Let the Old Covenant Vanish!

The Westminster Confession of Faith states clearly that believers are not under the law, as a covenant of works, to be justified or condemned. However, it goes on say in Chapter 19, section 6 that the Law of God binds and directs Christians to walk accordingly as a rule of life informing them of God’s will and their duty. In short the WCF rejects law keeping for the purpose of justification, but endorses law keeping in sanctification.

Does Scripture support the use of the law for sanctification? I think not. The following passage seems to reject the law as being useful for sanctification:

Galatians 3:2-3 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? (3) Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Paul says, having begun by the Spirit (justification), are you now being perfected by the flesh (sanctification)? This does not mean the precepts of the law have changed, but it does mean that sanctification does not proceed through the law. Paul contrasts the flesh with Spirit. Law keeping is an act of the flesh that leads to death, and Paul in the following passage in Romans makes it clear that believers are to serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code:

Romans 7:4-6 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (5) For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. (6) But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul says clearly that Christians are released from the law and now serve in the new way of the Spirit. Christian service is without a doubt part of sanctification and Paul states emphatically that the written code has no place in it. Why does Covenant Theology hold on so tightly to the Old Covenant and the written code? Hebrews 7:22 states, This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. Hebrews 8:13 adds, In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Why would a covenant that is obsolete and vanishing away be considered necessary in sanctification?

Therefore, I believe Paul’s objection in Galatians is not only valid for justification; it is also valid for sanctification!

Please give your thoughts or comments.