The law is to a believer what a mirror is to a person’s face: It doesn’t cause the spot of sin, nor does it have the power to wipe it away. All it can do is give us a picture of who we really are and direct us to Him whose blood washes us whiter than the snow. When you look into the perfect law of God, what is it that you see? Do you see a man or a woman who is getting along well enough—certainly not perfect, but better than most? Or do you see a desperate sinner in need of a sufficient Savior?

Law—what is it good for? Absolutely nothing? Lamentably, the way many Christians speak about God’s moral law today (as distinguished from the civil and ceremonial aspects of Old Testament law) indicates that they functionally believe this to be true. When confronted with pastoral exhortations to keep God’s commandments, their guard is immediately thrown up against what sounds to them like legalism. “The gospel is not about what we do, but about what Christ has done for us,” they’ll say. And right they are. The gospel is about Christ’s work, not ours. Rightly understood, however, the gospel doesn’t diminish the importance of the law in believers’ lives, it actually increases it. Believers are meant to love the gospel and the law.

This widespread uneasiness concerning the law is understandable. There are passages such as Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death,” and 1 Corinthians 15:56, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law,” that seem to pin the blame for our condemnation upon the law itself. Like the radioactive waves emanating from the radium that claimed Marie Curie’s life, many believers think the Bible wraps caution tape around the law, warning them to stand back as far as possible lest they succumb to the death radiating from within.

But upon closer inspection, these verses are not speaking of the law essentially or in and of itself—they are speaking functionally. They are a warning against the improper use of the law—namely, for the purpose of earning eternal life. Used in that way, the law can only bring death, “for by works of the law no human being will be justified in [God’s] sight” (Rom. 3:20). But used in the ways that God has prescribed, the law, which is “holy and righteous and good,” is a source of delight to the believer (Rom. 7:12).

So, how then does the law apply to us today? There are three primary ways:

1. The Law Is a Means of Conviction

“You don’t know what you don’t know” captures well the spirit of this first use of the law.

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