By the Way: The law for us

By Shane Hein on November 1, 2025.

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

– Romans 3:20

The other day during bible study we got into a conversation over how God’s fifth commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” is not necessarily obvious. If we were begin to study the breadth of human history, we would soon discover that it is absolutely dripping in blood. From the moment Cain murdered his brother Abel, mankind has embarked on a murderous rampage against itself. It has not been until relatively recently, and almost entirely in the Christian West, that it has become obvious that killing is wrong.

For Martin Luther, as was the case for many of the giants of the Reformation, the concept of God’s Law as a gift simply did not exist before the rediscovery of the Gospel message. Although standard Christian teaching and preaching at the time certainly still had Christ at its centre, there was very little understanding, especially among the laity, of what that really meant in terms of personal salvation.

As the Reformers began to read the Scriptures, particularly Paul’s letters, with the clear eye of truth-seeking, rather than through the murky lenses of official church doctrine, the Truth of the Gospel message all but leapt off the page at them: Works of the Law has absolutely no part to play in human salvation.

Does that mean, then, that the Law no longer has any role in the life of a Christian? Not at all! After all, how do we know the we need the Gospel if we are not first given the Law?

What Martin Luther and his contemporaries of the Reformation ultimately gave back to the world was “Christ and him crucified.” That is, Christ, by his death, maintained the significance of the Law while, by his Resurrection, freed us from our bondage to it.

Amen.

Rev. Shane Hein is pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church

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