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Before turning to the actual relationship of the Christian to the Mosaic Law, I would like to take one last look at the purpose of the Law in this, the fifth post in this series.

We have already seen that the first, and most straightforward, purpose of the Law was to serve as a constitution for the nation of Israel. A second purpose of the Law, clearly stated in Scripture, is the revelation of sin, particularly to the nation of Israel (but by extrapolation to all people). Paul stated:

The law was added so that the trespass might increase [and] … through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Not only was sin given definition by the Law, but men realized that they were sinful and incapable of obeying the Law, thus being imprisoned under sin. Galatians 3:22 states:

The Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin.

Douglas Moo comments:

The law is like an unfulfilled and unfulfillable “IOU” standing against sinful human beings.

A. T. Lincoln agrees that the purpose of the Law was…

… to make sin and transgression evident.

One must continue to bear in mind that these purposes of the Law should be confined to the people and time to which it was given, the nation of Israel before Christ. D. R. De Lacy summarizes:

The law presents us with the ethical standards of the holy God. As such, its goodness is unquestionable, but its effect is simply to demonstrate the existence of our sin, to condemn us as a result, and also to provoke our sin. Because of the weakness of the flesh, it can have no other effect on us when we read its righteous demands.

Next, how does the believer relate to the Law?