Where does the Law fit: A Seamless Integration into the Spirit Filled Life

It interests me that the Law of Moses has taken up the position of a virtual pariah in the minds of many Christians. It indicates a woeful lack of understanding of the scriptures in regard to the position of the Law in the hearts and minds of the of those who follow Jesus Christ. In part I think that this happened in the first century AD., when the apostle Paul was protecting gentile believers from being forced to convert to Judaism by Christian Jews. In an attempt to thwart this he moved further toward a Grace alone theology whereby gentile Christians need only believe on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the Cross for Salvation and the remission of sins. In his later years Paul seems to have almost totally rejected any reference to the Law as a part of the Christian life. But I am not convinced this is what he really believed at a personal level.

In the following scripture quotes I will elaborate on the theory that Paul understood the true purpose of the law in relation to the life of the New Covenant Christian and that while he was theologically cautious about allowing the Jewish Christians to seduce gentile Christians into the fold. He understood the place of the Christ fulfilled Law in the life of the New Testament saint.

Jeremiah 31: 31 Surely, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they broke My covenant, although I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law within them and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

This scripture is repeated and reiterated, almost word for word, by Paul in Hebrews chapter 8 verses 6 through 12. It was then discussed in Hebrews chapter 10 starting at verse 15 The Holy Spirit also witnesses to us about this. For after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and lawless deeds will I remember no more.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

So Paul states that where there is forgiveness of sins their in no longer a need for sacrifice. Hebrews chapter 9 elaborates on this statement starting at verse 11 But Christ, when He came as a High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12 neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies so that the flesh is purified, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

I wish to emphasise two points from these scriptures. Firstly, there is no longer a need for sacrifice of the blood and flesh of animals for our sins. Christ has paid once and for all as both sacrifice and as our High Priest in the temple in heaven. Hebrews chapter 9 states from verse 24 For Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, which are patterned after the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. 25 Nor did He enter to offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 For then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the world was created, but now He has appeared once at the end of the ages to put away sin by sacrificing Himself. 27 As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this comes the judgement, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to save those who eagerly wait for Him.

Secondly, that the Law is put in us and written on our hearts. If then the law is put in us and written on our hearts, how can we say that the Law is done away with? It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ through his redemptive work on the cross and brought to fruition as the fruit of the Spirit in the transformative purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit as he reveals Christ Jesus within each of us.

Would it not be fair to say that the Holy Spirit enacts obedience to the Law within us as individual Christians in a seamless manner. We don’t even have to give it a moments thought. We don’t have to study the Law and we have proven by asserting the Law is destroyed that even when we deliberately ignore the existence of the Law. That our Lord and Saviour enacts the abeyance of the Law and obedience to His commandments in every way in the power of the Holy Spirit within us. What I mean by this is that we keep the Law as Christians without knowing or realising it.

Of Course, trying to practise the law in our own right is the equivalent of salvation by works which is as filthy rags before God. However, in Christ we obtain a righteousness, justification and salvation before God. Just so as the Holy Spirit writes the Law on our hearts and puts it in us so, it is only through the fulfilment of the Law in the life of Jesus Christ that the Law is thus perfected within us as the works of the Holy Spirit. So we are not bound by a Law that we can never obey but are set free from the Law by Jesus Christ. Who is the perfecter of our faith and enables us to keep the Law because in Him we are free of sin which is the breaking of the Law.

I believe there is a misunderstanding in the hearts of many believers as to the nature of sin and its relationship to the Law. Sin is the breaking of God’s Law. So as sin still exists so does the Law. To state that the Law is destroyed or done away with is at odds with what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one dot or one mark will pass from the law until all be fulfilled. So the law will be in effect until the heaven and Earth are passed away.

In the gospel of Mark a scribe came to Jesus and asked him which is the first commandment of all. The conversation is reproduced as follows in Mark chapter 12 starting at verse 28 One of the scribes came and heard them reasoning together. Perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

In this scripture Jesus points to the two greatest commandments and these two commandments not only describe the in condensed form the Ten Commandments. They actually underpin the the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. His first action in the heart of the believer is to establish a relationship with God and to fulfil the first great commandment within us. His second action is to fulfil the second commandment that in loving our neighbour as we love ourselves we bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians chapter 5 says starting at verse 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness, and self-control; against such there is no law.

One final argument for the fulfilled law being integral in the works of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the New Testament saint. The law covers every area of human life and the correct way of living in the sight of God. If we make the bible based assumption that the opinions of Jehovah have not changed because we know that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Why then would the Law be abolished.

Just as God has stated in Isaiah chapter 55 starting at verse 8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Using this scripture I believe it is fair to contrast the walk of the Old Testament Saints struggling in the flesh to obey Law of Moses with the walk of the New Testament Saint walking in the Spirit in communion with God and hidden in Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit the Christian is able to obey the commandments of God through Christ Jesus who fulfilled the Law in His sinless life and paid the price for our sin through the shedding of His blood on the Cross. So as the Old Testament Saint was trapped under the law separated from the holiness of God. The Christian under the New Covenant is set free from sin through Christ Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are lifted into communion with God and abeyance of the Law which is written in our hearts and put in us. (Hebrews 8: 8-12)

My dear friends, God blesses those who keep his commandments. John 15:10 tells us ‘If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.’ while Revelation 14:12 says .....'Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus..' What I am saying in this article is that the Law has not been abolished but is, rather, integrated into the life of the Spirit filled believer. God has done this in a seamless and almost undetectable manner which establishes our relationship with him and produces the fruit of the Spirit. Rather than being enslaved to the Law in the flesh we are set free from the Law in the Spirit because in Christ Jesus the Law is fulfilled.

Reference List

All Scripture reproduced from http://www.biblegateway.com