{"id":722,"date":"2009-12-23T13:50:42","date_gmt":"2009-12-23T07:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.returningking.com\/?p=722"},"modified":"2009-12-23T13:50:42","modified_gmt":"2009-12-23T07:50:42","slug":"the-new-law-the-law-of-the-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/?p=722","title":{"rendered":"The New Law: The Law of The Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series The Law and The Believer<\/a><\/div>

\"\"As was noted in the last post<\/a>, according to Galatians 3, the law served as a tutor to point God’s people to Christ.\u00a0 As youth, we were all required the continual tutelage of parents, teachers and godly adults to properly lead us toward a path of righteousness.\u00a0 Indeed many of us wonder where our lives would have led us without such counsel.\u00a0 Yet, maturity gradually developed and we all eventually found ourselves grown and removed from such supervision.\u00a0 As adults we have now moved beyond the former restrictions of parental oversight and have assumed responsibility for our life choices.\u00a0 In some cases, we deeply understand the sentiment of certain rules of our parents, yet we may choose different rules for our own households.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The voices of our mentors never leave our consciences, however.\u00a0 Their teaching, character and principles remain with us as gentle reminders of the proper upbringing we received.\u00a0 I frequently hear my father’s voice in the back of my head, perhaps even finding myself in a situation of which I wonder what he would have done.\u00a0 As such, while I am formally no longer subject to my father’s oversight, his character is forever forged into my conscience.<\/p>\n

The doctrinal principle of freedom from the Law of Moses is not one which renders the believer into a state of radical deviance from the character of the law.\u00a0 Rather, the very Spirit of the One who formed the law indwells and guides our consciences.\u00a0 Even in maturity there are governing principles which must continually guide us into proper living for the sake of the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 What has changed according to the New Testament is the source<\/em> of our governance.\u00a0 Where the rule of living once came from the Law of Moses, it now comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Upon the resurrection of Christ and the impartation of the Holy Spirit, believers were called to serve under a new law altogether.\u00a0 The following texts clearly reveal not only the fulfillment and disempowerment of the former law, but also the establishment of a new law which disciples of Christ are to submit themselves to.<\/p>\n

Scripture refers to this administration as \u201cthe law of the Spirit,\u201d \u201cthe law of Christ,\u201d \u201cthe new way of the Spirit\u201d or \u201cthe law of the Spirit of life.”\u00a0 In Romans, Paul notes,<\/p>\n

Romans 7:4-6 (NIV) <\/strong>4<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In Romans 7, Paul notes the necessity of our having \u201cdied to the law\u201d in order to \u201cbelong to another.\u201d \u00a0No longer is the old law in effect, for we now serve \u201cin the new way of the Spirit\u201d and not \u201cthe old way of the written code.\u201d\u00a0 This does not mean that the disciple of Christ can go willy nilly about his life, doing what seems best in his own eyes.\u00a0 Scripture rather gives a fairly comprehensive – yet decidedly less stringently defined – “new law” by which we all must adhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It should be noted that many are very fearful of the ramifications brought on by the departure of the Law of Moses as a means to guide us.\u00a0 How are we to know how to live if we do not adhere to the old Law?\u00a0 By what means are we to follow this new law of Christ?\u00a0 How does it work, exactly?\u00a0 Perhaps this is the very fear of any student who is dismissed from tutelage.\u00a0 Yet, the Lord does not leave us without guidelines or a counselor to guide us in our way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, and foremost, the new Law “works” by the indwelling of the very Spirit of Christ in the hearts of his people, giving continual guidance to his servant and providing personal assistance unrivaled by the Law of Moses.\u00a0 For one to fear the loss of the tutor of the law is nonsensical when one gains the ever-present voice of the Holy Spirit himself as a guide!<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 31 prophesies the advent of a new covenant which God will make with the house of Israel.\u00a0 This text depicts clearly the new law of the Spirit by which the indwelling Christ invades the hearts of all believers.\u00a0 This promise is commonly referred to as the “new covenant;” a covenant of the heart, which God had revealed in advance as a fundamental shift to be revealed in a latter day.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NIV)<\/strong> 31<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0“The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and with the house of Judah. 32<\/sup><\/strong><\/span><\/em>\u00a0It will not be like the covenant
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0though I was a husband to them, “declares the LORD.
\n33<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and write it on their hearts. I will be their God,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and they will be my people.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

