Who is the Law For?

(1 Timothy 1:8-11)

Who is the law for? That might seem like a strange question, but it is really quite a logical one.

Think for a moment about why laws are created in the first place. Usually it is because something has happened or someone has done something wrong and so legislators make laws to try to stop it recurring.

So, when we think about it like that, it becomes quite obvious.

Who is the law for

The law is for those who do the wrong thing. The laws that our governments put in place are primarily to try to curtail bad behaviour. The law gives teeth to those charged with enforcing it so that offenders can be captured, prosecuted and punished.

Now there are other laws that are not for this purpose, such as laws to raise revenues and taxes. Such laws provide the money for building infrastructure and to pay those who govern and manage the business of government.

But when you think about it, those laws are in place a second tier to support the laws that control evil and wrongdoing in societies.

If you think about judges, politicians, civil servants, and so on, their work is still about dealing with the bad guys and preventing or punishing the evils of society. Using those three examples we can see that they are paid to:

• Judges (and police, prosecutors, and so on) are paid from taxes and revenues to enforce the laws and deal with those who break the laws.
• Politicians (and their staffs and those who codify the laws they make) are paid from revenues and taxes to create the laws that define what is right and wrong.
• Civil Servants are paid from taxes and revenues to develop infrastructure that helps prevent law breaking. They build traffic systems, safe roads, and codes of practice for safe building of houses, bridges, and buildings, and so on.

So, in reality, the vast majority of the laws that exist, and the answer to the question, who is the law for, is really the bad guys. They are established to try to bring order to society.

Who is law for in the Bible?

The words above are a general rule for every person. But then there are the laws in the Bible. There are some six hundred and fifty plus laws in the Old Testament, including the Ten Commandments.

So again we should ask, who is law for in the Bible?

The scripture I am covering today gives us the answer.

8 Now we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 immoral persons, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. (1 Timothy 1:8-11)

Well, it’s quite clear that the aim of the law was pretty much the same. It was aimed at trying to curtail the bad people and to put down evil in the society.

But there was a lot more in God’s law than just that.

The intent of the law was not to punish but to train. The aim was discipline as training, not discipline as punishment.

God’s law, as encapsulated in the Bible was to provide a moral code for society to live by. It was hoped that people would choose to follow the law rather than having to be punished for not doing so. And I guess to some extent that is still true of the laws of the land as well.

Using the law unlawfully

But if we look at the first verse in the section of scripture above, we get an even deeper insight.

It says, “The law is good, if anyone uses it lawfully.”

That suggests the possibility that some could or would use it unlawfully.

There are those who are unscrupulous and seek to use the law unlawfully so as to get around the thrust of the law. I am sure we all know of criminals who have got away with serious charges because they had a “good lawyer” who manipulated the law in ways that enabled him to take advantage of loopholes in the law.

And the same thing was happening in the times of Jesus. He frequently spoke of the Pharisees, who were the keepers and teachers of the Mosaic law, calling them hypocrites. They spoke and taught the law but did not do it. And they created “loopholes” to try and get around the law and weasel their way out of doing the right thing.

And Jesus called them out for it! Recall these words.

7 in vain do they [Pharisees and scribes] worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God) — 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:7-13)

Do you see how the Pharisees and scribes twisted the words of God to create a loophole? And by doing so they rejected the laws of God and made it void for the sake of their traditions.

And so many do the same thing in the churches today. So many preachers have taken the words of God and twisted them to their own ends. And it isn’t a new practice. It was noted in the earliest parts of the church and it is still happening.

But there is actually a better way through Jesus Christ.

Freedom from law

When we asked the question, who is the law for, we answered by saying, “It’s for the bad guys!”

So what about the “good guys?” If the law is for the bad people to try and stop their evil ways and curtail evil in the world, and if it is to provide a moral code, where does this help the people who follow the law?And for want of a name I’ll continue to call them the “good guys.”

If the only people who really need the, and the ones it was enacted for, are those who do evil, then those who do good don’t need the law. If you ALWAYS do what is right and what is holy, good, and true, why do you need the law?

Remember, the law condemns those who do evil. But if you don’t do evil then you are not condemned by the law. And as we see in this verse, there is a way to be set free from law and the condemnation of the law.

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

Those who are IN Christ Jesus are no longer under condemnation for there is no condemnation IN Christ Jesus.

Why? Because if you are IN Christ Jesus you are separated from the law. You have been set free from the law of sin and death and you serve God under the law of the Spirit of life rather than the law of sin and death.

But isn’t that just saying you are going from one law to another set of laws? No, it isn’t.

The scripture tells us we have died to the law through the body of Christ so that we can live a new life in the Spirit.

4 Likewise, my brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. (Romans 7:4-6)

The new life in the Spirit is not like the old life under the law. We are set free from condemnation because we have been discharged from the law through the body of Christ.

So, who is the law for? Not the good guys because they have been set free from it.

Then how do we get IN Christ? You will note I keep writing the word “IN” in capital letters. I want you to realise that “in” means “in.” To be IN Christ you have to enter INTO His death. And we do that through baptism in water.

When we are baptised correctly (many are not), we are baptised INTO the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is then that we are truly IN Christ as He is in us. And when we have died with Christ and we believe we are dead to this world and alive to God IN Christ, we are set free from sin and set free from the law.

And when that happens we can truly say we are not under law and we are not sinners and the answer to the question, “who is the law for,” is clear. It is for those who are under the law, but not those who are truly IN Jesus Christ.

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