Lord’s Library contributor Robert Barr offers this commentary on law, Christians, and the heart. Lord’s Library’s Ministry Leaders Series is a collection of contributed articles written by ministry leaders on key Christian topics.
Many Christians have gotten the wrong idea on The Nature of Law. Many churches teach that we are no longer under the law but under grace. That sounds nice. It implies I can do what I want and not have to worry about the consequences. That is the lie that Satan told Eve. He implied she could eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree and not die. Without God, we are like children who want what we want and feel we should have it.
Parents set down rules to help children control their desires by realizing that bad actions have consequences. The rules have to be specific because children do not understand adult concepts. You can’t tell them to love their brothers and sisters because they don’t know what love is. You have to ban hitting, stealing, and other bad things. Children learn to control their desires to avoid punishment.
The Law is to control our desires and prevent those things that hurt us in the same way as the rules parents impose.
On Law, Christians & the Heart
We are forbidden to kill because if we do, the person’s friends or relatives will hunt us down to kill us and it divides us into opposing groups. Once they kill someone from our group, then we will want to get back at them and kill one of theirs. It sets off a long string of killing.
The Law is like a fort. It keeps out the bad things. The fort keeps out wild animals, thieves, and enemy soldiers. If you stay inside, you are safe, but if you go outside, you place yourself in danger. The Law is designed to prevent the things that divide us. The penalties of the Law are designed to deter us from committing the act. I will be afraid to kill someone if I know that I will face life in prison or even the death penalty.
However, the Law has two major limitations. The first is human nature. We are all like children at heart and want some things bad enough that we are willing to risk the punishment if we feel we can get it without getting caught. We do things while we think there aren’t any police around or anyone who might tell on us. We may also try to think of getting what we want by getting around The Law. We don’t really break The Law, we just bend it a little.
The second lies in the nature of The Law itself. The Law can control our actions but it cannot control our feelings. Jesus said anyone who is angry with his brother has violated The Law and anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery in his heart. See Matthew 5:21-22 and 27-28:
- Matthew 5:21-22: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
- Matthew 5:27-28: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
The Law is designed to prevent those things that divide us and anger creates divisions even before someone commits murder. The damage is done even before the actual act.
A major problem with laws made by man is that he who makes The Law can change it. A judge can favor his friends by ignoring The Law while using it to harass and punish his opponents. When God gave The Laws to the Israelites, they applied to everyone, including the king. Since God made The Laws, only He can change them.
When David was confronted with his sin, he recognized that he was not above The Law and repented. God is a God of justice and expects obedience to His Laws, for He is the Final Judge and will judge based on The Laws He made and not by our interpretation of them, and the penalty for sin is death. See Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
However, God is also a God of mercy to those who repent. He instituted animal sacrifice to pay for the sins, but while it paid for the sin, it did not prevent further sin. Like children, we need to learn obedience until we learn to control our actions on our own. That comes as children watch their parents and begin to realize that life is better if we obey the rules. Children then begin to obey because they know it makes life better and not just to avoid punishment. Once they learn that, they can be free to do things on their own without their parent’s supervision.
We have yielded our life to sin. If we yield to someone, we become their slave. While animals can pay for our past sins, they cannot change our hearts and we continue to sin. We, like children, are selfish and want to evade The Law which prevents us from getting what we want. Jesus clearly told us in Matthew 5:17 that He did not come to abolish The Law but to fulfill it: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
God gave The Law to teach His people to control their actions and show the nations the advantage of living under God’s Laws. However, like children, they still sought to get around The Law. They obeyed The Law outwardly but remained rebellious inside. Therefore, God sent Jesus to show them the way to live.
He walked among them and demonstrated perfect obedience to God’s Law. When someone loves another, they will not try to hurt them or steal from them. By loving that person, they are fulfilling The Law by not killing or stealing from them. Like with the fort, the walls prevent us from going outside, but as long as our desire is to get outside we will continue to try. If we find something inside the fort which we find better, we will forget about trying to go outside.
The walls are still there, but they no longer prevent us from going outside because we no longer try. Jesus died to pay for our sins and by His death, paid the ransom to redeem us from slavery to sin and death. By yielding to Christ, we die to sin. In Romans 6:14, it says that if we die to sin we can no longer live in it: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
We take on His Spirit who guides us in righteousness. As we yield to God, we are no longer under The Law but under grace. The Law remains but it is in our hearts and we no longer seek to break it.
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- On Law, Christians & the Heart: Under the Law or Under Grace? - August 31, 2026
