It must always be kept in mind that the law itself is also a gift of God’s grace. God approaches his people and visits them with his instruction. This is not a distant law, but an intimate word, which implies that the Speaker is close too. He is not a distant king who lives in an inaccessible palace, but a good Father who lives among his children (Deuteronomy 30:11–14). He extends a helping hand to them. He is the Lord who led them out of Egypt. Obeying the commandments is therefore not a lonely dead-end way, but rather a path that, by means of the joy of the law (faith in God), leads us to the life which God grants and brings us close to him.
The true character of the law itself already foreshadows the gospel. Through the gospel the love of God, which is already tangible in his law, is magnified. God's people do not have to accomplish anything. They receive something. The people do not have to prove themselves to God; they need only believe in God and obey him. The watermark of the gospel is found on the manuscripts of the law. Paul holds these up to the light and reads the code of this watermark: Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down) or Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)
(Romans 10:6–7). Here Paul interweaves the heart of the gospel with the words of Moses. Christ descended from the highest heavens. Just as God descended on Sinai in his glory, so now he comes near than ever to his people when his glory is revealed in Bethlehem. Just as God did not allow his people to consult the dead but rather spoke to the living himself, so too he resurrected the crucified Jesus to be present among the living as the Living One.
Paul does not appeal to Deuteronomy 30:1–20 in order to prove that Jesus is the Christ. He is not giving a sermon in a synagogue, but writing a letter to Gentile Christians. Paul simply wants to illustrate how the nearness of God manifested in his Son compliments the nearness of God in the law. Just as the nearness of the word of the law demanded faith in the God who speaks, so the nearness of the word of the Gospel demands faith in his Son. Both the law and the gospel treads the path of faith. Paul proclaims this in his illustration of the message of Romans 10:4, namely that Christ is the purpose or end of the law. This illustration might not convince unbelieving Jews, but for the small Gentile Church in Rome, in the shade of the synagogue with the books of Moses, they are words of great encouragement. The holy manuscripts in the synagogue do not condemn them. Instead, as believing Christians, they walk in the footprints of the law when they believe in the promised Life, Jesus Christ, who is the purpose and end of the law.1
6 Mais voici comment parle la justice qui vient de la foi: Ne dis pas en ton cœur: Qui montera au ciel? C'est en faire descendre Christ;