Law Never Abrogated
This leads us into the truth that the law of God is pure and holy and spiritual, and has never been abrogated. The New Covenant does not take away the law: it provides a way of fulfilling the law. There are many senses in which the word “law” is used in the Scriptures, but we are looking now at the righteous law of God which must be fulfilled, and the breaking of which is sin, for sin is lawlessness, or the breaking of the law. James tells us that to stumble in one point is to break the whole law, for the law is a unity.
The law is a unity because it is an expression of the character of God, and God is one.
To break it in one point is to sin against God. It is a true revelation of the Scriptures that “God is law,” though these words do not occur. The words “God is love” do occur, and love is the fulfilling of the law.
When God gave the perfect law to men God knew that men could not keep it apart from the secret of Grace. But men did not know it. And God cannot do anything for a man by grace until man learns that he is a transgressor of the law of God, and that it is impossible for him to keep it. Israel said, “All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do.” They indeed needed a tutor unto Christ.
The law, then, was added to show man what sin is, to make sin exceeding sinful, to prove to man that he is a sinner. This work the law did all through the old dispensation. But this work the law must continue to do for every individual before he can enter into the meaning of grace.