Why Did God Give the Law?

Holy, Just and Good

☐

Is God's law a list of rules to spoil our fun? No. Paul says the opposite. God's law is a good gift, and it was given for good reasons.

Where it began. At Mount Sinai, “God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt’” (Exodus 20:1-2). God rescued His people first, and then He gave them His law.

Rescue first. God did not tell Israel to keep rules so that He would save them. He saved Israel from Egypt and then showed them how His people should live.

A picture of God. The law shows what God is like. He is holy, true, fair and loving. When God says, “You shall not steal,” He is showing us that He is faithful and fair.

Perfect and right. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul… The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” (Psalm 19:7-8). Statutes means God's rules.

Holy and good. Paul agrees: “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). Just means fair.

Spiritual. “For we know that the law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14). The law comes from God's Spirit, and it reaches past our actions to our hearts.

A mirror for sin. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). Without God's law, we might think we were good enough.

The heart test. “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17) tests the heart, not just the hands. Nobody passes that test on their own.

One slip. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). One broken link breaks a whole chain.

Not a ladder. “By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20). The law was never a ladder to climb up to God.

Not the problem. Paul asks, “Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not!” (Romans 7:13). The law is good. Sin is the problem.

A guardrail. God's law also protects us. Like a guardrail on a mountain road, it keeps us back from things that would hurt us and other people. God's commands come from a Father who loves His children.

Who keeps it? Only one Person has ever kept God's law perfectly: Jesus. The law shows us how much we need Him.

What we learn. God gave the law to show us who He is and who we are. When we see our sin, we are ready to see our need for a Savior.

What to do. This week, read Exodus 20:1-17 with your family. After each commandment, ask, What does this show me about God?

Romans 7 defends the law: it is “holy and just and good” (7:12). To see why, we go back to where the law began and ask what God meant it to do.

Grace before law (Exodus 20:1-2). The commandments open with rescue: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” God gave the law to people He had already saved.

What “law” means. The Hebrew word torah (say: toh-RAH) means teaching or instruction. It is a Father's teaching for His family, not only a court's list of crimes.

The law shows God's character. Every command reflects who God is. Because God is faithful, He commands faithfulness in marriage. He is truth, so He forbids false witness. He is enough for us, and so He forbids coveting.

Psalm 19:7-8. David calls the law “perfect, converting the soul” and “pure, enlightening the eyes.” To those who love God, His word is light, not a burden.

Spiritual (Romans 7:14). The law comes from God's Spirit and speaks to the inner person. Jesus showed this when He taught that anger and hate break the command against murder (Matthew 5:21-22).

The knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). The law names sin clearly. Before the command, Paul says, “I would not have known covetousness” (7:7).

The whole law (James 2:10). God's law is one unbroken whole. To break one command is to stand guilty before the God who gave them all.

The curse (Galatians 3:10). “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” Anyone who tries to be right with God by law-keeping has to keep all of it, all the time.

Not justified (Galatians 2:16). “A man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.” Justified means declared right with God.

Sin, not law (Romans 7:13). The law is not the villain. Sin used the good command and showed itself to be “exceedingly sinful.”

Psalm 119:11. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” Even under the law, God's people knew that His word had to live in the heart, not just on stone.

Why it matters. A person who thinks the law is bad will try to ignore it. Someone who thinks the law can save will try to earn heaven. Both are wrong. The law is good, and it sends us to Christ.

A Tutor to Bring Us to Christ

☐

If the law cannot save us, why did God give it? Paul answers: the law was like a guide whose job was to walk us to Jesus.

The tutor. “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).

What a tutor did. In Paul's day, a rich family had a servant who walked the children to school each day. He kept them safe and corrected them. His job ended at the teacher's door.

To the Teacher. The law is like that servant. It corrects us and shows us our sin, and then it walks us to Jesus.

Jesus kept it. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus obeyed God's law perfectly.

Jesus paid for it. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). On the cross He took the punishment we deserved.

What the law could not do. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son” (Romans 8:3).

A new heart. God promised, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).

Written inside. “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). The Holy Spirit helps us want what God wants.

The Spirit inside. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

Love keeps the law. Jesus said the greatest commands are to love God with all your heart and to love “your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Love fulfills it. “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).

Obeying because we love. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). We obey because we are loved, not to earn love.

Still useful. The law still teaches believers what pleases God. We do not keep it to be saved. We read it to know the God who saved us and to see the life His Spirit is growing in us.

What to do. Learn one verse by heart this week. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11).

Paul's clearest picture of the law's purpose comes in Galatians 3:24. The law was never the destination. It was the guide that brought us to Christ.

The tutor (Galatians 3:24). The Greek word is paidagogos (say: pie-dah-go-GOSS), a trusted household slave who watched over a child, corrected him and walked him to school. When the child grew up, the guardian's job was done.

Guarding and correcting. The law guarded Israel, kept them apart from the nations' idols and showed them their sin again and again. It got them ready for the Messiah.

Fulfilled, not destroyed (Matthew 5:17). Jesus did not throw the law away. He kept every command perfectly, and the sacrifices and feasts all pointed to Him.

The curse carried (Galatians 3:13). The law's curse on lawbreakers was real. Christ redeemed us from it by “having become a curse for us” on the cross.

What the law could not do (Romans 8:3-4). The law was “weak through the flesh.” The fault was ours, not the law's. God sent His Son so that “the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

The new covenant (Jeremiah 31:33). God promised a day when His law would be written on hearts, not stone. That is what Paul means by the “newness of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6).

Heart transplant (Ezekiel 36:26-27). God promised to take out the “heart of stone” and give a heart of flesh, and to put His Spirit within His people. The Holy Spirit does what the stone tablets could not.

Love sums it up (Romans 13:8-10). Paul lists commandments like “You shall not covet” and says they are “all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The great commandments (Matthew 22:37-39). Jesus put love for God first and love for neighbor second. A Spirit-filled life of love is the law lived from the inside out.

John 14:15. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” For the believer, obedience is the fruit of love, never the price of it.

Romans 7:6. We now serve “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” The letter commands from outside. The Spirit changes us from inside, so the same holy standard becomes a joy instead of a weight.

Application. Read God's law as a mirror that sends you to Jesus, and as a picture of the life His Spirit is growing in you.

📖

Complete all sections to finish!

Read each section and answer the questions correctly.