January

By Elder Tim Binion

Several months ago I felt lead to preach on the Ten Commandments and began to study the 20^th chapter of Exodus and read all of the New Testament references. One of the positive references to the Law in the New Testament, is found in Romans 3:31. The Apostle Paul wrote; "Do we then make void the Law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the Law". The context of this statement is found in the previous part of the chapter where the apostle had proven that "there is none righteous, no not one" (v. 10); secondly, he declared "By the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified" (v. 2); then in verses 21-26 he set forth the Divine way of salvation - "through faith in Christ's blood". In verse 28, the Apostle Paul sums up his argument by affirming "a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law". In verse 29, 30 he proves that this is true for Jew and Gentile alike. Paul expected questions resulting from these statements and possibly because of the Jews love for the law, some objections or confusion. Today, Christians seem confused about the purpose of the Law in relationship to Grace. Paul knew someone would ask; What about the Law, then? So twice, Paul made it real clear (we certainly don't need to be confused about this point) that justification was apart from the deeds of the Law. If, then, the Law served no purpose in saving sinners, are we to say it serves no purpose at all? If we are saved "through faith" is the Law useless, is it unnecessary? Are we to understand you to mean (Paul) that the Law has been annulled? Not at all, is the apostle's answer: "We establish the Law."