Lawyers' Christian Fellowship                         

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Freed from the Curse of the Law

This article is a report of the address given by Judge Peter Grogan of the District Court of New South Wales on the occasion of the Fellowship's Christmas function in November 1997.

Judge Peter Grogan gave the address at last year’s Christmas function on the topic of Freed from the curse of the law. About seventy members and friends shared an evening, and meal at the home of James and Shirley Mills.

A précis of Judge Grogan’s stimulating paper is presented below.

In his discourse, his Honour defined the law as that referred to in Scripture, being " the first five books of the Old Testament and reflects the Jewish application of the Hebrew word Torah. From the beginning the written law was always accompanied by oral explanations which grew into traditional law of ever increasing detail and complexity. The Torah came to comprise the entire body of the written and oral law. It included no less than 613 commandments, 248 of them positive injunctions and 315 prohibitions."

This complexity led to much quibbling about legal and ritual minutiae. His Honour then cites a number of references which show a changing attitude to the law, including Psalm 19, Psalm 119, Matthew 5, Luke 11, Matthew 15, Matthew 25 and Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In particular, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul says " All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written : ‘ Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law.’ ... but Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law."

Judge Grogan describes Paul’s letter as having been " written to refute the Judaizers’ doctrine of justification by works of the law and to call believers back to the authentic gospel. Salvation is by God’s grace by faith in Christ Jesus and nothing else. Faith in Christ means true freedom."

Stott describes justification by works as a fearful delusion, as a lie perpetrated by the biggest liar of them all, the Devil. His Honour says "the truth is that no one can ever be justified by the works of the law because none - except Christ - can ever perfectly keep the law." Having referred to the struggles and failures of a number of devout men such as Luther to keep the law, he refers to Deuteronomy 27 in which it is said "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of the law by carrying them out."

God then makes the promise of a new covenant of grace which will put his law in the minds of the people and write it in their hearts. The new covenant is within us, whereas the old covenant, in his Honour’s view, was external. His Honour goes on to say " It was new in its ability to enable us not only to learn and remember God’s commands but to obey them. Because Jesus once for all, he brought the sacrificial system, which was the central element in the ceremonial law, to an end."

The new covenant does not mean that the moral law embodied in the ten commandments has been abolished but it remains essential for , inter alia, the following reasons:

"1. the moral law reveals the holy nature and will of the creator. The nature of God determines what is right, and the will of God imposes that right standard on all of us as a moral obligation and duty.

2. the moral law convinces men and women of their inability to obey God’s perfect standard of morality, thus revealing to them not only the sinfulness of their lives, but the sinfulness of their hearts and nature.

3. when the spirit brings home to the heart the spirituality of the law, it humbles sinners, giving them a true sense of their sin and misery apart from Christ.

4. all of this leads them to the only remedy for their lost and helpless condition. Our salvation rests upon the finished work of Christ as the sin-bearing curse-bearing death for us and in our place."

The function of the law is not to bestow salvation but to convince people of their need of it.

As his Honour states, "In Galatians 5 Paul explains that Christ has set us free - free from the curse of the Law It is the new power of the indwelling spirit through Christ which enables the believer increasingly to fulfil what he could not fulfill before."

His Honour questions "How do we know whether the power of the spirit is working in us?" His response :" The final proof any man can have of the fact that he is a Christian is that he keeps, and delights in keeping, and goes on keeping, the commandments of the Lord."

Judge Grogan sees the subject under discussion as of general application but he sees two themes as being of special application to us as lawyers. The first is "intellectual." The second is "institutional". His Honour sees the aspects to the intellectual theme. First, the responsibility entrusted to lawyers by the public as demanding, time consuming and exhausting, which places pressures on our personal lives and raises questions of priorities. " The danger is that it may affect our relationship with God. The test is not what we receive but what God requires of us." Secondly, because lawyers are trained to have enquiring minds, " the danger is that we may spend years trying to grasp the infinite and the everlasting, instead of going to Christ himself. It is not understanding that is essential, it is accepting and submitting; it is giving ourselves to Christ."

The second theme is institutional. His Honour points out that because of lawyers’ training, experience and abilities, they are often on church committees, synods and parish councils. He warns that you should not go on these committees etc for the wrong motives. "There are several dangers to guard against. The desire for status, prestige or even the enjoyment of authority may grow stronger than our loyalty to God. Our involvement in the work of the institution may lead us to give undue emphasis to our own institution rather than to Christ."

He concludes by saying "The point is that it is not our intelligence, or wealth, or how cleverly we can debate about religion that matters. the message of the gospel is that just as we are, with all our faults, salvation can be received as a simple gift from Christ. He says ‘ I have purchased your salvation. I offer it to you as a free gift.’ We can receive from him this wondrous gift of a new life, a new beginning, a new nature - and freedom from the curse of the law."