to show man that he did not have what it took to be man as
God intended.
What about the Old Testament Law? Does it have any
reference to Christian behavior? The Law had more than
one purpose, and the failure to understand this will lead to
many interpretive problems. (1) The essential purpose of
the Law was the revelation of the character of God. God is
singular, personal, exclusive, worthy of worship. God is
faithful, true, needs nothing, etc. (2) The instrumental
purpose of the Law was to provide a means with which to
reveal the impotence of morality and to evidence the
inability of natural, fallen, sinful man to express the
character of God, the purpose for which he was created.
After he became a Christian, Paul could still say, "The
Law is good, holy, righteous" (Rom. 7:12,13). As we have
noted that only "God is good," it is safe to say that Paul did
not mean that the "Law is good" in the same sense that
"God is good," for he would never have idolatrously
equated the Law with God. Rather, the Law is beneficially
good; the law serves the good purpose of God, primarily to
reveal God's character. Paul makes it very clear elsewhere
that the Law does not make anyone good or righteous.
"Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at
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