Verse 33 notes the nature of this new covenant as one which\u00a0 operates at a conscious level.\u00a0 \u201cI will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.\u201d\u00a0 Hebrews affirms this\u00a0 text to be speaking of this very “new law of Christ” by which all believers are bound.<\/p>\n

Heb 10:11-16 (NIV)<\/strong> 11<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>15<\/sup><\/strong><\/span>The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
\n16<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0“This is the covenant I will make with them \u00a0after that time, says the Lord.
\nI will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This new way of service to God is a law written in our hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit.\u00a0 It is not as if we were turned out of the oversight of the Law of Moses in order to abandon all manners of propriety and pursue a life of debauchery.\u00a0 Rather, the believer himself has become the very Temple of the Lord from which God governs personally.\u00a0 Now, rather than having a static and unattainable code which governed externally, we have the comforter Himself, teaching, leading and instilling into us<\/em> his desires.<\/p>\n

Yet, concerning the old law, Paul reveals in Romans 8,<\/p>\n

Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong> 1<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It is important that believers understand that it is \u201cthrough Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.\u201d\u00a0 Unmistakably, a law is at work in the lives of believers, but it is the law of the governing lordship of Christ rather than the written code of the old Law.\u00a0 While under the supervision of the guardianship of the Law, our sinful natures compelled us to rebel against that authority, just as an otherwise “good” teenager desires freedom from the regulations of the household to which he lives.\u00a0 When a teenager is grown and leaves the home, however, supervision does not simply cease.\u00a0 The voice of the tutor remains with him as a gentle reminder of that which formed the core of his character.\u00a0 When the very Spirit of God indwells the life of a believer, there is no more pertinent advisor possible who could guide that disciple into Godliness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the new law, the illustration of a tutor and a schoolmaster is abandoned for one perhaps more akin to that of a husband and a wife.\u00a0 As a husband, I am not given a set of “rules” by which I should live in order to please my wife.\u00a0 She is not given a set of “rules” by which she is to please me.\u00a0 Yet, the two of us do a fairly amazing job – if I do say so myself – of pleasing one another and not entering into offense of each other’s principles.\u00a0 Entirely without the guidelines of static rules, we are able to live such lives of fellowship due to the nature of our relationship<\/em> together.\u00a0 As I fellowship with and come to<\/em> know<\/em> my wife I learn that which offends her, what she likes and dislikes and what she expects of me.\u00a0 I know that she does not want chocolates for Valentines Day.\u00a0 I do not even have to ask, because I know her.\u00a0 By knowing her, I know what she wants, loves, needs and how she may be offended by my actions.\u00a0 Because I know her, I do not even have to ask what she might think about certain actions I may be considering.\u00a0 I know<\/em> what she will think because of our close fellowship.\u00a0 Many times I know what she is going to say – even before she says it.\u00a0 And, she pretty much always knows what I’m thinking as well.<\/p>\n

Because I know certain actions would hurt my wife’s heart, I would never participate in such things against her.\u00a0 My love and joy of my relationship with her compels me to live rightly before her.\u00a0 This is the best expression I can think of to illustrate the new law of the indwelling spirit by which believers are to live.\u00a0 Paul states of this new law, that<\/p>\n

Galatians 2:19-21 (NIV)<\/strong> 19<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0… through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

