Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve looked at how Paul addresses the problems with false teachers and the law. In this week’s passage, he seems to desire to clarify what he’s just stated. He doesn’t want any misunderstanding concerning these false teachers and their treatment of the law.

This week’s passage is found in 1 Timothy 1:8-9.

Paul is clear: the law is good because it reflects the will of God. The problem he’s addressing isn’t in the law itself; it’s in the ignorance of these false teachers who are perverting it for their own good. He makes this very clear with the phrase “if one uses it properly.” The purpose of the law is to make it clear that certain actions are wrong, to convict us of sin, such as the list he lays out in the next coupe of verses.

The law is designed to bring us to an awareness of sin. Its purpose is to restrain evil actions.

Paul lists several characteristics of evil in the next few sentences, part of which we’ll memorize next week.

He starts off with three pairs of adjectives. These seem to be descriptive in a relational way.

• lawbreakers and rebels – this is willful rebellion.
• the ungodly and sinful – people who live disobediently, allowing God no place in their lives.
• the unholy and irreligious – those who have no room for reverence or the sacred.

Many commentators have connected Paul’s list here and in the next few verses with the Ten Commandments, such as Homer A. Kent, in The Pastoral Epistles. These three seem to go hand in hand with the first four commandments: Having no other gods, creating graven images, taking God’s name in vain, and keeping the Sabbath. And in fact, verses 9 and 10 list more of Paul’s list, equating them to dishonoring parents (commandment number five), and murder (commandment number six).

Why is Paul giving such a close scrutiny of the law compared to these false teachers here? Because the law was not intended for the righteous; it was given for the sinner. The very essence of the gospel is that Christ died and bore the curse of the law for us. And we have died with him, leaving behind our ties to the law. We are now under grace.

If we were still under the law, then we should also bear the curse of the law. Otherwise the authority of the law dissolves and we have nothing. So the proper use of the law, Paul writes, is to apply it to sinners so that they are convicted of their sin, and see the need for the gospel and salvation which comes through Jesus.

Much of this jumps ahead into next week’s passage, because it’s impossible to separate Paul’s list of criminal activity from the resolution. It’s just easier to memorize in two segments. But don’t worry, while this week ends on a negative note, the good news is just around the corner.

Do you live as if you’re under the law, or under grace? What do you do to help you remember that fact? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.