"How God Uses His Law in Our Lives" (Sermon on Romans 13:1-10)

Our text today is the Epistle, from Romans 13, and our topic is “How God Uses His Law in Our Lives.”

And he does. God uses his law in several ways in our lives, all ultimately for our good. Traditionally we talk about three “uses” of the law, and our text today especially deals with two of those three, what we commonly call the “First Use of the Law” and the “Third Use of the Law.” Oh, we won’t forget about the Second Use. And St. Paul hasn’t either; it’s just that he’s already dealt with that at great length earlier in Romans.

So, how God uses his law in our lives. The three uses of the law, especially the first and third uses--and how this all applies to you--that’s where we’re going this morning.

Now when we talk about God’s law, we’re talking about his will for his human creatures. God created us, and he knows what’s best for us. God’s law tells us what we’re supposed to do and what we’re not supposed to do. Live according to God’s law, and life works better. Disregard God’s law, or disobey it, and things fall to pieces. That is true on the personal level. And if you spread it out over a society, our life in community works better or worse according to how well God’s law is accepted internally by people and followed externally in their conduct.

You see, God has written his law into human hearts. Romans 2 makes that clear. There Paul talks about the Gentiles, who did not receive the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone like Israel did, but yet, because God has hard-wired us with a sense of his law, even the Gentiles recognize that some behaviors are good and some behaviors are bad. Our conscience tells us that there is a difference between right and wrong. Murder is wrong. Stealing things from people is wrong. Lying about people, falsely accusing them, is wrong. On the other hand, marriage is good. Stable families and respect for God-given authority--that’s good. Life works better when these values are accepted and practiced.

Now of course, because of sin, because of our sinful nature, we often fool ourselves--and societies even can fool themselves--into thinking that the old standards of right and wrong no longer apply. We see that in our society today, where things like abortion, homosexuality, cohabitation, and divorce have become more and more accepted. But the pendulum can swing only so far to one side before it comes back. There is a reason why those things are always wrong, and that’s because they’re bad for us. But sometimes individuals and societies need to “bottom out” before they realize their folly.

So God’s law provides order to our lives. It sets boundaries. It discourages bad behavior and encourages good behavior. This is what we call in theology the “First Use of the Law.” It doesn’t save anyone--only the gospel can do that--but it does provide for a better life in this world. And so we thank God for the law’s useful function of telling us his design for this life and keeping the world in some semblance of order.

To help keep it in order, God has established the authority of government. That’s what this first part of Romans 13 is about. In fact, if you just say “Romans 13,” people who know the Bible will immediately think of this passage, the classic statement on the role of government:

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

This is perhaps the clearest passage in the whole Bible about how God has established government, civil authority, to keep order in the world. God has entrusted the ruling authorities with power, even the use of force, that is, “the sword,” to punish wrongdoers and to protect those who do right.

Romans 13, then, is the historic basis for government’s God-given authority: to authorize the use of deadly force by police; to execute capital punishment on murderers; and to conduct a just war. All of these things should only be done when necessary, of course, and for a legitimate reason. But they should be done. The police should use deadly force, if necessary, to protect law-abiding citizens. The government should execute murderers--capital punishment--to carry out justice and to deter and strike fear into those who might otherwise be more ready to take innocent human life. Sometimes a nation must engage in a just war, in self-defense and to protect its citizens. These things are all within the purview of legitimate, God-given, governmental authority.

Now just because the authority is legitimate doesn’t mean it cannot be abused. It can. And it has, many times. Remember, Paul is writing the Letter to the Romans . . . to the Romans! And the Caesars of the Roman Empire often abused and misused their governing authority. And yet Paul tells the Christians to respect the God-given authority of their governing officials. It’s not that the Caesars were such good guys--they weren’t--it’s because God has instituted governing authority for our overall good.

Now, in our country, with our form of government, if we don’t think the particular governing authorities we have at the moment are the best, we can do something about it: Put up better candidates for office and work for their election. Try to persuade our fellow citizens to see things our way. Don’t just grouse and moan, but take a more active part to improve things for the better. And of course, as always, whoever our government officials may be at the moment, we pray for them, that God would give them wisdom to govern well. We pray like that most every Sunday, don’t we, in the Prayer of the Church.

So the role of government is to encourage and enforce the first use of God’s law, which is to keep order in the world. This is a good thing. Good government is a gift from God.

