Grace
Law and Sin
Romans 6:15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under
law but under grace? By no means!
NIV
With the complex set of rules, it became possible for a Jew to claim he was righteous! Examples of this are the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:20) and Paul (Phil 3:4-6). Yet, Jesus found no one to be worthy of applying the law as God intended.
I have found one writer claim to be unable to identify a single instance of an Old Testament individual being punished for a technical violation of the law. I can identify no situation either. The Scriptures quoted above show that Jesus views the law as good, but not to the point of being a terrible burden. The point of the good law is to point to the gracious giver of the law, our heavenly Father. So, Jesus looks to the heart to determine the righteous state of a person.
The law says a failure to obey the rules makes one evil or immoral. Jesus says it is the contents of the heart, not the rules, that causes one to be unrighteous. This is, essentially, the teaching of the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). If the heart is focused on God, one will perform the intent of the law naturally.
Why? Because the law is based on grace. The law is the statement of God’s gracious character. The law is designed to display the differences between a holy God and a sinful man. When a person sees and understands this difference, he comes to realize the need to rely upon God’s grace. Then, grace operates at its highest peak.