While the law of Moses highlighted the sinful condition of man, the new law in Christ is one which utterly transforms man’s nature.\u00a0 With Christ’s indwelling, \u201cI no longer live, but Christ lives in me.\u201d\u00a0 Formerly, God\u2019s presence dwelt in the Holy of Holies in the innermost court of the Temple.\u00a0 Upon Christ\u2019s sending of the Holy Spirit, that very spirit of God lives in us who are in Christ.\u00a0 This is the basis of the new law; God’s presence indwelling and leading the believer into God’s perfect purposes.\u00a0 With God’s indwelling within, we are able to know<\/em> God.\u00a0 While sin still exists – for there are still many things which God hates and desires his people not to tolerate – illumination of such now can be revealed to the believer via God’s direct fellowship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul continues with a practical application of the principle.\u00a0 He notes, “the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God.”\u00a0 Thus, Paul notes that he “died to the law” so that he “might live for God” and that the life he now lives is “by faith in” Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Faith” is essentially\u00a0to act according to one’s belief<\/em>.\u00a0 One must first believe, obviously, but must also act accordingly<\/em> to suchbelief.\u00a0 (See here<\/a> for a more detailed definition)\u00a0 Living by faith, at its root, is to live in such a way that one never acts outside of what he has confidence in.\u00a0 As we train our children and nurture them into adults, this is the type of understanding we ultimately want them to have as well.\u00a0 We do not want them to do something that they weren’t sure<\/em> they could do.\u00a0 When I was a youth pastor I had a very simple rule for our outings:\u00a0 “if you have to ask, the answer is ‘no.'”\u00a0 It is this “living by faith” which is the basis of life under the law of the Spirit.\u00a0 Paul illuminates this principle more fully in his letter to the Romans.<\/p>\n

The context of Romans 14 is that of “disputable matters.”\u00a0 The idea of right living being “disputable” was something unique and new in the early church age.\u00a0 In the age of the old Law, for example, what one was to eat was exceptionally well defined in the dietary codes.\u00a0 The new law was by faith, however.\u00a0 According to the new law eating was a matter of conscience: one could eat anything- so long as his eating came “by faith.”<\/p>\n

To engage this issue, Paul notes,<\/p>\n

Romans 14:2-4 (NIV) <\/strong>
\n2 <\/sup>One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 <\/sup>The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 <\/sup>Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Paul continues to another area of issue between the old and new laws; the observance of holy days.\u00a0 He again notes,<\/p>\n

Romans 14:5-12 (NIV) <\/strong>
\n5 <\/sup>One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 <\/sup>He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 <\/sup>For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 <\/sup>If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 <\/sup>For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 <\/sup>You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 <\/sup>It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'” 12 <\/sup>So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

To Paul, these were not matters of law- but of faith.\u00a0 He states “if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.”\u00a0 Paul’s clear understanding of how one was to live according to the new law was that one was to give direct heed to the fellowship of the Lord himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One must be careful to understand that Paul did not say<\/em> that “anything goes” in the Christian life, but he did assert that disciples of Christ are to live “by faith” in the fact that one is to be “fully convinced in his own mind” as to what is right to do before the Lord.<\/p>\n

Paul does make certain prohibitions in the text as well, however.\u00a0 He states in verses 13-18 that we are also to take one another’s faith into account as we make discernment about how we are to live.\u00a0 He notes specifically that we are not to make others stumble in their faith; and that (v21) “it is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.”\u00a0 Thus, to live by faith is also to live in such a way that we do not cause others’ faith – even if it be a weak faith – to falter.\u00a0 (Some additional prohibitive standards will be noted in the next post in this series)<\/p>\n

At the end of the passage, Paul give perhaps the single most illustrative instruction concerning living “by faith” in the new law.\u00a0 Overshadowing all of the considerations one must ponder in discerning how to live rightly before the Lord, in the end it is a matter of simple faith.\u00a0 One must live<\/em> within the parameters his faith will allow.\u00a0 <\/em>He affirms,<\/p>\n