The law doesn’t stop there, of course. These commandments--honor authority, respect human life, uphold marriage, respect other people’s property and their reputation--while they keep order in the world, they also reveal to us that we are sinners. You and I have not kept these commandments. “What?” you say. “I have never killed anybody. I’ve never robbed a bank. I’ve never had an affair. I’ve never lied in court.” Fair enough. You have successfully avoided the outward breaking of the law in its extreme manifestations. But you have broken God’s law, nonetheless--in your thoughts, in your words, and in the lesser degrees of wrongdoing: the defiance toward parents; the hitting and hating and hurting that we do; the lust in our hearts; the cheating of our employer or our workers; the gossip and backbiting that we do. These all are breakings of God’s holy law, and the punishment for them is death. Eternal death, Death with a big D.

This function of the law, to reveal to us that we are sinners, that we have no righteousness of our own, that we are lost, apart from God’s mercy--this is what we call the Second Use of the Law, and it is the most important one. For without this knowledge that we are sinners, doomed to death and in need of help outside ourselves--without this mirror to show us our sinful nature, we would think we have no use for the gospel. We would tell ourselves we have no need for a Savior, and consequently we would remain lost and condemned and end up in hell.

So it’s a good thing, actually, that God uses his law to show us our sins. Now we know that we cannot save ourselves. And so our ears are open now when we hear a different word from God, namely, the gospel.

The gospel--this is the message that saves. The gospel tells us of a Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to rescue us from our lost condition. Jesus kept the law on our behalf, perfectly, always doing the right thing, always thinking and speaking the right thing. Yet out of his great love for us, Jesus willingly suffered unjust punishment from a governing official who was ruling badly. Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, yet he bowed to the will of the crowd, rather than do what is right. Jesus submitted himself to that authority, in order to achieve a great and saving purpose. Christ was taking our sins upon himself and dying for them in our place, under God’s judgment, really. God’s own Son did this so that you would not die forever, but instead, by his holy blood shed on the cross, you now have forgiveness for your sins and Christ’s own righteousness to cover all your wrongdoing. This is how you have life, not just now, but life forever, life that conquers the grave. Life in a new and restored creation, where everything will work right and everyone will do what is right. This is what our Creator has planned, and he uses his powerful gospel word to bring it to pass.

So in this way the law serves the gospel, since the law shows us we need help. And then the gospel gives us the very help that we need.

We now have covered the first use of the law, to keep order in the world, which God maintains through his institution of government. And we’ve covered the second use, the law’s essential role of convicting and condemning us as sinners, so that we would be open to hearing the saving gospel. And that leaves what is often called the Third Use of the Law, which I think is what Paul is getting at in this other part of or text:

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Here Paul is appealing to Christians to live according to God’s commandments, which can be summed up in one word. Love. Keep in mind, he’s writing to Christians here, that is, people who are new creations in Christ. Sinners, yes, but forgiven sinners, who know what love is, since we have received love from God himself. Christians, that is, people who have been baptized into Christ and have received the Holy Spirit, who will direct us to walk in the ways of God’s good law. So we have the power now to do the will of God, which we didn’t have before. The Spirit guides us and leads us, so that now we even delight in God’s law, according to our new nature. We know when we hear it that we’re hearing what’s best for us from our kind and loving Father, not from some mean old ogre who wants to spoil our fun.

This, then, is the Third Use of the Law, to guide Christians in the way that they know to be right, because they have been given the Holy Spirit. We know that, when we keep God’s commandments, these things are pleasing to our Father in heaven, however humble these works may appear to the world. A mother changing her baby’s diaper. A child doing chores around the house. A father teaching his family the catechism. A husband and wife working to strengthen their marriage instead of bailing out. All these things may look small and not very spectacular, but we know from God’s law that they are indeed works pleasing to God. You don’t have to go running off to a monastery to be doing things that are “spiritual.”

The third use of the law, then, is that it acts as a true guide for Christian living. And so I say to you, dear Christians: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the same family. Do good to one another. Do good to all. I know this is what you want to do, because here I am appealing to Christians.

Today we’ve looked at how God uses his law in our lives. First use: To provide order in the world, enforced through the authority of civil government, the law acting as a curb on bad behavior. Second use: To show us our sins, the law acting as a mirror, so that now we know we need help--which we then receive in the gospel, which saves us. And the third use of the law: To serve as a guide for Christian living, the law acting as that rule or guide, heard gladly by Christians who are forgiven, who delight in God’s law, and who have the Holy Spirit to lead them in the way they should go. All these things God does for us ultimately for our good, to bless our lives now and to lead us into life everlasting.

