Subject: Must we observe the law of God? |
Bible Note: The letter of the law kills. The spirit brings life. (2 Cor 3:6) The spirit of the law is "love your neighbor as yourself." This is the fulfillment of the law. (Gal 5:14) If you keep this, you will, by default, keep all the others. A person that loves his neighbor as himself will not murder his neighbor, sleep with his neighbor's wife, contrive mischiefs to acquire the possessions of his neighbor, steal from his neighbor, etc. Romans 13:8-10 Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. For this, Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet; and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the the fulfilling of the law. To keep the spirit of the law is to love one another. To keep the letter of the law is to scrutinize the words. I always like to use the illustration of my children. If they are jumping on the bed, and I were to hang a sign that said, "No jumping on the bed," I would walk in five minutes later upon hearing a ruckus and find one of them flying through the air. I stop them and ask, don't the rules say, "No jumping on the bed?" "Yes," they would say, "but we weren't jumping on the bed. We were jumping OFF the bed." This is the poison that is the letter of the law. You can scrutinize the words to find a loophole of self justification, but you can't fool your own heart. The Spirit convicts, and there is no excuse if you know that you should love one another. I don't need to know, "Do not murder." I will love my neighbor as myself and thereby not murder him. There isn't a single commandment we have that is not to the point and purpose of love. Paul tells us that the goal of their instruction is love from a pure heart, clear conscience, and sincere faith. (1 Tim 1:5) Jesus tells us that all the law and the prophets depend upon the two great commands for their existence. (Matt 22:36-40) John says that if a man loves his brother, he walks in the light, and there is no occassion of stumbling in him. (1 John 2:10) If love was the commandment of Jesus (John 13:34-35); and all the law and the prophets depend on loving God and loving each other for their existence (Matt 22:36-40); and if any commandment we have is summed up by love (Rom 13:8-10); and if love is the fulfillment of the law (Gal 5:14); and if we love, we walk in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in us ... then it is safe to assume that love is the point. It always was, it always will be. We are not under the law. We are under love. If a man thinks to find justification by the law, he gives up his claim to salvation. Galatians 5:4 Christ is become of no effect to you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace. If we are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8), and you are "fallen" from grace, then you have lost grace. If you do not have the grace, you do not have the salvation that comes by said grace. Theo-Minor |