The Law was never meant to force righteousness the way the Pharisees did. They had a mistaken understanding of the law and were teaching it wrong. The Law was intended to show the people that they were utterly incapable of perfection in moral behavior. Paul says in Romans 3:20: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." The Law was intended to make the Jewish people totally rely on God and constantly repent for their sins in sackcloth and ashes.
The fact that the Pharisees prided themselves on never breaking the law showed their total misunderstanding of the law. The law was given to force us to admit we are not perfect, not enable us to boast in perfection. In our imperfection, we repent in sackcloth and ashes and mourning as David did when Nathan rightly called him out for murdering Uriah and impregnating his wife (2 Samuel 12) after their child was struck with illness. David repented grievously. He repented with his whole heart and changed his ways. This is what the Jewish people were meant to do as a result of the Law. To repent well and truly was to survive breaking the law. There used to be ceremonial repentance, for instance sacrificing an animal in a "sin offering." The sacrifice of a lamb would fulfill the formal punishment for sinning. The problem with the Pharisees was they claimed to never break the law, and therefore rarely or never repented.
As a result of their lack of repentance, they were unforgiven by God, as opposed to a tax collector who repented (see Luke 18, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector). Tax collectors were hated in Jewish society, and the religious authorities of the day condemned them. Yet Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, because a tax collector who repents is more righteous in God's eyes than an unrepentant, supposedly law-keeping Pharisee. This is part of Jesus' meaning when He says He came for sinners and not the righteous.
Because people who think they are already righteous will not come to Jesus. It is only the repentant who will say the "Sinner's prayer," a traditional prayer for admitting sin, asking forgiveness, and receiving Jesus. People who are "already righteous," such as the Pharisees, will not do this because they see no need to repent or humble themselves. They are "already righteous" in their own eyes. Proverbs 3:7 declares: "Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil." When we repent, we show our fear of the Lord and humble ourselves, and do not see ourselves as completely "wise" in our own eyes. We are sinners receiving grace from the Almighty and perfect God.
Jesus infers that when the Pharisees DO repent, they continue in their evil actions. He repeats the prophet Hosea to the Pharisees, telling them to learn it: "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13).'" They continued persecuting the poor and the sick (labeling them sinners and sons of sinners) and carrying out evil, vicious actions against "lawbreakers." The Lord desired mercy from them, not a hypocritical enforcement of the sin sacrifices and the piling on of offenses so the people had to give more money and goods to the temple for the Pharisees to benefit from.
The Pharisees actually invented reasons people sinned, apart from the laws of God, and then convicted the people and forced them to make money available to them through giving it to the temple (in Matthew 15:9, Jesus told the Pharisees that they worship God in vain, and that, "their teachings are merely human rules.") There was no mercy in their hearts, only the persecution of God's people under the disguise of doing God's will. The Pharisees knew nothing about mercy.
Though Jesus had not yet come, God gave the law to show the people that they needed to have mercy on each other, because to persecute one another for their sins would be hypocrisy. He also gave the law to show all people they they must totally depend on God for their existence and salvation. Just as God made the Israelites depend on receiving bread from heaven every day in order to survive during the Exodus, He wanted to show Israel that they were to depend totally on Him in regards to forgiveness of sins. They were to repent in sackcloth and ashes as David did, in true grief over their sins. This was the salvation for the people of God: repentance.
Amazingly enough, this is still the vehicle for our salvation in Christ: what do we do when we first come to Christ? We repent. What do we do when the Holy Spirit convicts us of a sin in our life? We repent. That's where God's grace comes in. Grace follows repentance. He forgives us. But when the Spirit convicts us, repentance is expected. We will never be perfect on this earth, but grace is given when we repent and come to Jesus Christ. Paul declares to us in Galatians 4:4-7: " But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir."
The context of Paul's declaration is that while we used to be slaves to sin, as the law pointed out, coming to Christ makes us sons of the Lord. Not slaves, but sons and heirs of the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit now writes the law upon our hearts (Romans 2:15). This is true because when we sin, we feel conviction from the Holy Spirit. When we feel that conviction, that is God telling us to humble ourselves, repent, and turn from our ways. The Holy Spirit writes the law upon our hearts when we receive Jesus Christ. As long as we do not purposely ignore the conviction of the Spirit and the truth found in the Word of God, we will continue to walk in the ways of the Lord and will enter paradise. The road to salvation may be narrow (Matthew 7:13-14), but if we do not grow too proud to repent, the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the truth found in the Word of God will keep us on it til the end. This is one of the many benefits of God's grace. So the narrow path can be kept by grace! Praise be to God! God love you, God bless you, and God save you!
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