Is there Sin after Christ?
Romans 2
12For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
The question of the law is much debated today. Is the law still relevant? On both sides of the argument I believe it is admitted that the law is active prior to conversion. It is a schoolmaster (Gal 3:24-25) that shows us what we do wrong in the sight of God that demands Christ’s sacrifice. When it is considered this way, we must acknowledge that there is a definite change after Christ, but can what was wrong before Christ now be permissible or right after Christ? If so how? Sin is defined or determined by the character of God and therefore what falls short before Christ, should still fall short after Christ. If an action, attitude, or thought failed to bring God glory prior to conversion, then shouldn’t we conclude that it would fail to bring God glory even more after conversion? The role of the law no longer brings condemnation, but it becomes a delight. It is no longer over us, but it is in us.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Dear Andy,
As you point out in Jan 17 2006 Context Matters, the context of any passage must be understood for it to speak God’s intended thought. The apostle, in Galatians, declares that the law has been our tutor (or pedagogue) to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. The law in question is not the moral law that convicts of sin, but the ceremonial law that was being mis-applied by the Judaizers to convince believers they had to be circumcised (keep the law of Moses) to be saved. The preceding and following context requires this interpretation.
Gal 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.
Paul reasons from the kind of faith that Abraham had (prior to circumcision) to the faith of Christians, apart from being perfected by the works of the law (and I would pose this issue: ANY law). Let me insert comments in the following text within parenthesis.
Gal 3:19 What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till (ending at some time) the seed (Christ) should come (in history) to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given (ANY law) which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law. But the scriptures shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith (THE FAITH once delivered to the saints, Jude1:3) which should afterwards be revealed (when the seed appeared in space-time, and not our personal existential coming to faith). 24 So that the law has been our tutor (context matters) to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. (I maintain that no one is under the ceremonial law since the tutor has been dismissed when the seed came and THE FAITH was once for all time delivered.)
Gal 4:3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world: but when the fulness of the time came (the seed came), God sent forth his Son… (and we are not in bondage anymore)
Hebrews 8:13 In that he says, “A new covenant,” he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.
Now, the law stamped on man, and written upon the heart in the new birth, is the moral law. Breaking it (not the ceremonial law) will torment an enlightened conscience. The need for forgivness and a sense of guilt is evidence that the Holy Spirit is plowing up the soil of the heart, usually driving a person to seek Christ. Before hand he is in Adam, and after repentance and faith, he is in Christ.
Your statement “If an action, attitude, or thought failed to bring God glory prior to conversion, then shouldn’t we conclude that it would fail to bring God glory even more after conversion?” in itself appears to miss the Federal standing we have In-Christ. God is no longer our judge but our heavenly father. Justice has been satisfied, and now pleads FOR us, not AGAINST us.
IJohn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This difference in our standing with God is profound! We (and our thoughts and actions) are no longer considered unrighteous. We do not carry the burden of sins any more, but have now taken a yoke that is easy and the burden we carry is light. Matt 11:29-30. This is not merely a description of our conversion, but it is a new, perpetual state we enjoy, finding rest for (our) souls. We are “in Christ”
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ.
Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him , that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin.
Romans 6:17 But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.
Even the moral law has lost its power to condemn the Christian.
Romans 7:6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
Romans 7:16 But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. 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 ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The use of the law can be valid or it can be incorrect. The Christian’s standing with God is not based on our keeping the law. No one can, except the One who fulfilled all righteousness. Christ’s yoke and burden do not require us to be perfect.
ITim 1:8 But we know that the law is good, IF a man use it lawfully, as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, etc…
We are no longer filthy transgressors before the judge, offering shameful filthy rags, but rather (1 Peter 2:5) You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
We are loved by God, who lets us know it!
Romans 5:5 and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.
Your concluding sentence I most heartily embrace. “The role of the law no longer brings condemnation, but it becomes a delight. It is no longer over us, but it is in us.”
Romans 7:6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.