Many years before the Lord Jesus came to earth, God gave laws to Moses which were written in the Scriptures for the people of Israel to know the right ways to live on earth. Men who taught those laws were called lawyers.
But many of those men did not study the scriptures, or believe God’s words, and when Jesus came, they did not believe Him, although they called Him Master, or Teacher, and tried to puzzle Him with hard questions. One said to Him, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
To “inherit” is to have some claim upon: eternal life is life which has no end, and God gives it, but none earn it. Jesus knew this lawyer did not believe God’s words, but He wanted him to think of them, and asked what he read in the law.
No One Can Work for Eternal Life
The man answered with words which Moses repeated to Israel before they went into their land: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind ... and thy neighbor as thyself” (See Deut. 6:55And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5); Lev. 19:1818Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18)). God had said, “Which if a man do, he shall live in them” (Lev. 18:55Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:5)).
The people of Israel did not keep it, for they are all dead, and thus proved they did not keep the law.
No one has ever kept the law, except the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus He glorified God. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
No one can inherit eternal life for all have sinned, and deserve God’s judgment.
No one can work for eternal life, for it is God’s gift to all who will accept the Lord Jesus as his or her Saviour.
The Purpose of the Law
Before God gave the law, He gave the promise of One who would come to bless. He had also shown them of sacrifice, and with the law He gave many words of sacrifice for sins, which all taught of One to take their place. Those who had believed God’s words believed Jesus.
God gave the just and good laws to Israel so the people would see that they did not live pleasing to Him and would want One to come to save them. If we have a wooden ruler and break it, we know how much shorter it is by holding it beside a perfect ruler.
If that lawyer had been honest he would have said to Jesus, “O Master, I have not kept God’s laws; I am a sinful man.”
Then the Lord Jesus could have shown him, as He did others, that all who believed Him were given eternal life (John 3:1515That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:15)).
Instead, this lawyer tried to “justify,” or excuse, himself.As though God had not made His laws plain, he asked,
“Who is my neighbor?”
To answer that question, Jesus told him a very interesting story, which we will read another time.
Further Meditation
1. What is one reason that God gave His people the law?
2. Admitting we come short of a standard, any standard, is pretty difficult. Why? What does our God do to bring us to repent and accept His standards as perfect?
3. The pamphlet The Law and the Gospel written by C. H. Mackintosh about this very portion of Scripture might be a real help to you as you study further the implications of what the Lord was teaching His listeners.