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The law cannot make anything perfect. Even a person who has just made the loud claim that he has never committed a single sin will find that he will not be able to say this after carefully reading the Ten Commandments one by one.
In that case, why did God give the law to man? The purpose of the law is to bring us to realize our sin; not to get rid of the nature of sin within us. When a doctor puts a stethoscope to the chest of his patient, he hears all kinds of sounds from within. The doctor uses the stethoscope not to cure the patient's illness but to listen to these sounds and make his diagnosis from what he hears. People who have only ever been treated with
eastern medicine might see a stethoscope and think it looks like the young antlers of a deer or a ginseng root,6 but if they boiled a stethoscope and drank the broth, would that cure their illness?
Just as the stethoscope is used to diagnose a patient's illness, the law was given in order that we might come to know our sin. When the doctor puts his stethoscope to the chest of his patient and listens, he hears the sound of the patient's heart beating, but the patient himself cannot hear it. In a similar way, when someone is told that he has sinned, his conscience might trouble him a little, but when he sees himself in the light of God's law, he cannot help but realize, to his dismay, that he is a sinner destined to die. Through the law, we can realize our sin.
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Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)
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It says here that no flesh will be justified by the deeds of the law. The spirit cannot be made alive by means of the tool that is used for diagnosing sin, can it? The Bible says that the law was given in order to condemn sin.
I once went into a store to buy some books. I chose a few volumes and settled on a price with the owner. When I put my hand in my pocket to get the money to pay, however, I was startled to find that I did not have a single penny on me. I felt very embarrassed since we had already settled on a price. I had agreed to the price without knowing whether or not I had any money in my pocket. This experience was a result of my own negligence. Once the price had been fixed, it was my responsibility to pay. It is the same when it comes to the Bible. Before the law was given, man was full of confidence and quite outspoken; he was always free to act as he pleased. From the moment the law began to point out his sins, however, he came to know sin, and as a result, his liberty came to an end.
6 These items are often boiled to make a broth for medicinal purposes in eastern medicine.
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