Romans 4:15
15 Because [gar] the law [nomos] worketh [katergazomai]
wrath [orge]: for [gar] where [hou] no [ou] law [nomos] is [esti], there is no [oude]
transgression [parabasis]. KJV-Interlinear
15 For
the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. ESV
Law brings wrath, meaning causes or leads to
punishment. And where there is no law,
then there is no punishment because there is no transgression. The law is merely a written rule. If you violate that rule then there are
consequences. If there is no written
rule, then there is no violation.
Suppose you are walking down the street. If there is no rule saying that you cannot
walk down the street, then you are not violating any law or rule. You can walk
as you please with no worry as to legal consequences.
But if someone writes up a law that makes it a crime
to walk down the street, then you are placing yourself in legal jeopardy if you
walk down the street.
In the Garden, there was no written rule except one,
which was that Adam and Eve could not eat of the forbidden fruit. Other than that, they could do anything they
wanted.
But of course they ate and were caught and were
sentenced to spiritual death as well as physical death, ‘dying thou shalt die.’
That led to eternal condemnation and separation away
from God, unless there was some solution to correct that separation. And God provided the answer. A member of the Trinity would take our place
as a man, and pay the price of sin and death.
We have only to believe in Him in order to be saved and thus freed from
our eternal condemnation.
Now the clock races forward, and man makes lots of
laws and rules and regulations. God
places in front of us the rules of righteousness, which is presented in the
Mosaic Law. All of the thou-shalt-nots
and so forth.
Mans laws demonstrate that man will always violate the
law in one way or another. And that man
can come up with some pretty worthless and unfair laws. Even laws designed to regulate humanity
itself. Even those laws violate
themselves.
Gods rules demonstrate that all of humanity will not
only violate the rules of righteousness, but that no one is capable of living
by them.
If you have written rules and know of them then you
are all the more bound by them.
Even the uneducated world, that lacks written rules,
has the laws of nature and/or common sense, which they recognize and lived
by. And this has been true for many
centuries especially in ancient times.
Then there are the jungle laws where you are either
big or strong or quick or dead. Predator or prey, makes no difference, because
those laws get you sooner or later.
But the whole point to all of this is, that if you choose
to live by a law, then you are susceptible to its punishments. And the law of works, has a punishment that
causes you to lose everything.
On the other hand, if you choose the law of Christ,
which is grace through faith, then there is no violation, no condemnation, no
eternal loss, because those penalties have already been paid for in full and no
longer apply. You are exempt from the
law of works, by adhering to faith. And
as Paul states, no law means no violation.
Therefore, believing in Christ cancels the law in your
life, which also cancels eternal condemnation, which means eternal security.
Now, you can believe in Christ and be saved and then
in your stupidity turn back to works for your spiritual growth, but guess
what? The law of works in spirituality means
no benefit, because works are rejected in Gods plan for the spiritual life.
Grace applies across the spectrum of the spiritual
life. You have to be consistent, and cannot flip-flop back and forth, from
faith to works, and expect anything from that pattern of life.
