Week 26 of 52
The Law and the Gospel
The law shows what is right and exposes what is wrong; the gospel supplies what the law could never give.
Built on Romans 3. Paul lays out humanity's guilt before the law, states that no flesh will be justified by the works of the law, and then unveils righteousness apart from the law, witnessed by the law and the prophets, through faith in Jesus Christ.
The relationship between the law and the gospel is one of the places Scripture rewards careful reading rather than slogans. The law is not the enemy of grace; Paul calls it holy, just and good. But the law was never able to give life, and it was never intended to. It defines sin, restrains it, and points beyond itself to the one who fulfills it.
This week traces the law from Sinai to the cross: what it was given to do, why it could not justify anyone, how Christ fulfilled rather than abolished it, and what role it still plays for someone who has already been saved by grace. The aim is neither to despise the law nor to return to it as a means of righteousness, but to see both law and gospel doing exactly what God intended.
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Seven days
Each day is its own devotional
Day 1
The Law Given at Sinai
The law came after the promise, not instead of it.
Exodus 20:1-2
Day 2
The Law Cannot Justify
By the works of the law no flesh will be justified.
Romans 3:20
Day 3
Fulfilled, Not Abolished
Christ did not set the law aside; He completed it.
Matthew 5:17
Day 4
The Law as Tutor
The law was a guardian until Christ came.
Galatians 3:24
Day 5
Righteousness Apart From the Law
The gospel was always the law and the prophets' own witness.
Romans 3:21-22
Day 6
The Law Written on the Heart
In the new covenant God writes His law on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).
Jeremiah 31:33
Day 7
Established, Not Overthrown
Faith does not make the law void; it upholds it rightly.
Romans 3:31