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1st Timothy 1:1-11

Introduction:

So Paul writes,

“Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid

down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient…” (1 Tim. 1:8-9).

I want to give greater attention to this matter of the Mosaic Law and the Christian. The Mosaic Law is

an integral whole, not three. Whether circumcision, matters of temple worship, commandments

regarding idolatry, the Sabbath, or honoring parents it makes no difference: the Law is a categorical

unit. It is not to be divided. The Reformed categories of moral, ceremonial, and civil are impositions on

sacred Scripture; they are not born out of Scripture, nor are they buttressed by Scripture. Law is one,

not three. When therefore Paul says a man is justified through faith apart from works of law, he means

a man is counted righteous apart from works of law, period.

But the question quickly becomes: “Now what?” “Now that we’re counted righteous through

faith alone in Christ alone apart from law how shall we then live?” In light of the cross, in light of the

finished work of Christ, how is the Christian, the one who belongs to Christ, who stands in grace, to

live? How shall we press onwards? By what rule are we to live?

If I were to ever preach through Galatians again, if the Lord grants that to me, I would not

begin at the beginning. I would begin instead at chapter 5:1. Chapter five & verse one is the heart of

this epistle: “For freedom Christ has set us free [indicative; statement of fact]; stand firm therefore, and

do not submit again to a yoke of slavery [imperative; authoritative instruction or exhortation. Note the

order, indicative then imperative].” For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not

submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Free means free. Freedom means just that: freedom. It is Gospel

freedom. Because of the cross, because of Christ and His finished work, those who belong to Him,

who are in Him by faith, are 100% free. Free from law O blessed condition. If you belong to Christ you

are free from the curse of the law, and you are free, 100% free, from the commands of the law. This is

what I wish to so impress upon your souls, loved ones. If you are in Christ, you are absolutely free

from and not under the Law of Moses in any sense. You are not subject to it. You must not even use

it as a rule by which to live. You are free from law in an absolute sense if Christ is in you, if you belong

to Christ.

But I fear some of you who profess Christ do not know this freedom. You are like the

Galatians. The Galatians were seduced by another gospel, one that was no gospel. It’s not that this

gospel had no Christ. This ‘gospel’ had Christ –or at least a version of Him. It didn’t reject Christ

outright. It’s just that its Christ wasn’t enough. His work wasn’t sufficient. Perhaps it would be more

accurate to say this gospel which was no gospel merely used Christ to give it an appearance of

legitimacy. In any case, false brethren had promoted a version of the gospel flavored with Mosaic Law.

Their answer to the “Now what? How shall we live in light of the cross?” question would have been

“You must look to Moses. You must look to Sinai.” We may not, we do not circumcise for religious

purposes, nor do we abstain from pork. You do not bring the best of your livestock to me Sunday

morning as sin offerings! But O how quick some of us are to run and cleave to the Ten

Commandments as a guide and rule of life! The moment we do that we desert Him who called us in

the grace of Christ. The nanosecond we do that we turn to a gospel that is no gospel! We do that and

we’re guilty of falling prey to the Galatian heresy. If we do that we sever ourselves from Christ! We

obligate ourselves to keep the whole law! And we fall from grace, putting ourselves back under law! If

we say that the law as a rule of life is binding, that we are bound to the Ten Commandments to guide

us in our pursuit of holiness, we are no better off than the Galatians. O foolish Galatians! Do you not

know that if you do that, your actions, the way you live, is tantamount to a rejection of Christ? Do not

think for a blink of an eye that the Galatian heresy is dead today, that somehow the sands of time

have buried it for all time. This heresy is very much alive. And it’s absolutely crucial that we who bear

the name ‘Reformed’ be aware and on the alert for it. Before we’re done today, I will show you how this

heresy has slipped into the church as though it were a Trojan Horse! But it is imperative for you to

know that the aim, the purpose of the cross was your unqualified freedom from Law. For freedom

Christ has set us free, brethren! Therefore, you who belong to Christ, in whom the Spirit of Christ

resides, you who have crucified the flesh with its passions, stand firm. Do not be subject to a yoke of

slavery. Christ purchased your freedom. For freedom Christ set you free. Breathe that. Enjoy that.

Take a deep, deep breath of sheer freedom! You are free from the curse of the law AND you are free

from every single one of its commands. You are released from the obligation to keep them. Christ kept

them & fulfilled them for you. You are therefore 100% absolutely free! Free from law o blessed

condition indeed!

If this sounds like antinomianism, that’s good! If this sounds like giving a license for fast and loose

living, excellent! That’s how it sounded to Paul’s detractors and opponents, those who seduced the

Galatians into Christ plus Law. That’s why they called him a “man-pleaser.” That’s why Paul

elsewhere addressed the question “Are we to continue is sin that grace may abound?” He knew what

he preached made him a sitting duck for such misunderstanding. But this is not a doctrine that

promotes sinful, godless living. I assure you of that. In fact, there is no other doctrine which so

promotes and encourages holiness than this. Why this is, is in part because of what the Bible says

about the Law. If we understand what the Bible says about the nature of the Law, and what the Law

actually does and what it cannot do, then we’re less likely to default to it for anything, especially as a

guide or rule of life. So, here’s my approach this morning: First, we’ll see what the Bible teaches about

the Mosaic Law. As we go, we’ll compare the bible with what one of the Reformers said about the

lawful use of the law.

