Why trash the Law?

Can anyone point out in the Bible a claim that it’s not possible for people to be able to keep the entire Old Testament Law? I often hear Christians say it is impossible to keep God’s Law, and that’s why Jesus came.

Okay, before some of you blow a vein and label me a heretic for implying salvation by works, let me first assure you I agree that no amount of work can earn salvation. Yes, we’re all unworthy of Jesus and only saved by his grace – we’re not better than anyone else. I just disagree God gave a law that can’t be followed (that would be cruel) – and there is scripture back this up.

For example, consider what God tells Moses to speak to the people after giving them the entire Law, (all 613 commandments). About these commandments God said, “‘For this commandment [to follow the whole Law] that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off … But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (Duet. 30:11 & 14, ESV emphasis mine).

Also, consider that Job was blameless, (Job 1:1) yet he admits to despising himself because of his sin (Job 42:6). Noah was “blameless” (Gen. 6:9). Of Zechariah and Elizabeth (parents of John the Baptizer) this is written: “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. (Luke 1:6 emphasis mine).

Furthermore, how could Paul admit to being sinful yet audaciously claim he kept the law perfectly as a Pharisee? I’m referring to these words: “as righteousness under the law, [I am] blameless” (Phi. 3:6b). (Incidentally, he considered that righteousness as “rubbish” [3:8]).

Now, let me point out here there is a key difference between keeping the law and sinning, (otherwise, the Bible wouldn’t claim some people followed the Law blamelessly). Many people blur law-breaking and sin together. I’m saying this: It’s possible for a person to keep law and still sin. Even a cursory reading of the Pentateuch will reveal God’s Law to Israel made room for sin. That’s because he knew people were sinful and would sin. Imagine that! There is grace in the Old Testament! God provided ample opportunities for people who sinned to be keepers of the Law. That’s where the terms guilt- and sin-offerings come from. If you offer a sin offering, you’re admitting to sin while keeping the Law.

So the old form of the Law could be kept. (I say, “could” because the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and sin offerings using animal sacrifices are now superseded by Jesus’ sacrifice.) BUT Jesus didn’t come because it was inconvenient to make animal sacrifices. As a matter of fact, the upright Jew considered keeping the Law one of his purest joys (Psalm 119: 97-104) and a privilege. It was an outward way to express an inward love toward God. This is quite the contrast to what Martin Luther taught about the Law being there to terrorize sinners.

Jesus pointed out the difference between following the Law and not sinning when he said one must not only avoid adultery in action, but also in heart (Matt. 5:28). What Jesus is saying here is that in order to be without sin, one must do more than keep the Law. In other words, you can keep the law, and still be guilty of sin – as many people were and are.

This, I believe, is what Hebrews means where it seems to claim the old covenant had faults: “For if that first covenant had been found faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second” (Heb. 8:7). It wasn’t that God’s a Law had faults – the law was perfect (Psa. 19:7, Jam. 1:25). The imperfection is in our hearts and not the Law. That is where the law comes short of what we need – it can show us how to live, but it can’t change our hearts so that we want to live that way. It points in the right direction, but offers no inherit motivation to go there.

That is part of the genius of Jesus’ intervention. Not only does it clear our past sins, his love for us gives us the desire to want to be perfect. His sacrifice changes our hearts’ desires to him and directs us away from things of the world – the law couldn’t do that because it is merely a standard to measure by, like a plumb line or a level.

The best thing I can compare it to is the mirror analogy in the epistle of James. He compared the Word of God to a mirror that accurately reflects and reveals to a person what he looks like – flaws and all. The man without a changed heart will look in the mirror, see his flaws, and walk away forgetting about it. But the person whose desires have been changed based on what Jesus did will look into that “perfect law” and “act” on what he sees to correct it.

That is why I submit that God’s Law (in its amended form according to the Hebrews epistle) can indeed be followed – I believe the opposite view will produce apathy in striving for purity and love among Christians.

For the people who have had their hearts changed by the sacrifice of Jesus – they will delight in following the Law of God, and it will be no burden.

(As an amendment added later, I want to emphasize that any good works completed as a result of the desire to be perfect, still fails to justify the Christian/sinner. Only Jesus can do that for us. The point I'm making is not that one must follow the law of Christ, but that the true believer will want to follow it. For this reason, a Christian is always in a state of repentance. Birds fly, fish swim, Christians repent.)