Law, purpose of

The law covers and regulates every area of life of the covenant people of God in accordance with the commands of God. Although the laws may be divided into categories of civil, criminal, social and cultic (or ritual) law, these distinctions are not clear-cut, and occasionally overlap with one another.

The origins of the law

Law as God's command is found in the story of creation

Genesis 2:16–17

And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

The law expresses the covenant relation between God and his people

Deuteronomy 4:44–45, Deuteronomy 5:1 See also Exodus 20:1–17 parallel Deuteronomy 5:6–21; Deuteronomy 10:12–13, Deuteronomy 30:1–16

This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,

Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I declare in your hearing this day. Learn them and observe them carefully.

The purpose of the law

The law shows the proper response to the holiness of God

Leviticus 19:2

“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

The law ensures that the people continue to receive the blessings of the covenant promises

Deuteronomy 6:24–25 See also Genesis 22:17–18; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:3–7

And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day. And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”

Breaking the law leads to forfeiting the covenant blessings

Jeremiah 11:9–11 See also Exodus 32:1–4

And the LORD told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey My words. They have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their fathers. Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.

The law deepens the believer's knowledge of God through meditation

Psalm 1:1–2 See also Deuteronomy 6:2; Psalm 19:7–14, Psalm 119:25–32, Psalm 119:105–120

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

The law will finally be written on believers' hearts

Jeremiah 31:33 See also Ezekiel 11:19–20

“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

The general principles underlying the law

Justice

Deuteronomy 16:20

Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Righteousness

Deuteronomy 16:18

You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

Holiness