Romans 13:1-10 (ESV)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

You lost me at “only the gospels” can save...and this is the problem with ALL Christian religious denominations (of which there are actually more of than the number of actual passages in the Bible)...Christian pastors & teachers teach that which they do not understand. What Rabbi Paul actually said was that unless you understand the Torah, wherein Yahweh tells us through Moses about His Word that will come in the flesh, Rabbi Paul was not speaking to you. [Romans 7:1]

Surely you know brothers - for I am speaking only to those who understand Torah - that Torah has authority over a person only so long as he lives?

John 1:14 - The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Yah (Divine Presence of God).

The Old Testament (Tenakh) is merely the New concealed, the New is merely the Old revealed and how sad is it that man divided them and called His Word old & outdated, even though it was The Word that walked with man. "When one does the Word of Yahweh, through the Covenant of Yeshua, you will be blessed". When one teaches anything other, then they teach not Him but some other god and their words will be a witness against them just as those who see them will also be a witness against them. [Titus 1:12-14; Heb 10:24-28; 1 John 5:20-21] There is a HUGE indentity crisis in the world and it ALL began with people who claim to know God, when in fact, probably because of ignorance of their Fathers as the "old" tells us, the 'old" that they do not study" nor teach. "Life" is that which has been from the beginning, death starts in the middle with what they claim to be the new. Unless one knows who actually are the sheep who Yeshua said he came for, one lives & teaches in blindness. Hint...one has to actually study the front of the book to find out. He told us all about it right before his children entered the promised land. It's an awesome & inspiring story that all generations should know of!

You lost me at “only the gospels” can save. . . .

You need to read a little more closely. I said "only the gospel," singular, can save. I am not refering to the four gospels, plural, as though only those books proclaim the saving message. I am referring to the gospel, the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which does indeed save. As St. Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). And this gospel promise is proclaimed throughout the Scriptures, Old Testament and New: "the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God," etc. (2 Timothy 3:15-16).

1st, I never said I was ashamed of the Good News. Oh, quite contraire, they are essential. What I pointed out is that without understanding the prophecy about our Messiah in the Books of Moses and the story of Moses himself, one lacks the discernment needed to truly know their Messiah in order to follow in his footsteps the way he did, as He commanded. That is the true message of Paul. Paul was rebuking rabbinical man-made doctrine, not the Torah. One can say anything they want, but it doesn't make it so in their heart. To walk in the faith of Messiah, one must walk what He taught, to keep all his ways that were taught from the beginning through the book of Deuteronomy, not make new ones for ourselves. Do you teach your parish members to follow all these commands or do you teach they are for only the Jews and then go on to celebrate those holidays set forth by man rather than the Holy Days appointed by God. Days that God commanded His children to keep forever, and for all who attach themselves to Him to do also for there is only 1 faith & there is only 1 Law for all,

“One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you” [Ex 12:49] He commanded that we are to keep them unto a thousand generations. “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations”[Deut 7:9]

I also find it interesting that you avoided the hard questions just as my former Lutheran pastor did. I see you also bring out the usual quotes, but how about this one, the Words of God spoken through Jeremiah 16:19

“O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.” (in context Jer in whole as it explained a lot to me about the lies of my fathers)

Who are these Gentiles God speaks of? It is no wonder God has kept the veil over the hearts of the House of Judah, which encompasses the House of Benjamin. If I was them, I wouldn't accept the Messiah the main stream Christian churches teach either. You neither follow him on any of His Sabbaths let alone join Him for His Festivals which are crucial for understanding in order to follow Him. There is only one Father and thus there is only one set of instructions for the children of His house to understand and obey. It wasn't until my pastor told me that my Father's rules were not for me, that His son came and rebuked them for all future believers. Now had Messiah really done this, he would not have been without blemish now would he? He would have been rejected as the Messiah, by both the Father & the people. So getting back to the Gentiles, why were so many baptized into the faith of Messiah? How did they know He was truly "The Word" made flesh? Could it be that mainstream pagan Christian/Evangelical/Protestant denominations do not teach the truth because of what they have inherited...LIES!?

