And what possible danger can it be other than the fact that lawbreakers will be condemned under law. The lesson that needs to be learned is a) the law sets an impossibly high standard b) no one can keep the standard c) the law cannot be set aside d) lawbreakers will be condemned.
Hmm.
quote:
Ps 18:20,21: Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and I have not wickedly departed from my God...I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from inquity.
Gen 6:9: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations.
Heb 11:4: By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.
1 Jn 3:12: ...not like Cain, who was of the devil and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous.
1 Kings 15:14: But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with Yahweh all his days.
2 Kings 20:3: (Prayer by Hezekiah, this prayer was answered with 15 additional years of life, so we can assume he wasn't wrong about himself.) I beg you, O Yahweh, remember now how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in your sight.
Job 1:1: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job: and that man was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.
This is not an exhaustive list.
I don't think the law sets an impossibly high standard. Even Paul himself was keeping it. ("Blameless" is the word he used, I believe.) Its condemnation is just, because it can be kept.
In fact, its condemnation is all the more just, because pardon for those who repent has always been available to those who will turn again to obedience (Ez 3:18,19). Nehemiah 9:17 is a great example of that. "They refused to obey, nor were they mindful of your wonders...but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage, but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and you did not forsake them."
Is 55:7: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, because he will abundantly pardon.