“By your law you give me life” (93). This seems to be the central affirmation of our text. Before considering this more deeply, let us contrast how another passage looks at the Mosaic Law.
In 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 we read, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
Other passages, such as Romans 7 and Hebrews 8, have similar teaching. So, we ask, “Does God’s law bring life, or does it bring death?”
God’s law brings life when we delight in it and internalize its principles. “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life” (92-93).
It would be a tremendous burden to have to carry around a book that covered every possibility in life and gave a law for what to do.But it is a blessing when we commit the principles of scripture to heart and learn to apply them naturally and automatically to the situations we encounter (Heb 8:10; Jer 31:33).
God’s law brings life when it is truly and spiritually obeyed. You can justify murder if you know the law well enough and are willing to use it against its intent.But God seeks the kind of worshipper that worships in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). He seeks the kind of servant who delights in his instruction and lives by not just its letter but by its spirit. As Paul tells Timothy, “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully (1 Tim 1:8).
God’s law brings death when we use it against its intended purpose. Trying to order life by legalism will lead to death. Trying to get away with things via loopholes will bring death. Using law to needlessly control and restrict others will bring death.
We do not live under the Mosaic law, but we do live by the instruction of God. Just as the Mosaic instruction was life to those who properly embraced it, so the New Covenant instruction is peace and joy to those who rightly embrace it. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). But for those who twist it into something it was never intended to be, it brings death rather than life.
Let us read and use the instruction of God according to its intent. It is not a legal code by which we save ourselves. It is a guide to those who joyfully follow the One who has graciously saved them.