Yes, we’re under a new covenant, not the old, so we aren’t bound by Old Testament laws the way that an Israelite was. But because these laws are still a window into the Lord’s values, the believer today will want to study them, understand them, and seek to embody the values they contain, knowing that to imitate the Lord’s values is to walk in a field of flourishing.

Every time I teach a course on the Pentateuch, the topic of God’s law comes up. I typically ask, “When you hear the phrase ‘God’s law,’ does it leave you with a positive feeling, a negative feeling, or a mixed feeling?” The majority of students fall into the second category (negative feeling), with the next largest group in the third (a mix of negative and positive feelings). When asked to explain the negative feelings, two responses rise to the top:

“In places like Galatians, Paul associates the law with being cursed. It seems we’re to look at the law negatively.”

“The very notion of law feels restrictive, binding, like something that takes away flourishing because it takes away our freedom.”

In light of these common thoughts, it is important to consider possible problems with the assumptions underneath them and to see how other biblical passages encourage us towards a much more positive perspective on God’s law.

Exploring Our Assumptions About the Law

As my students and I process their negative feelings about the law, we identify different assumptions underneath them. For example, in Galatians, does Paul associate the law with being cursed? In a sense, but note exactly what Paul says leads to cursing: “All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law’” (3:10; emphasis added).

In the context of this chapter, Paul is in effect saying, “If you rely on the law for salvation, you’re cursed because the law can’t save you.” From the perspective of being saved, the law can only condemn. (It’s why Paul elsewhere refers to the law as a “ministry of death” and “ministry of condemnation,” 2 Cor. 3:7, 9.) But salvation has never been the law’s purpose. As the Old Testament demonstrates, salvation has always been by faith in God’s promises, a point Paul makes in the immediate context of Galatians 3 and that he spends an entire chapter emphasizing elsewhere (Rom. 4).

What about the common feeling that the law is restrictive and takes away flourishing because it takes away freedom? We talk about how this feeling assumes that flourishing is found in being free and that such freedom means having no restrictions. But as we think further, it becomes apparent that all sorts of restrictions are necessary for flourishing. To flourish physically means restricting the number of hours you stay awake in a day and the type of nourishment you put in your body. To flourish as a professional musician means restricting how you use your time to ensure you can practice enough.

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