Does the term ‘the law’ in the New Testament have two different connotations?
This text is from a letter written by David Gooding.
Your observation that the term 'the law' in the New Testament has two different connotations is certainly correct;1 but I suggest to you that there is a third connotation.
In Romans 6:14, Paul says that 'you are not under law but under grace' (ESV). Notice that here the word 'law' is used without the definite article. Paul does not say you are not under 'the law'; he says 'for you are not under law'. That is, law as a principle.
It is important to understand what is meant when Scripture refers to law as a principle. Law is not simply a collection of suggestions, such as 'really you ought not to steal—try not to steal; it will be better for you in life if you don't steal'; or 'try to love the Lord your God, and you will find things will go more smoothly if you can manage it'. No! It is not just a series of suggestions. It is not simply instruction, though the Hebrew term for law, Torah, means instruction. Law as a principle is command plus penalty if you break it.
If, therefore, our Christian life were under law, then the moment we came short in any detail, we would be liable to the penalty of the law. And in consequence, life would become for us a slavery.
Moreover, life would become impossible; for if when we sin as believers, we were forthwith exposed to the penalty of the law—then we should remember that one sin is enough to condemn us to eternal perdition, for to break one commandment of the law is to be guilty of all.
If, therefore, as believers we were exposed to the penalty of the law every time we sinned, life would become impossible. It would be no good saying, 'I am sorry I have sinned; I will do better next time'. The law would reply, 'You will not have another chance, because your sins already deserve this eternal penalty'. To try to develop a life of holiness on the principle of law, therefore, would reduce us to slavery, as Paul in many places points out.
Law as a principle cannot justify anybody; but law as a principle cannot sanctify us either. The principle upon which a believer may begin to develop a holy life is the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Spirit in the believer will lead to the requirements of the law being fulfilled in him (Romans 8:4). But it is not the principle of the law that leads the believer to do it, or empowers him to do it. It is the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Compare with this the logic of Galatians 5:18.
Ponder these things, and the Lord will give you good understanding.
1 The correspondent’s two proposed connotations of the term ‘the law’ were 1) the accusation of the law, hence the Holy Spirit having to fulfil in us its commandments (see Rom 8:4); and 2) being under the old covenant, with animal sacrifices, human priests, etc.