It sounds like you don't know the Bible very well and are laboring under a misunderstanding--a serious error, actually.

The truth is, Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, are NOT under obligation to keep the ceremonial laws of Old Testament Israel, i.e., the Sabbath, the Hebrew calendar, the temple sacrifices, the dietary laws, circumcision, and the like. These all served a purpose, poinnted ahead to the coming of Christ, were fulfilled in Christ, and are no longer binding. They were a shadow of the things to come, as St. Paul says:

"Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (Colossians 2:16-17).

This was a major issue in the early church, as we can see from the Book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul. The Judaizers, who insisted on the things you are insisting on, were Paul's main opponent, and they were wrong--as you are. You have been misled.

I know my Bible much better than you claim I do and I am insulted by that comment of yours. Talk about judging. You have just judged the knowledge my heart without even knowing me, yet you proffer the same garbage that my former pastor did, as well as the multitude of pastors that I am surrounded by, when I went to them for instruction & guidance as to what God had revealed to my heart.

Paul was talking about judging persons based on man-made rabbinical law/doctrine, NOT the actual instructions, covenants & statues set forth by God himself in the Torah. Covenants and statutes that are forever. Messiah did not come to take away, he came to fulfill, which in Hebrew means to restore, not put an end to.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled(restored). Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven...” Mt 5:17-19

He came to instruct us how to follow him by giving us a living example. Messiah is “THE WORD” made flesh. He is the “LIVING WATER” of the “ROCK” that followed the people of Israel in the desert. “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” John 19:34 He is “THE MANNA” sent from heaven to nourish them. But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Mt 4:4

For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” John 5:46-47

You teach that what Moses wrote is not for me, therefore I question who it is you are teaching. As noted before, Paul was NOT talking about the words of some new revelation or new covenant for pagan gentiles, he was speaking ONLY of the Tanakh as it was received, then written word for word, every jott & tittle, as God instructed. To be taught & preserved for all time, throughout all generations until the 2nd coming of the Messiah. He is preparing us how we are going to live in the new kingdom under His house rules. Then we will truly be ONE NATION, UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTIES & JUSTICE FOR ALL. How prophetic is that? Nothing comes from nothing and you can not create apples from oranges, so why do you continue to try? I challenge you to quote me one verse from the Torah only that supports your claim that Paul taught that Messiah would come for a bride other than what His Father spoke of. Remember, Paul did not have your New Testament from which to teach from, he only had that which was already given by the Father & which he had memorized word for word as a student of Gamaliel. Thus I challenge you in this debate to prove me wrong using only Words that Paul had as instruction during the time of His teaching. As a member of a family with no less than a half dozen Lutheran pastors that have yet been able to give me instruction in this area, I am quite curious as to how you will Shepard me.

The Judaizers, who insisted on the things you are insisting on, were Paul's main opponent, and they were wrong—as you are. You have been misled.

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. [1 Cor 5:6-8]

It is not I that clings to the lies. Paul continued to keep & teach Torah, the Sabbath Day to keep it holy & the feasts until his death. In Col 2 he was again instructing against rabbinical doctrine added to the Torah of God such as only being able to walk a certain distance on the sabbath, washing hands before eating(while it is advised for health reasons, it was not a command from God) & especially healing on the sabbath or evangelizing on the sabbath. And he never ate of anything God called unclean because it was not meant as food for man to consume for health reasons. There was a reason Noah took 7 of each clean animal on the ark. If he had only taken 2, soon the animals would have been extinct. (Ham sandwich anyone, sarc)Paul was a faithful & trusting follower of Messiah & His Father thus the reason he NEVER taught that the Torah Law of God was ended. If he had, he would have been stoned as a heretic. And as I said before, if Messiah had done the same, he also would have been rebuked & stoned rather than crucified as the unblemished sacrificial lamb of God who never broke even the smallest of Commandments or statute Laws of Torah. When he died, the tickets against our sins that are written in the book of works were nailed to the cross, not the Covenant, Commandments & statutes of the Torah. Think about it, if by the crucifixion of Messiah, the law was abolished, the law that defines sin, then who is God to judge us in the end or you to preach to people what they are or are not doing as according to your thinking, the law of sin is no more so it's a free for all society to do whatever we want. Oh, wait...THAT is what our society is today...thanks to the continued teaching of lies passed down from our fathers and God is not smiling :( !

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