Episode 2344 - Lesson 13 - Monday March 24 - The Law is holy, and righteous, and good

Love is the foundation of God’s law. When God upholds the law, He upholds love. This is why Jesus died in order to save sinners, so that He could uphold the law while also extending grace to us. Thus, He could be both just and the justifier of those who believe (Rom. 3:25, 26). What an expression of love! Accordingly, the law is not invalidated by the process of redemption; rather, it is further confirmed.Read Romans 6:1–3 and then Romans 7:7–12, with particular emphasis on verse 12. What are these verses telling us about the law, even after Christ died?While some believe that grace and redemption cancel the law, Paul is clear that we are not to continue in sin so that grace increases. Rather, those who are in Christ by faith have been “baptized into His death” and are therefore to count themselves as dead to sin and alive to Christ.The law of God is not sin, but (among other things) it makes sin and our sinfulness apparent to us. That is why, yes, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Rom. 7:12, NKJV). It reveals, as nothing else does, our great need of salvation, of redemption—the salvation and redemption that come only through Christ. Accordingly, we do not “make void the law through faith” but “on the contrary, we establish the law” (Rom. 3:31, NKJV).Christ came not to do away with the law but to fulfill all that was promised in the Law and in the Prophets. Thus, He emphasizes that “ ‘until heaven and earth pass away,’ ” not even “ ‘the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law’ ” (Matt. 5:18, NASB 1995).The law of God itself represents God’s holiness—His perfect charac­ter of love, righteousness, goodness, and truth (Lev. 19:2; Ps. 19:7, 8; Ps. 119:142, 172). In this regard, it is significant that, according to Exodus 31:18, God wrote the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets Himself. Written in stone, these laws are testimony of the unchanging character of God and of His moral government, which is founded on love—a central theme of the great controversy.How does this link between law and love help us better understand Jesus’ words, “ ‘If you love Me, you will keep My commandments’ ” (John 14:15, NASB)?