardly even in question except as they pertain to justification. Those laws that define sin, which guide us in the way of God, are just as binding as they ever have been, and they will remain so because God is using them to prepare us to live at one with Him and His Family. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Seven) Related Topics: God's Law Done Away | Jot and Tittle | Law Defines Sin | Levites | Love | Sacrifice | Sacrifices | Scattering of Israel | Spiritual Intent of Ceremonies

Colossians 2:13-14 When we choose to be baptized, we come to Christ physically alive but spiritually dead because the death penalty still hangs over our heads. Our sins have been recorded, but this spiritual death, paying the penalty for sins, has not yet been paid by means of Christ's blood. Following our repentance, God accepts Christ's death as the means of redemption, paying the debt in our stead. This act of justification erases from existence the death penalty against us. Even so, that erasure does not remove from the book the laws we broke, only the penalty for breaking those laws. John W. Ritenbaugh Why Hebrews Was Written (Part One) Related Topics: Baptism | Death, Redemption from | God's Law 'Done Away' | God's Law Done Away | Law Defines Sin | Redemption from Sin | Why Hebrews Was Written

 

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