I know a man who is an obsessive freeway speed law keeper, he never drives over the posted speed limit even if it makes him a danger to other traffic. But, this same man speeds through neighborhood streets and blows through stop signs because he says it’s a different kind of ordinance. I think he is a cowardly passive-aggressive psychopath who likes to use the speed limit as an excuse to dominate and control other people. If he were honestly motivated by a desire to keep the law, he would be just as interested in keeping the rest of the law.
I know a religious group who snatches a verse out of Deuteronomy 22 and enforces it with extreme consequences, but ignores the rest of the chapter with an excuse and most of the rest of law with more excuses. I think they are using this one verse out of context as an excuse to justify their behavior. If they were honestly motivated by a desire to understand the law and apply it in their lives, they would be just as interested in the rest of the chapter and the rest of the law.
Law breakers and excuse makers
These people are law breakers and excuse makers. Despite their protestations, they are not law keepers. And, neither are you. It’s rather astonishing how quickly we can make an excuse to justify ourselves. It’s easy for the mind to justify the actions of the heart.
For. While the Jews taught that ‘he who transgresses all the precepts of the law has broken the yoke, dissolved the covenant, and exposed the law to contempt; and so has he done who has only broken one precept;’ they also taught, ‘that he who observed any principal command was equal to him who kept the whole law,’ and gave for an example the forsaking of idolatry. To correct this false doctrine was the object James had in view. –Treasury of Scripture
‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ (Deuteronomy 27:26)
So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)
For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. (James 2:10 NLT)
I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. (Galatians 5:3 NLT)
Law keepers have no excuse for sin
The Bible teaches that people who are trying to become righteous before God by keeping the law don’t have any excuse for sin. When they make an excuse for their sin, they have stopped being law keepers and have intruded into the sovereign domain of the law maker (James 4:11-12).
Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. (Romans 3:19-20 NLT)
When people work, their pay is not regarded as a gift but something they have earned. However, when people don’t work but believe God, the one who approves ungodly people, their faith is regarded as God’s approval. David says the same thing about those who are blessed: God approves of people without their earning it. David said,
“Blessed are those whose disobedience is forgiven and whose sins are pardoned.”
“Blessed is the person whom the Lord no longer considers sinful.” (Romans 4:4-8 GWT; Psalm 32:1-2)
But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” (Galatians 3:10-12 NLT)
The failure of the Law to justify is further established by a comparison of Habakkuk 2:4 with Leviticus 18:5 : the latter embodies the spirit of the Law: for it demands obedience as a necessary condition antecedent to the gift of life from God (cf. Romans 10:5). The prophet on the contrary makes life dependent upon faith. By thus substituting faith for obedience he virtually supersedes the existing Law, and establishes a new criterion, which takes account of the state of heart instead of the outward life (cf. Romans 1:17). The same passage is adduced in Hebrews 10:38 in proof of the vital importance of faith. –Expositor’s Greek Testament
The law fulfilled does not need an excuse
The truth and reality is almost too wonderful for words. No matter what happens in your life, hold onto this scripture for dear life.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 NLT)
For deeper study:
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