The law is a vital component in God’s work in saving His people. It is the law that convicts both unbelievers and believers alike of sin. Unbelievers learn what sin is through the law. The law is not sin. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. Paul says that before he knew the law he was once alive apart from it. However, after he learned what it was to covet and that that was sin, then he found that sin very much alive within himself. Sin deceived him and brought him to condemnation because he was now guilty before the law for covetousness. The law is good and holy so it was not what caused Paul to be spiritually dead. No, sin did that. It was the law that revealed it. This brings conviction.

14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Romans 6:14-15 (LSB)
Most of the formative years of my Christian walk were spent in one church from February 1987 through February 2000.  During that time we had three pastors.  I was in some form of teaching for most of that time. One of the things that always came up when we studied the Old Testament was Romans 6:14-15. It was as if someone always had to make sure that we were not being legalistic. They cast the law as far from them and our church as the East is from the West. Is that how we are to treat God’s Law?
In Romans 6:14-15 we learn that Christians are not under law, but, instead, are under grace. What does this really mean? Does it mean that it is wrong to preach God’s Law under all circumstances?
1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? 2 For the married woman has been bound by law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.4 So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Romans 7:1-6 (LSB) 
Paul wrote this section of Romans to Jews for they ‘know the law.’ He states that the law is binding on a person only as long as he or she lives. Paul uses the example of a married woman. She is legally bound to her husband only as long as he lives. However, if the husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. On the other hand, if her husband is alive then she would be judged an adulteress if she lives with another man. She may remarry if her husband dies. What has this to do with the relationship of the law with Christians? Paul used this as an analogy to show that when a person becomes a Christian, he or she actually dies and is resurrected or reborn. They have died to the law through the body of Christ. Now instead of being bound to the law, they are bound to their Saviour. Before this first resurrection each of us were living in the flesh and controlled by our sinful passions, which, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. However, this resurrection unto life has released us from the law because we have died to that which held us captive.  In other words, the law can no longer condemn a believer.
7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! Rather, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. For I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, worked out in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 Now I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to lead to life, was found to lead to death for me. 11 For sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. Romans 7:7-13 (LSB)
Does the fact that the law no longer condemns believers mean that we should treat it as worthless or unimportant? I have received some rebuke from some for teaching from the Old Testament to Christians. Are they right to say that I am teaching from the irrelevant ‘Old Covenant?’ Paul very clearly teaches us here that the law is a vital component in God’s work in saving His people. It is the law that convicts both unbelievers and believers alike of sin. Unbelievers learn what sin is through the law. The law is not sin. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. Paul says that before he knew the law he was once alive apart from it. However, after he learned what it was to covet and that that was sin, then he found that sin very much alive within himself. Sin deceived him and brought him to condemnation because he was now guilty before the law for covetousness. The law is good and holy so it was not what caused Paul to be spiritually dead. No, sin did that. It was the law that revealed it. This brings conviction.
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Written by David T. Crum |
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Since the fall of mankind, the Lord has been carrying out judgment on wickedness, often resulting in death in battle or wars. When disasters occur, or wars start, rest assured that the Lord is at work. It may be humanly impossible for us to ascertain the purpose, but Christians can find solace in knowing God remains in control.

This is a remarkable passage for the purpose of providing the right of the sword; for if the Lord, by arming the magistrate, has also committed to him the use of the sword, whenever he visits the guilty with death, by executing God’s vengeance, he obeys his commands. Contend then do they with God who think it unlawful to shed the blood of wicked men.—John Calvin

It is true that Christians should abhor war. Imitating the teachings of the Lord, believers are called to live a life of peace. A valuable example occurred when Jesus ordered Peter to put down his sword (Matthew 26:52). Much the same, Stephen sought prayers for those stoning him to death (Acts 7:60), not vengeance.
However, the concept and call to peace do not negate the fact that warfare is present in this fallen world. And it is clear through war that the Lord’s providence occurs.
Among the great Reformers, John Calvin garnered wide recognition for upholding a reputation of peace. John Knox, famous for carrying the Bible in one hand and a sword in the other, remained a bit fierier than his mentor (Calvin). Luther, like Knox, defended his own movement aggressively. Luther commented on war, “For if the sword were not on guard to preserve peace, everything in the world must go to ruin because of lack of peace. Adding, “When men write about war, then and say that it is a great plague, that is all true; but they should also see how great the plague is that it prevents.”[1]
Luther and Knox had merit for their aggressive response to the Papacy and darkness needing to be confronted by the sword. Calvin frequently discussed war, too. He wrote:
He (God) bids us to live chastely and refrain from all violence. However, when wars break out in the world, when there is bloodshed and countless acts of rape, will we say when these occur that God failed in his counsel to consider what was right? Do we think that he would let fortune prevail, as if he were asleep in heaven, or was enjoying a delightful rest? What a blasphemous idea! It would be like making God into an idol…If God did not determine everything in this world and keep Satan and all his evildoers in check, we would most certainly be doomed to perish a hundred times every minute of the day. Moreover, unless we realize that wars and similar things are judgments which God uses to punish our sins, we would surely not be brought to repentance.[2]
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My own hope and prayer is that pastors and elders across the wide range of the PCA will use these short sessions to train their men and supply their churches with the necessary resolve to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly” with the Lord our God in the midst of this poor, fallen world (Micah 6:8).

Quick on the heels of the historic 48th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), former moderator Dominic Aquila and current chair of the Standing Judicial Commission Fred Greco came to Franklin, Tennessee to record a series of sixteen videos on our denomination’s polity. Designed specifically to engage, inform, and equip the average Ruling Elder, the videos are a practical, accessible, and edifying introduction to our Book of Church Order.
Anyone who has ever heard Dr. Aquila or Rev. Greco speak, preach, or teach know that they are both incredibly articulate, theologically sound, and encyclopedically informed churchmen. They are also very down-to-earth, plain-spoken, witty, and incisive. All this and more is on display in these videos, made freely available to anyone and everyone thanks to the generosity of a handful of donors and a sponsoring congregation in the Nashville Presbytery.
My own hope and prayer is that pastors and elders across the wide range of the PCA will use these short sessions to train their men and supply their churches with the necessary resolve to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly” with the Lord our God in the midst of this poor, fallen world (Micah 6:8).
To watch these videos, visit the MORE in the PCA YouTube Channel or navigate to this site’s Videos page under Resources.
George Grant is a PCA Teaching Elder serving as Pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church in Franklin, TN.