Works of the Law

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 47.

“Works of the Law.”—The “works of the law” are all that man can do by law; he can attempt to keep it outwardly; but his heart remains unchanged. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous.” Man must be righteous before he can do righteousness. The being is before the doing. But man’s “works of the law” (Gal. 2:16; 3:2, 10) are only unregenerate man’s attempts to keep a spiritual law. He simply keeps an outward form of the truth as did the Jews (Rom. 2:20), and is therefore condemned by the law itself. He therefore that is of “the works of the law” is “under the curse.” He is attempting his own salvation. The law demands exact obedience always and all the time, in outward form, in inward motive. Its curse rests upon those who have not done this, and that is upon all. Rom. 3:23. But Christ redeems us from the curse. He kept the law. He makes the believer righteous. He puts within that believer his own Spirit. And then the believer, or rather Christ in the believer, keeps the law, and fulfils its righteousness. The keeping of the law by the believer is not the works of the law, but the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the union between the believer and Christ. See Gal. 5:23; Rom. 7:4; 8:4. “The fruit of the Spirit is love,” and “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.”