Believing Enough to Obey

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” (Ro 3:31 AV)

In contemporary Christianity, there is an idea that faith and law are contrary, one to the other.  This is true where salvation is concerned.  We are saved by faith and not by the deeds of the law.  The fault does not lie with the nature or requirements of the law.  The law is holy, just, and good.  The fault lies with man’s inability to keep the law perfect and without transgression.  James tells us the standard demanded from a holy God is absolute perfection.  If we seek to be justified by the deeds of the law, there can be no failure.  Not even once.  If we do fail, as far as God is concerned, we are guilty of every statute therein.  This is why faith justifies.  Faith is something we can do.  Despite our sinful nature, we still have the ability to believe.  All the penitent needs do is to realize his sinful nature, past, and consequences, calling upon the mercy of God and believing in Jesus as his or her sacrifice for sin.  The law cannot do this because we cannot keep the law.  So what of the law?  Does it have any value at all?  As stated above, it is holy, just, and good.  The relationship between faith and the law is a simple one.  We did not possess the faith to keep the law until Christ came into our hearts.  Now, we possess the missing tool to keep the law and thus establish it as something worthy to be subjected to.  By faith, we can keep the law.

An alarm clock is an amazing thing.  We need to get up at a certain hour and the alarm clock accomplishes this.  We set it for a few snooze sessions earlier than we need to get out of bed and go to sleep, knowing this simple device will do its job.  At the desired time, the clock goes off.  We hit the snooze and roll over.  It goes off nine minutes later, and we hit the snooze one more time.  That third time the clock goes off, we tell ourselves we have to get out of bed.  Without the alarm clock, we would sleep until the melatonin in our system diminished to nothing.  Then the sunshine will wake us.  What I have found is if you set your alarm clock for the same time every morning, with or without it, you will eventually wake at that time anyway.  I get up roughly at the same time every morning.  Within twenty minutes or so.  There are times when I have to get up much earlier, so at those times, I use my clock.  But, if I didn’t have to get up earlier, I would not use the clock.  I don’t need to.  I go to sleep at night knowing I will wake when I am supposed to get up.  I have faith that my body will react to the increasing daylight and I will awaken at the right time.  I didn’t have it in me because the flesh would fight against it.  The alarm clock overcame the weakness of the flesh.  But over time, faith took over.  I don’t need the clock because I have faith that I will get up when I am supposed to.

This is somewhat similar to what Paul is teaching.  The time we get up is the law.  The alarm clock is the flesh.  The natural way in which we get up is faith.  The law is good.  I have to get up and tend to things.  Especially the dog.  There is nothing wrong with the law.  It is there for my own good.  However, I need the alarm clock to get up.  The snooze button is an extension of my flesh.  I don’t want to get up.  I don’t want to obey the law that is there for my own good.  Over time, the duty of tending to my dog, the calling in which I live, and my family’s needs demand I get out of bed.  So, over time, trusting the natural rhythm of my body means I get up, get myself going, and tend to those things without the need for the discipline of the clock.  This is what faith does for the law.  Before, we needed consequences as the motive for obedience.  Now we have faith.  Faith does not destroy the law.  Faith enables one to live in the law.  Faith is the hammer that breaks the alarm clock.  We don’t need consequences anymore.  We have faith.  Faith makes it possible to live and walk in righteousness where we could not beforehand.  Faith is the life that makes it possible to do the right thing and avoid the wrong thing.  Faith did not destroy the law.  Faith established the law.