In Exodus 20:13, the Lord said to Moses, “Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, which, if a man does, he shall live by them.” He repeated it in verse 21 of the same chapter. Jesus said something very similar to a lawyer who asked him how he could obtain eternal life. After prompting the lawyer to remember the two great commandments of the law (love God and love your neighbor), Jesus said to him, “Do this and you will live” (Luke 10:28).
We teach that we cannot obtain life by the law, that good works (that is, works done in obedience to the law) cannot avail for our salvation, that works righteousness is, of necessity, a failure. No Pharisee, Pelagian, Semi-Pelagian, Arminian, or legalist who adheres strictly to his theology of works can be saved. Paul says, “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20), and “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse” (Gal. 3:10).
Is there a conflict between Jesus and Paul? If Paul is correct, what did Jesus mean?
The principle of the law is exactly as Jesus said: do it and live. If the lawyer had had no sin, he would have had life. Theoretically, life is possible through the law, but “theoretically” is a key word here. Life is possible through the law for those who keep it perfectly. If we had not sinned in Adam and if we had no sins of our own, we could live by the law. The law does not kill the obedient. The problem is that no man, except Jesus, has ever been free from the guilt of Adam’s sin or perfectly obedient to the law. Therefore, practically speaking, there can be no life through the law. Theoretically yes, practically no. When a ruler asked Him “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18f), Jesus replied that he should keep the commandments. The ruler’s answer was, “All these things have I kept from my youth,” but he knew that was not enough.
So the principle of the law is, obey and live. Put negatively, transgress and die.
All of this points us to an important truth: the law defines the sphere of life. Walking in the law is life. Transgressing the law is death. The fish cannot live on land. If it transgresses the law God has made for it, it will not expand its freedom to move freely on land but will die. If a dog tries to obtain its oxygen by inhaling water, it will die. The spiritual law is the same as the natural law. As long as we walk within the boundaries God has established for us, we will have life. When we step outside them, we die. And, of course, we have all stepped outside and died. “In the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17).
Furthermore, that law does not provide a way back into life. It has no power to restore the transgressor. It can and does kill, but it cannot give life to anyone it has killed. It blesses the obedient and curses the disobedient. It cannot bless the disobedient or provide a way to blessing. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did” (Rom. 8:3).
But (let us make no mistake about this) to be restored to life we must be restored to obedience. We must be brought back into the sphere of life. We must be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, holy as He is holy. “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:1–2). Two things are necessary for our salvation: justification to remove our guilt and sanctification to reverse our death, that uncleanness which is death because of the law’s curse (Rom. 6:1–8).
If the law cannot do it, who can? God can. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57). Our Lord Jesus Christ both justifies and sanctifies. He is a complete savior. He restores both our innocence and our obedience, our right standing with the law and our conformity to it.