Why Law?
Updated: June 12, 2025
Law and order holds our universe together. Many groundbreaking scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton persisted in their work out of a firm conviction of discoverable order as described in the Bible. Unlike many of their predecessors, they were rewarded because they sought truth beginning at its source: a singular Creator and Sustainer, not a multitude of random, competing gods with unknowable motives.
As told in the Bible book of Genesis, God’s universe was created by the Word of God, and God’s Word is law. His law is immovable and consistent truth, in both the natural and the spiritual. Forever God Himself maintains the laws of this universe. If He were to go back on His word in even one single thing, our universe would quickly cease to exist.
Since God does not contradict Himself, He is in a sense bound by his own law (Word). Everything He does is according to His own legal precedent. He has bound Himself to allow mankind to live and to enjoy freedom of choice, no matter how wrong those choices may be. We all still retain God-given — unalienable, as the American Declaration of Independence puts it — rights including “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”.
His law declares us free people. However, bad choices have made much of mankind slaves to the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and subject to the same judgment that this god is going to receive (a literal Lake of Fire). Thankfully, God did not leave us in that condition, but found a legal way to save mankind. By making Jesus a stand-in for all of us, all punishment and justice due mankind was legally satisfied. This is truly good news! Yet it is important to understand that God still cannot save anyone without their legal consent, their free choice exercised by faith (See Why Faith?). It would violate His own legal terms to force this choice on anyone.
(Psalm 119:89, Psalm 33:9, Psalm 89:34, Jeremiah 1:12, Psalm 115:16, Psalm 15:4, Colossians 1:17, Job 34:14-15, 1 John 2:2, Revelation 20:10, Psalm 1:1-2, 2 Peter 3:9)