II. In relation to our obedience to it —
As a covenant of works, the law doubtless is set aside : but as a rule of life, it is as much in force as ever : and, though delivered from its curse, we are bound as much as ever to obey it :
1. From a sense of gratitude —
[Will a man delivered from the law say, " I will conti- nue in sin, that grace may abound?" No: if upright, we shall shudder at the thought. " We have not so learned Christ, if we have been taught of him." On the contrary, the first dictate of our minds will be, " What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me ? " The love of Christ, in redeeming us from the law, will have a constraining influence upon us, and stimulate us to live to him who died for usd. No other end than this did the Apostle Paul contemplate. He was not dead to the law, that he might live to the world, but " that he might live unto Gode:" and to God will every one live, who has a just sense of his mercy in giving us a better covenant, wherein we are called, not to earn life by our works, but to receive it as a gift in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.]
2. From a sense of duty —
[The law is still, and ever must be, the one standard of holiness to which we are to be conformed : and our obligation to obey it can never be reversed. God himself, if I may so speak, cannot dispense with our observance of it. It is of necessity our duty to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves. Our having a better covenant to found our hopes upon, can never abrogate the essential laws of our nature. If we be in heaven, earth, or hell, love must be our duty : and every man feels it to be his duty to walk according to that unerring and unchang- ing rule. Our freedom from the law, so far from being a reason for disregarding this rule, is the strongest reason for our most diligent adherence to it. St. Paul, by means of an easy illustration, places this matter in a clear light. He supposes us, in the first instance, married to the law ; and afterwards, on the death of our husband, married to a second husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. But are we then content to be barren, as to the fruits of righteousness ? No ; quite the contrary : " Being dead to the law, we are married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. We are delivered from the law, that
d 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. ■ Rom. xii. 1,