What the Bible Teaches About the Law (of Moses)

In no particular order, the Bible teaches that Law is deficient. It is deficient. The apostle states

in Galatians 3:21 that if life, spiritual life, could come by law, then righteousness would be by law. But

as it is, life & righteousness do not come by law, but by the Spirit. So Paul puts it to us: “Let me ask

you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish?

Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” We do not begin the Christian

life by works of law. Life comes to us by the Spirit, not by law. And if that is the case, we do not

continue in that life by the law. One does not perfect righteousness by law, especially after receiving a

righteousness which is Christ’s! How can one ever improve upon the perfect righteousness of Christ?

He cannot. He must not attempt it. To do so would be blasphemous. To attempt it would be an

enormous manifestation of unbelief. This makes Paul’s statement all the more glorious; that he said

the life he lived in the flesh he lived by faith in the Son of God, not by law; the law is not of faith. The

two are at complete odds with each other. Christian life is begun by the Spirit, not law. It is continued

by the Spirit, not law. It’s begun by faith, not law. It continues by faith, not law. God has done what the

law could not do, namely give life, spiritual life, Christian life!

Second, the law does not, nor can it, sanctify. We know that law does not justify. But neither

does it sanctify. It does not, nor can it, promote holiness. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 15:56 “The

sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” The power of sin is the law. The law itself is not

sinful. The law is good and righteous and holy. The law does not encourage one to sin; it condemns

sin. But, Paul says, sin’s power is the law. Sin uses the law for its agenda. The law, weakened by the

flesh, is sin’s servant. It obeys sin’s every wish. Paul gives us his own illustration of this. Romans

7:7ff.- “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I

would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall

not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of

covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead.” That’s what Law does. Sin, by means of the law,

produces all kinds of sin. Whether one is an unbeliever or believer, before faith or after faith, it makes

no difference. The nature of Law and what Law does changes not. Law remains Law irrespective of us

– 60 mph is 60 mph whether one has zero demerits or ten. “Thou shalt not covet” remains the same

whether one is a believer or not a believer. And so we hear Paul say just prior to these things, that the

Law stirs up and awakens sinful desires. “While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions,

aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from

the law, having died to that which held us captive…” You are all sensible people. Does that sound like

Law promotes holiness, that it engenders piety and godliness? Does it sound, even in the least bit,

that Law sanctifies? The power of sin is the law. By means of or through Law, sin produces sin. Add

to this what Paul states in Romans 5:20, that “The law came in to increase the trespass,” not

decrease it, and I have a question: “Why are we so hesitant to let go of Law?” Why fear letting go

completely of that which awakens passions and thus causes despair on account of sin?

Let me now go where many fear to tread and put Calvin to the test, at least concerning

matters of law. In the Genevan Catechism, Calvin asks: “What is the rule of life?” Answer: “His Law.”

In his Institutes, Book Second, Chapter 7, Paragraph 12, he writes:

“…by frequently meditating on it [law], he [the Christian] will be excited to obedience, and confirmed in

it, and so drawn away from the slippery paths of sin. In this way must the saints press onward, since,

however great the alacrity [cheerful readiness] with which, under the Spirit, they hasten towards

righteousness, they are retarded by the sluggishness of the flesh, and make less progress than they

ought. The Law acts like a whip to the flesh, urging it on as men do a lazy, sluggish ass. Even in the

case of a spiritual man, inasmuch as he is still burdened with the weight of the flesh, the Law is a

constant stimulus, pricking him forward when he would indulge in sloth!”

To be fair, this is not everything Calvin says on Law. But what I have quoted to you cannot be denied.

He said what he said. And what he said has had a widespread influence on the church, and, quite

frankly, is at odds with Paul’s own words (of course, Calvin would disagree). But how can Calvin’s

“excited to obedience” be the same as “produced in me all kinds of covetousness?” How can his

“drawn away from the slippery paths of sin” be reconciled with Paul’s “sinful passions, aroused by the

law?” And how can Calvin’s “whip to the flesh, urging it on as men do a lazy, sluggish ass” be

reconciled with “For freedom Christ has set you free” from the guardianship of law, from a “yoke of

slavery?” Does Calvin’s whip not conjure up images of toilsome bondage? Is this not madness? I know

no other conclusion to draw from these things. These things cannot be reconciled! They oppose each

other! Calvin & the apostle oppose each other in these things! Since I have begun cliff-jumping, let me

do some more: How is the Calvinist here not in bondage? How is Christ an advantage to the Calvinist

here? Has he not obligated himself to keep the whole law? Has the Calvinist then severed himself from

Christ and fallen from grace? Calvin’s view of sovereignty was excellent. His soteriology, his doctrines

of grace, was superb. But his view of the Christian and the Law is awful.

