“Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.”
My Notes
What Does Leviticus 18:5 Mean?
"Which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD." This verse promises life through obedience — do these things and you will live. It sounds straightforward, but it becomes one of the most theologically significant verses in the Bible because Paul quotes it in both Romans 10:5 and Galatians 3:12 to demonstrate the fundamental difference between law-based righteousness and faith-based righteousness.
The promise is genuine: obedience to God's statutes is the path to life. The problem, as the rest of the biblical narrative demonstrates, is that no one fully keeps them. The law's standard is perfect, and its promise is real — but the human capacity to meet the standard is broken. The law offers life to anyone who can perfectly obey it, and then the rest of Scripture reveals that no one can.
This creates the theological tension that drives the New Testament gospel. The law said "do and live." Grace says "believe and live." Christ fulfilled what this verse required, making its promise available to those who trust in him rather than in their own performance.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you been unconsciously living by a 'do and live' approach to God — earning your standing through performance?
- 2.How does understanding the law's genuine promise help you appreciate grace more deeply?
- 3.What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled what this verse required on your behalf?
- 4.Where in your life is the gap between 'I should' and 'I can't' most painful?
Devotional
"Do this and live." It sounds so simple. Keep the rules, stay alive, enjoy God's blessing. And the offer is sincere — God genuinely promises life to those who keep his statutes perfectly.
The problem is the word "perfectly." Not mostly. Not really hard. Perfectly. And the honest assessment of every human heart — including yours — is that perfection is not on the table. The law's promise is real, but it's aimed at a standard no one has ever met.
Paul understood this. When he quotes this verse in Romans and Galatians, he's not dismissing it — he's showing that it points to its own insufficiency. The law says "do and live," and then human history says "we can't do it." The tension between the law's genuine promise and humanity's genuine failure is the gap that grace fills.
This is why the gospel isn't the replacement of an unkind system with a kind one. The law was kind — it offered life. The problem was with us, not with it. Grace doesn't invalidate the law's promise; it fulfills it through someone who actually kept every statute perfectly. Jesus lived the "do and live" life that you can't, and then offered his life as the basis for yours.
Are you still trying to earn what Christ already did? This verse, rightly understood, is the doorway to freedom.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments,.... The same as before; these they were to keep in their minds…
If a man keeps the “statutes” (i. e. the ordinances of Lev 18:4) and “judgments” of the divine law, he shall not be “cut…
After divers ceremonial institutions, God here returns to the enforcement of moral precepts. The former are still of use…
I am the Lord For the significance of this often repeated expression, see pp. xlviii f.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture