1 TIMOTHY 1:8-11 NO JESUS – NO GOSPEL
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
The relationship between law and gospel is like that between the recipe and your favorite batch of brownies. The recipe lays out what you need to do and how you need to do it in order to obtain the brownies promised. The goal is enjoying the batch of brownies and not slavishly perfecting how you add the ingredients. It would be more than a bit odd to repeatedly go through the process of making brownies without ever bothering to enjoy them. Perhaps, this is what it is like to bake for Nabisco or Keebler.
Like the recipe, the law was given to man by God as a guide for obtaining something beyond itself. The law was not meant to be an end in itself, but the means to an end. The desired goal is a reconciled relationship with God and the law is the revealed set of guidelines for such a relationship. When we are baking the recipe tells us what ingredients are needed and in what quantities. If we do not have an ingredient we have to obtain it from the store or a neighbor. The law points out not only what we need to be reconciled to God, but the fact that we do not have what it takes to do so; therefore, we need to look to God for the missing ingredient. As a result, the law is there to inform us of what we do not have; the righteousness necessary to be in proper relationship with God. The gospel is the completed recipe with the necessary ingredient of righteousness provided by Jesus.
For St. Paul, the false teachers are like the competitive neighbor down the street who gives you the recipe for her signature cake, but leaves out an important ingredient.
Thinking you can be reconciled to God without Jesus is like expecting to bake brownies without chocolate!
Jesus, you are the missing ingredient in my life and for the fulfillment of the purpose for which I was created. May I stop trying to replace you with substitutes, even that of slavish legalism. Help me to come to you in confession and repentance so that I might live obediently in God’s presence. Amen.