The Purpose of the Law

Today, in the epistle reading, the Holy Apostle Paul lays out the distinction between the concept of righteousness under the Law of Moses and now, under the New Law of Christ. Basically, we learn from this reading that the purpose of the Mosaic Law was the reveal the righteousness of God. This righteousness, this strict and absolute justice, was meant to appear as a standard, which those under Law would not be able to perfectly fulfill. The inability of God's people to fulfill the Law would keep them repentance and contrition, awaiting the grace that was to come, wherein the perfect fulfillment of the Law would be made fully clear.

The inability of God's people to shoulder the burden of the 613 commandments of the Old Law is witnessed many, many times in the Scriptures. In the Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, in the context of the Apostolic council of Jerusalem, for example, Saint Peter references the Law of Moses as a burden "neither we or our fathers were able to bear." Just in case there should be any doubt concerning man's ability to fulfill the righteousness of God through observance of the commandments of the Law, God took action to sweep away the Temple and exile the Jews from the Land, making it impossible for them to fulfill the commandments incumbent on the Temple service, as well as those commandments that concern the Promised Land itself. Even though now, since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948, the Jews have possession of the Land and can now fulfill the commandments concerning the Land, the commandments incumbent on them as part of the Temple service remain off limits to them.

Further, now that the Jews have possession of the Land, are they now fulfilling the Torah commandments regarding the Land's use? Not hardly. Orthodox Jewish scholars have pointed out for many decades that the people of Israel are priming themselves for another exile from the Land on account of even simpler things like their non-observance of the Sabbath.

If human beings could fulfill the righteousness of God on their own, we would have life in that observance, because, fundamentally, God does not command things that are in themselves impossible to fulfill. No rather, it is by our own fault, because of our sinful condition that we are not able to fulfill the justice of God. Nevertheless, God, taking human nature for our sake, perfectly fulfilled the commandments of the Law and gave us the righteousness of God as a free gift. This is what Paul means when he says, "the just shall live by faith."

Being incorporated into Christ through Baptism, we perfectly fulfill the righteousness of God in Him, Who became the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It is faith in Christ, which gives us the ability to live in communion with God and to achieve salvation in Him, because through faith we are incorporated into His Body, the Catholic Church. Protestant caricatures of Catholic life and thought often depict the teachings of the Church as a "sacramental treadmill" in which we all run around like hamsters while we still draw breath, wondering whether we are good enough to merit eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Such caricatures are indeed a most strange way of seeing and depicting life in the Body of Christ. In fact, such a view makes sense only when no account is made of the Body itself. For an individualistic faith, in which the Church is defined as "the society in which the Gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly administered," true Christian life may well appear to be a treadmill. But the problem is not with the True Church but with the individualism that infected non-Catholic Christianity. 

For us, on the other hand, the emphasis is always on the Body of Christ, the Incarnate God living among us in the Catholic Church. Just as with any body, which we observe in nature, only that which is joined to the body can be saved, because through communion with the body there is life and circulation. Apart from the body, there is death, corruption, gangrene. Naturally, any cell, any member of the body can potentially fall away from communion in the body. Then, in order to be saved, that cell, that member must be rejoined to the body while it still lives. Further, in relation to the body, it is always possible for the communion of cells and members to be improved, strengthened and deepened, so that those cells and members share even more in the circulation of life.

Thus, there is no anxiety concerning whether we are "good enough" to merit everlasting life in the Kingdom of God. There is only the enduring decision to remain in Christ, in the communion of His Body, partaking of the grace that flows through that Body, giving us life and well-being. Are we in communion with the Body? If not, we must take steps to remedy this.

Only those who fulfill the righteousness of God will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Only Christ has fulfilled the righteousness of God. Thus, we must be in Christ, partakers and participants in His Body in order to inherit everlasting life.