Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.  [5] You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.  [6] No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.  [7] Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.  [8] Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.  [9] No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  [10] By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.  (1 John 3:4-10 ESV) 

There exists no issue that stirs more anger and rancor amonst Christians than the issue of obeying God.  I have been called legalistic and self-righteous for the entire 30+ years of my Christian walk.  I will admit that in the beginning I was fairly legalistic.  Now I understand that anyone who desires to walk with God will be, at least at first.  This is why he revealed his law before he revealed his Spirit.  The Law gives us a framework for living life with God.  It reveals core characteristics of the One we are called to first serve and then become like.  Revealing the Law first fits the Biblical principle of “first the natural, then the spiritual.”

But, why is the Law revealed first?  Because if there is no law, there is no sin.  If there is no sin, there is no such thing as wrong-doing and, hence, there could be no accountability for any of our actions.  If no one does wrong, then no one needs to be forgiven for anything.  If no ones needs to be forgiven for his actions, then Jesus did not need to die on the cross.  If Jesus did not need to die on the cross, then all Christian doctrine is foolishness and our faith is in vain.  Why would we need faith?  We would have no need for Jesus because we have no sin.

Such notions, of course, are foolishness.  Sin indeed exists.  But, how do we know sin?  Paul said,   “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, `You shall not covet.‘” (Romans 7:7 ESV)  The same is true for all sins.  I would not have known that fornication or theft or murder or lying were all sins unless the law said, “Do not do that!”  God reveals the Law first so that mankind realizes that he sins continually and that he, therefore, needs forgiveness for those sins in order to be reconciled to God.  Why so?  Because God is holy, clean, and light whereas sin is unholy, unclean, and dark.

Thus, Paul says, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  [20] For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:19-20 ESV)   Paul says that because the Law brings the knowledge of sin to everyone it therefore makes every human being accountable to God.  It is this fact and this fact alone that necessitates our need for forgiveness.  Each of us has sinned before God; therefore each of us needs to be forgiven in order to become reconciled to him, in order to establish our relationship with him.  This is why Jesus shed his blood and died on the cross for us.  If Jesus did away with the Law by his death, then sin no longer exists, and no one would have needed to be forgiven for anything after his death.  But, Jesus did not put away the Law.  He fulfilled it.  And he expects us to now fulfill it too.  The question is, how?  This is the teaching about righteousness, and now we will begin to learn how to actually practice righteousness.  (Next)