The Importance of the Law in Christian Salvation.

The following text is taken from Galatians 3:23-29 NIV. The faith being referred to here is the faith in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour.

Before the coming of this faith,^j we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

26So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

God's salvation plan is revealed to us in the Book of Romans chapter ten, verses 9-13. If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^e 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”^f

The bible talks about us being "held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed." The faith being the key element in our purposed salvation, for the bible talks about people being justified by and through faith (Romans 3:30)

The law reveals our sin to our conscience, and through a convicted conscience we choose to forsake our sin and follow Christ. The law acts as our guardian, through the Lord's Spirit we see our sin for what it is and truly repent of it. The importance in the law for our Christian salvation is that it leads us to conversion, for without the law we would not recognize sin as being sin. When we have this revelation, that we need to be forgiven by God, this is called godly sorrow for our sins, (2 Corinthians 7:10) "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." To feel a sense of sorrow or guilt when we have sinned is natural, without our conscience we wouldn't be fully human.

The law is a heavy task Master, and was never intended as a means of salvation only to reveal our sin. When we still sin after conversion, we are under a different kind of law now. God gives us the law of Christ in our hearts when we fully repent of our sins, so we are under a loving conviction to continue in God's goodness to us. This is Mike.

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