The moment we turn to Law for help, the very moment we look to the Ten Commandments as a rule

and guide, is the very moment we begin to become entangled by it. Law entangles the believer. It

yokes the believer. It stirs up sin like a broom in a room unswept. As soon as the broom sweeps,

“the dust did so fly about, that the room by him could not be cleansed, but that you were almost

choked by it; this is to show you, that the Law, instead of cleansing the heart (by its working) from

Sin, doth revive, put strength into, and increase it in the soul, even as it doth discover and forbid it, for

it does not give power to subdue. Again, as you saw the Damsel sprinkle the room with Water, upon

which it was cleansed with pleasure; this was to show thee, that when the Gospel comes in, the sweet

and precious influences thereof to the heart, then, I say, even as you saw the Damsel lay the dust by

sprinkling the floor with Water, so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean, through

the Faith of it…”^[1]

Later in Bunyan’s dream, Prudence questions Christian regarding what grieved him, that is, his inward

and carnal cogitations, or sinful thoughts and passions-

“Prudence: Do you not find sometimes, as if those things were vanquished…?

Christian: Yes, but that is seldom; but they are to me Golden Hours…

Prudence: Can you remember by what Means you find your annoyances…as if

they were vanquished?

Christian: Yes, when I think of what I saw at the Cross…”

Law stirs up the dust of sin. Freedom from Law, in every sense, is therefore a pre-requisite and

condition to a holy life. When one is released from the Ten Commandments as a rule of life (Calvin’s

third use of the law), the unexpected happens. Sin loses its grip. Sin loses its pull, and one is free to

live as he ought. It is a condition bound up in and met by the work of Christ on the cross. Track with

me on this. Compare Galatians 5:24 with Romans 7:4 and you see marvelous and wondrous things (if

you have eyes to see!). Galatians 5:24 speaks of those who belong to Christ. Romans 7:4 comes on

the heels of Paul’s statement concerning marriage, that death frees one from being bound to another.

If a husband dies, the wife is free from the law concerning marriage. She is no longer bound. She no

longer belongs to her husband. Then in verse four, Paul says this glorious thing; it ought to put an end

to any debate over the place of law in the Christian’s life. He writes, “Likewise, my brothers, you also

have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, (there’s the link

with Galatians 5:24) to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for

God!” Those who belong to Christ are thus not bound to the Mosaic Law, including the Ten

Commands, which means to belong to Christ and be at the same time bound to the Ten Commands in

any sense, and for any use or purpose, is nothing less than spiritual adultery, at best. But Paul’s point

is that believers through the body of Christ have died to the law. They are released from it obligations.

Moses has no claim on us whatsoever. Freedom in Christ is ours. Our freedom is unto fruit for God

and not fruit for death. I don’t know how much simpler this can be. And I don’t know how Calvin

messed this up; unless, of course, he read his Bible through the eyeglasses of Covenant Theology.

There’s just one more thing I wish to point out to you before we put this to bed and you, I hope, sever

any attachment to Law you might have. If you belong to Christ, the law is dead to you. You have died

to it through Christ. So, place it in a coffin, nail the lid shut, and bury it once and for all. To help you

with that, just listen to a few more reasons why you should do that. First, the law kills (2 Cor. 3:6). If

Calvin sounded like a kill-joy, this is why. Second, The Law is “the ministry of death” (2 Cor. 3:7). If

Calvin sounded like dreadful drudgery, this is why. Third, the Law is “the ministry of condemnation” (2

Cor. 3:9). If Calvin sounded hard, this is why. Fourth, the Law was that which “was being brought to an

end” (2 Cor.3:11). Calvin never understood this evidently. Fifth, our sufficiency is from God, not law (2

Cor. 3:5). Sixth, the new and better covenant is of the Spirit who gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). Seventh, the

new and better covenant exceeds the glory of the old Mosaic covenant (2 Cor. 3:8). Eight, the new and

better covenant, the ministry of the Spirit, is a ministry of righteousness, a ministry which surpasses

the glory of the Law (2 Cor. 3:8, 9). And ninth, “if what was being brought to an end came in glory [i.e.

The Law], how much more glory will what is permanent have, that is the New Covenant inaugurated at

Mount Calvary, applied to the elect by the Spirit? Says one, “I do insist upon it that if a believer be

brought to the law of Moses, to be under it in any other sense, sin stares him in the face, wrath works

in his heart, his enmity is stirred up, bondage seizes him, and dependency or despair will sink him,

unless the law of the Spirit of life make him free from the law of sin and death.”^[2]

Conclusion

“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so

that the Israelites

might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened.

For to this day,

when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it

taken away. Yes, to

this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is

removed. Now

the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled

face, beholding

the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes

from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:12-18).

And so we come full circle, to the place we were two weeks ago. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also

walk by the Spirit,” and

not, in any fashion whatsoever, by the law. Amen.

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[1] Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

[2] William Huntington, “The Believer’s Rule of Life.”