Mutual Instruction – The Law of God and Spiritual Discipline

Mutual Instruction

The Law of God and Spiritual Discipline

God’s people were expected to remind one another of His Word.

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:6, 7

The Law of God was to shape the conversation of God’s people, both at home and wherever they walked in the normal course of their everyday lives. With the Law—the Word of God—firmly fixed in their minds and focusing their steps—like frontlets bound between their eyes—they would be ready to encourage and instruct one another in the worldview of God’s Law for every aspect of their lives.

The people would teach the Law to one another not only in their conversation but by the conduct of their lives. As they traded in the market, listened in on the elders at the gates, walked together to weekly worship, and practiced “neighborhood watch” for one another’s property and possessions, they would reinforce the importance of the Law as the framework of God’s Covenant for living in love with Him and one another.

The many exhortations and instructions throughout the Law to obey the commandments and walk in the statutes and precepts of the Law have this twofold benefit in mind. Not only would the individual Israelite know the blessings of God’s promises by his obedience, but he would set an example for his neighbor of the wisdom and goodness of the Lord.

This idea of mutual instruction, as a vital component in the worldview outlined in God’s Law, continues into the New Covenant and the era of grace and the Kingdom of God (Col. 3:16). Believers are called to work out their own salvation in fear and trembling, and to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God (Phil. 2:12; 2 Cor. 7:1). At the same time, we must set an example for one another and be ready to teach, correct, and admonish one another in the ways of God’s Covenant. We are a community holy unto the Lord (1 Pet. 2:9,10), and each of us has, as a vital spiritual discipline, the responsibility of instructing one another in the right and proper paths of obedience.

For a more complete exposition of the promises of God, order a copy of T. M.’s book, I Will Be Your God, from our online store. For more on our responsibility to one another, read T. M.’s Crosfigell message, “Through Fear to Love.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.