Additional Note C: THE LAW IN ROMANS
Additional Note C: THE LAW IN ROMANS
Paul uses the term law in a bewildering variety of ways. Typically it is the law of Moses, the law of the Old Testament. Thus, even though neither Moses nor the Bible is mentioned, plainly this is meant when he speaks of the Jews as having “in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (2:20). It is difficult to be certain of all the occasions when he means the law of Moses, for the context does not always put the matter beyond doubt, and we must bear in mind that in this epistle he never speaks of “the law of Moses” in set terms. Nor can we say that “the law” as opposed to “law” means the Mosaic law, since both usages can apply either to the Mosaic law or to law in general.
Law is especially important in Romans, where Paul uses it 72 times170 (all told he has it 119 times out of 191 in the New Testament; Galatians is next with 32 occurrences, so that the frequency in Romans is noteworthy). It is not easy to see why Paul inserts or omits the article with this noun. In Romans it has the article 31 (or 32) times and lacks it 41 (42) times, but of the 31 (32) times with the article 15 come in chapter 7. Apart from this one chapter Paul prefers the term without the article. Sometimes he does this to keep the reference to law quite general, as when he says that no one will be justified “by works of law” (3:20; many translations insert the article, but the Greek does not have it). Here he is certainly saying that no one will be justified by works done in accordance with the law of Moses, but he is probably saying something more, namely that no one is justified by any works of law, the law of Moses or any other. But while one can conjecture a reason for the absence of the article on some occasions, this by no means applies universally. Thus in 2:23 Paul uses “law” twice, the first time without the article and the second time with it, but it is more than difficult to see different meanings.
All this means that it is not easy to classify Paul’s use of the term with any exactness. But it seems to me that there are 51 places in Romans where the term is best understood of the Mosaic law (though sometimes with a glance at a wider meaning).171 In addition, in some passages the apostle speaks of “the law of God” (7:22, 25; 8:7). Sometimes “law” seems perfectly general, as when Paul says, “where there is no law there is no transgression” (4:15; cf. also 3:27; 5:13; 6:14, 15; 7:2, 8; 10:4).
But in addition to these more or less straightforward uses of the term Paul has a number of other expressions. Thus he can speak of “the law of faith” and of “the law of works” (3:27; NIV translates with “principle”, and Hodge thinks the word here means “a rule of action”). He refers to “the law of sin” (7:23, 25; in 8:2 it is “the law of sin and death”), and again to “the law of the Spirit of life” (8:2). There is “a law to me who wish to do good” (7:21), there is “in my members another law” (7:23), and there is “the law of my mind” (7:23). A woman is bound by “the law of her husband” (7:2). And once Paul says that the Gentiles “are a law for themselves” (2:14).
It seems clear that for Paul law meant primarily the Mosaic law, but that this did not prevent him from using the term in a variety of ways. In their treatment of the word, after the general concept “of any law” BAGD have “2. a rule governing one’s actions, principle, norm (they cite as an example “the tune that the bird sings”!).172 Some of Paul’s usages certainly come under this heading, but basically he is concerned with what God has revealed.173
Law is very important, and Paul can organize all history around it. In Romans 5:12ff. he sees a time before the law, the time after the giving of the law, and the time after Christ came. In the first period sin was not reckoned (5:13; cf. 4:13). Then came the heyday of the law, the time from Moses to Christ, a time when people sinned “in the law” (2:12), but this was followed by the coming of Christ who is “the end of the law” (10:4). Paul has some perplexing things to say about the law, but he is clear that it is God’s law (7:22, 25; 8:7). To have this law is one of the high privileges of Israel (9:4); the law is meant for life (7:10), it is holy (7:12), spiritual (7:14), and good (7:16); it is a source of instruction (2:18) and of truth (2:20). People will be judged by it (2:12), which leads to the thought that it is important to obey it (2:13, 25–27; 10:5).
But for all that the law does not bring salvation. Repeatedly Paul links sinning with the law, as when he speaks of people sinning “in law” (2:12) or transgressing law (2:23, 25, 27). Indeed, the law came in so that trangression might abound (5:20), and where there is no law there is no transgression (4:15; 5:13). What he calls “the passions of sins” are “through the law” (7:5), and the law “works wrath” (4:15), that is, it brings the wrath of God on the sinner. Sin is dead apart from the law (7:8); it lacks all power; Paul can speak of being alive apart from the law (7:9). It was not the function of the law to justify (3:20), but rather to give knowledge of sin (3:20; 7:7).
For Paul the really wonderful thing is that Christ is the end of the law (10:4), the end of any seeing of the law as the way of salvation. So believers “died to the law through the body of Christ” (7:4); they are not under law but under grace (6:14–15). Another way of putting this is to say that the righteousness of God is “apart from the law” (3:21, 28). It is important for Paul that this has always been God’s way: the promise that came to Abraham was “not through law” (4:13). In other words, God’s way has always been the way of grace, and we misunderstand the law if we see it as the way of earning salvation. It is rather God’s way of showing us our shortcomings so that we turn to Christ for our salvation. This does not mean an abolishing of the law; on the contrary, faith establishes the law (3:31). It is only when we experience the love of God in Christ, that love which we see so vividly on the cross, that we come to see the place of the law and find that love is the fulfilment of the law (13:8, 10).
Paul has a good deal to say about the law in his other writings, but it is clear that it is an especially important concept in Romans. In this calm and reflective letter we get important insights into the meaning of the law and into its relation to love.