The Law
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True, saving faith produces works but the works are not what justifies us before God...
Galatians 2:16 (KJV) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Jn 3:16 contains a conditional promise of believing but even that is made possible through the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin and then enlightening our eyes to the truth about God’s Son.
I won’t argue whether believing is solely a work of God or if we have a part. That gets into the Calvinistic/Arminian debate.
When God created the world it was created with order and beauty, we call this the law. The law is many things, the 119th Psalm gives many of what the law is. It is wrong to say it is only one thing.
Are people familiar with John Wesley an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist, who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism.
Wesley steadfastly opposed the errors of the antinomian (no law) teachers and showed that this doctrine which led to antinomianism was contrary to the Scriptures. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
“The moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which ‘stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.’ ... This was from the beginning of the world, being ‘written not on tables of stone,’ but on the hearts of all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And however the letters once wrote by the finger of God are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.
“‘I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.’ ... Without question, His meaning in this place is (consistently with all that goes before and follows after),—I am come to establish it.....”—Wesley, sermon 25.
Wesley steadfastly opposed the errors of the antinomian (no law) teachers and showed that this doctrine which led to antinomianism was contrary to the Scriptures. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
“The moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which ‘stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.’ ... This was from the beginning of the world, being ‘written not on tables of stone,’ but on the hearts of all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And however the letters once wrote by the finger of God are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.
“‘I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.’ ... Without question, His meaning in this place is (consistently with all that goes before and follows after),—I am come to establish it.....”—Wesley, sermon 25.
My faith does have works, Jesus said repent and I repented, He said you must be born again and I have been, He said receive the Holy Ghost and I received Him, He said My peace I give you and I took it, He said your joy will overflow and and I have that Joy,
... He said you shall live forever and I enjoy eternal life.
.... what do you want?
No; you call this the law. In this context, most people use “the law” to mean the old covenant of rules spoken through Moses.
yes all 5 books of Moses are called 'the law' or 'the instruction'
and part of this is how that when God created the heavens and the earth, He created them good, without sin and without death: but sin entered the world and the creation became subject to bondage. 'man sought out many devices' it says, somewhere
when He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, they immediately and continuously called Him a murderer and a liar, and complained against Him. they were faithless and blaspheming even while He was saving them. so they came to a place called the Desert of Sin..
the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
(Exodus 16:3)
here they are calling God an evil, psychotic murderer again. they are saying, He only brought them out of Egypt to kill them.this is the same lie of Satan from the garden, where he told Adam's wife that God didn't want her to be wise, or to be like Him, having life. that God had only created her in order to destroy her and withhold good things from her: that God is a psychotic, evil murderer.
so in the Desert of Sin where they are accusing God of evil and lies:
Behold! I will rain bread from heaven for you;
and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day,
that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no.
(Exodus 16:4)
God gives them a law of sabbath, and a blessing of manna, for the first time ever recorded in scripture, in order to prove their unfaithfulness.and guess what --
they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank
(Exodus 16:20)
And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
And the LORD said unto Moses,
How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?
(Exodus 16:27-28)
this assembly, God's chosen people, who were blaspheming God, accusing Him with The Lie of Satan, were proven to be wicked and unbelieving: for God had given them this in order to prove that they would be disobedient. God knew what they would do, and that is why God gave them the law that He gave them: to prove them, before themselves and before the angelseven so He fed them with manna for 40 years, their entire sojourn in the wilderness! how great is His faithfulness to those He calls His own! and the angels see this, also, and glorify Him
this teaches us that we cannot redeem ourselves; as He said, He gave them sabbaths as a sign that it is God who sanctifies us ((Ezekiel 20:12)) -- where He also says, 'the man who does these things will live by them' ((Ezekiel 20:11, 13)) -- and He gave them these things as a proof ((Exodus 16:4)) that no one would gain life through them! ((Romans 3:20)) so that the promise may be by faith, and He, He alone, is our Redemption
i know this is brief and there are ten thousand more things to be said about Exodus 16, but this is why i said, He gave them the law in order to prove that righteousness and salvation are not by our will and efforts: they are by His mercy towards us
Classically speaking, the law speaks in terms of what man is to do, while the gospel proclaims what God has done (is doing or will do) on behalf of mankind. You can't mix the two or you have God and man working together in synergistic cooperation thus robbing God of His glory.