"so to speak, and so to act, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty."
Now in these words we see,
I. The true character of the Gospel —
It is a law, and has all the force of a law, and must be obeyed on pain of God's heavy displeasure ; but it is " a law of liberty :" and this it is,
1. As freeing men from the guilt of sin —
[The Gospel proclaims, to all who receive it, pardon and peace. It holds forth a Saviour, who has bought us with his blood, and by the sacrifice of himself has effected our recon- ciliation with the offended Majesty of heaven. It declares, that " by receiving that Saviour," however guilty we may have been in times past, " we shall have the privilege of becoming
the sons of God d" In this it differs widely from the
law : the law knew nothing of pardon : it simply said, " Do this, and live :" and if in one single instance it was violated, all hopes of acceptance by it were destroyed for evere. A certain kind of forgiveness indeed was obtained by the offering of certain sacrifices : but it was only such a measure of it as ex- empted the person from present punishment, but could never procure acceptance for him in the eternal world ; and hence, as " it could never really take away sins," it could " never make any man perfect as pertaining to the conscience f." Moreover, there were some sins for which no sacrifice what- ever could be received. But the Gospel offers a full and everlasting remission from all sins, and declares, that " all who believe, are justified from all things, even from those from which they could never (even in appearance) be justified by the law of Moses g." Thus by announcing to the whole world, that " there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus'1," the Gospel may justly be called " A law of liberty."]
2. As freeing men from the power of sin —
[The promise which the Gospel makes to all who truly receive it, is this; "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace'." And, whilst it gives this assurance to its votaries, it imparts to them the power of carrying it into effect. The person who is united unto Christ by faith, is like a scion, which when engrafted into a
d John i. 12. e Compare ver. 10. with Gal. iii. 10.
f Heb. ix. 9. and x. 1 — 4. e Acts xiii. 39.
h Rom. viii. 1. > Rom. vi. 14.