The differences between law and responsibility are immense, and it is important to understand them. Law comes to man and says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27). It says, "Do this and live, but if you fail in any measure, your doom is certain." Such is law, both in character and purpose. It is inexorable. It cannot bend; it cannot forgive; it demands of man what is right, but it gives him no power to do the right; it forbids and condemns the wrong, but cannot change the heart of man who naturally loves evil and hates restraint. Like a dam across the river forbidding the waters to flow on, it stands as a bulwark against evil, only to find out that the flood breaks over the dam and still flows on. Law manifests the evil, but does not cure it.
Responsibility is what comes with the receiving of gifts from God. If, as Creator, He has bestowed upon man abilities, talents, a mind and a will, each and all of which make him a creature superior to all others, man is responsible for making use of all this in the way suited to the purpose God had in giving them. If as Redeemer He bestows new gifts upon man, those new gifts bring their own responsibilities.
When God came to Abraham and called him to leave his native land and kindred and go to a place which God would show him, it was because He had bestowed upon Abraham that which enables a man to confide in God as a little child confides in its father, trusting implicitly in the love that guides him. Faith had been imparted to Abraham. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." While dwelling in his own country the God of glory appeared to him and said, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show thee" (Acts 7:2,3).
Abraham was thus brought into a new relationship with God, and this relationship brought responsibility. The true God having made Himself known to Abraham, Abraham could no longer serve false gods. Having been bidden to leave his native land and go to another, he could no longer feel at home where he was, but had to go on as bidden. He may have been checked and hindered in this, as he in fact was, but his new responsibilities pressed upon him.
It was not till after his father’s death at Haran, partway to Canaan, that Abraham seemed free. From that moment, "they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came." They did not stop this time, but pressed on to the end. But all those days of Abraham’s dwelling in Haran, the responsibility of obeying God was upon him, and while he lingered there, we hear of no word of any appearance of God to him, or of any altar built by him. On the other hand, as soon as he came to a stopping place in Canaan, the Lord appeared to him and he built an altar. There is the obedience of faith on Abraham’s part, and grace and blessing on God’s part. The relationship between God and Abraham was of God’s pure grace; it involved responsibility on Abraham’s part to believe and obey.
This responsibility was a very different matter from the law which was given 430 years after. "Get thee out, and I will make of thee a great nation," is very different from, "Do this and you shall live," or "Cursed is everyone who disobeys." The principles are different, the purposes of both are different, and should not be confounded. One reveals God, the other reveals man and leaves God still in the thick darkness and amid the thundering and lightnings of Sinai.
Christians are not under law, but they have wondrous blessing and grace and privileges and promises. This brings corresponding responsibilities, and this, if we understand our weakness, as displayed in Abraham, casts us the more upon God for grace to meet those responsibilities. The more a child of God realizes his absolute dependence upon God, and what God has in Christ for His people, giving them whatever they need, the more will he glorify Him, and the more will such an one enjoy the grace of God. A sense of our responsibility as children of God will bring us to Him for strength and wisdom and all else we need. It will, of necessity, make us a prayerful people.
But law sets men to trying in their own strength to do what is right, to keep the commandments. Under grace a believer walks in newness of life, walks after the Spirit in love; and thus in him the righteousness of the law is fulfilled. Under law a soul is in bondage, trying to do what his fallen nature makes impossible. He is never at rest, always coming short. One’s own doings are ever before the mind of the earnest legalist, and such a mind is never at peace. What brings peace is the knowledge of the grace of God through the work of Christ on the cross, thus keeping Him ever before us as the Friend who loves us better than anyone else, and is never weary of us.
As the sense of our responsibility presses upon us, we find all we need in Him. It is not trying and fearing and hoping under law, but turning away from all else to Christ, finding in Him strength and wisdom and every need fully met.
(From Help and Food, Vol. 31.)
FRAGMENT The perfection of the Christian life is to lose sight of oneself completely and to make everything of Christ.