Holiness – God’s first priority [cont’d]
“Be holy as I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16; Lev 11:44, 45)
Are the Ten Commandments important in setting before us the way of holiness?
Yes, the law plays a major role in cultivating holiness in us. The law is like a fence to corral us into God’s pathways. I was preaching once in Fort Macleod, Alberta, and when I woke up in the morning the people were very upset and in tears. I asked, “What’s happened?” They said, “We left our gate open by accident last night and one of the horses escaped early in the morning and crossed the road. Just at that moment the horse ran in front of a car and the young driver was killed.” This tragedy reminds me of an important spiritual principle: when we don’t use the law to guide us today, that is, after we’ve received grace in Christ, we’re fenceless. The law is meant to protect and direct us as we seek to please God.
I believe every one of the Ten Commandments is aiming at a whole sphere of sins when it targets one in particular. For example, the command not to commit adultery gives us guidelines for the sphere of marriage and other relationships; the command not to steal provides us with guidelines for how we are to treat other people’s property and so on.
I know that when Calvin came along and promoted the law as a guide to holiness (what we call the “third use of the law”), scholars have said ever since that that was contrary to Luther. But in my studies of Luther, I have found that while Luther believed that the primary use of the Law was to convict us of sin, he nevertheless taught the law was also meant to guide us into holiness. We see this in his catechism and other writings. He taught that the law’s like a stick; God first uses it to beat us to Christ, and then He puts it in our hand so that we can use it as a cane to walk onward in our Christian journey. This is all Calvin meant by it, that the law’s main place in the Christian life was as a guide to holiness.
I think that any Christian who really wants to live for the glory of God wants to know what pleases and what angers God. And I think the Law helps us to that end.
Of course, the law can never justify us because we break it as sinners. Yet Christ has become our justification because He has obeyed the Law perfectly on our behalf. Nevertheless, in terms of our sanctification we still owe allegiance to the Law. This means that the Law should be seen as a friend and not as an enemy in living the Christian life.
– Dr Joel Beeke, Australian Presbyterian, July 2006