We have mentioned the resurrection of Christ and shown how we can receive a new life in this resurrection. But there is another crucial matter which has decisive bearing upon our Christian life. We have to devote our present chapter to the study of this matter. If we miss this, we will miss a vital aspect of our belief. In addition, we want to supplement our previous messages with a number of points concerning faith. We will combine them all in this same chapter.
First, we want to ask why God gives us a new life. We have to look at this matter from the beginning. I shall consider you all as Christians and shall therefore approach the whole problem from the biblical point of view. In the Old Testament there are the laws with all the ordinances. The laws do not consist merely of the Ten Commandments; they comprise hundreds of ordinances and regulations. There are laws to govern your way of dressing. There are laws telling men when to plant and sow. There are laws governing the use of oxen or mules. Weaving and cooking have their arrangements. Everything is so strictly regulated. The totality of all these codes of behavior is the law. We want to know why there is the need for all these laws. Why did God set up all these ordinances in the Old Testament?
If you check with every nation in the world as to why they instituted their various laws, each would surely answer that the laws are for their citizens to keep. Is this also the reason for God's institution of His laws? Did God set down the law of forbidding idol worship because He wants us to not worship idols? Did He give us laws because He wants us to honor our parents or not covet, kill, or steal? If we ask anyone this question, the answer would surely be yes. They would say that God gave us the laws, commandments, and ordinances so that we would keep them and abide by them, in the same way that every nation demands its citizens to be subject to its laws.
But Christians should never answer this question in this way. You have to give me permission to say an honest word. If you think that God introduced these laws for you to keep, you know nothing about the Christian faith. You are still an outsider.
Naturally, you may ask, "If God's purpose for giving us the laws was not for us to keep them, then what was the use of giving them to us?" My answer is so that we would break them! All the ordinances written in the laws are for us to break! This is the truth according to the Bible. The books of Romans and Galatians expressly tell us this.