Lie #89

We Need God’s Law to Understand His Righteousness

Those who preach the law of God today in the New Testament Church, often tell us that the reason God gave the law was to reveal His righteousness to us, but that isn't true. The Bible clearly states why God gave the law in Romans 5:20. The Scripture says that the law came in so that transgressions might increase.

The reason God gave the law was to because of the self-righteous attitude the Jewish people had in thinking they could achieve righteousness through doing the right things. God's plan was that the Law would stimulate sin in the behavior of mankind, so that he would see his need for a Savior. The law does not reveal to us God’s righteousness - not today it doesn’t. The law in the Old Testament was a glimpse – it was a little snapshot of the righteousness of God. But today, you and I don’t have to have the Law to understand the righteousness of God. God’s righteousness is revealed to us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:16–17 says, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe – to the Jew first, and then to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.”

It is in the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed. The complete revelation of the righteousness of God is in the person of Jesus Christ. So, we don’t need the Law to cause us to understand the righteousness of God. We have Jesus the personification of God’s righteousness. He is the one who enables us to understand what righteousness really is, and also the one who enables us to receive that righteousness by faith.

The idea that we need the law in order to reveal God’s righteousness - that is a lie. Jesus Christ reveals the righteousness of God to us, and then as we trust Him, He gives us that righteousness by the abundance of his grace, and it becomes ours, Romans 5:17 says that the gift of righteousness has come to us through the abundance of His grace.

Righteousness has been received in Him. We don't need to try to achieve it.