Why Did God Give the Law?

The word “Law” is used often in Scripture. God gave it to Moses on Mt. Sinai on tablets of stone; we are all familiar with the Ten Commandments. Many people call for the Commandments to be placed in government institutions and schools. But what exactly is the Law all about? Why did God give it to us? We are saved by God’s grace alone, not by following the Law. In light of that truth, some might ask what the Law was given for in the first place. Does it have anything to say today? To Christians? Or was it only given to Israel in the Old Covenant?

First, we have to define exactly what we mean by the term “Law.” In Scripture, the word nomos (Law in Greek) is used in a variety of ways. Sometimes it refers to the books of Moses, sometimes to the Old Testament. But the meaning we are dealing with here is that the Law is the moral will of God. The Ten Commandments are a summary of this moral Law, which is explained by Jesus in the following two statements: “‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’” (Matt. 12:30-31) The Law is a reflection of God’s own character, because God is love (1 John 4:8), and love is the fulfillment of the Law (Rom. 13:8-10). Because the Law reflects God’s own character, the Law is good! To say that the Law is bad is to say the same about God himself.

There are three reasons why God gave his Law. First, the Law was given so that society could function. If sin never entered into the world, then no government would have been necessary, because Adam and Eve heard the Law directly from God himself. But after the fall of man, sin and violence became prominent in the world. Murder entered creation through Cain who killed his righteous brother Able. God then had to institute some kind of organization in the world that would restrain sin by threatening punishment. This first appears when God protects Cain, giving the promise that the one who killed Cain would himself face death (Gen. 4:15). The institution of government, which is to punish the one who breaks the Law, was reinstituted after the flood (Gen. 9:6) and then in a special way in the nation of Israel. Our governments today still function under God’s Law by punishing criminals for such acts as murder and theft. In this use, the Law is necessary for both the believer and unbeliever. It keeps society from destroying itself.

The second reason God gave his Law was that so humankind could see their sin and consequently, the need for a Savior. This appear in Paul’s letter to the Romans where he writes: “ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:19-20). By looking at God’s Law, we come to acknowledge our sin. The Law thus serves as a mirror, showing us who we really are before God. When we look at this mirror, we see the dirt of sin that covers us. We realize how short we really fall from God’s holy standard. Seeing our sin, God then brings us the Gospel—the message that God forgives all of our sins because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul describes the Law as a tutor that drives us to Christ (Gal. 3:24).

The final reason that gave us his Law is so that Christians have a guide. The Law tells us what God’s will for our life is. In it, God gives us helpful and concrete instructions so that we know how to serve him and our neighbors. If God did not give us his Law, we would be on our own trying to figure out what God wants us to do. Because sin still clings to us, we would not do a very good job at doing so. Since we have been set free from the penalty and power of sin, we can now delight in God’s Law (Ps. 119), not in order to be saved by it, but because Jesus has fulfilled it for us. The Gospel gives us the ability to love and serve our neighbors, and in doing so, we make a beginning at fulfilling the Law of God.