Dr. Robert Martin
Now we know that whatever the law says,
it says to those who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law
no flesh will be justified in His sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:19-20).
The relation of God’s law to the gospel is the most important practical theme in Christian theology. Charles Bridges (The Christian Ministry, 228) says,
We cannot indeed have too much of the Gospel; but we may have too little of the Law. And a defect in the Evangelical preaching of the Law is as clear a cause of inefficient ministration, as a legal preaching of the Gospel. In such a Ministry there must be a want of spiritual conviction of sin generally–of spiritual sins most particularly–and–flowing directly from hence–a low standard of spiritual obedience. Indeed, all the prevalent errors in the Church may be traced to this course.
J. Newton similarly says, “Ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes” (Works, 1:176). These statements seem excessive, but the more we consider them the more accurate they appear.