Romans 14:22-23 (NIV) <\/strong>
\n22 <\/sup>… whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 <\/sup>But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. <\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This concluding statement wraps up nicely the illumination of what “living by faith” in the new law means.\u00a0 To live by faith, everything one does<\/em> must be done with the confidence of faith.\u00a0 From the context of Romans 14, that means essentially that I am not to do anything if I have some doubt that God may not approve.\u00a0 Paul concurs in v23: “everything that does not come from faith is sin.”<\/p>\n

So, to sum up life in the new law of Christ, this is a life that is lived by merit of a relationship with Christ internally.\u00a0 This relationship is like most in that we come to know well those who we spend time with.\u00a0 As we come to know Christ, we learn things that he does not approve of and we therefore omit them from our daily routine.\u00a0 Likewise, we learn also what Christ approves of and desires from us.\u00a0 These things we begin to pursue in hopes of bringing honor to our King.<\/p>\n

Living according to “the law of the Spirit” is to live by faith.\u00a0 Such demands that I do not compromise myself any more than a good parent would desire of their child.\u00a0 For no parent wants to hear their child say “I didn’t ask because I thought you may say ‘no.'”\u00a0 Such is the opposite of<\/em> what it means to live by faith.\u00a0 For that which is done by faith is that which we do not<\/em> have to ask<\/em>.\u00a0 Such is the new rule of law for the believer:\u00a0 to live such a life that one does not have to ask if he is doing rightly.<\/p>\n

While the Law of Moses existed to reveal our dire need for salvation, the law of Christ is one which is unconditionally governed by grace.\u00a0 We need not to attempt to perform that which was depicted to us in the law – yet is also clearly illustrated to be an impossible pursuit.\u00a0 By grace, the law has been fulfilled.\u00a0 The life we now live we live by faith in Christ.<\/p>\n

Colossians affirms,<\/p>\n

Colossians 2:13-17 (NIV)<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n13<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15<\/sup><\/strong><\/span><\/em>\u00a0And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In this text the law is again shown cancelled and demonstrated as a \u201cshadow of things that were to come.”\u00a0 That which was to come, however, was a new law; that of Christ, himself, indwelling the believer.\u00a0 As Paul notes, the law was “a shadow of the things that were to come,” while \u201cthe reality, however, is found in Christ.\u201d\u00a0 As such, the law was demonstrative of the nature of God in Christ, but now the ultimate advent of God’s character is freely available through the literal indwelling of God in the heart of man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Corinthains 3:16 (NIV)<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n16<\/span><\/em><\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

As such, the guardianship of the Law of Moses has stepped down for the higher fellowship of the Spirit Himself to teach us.\u00a0 As He indwells<\/em>, He leads in a much more effective manner than the Law (which externally<\/em> revealed his character) could ever have done.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 (NIV)<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n9<\/span><\/em><\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0However, as it is written:
\n<\/span><\/em>“No eye has seen,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0no ear has heard,
\nno mind has conceived
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0what God has prepared for those who love him” —
\n10<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. <\/strong>13<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. <\/strong>14<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. <\/strong>15<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:<\/strong>
\n16<\/sup><\/strong><\/span><\/em>\u00a0“For who has known the mind of the Lord
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0that he may instruct him?”
\nBut we have the mind of Christ.<\/strong> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

With God\u2019s spirit living inside<\/em> of us, we have the best access ever to his leading.\u00a0 His voice guides our conscience directly, and \u201cwe have the mind of Christ\u201d as an ever-present Law by which to live, just as Jesus promised:<\/p>\n

John 14:25-26 (NIV)<\/strong> 25<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0“All this I have spoken while still with you. 26<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

(more principles to come on the New Law of the Spirit)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series The Law and The Believer<\/a><\/div>

As was noted in the last post, according to Galatians 3, the law served as a tutor to point God’s people to Christ.\u00a0 As youth, we were all required the continual tutelage of parents, teachers and godly adults to properly lead us toward a path of righteousness.\u00a0 Indeed many of us wonder where our lives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"series":[215],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=722"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}