Galatians 2:19 says, “I...have died to law that I might live to God.” This means that the requirement of the law upon us as sinners is that we should die and that according to that requirement Christ died for us; hence, our obligation under the law, our relationship with the law, was terminated. This makes it possible for us to live to God.
The Gentiles, however, who do not believe in God and do not have God, still live to the law. They live to the law because they do not have God, just as those who do not have a car have no choice but to walk. In addition to not knowing God and not having God, they have the evil power of Satan within them that incites them to sin and to do evil. They know that they ought to do good and to stay away from evil, so naturally they establish certain rules and determine principles for human conduct. Although they do not have God and even have Satan within them, as human beings they still have a desire to be good and to do good. In this contradictory situation certainly they will live under the law and attempt to keep the various principles of human conduct under the law. Their hope is to be successful in their attempts to keep the law. They do not think about God; rather, their thoughts are altogether on the law.
Their practice is most displeasing to God because it puts God aside. In their attempts to keep the law in order to be virtuous, well-behaved, and good people, the unbelievers act by themselves and thus put God aside. They do not acknowledge that there is God-they deny the existence of God, yet they try to maintain a high standard of conduct by being very careful in their speech and actions. In this way they put God aside, conducting themselves and trying to do good by themselves. Just as those who sin and do evil, such as robbers, swindlers, and extortioners, are without God and put God aside, so those who are proper, upright, and well-behaved can also be without God and put God aside.
This shows us that some people have fallen into evil and thus have put God aside, while others have fallen into good and thus have also put God aside. In our society there are these two categories of people. One category consists of those who are capable of committing every crime under the sun, including being treacherous, cruel, deceitful, and evil. There is no doubt that such ones have put God aside and that God has no place in them. The other category consists of people who are well-behaved, who conduct themselves properly, who are trustworthy, and who possess high morality yet at the same time vehemently deny the existence of God. Such ones have also put God aside, and God has no place in them.
Therefore, there are two different kinds of people: one kind does evil, and the other kind does good. According to good and evil, these two kinds of people are absolutely different. Yet in the matter of putting God aside and not giving God any place, they are absolutely the same. Just as those who do evil put God aside, so those who do good also put God aside. Just as those who do evil do not give God any room, so those who do good also do not give God any room. These two kinds of people behave differently-one does good and the other does evil; nevertheless, they have exactly the same kind of attitude toward God. Those who do evil give up the law, thereby rejecting God, and those who do good keep the law, thereby also rejecting God. The former forsake God by violating the law, while the latter forsake God by observing the law. Both groups of people have problems because of the law. The first group of people gives up God because they have broken the law, whereas the second group forsakes God because they consider that they have kept the law. Hence, we can see that both these conditions of rejecting God are related to the law.
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